You can touch a Hot Stove, just not for very long (Baseball thread)

[El_Josharino]

And yes, it's nearly 5 AM, I'm quite drunk, and looking at baseball stats. That's basically how my world works.

[Thermofusion]

Oh dang Thermo, I just noticed how very good Pedro Alvarez was in 2010. Shit. I hope he can regain that after last year.

He had a great September that year, but it's been pretty bad since then. He's 25 and still doesn't seem to have much plate discipline. Can't remember who he was facing (it wasn't anyone good) but a few days ago he struck out twice by swinging at the first six pitches he saw.

His spring training stats so far: 4-for-24 (.167), 2 HRs, 3 RBIs, 10 Ks, 1 W

I don't really believe in the dude as our "heavy bat of the future" anymore. Starling Marte, on the other hand...

[Thermofusion]

Anyway I dropped by to post this:

The Lake County Captains, the class A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, have created a "whale" of an addition to its 2012 food & beverage menu with the introduction of the enormous Moby Dick Fish Sandwich. The Moby Dick features a 15" sesame seed hoagie roll, five quarter-pound fish filets, eight slices of cheese, six ounces of clam strips, one-third pound of French fries, one cup of cole slaw, all topped off by gobs of lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and tartar sauce. The price for the sandwich is only $20.

The final product weighs-in at over three pounds and feeds two fans uncomfortably or four fans comfortably. The sandwich, with over 4000 calories and a diet-killing 200 grams of fat, will be available in select locations throughout Classic Park at all Captains home games.

dunno how far away Eastlake, Ohio is from Pittsburgh but when I'm up there in a couple months I'm gonna make a concerted plea

[El_Josharino]

Holy crap.

[El_Josharino]

Starling Marte, on the other hand...

I picked him up in my dynasty league, pretty excited about him. From what I hear, Tabata might actually be the odd man out once Marte and Presley join McCutch out there full time. That's a real promising outfield right there.

[Thermofusion]

Yeah, there's definitely a bit of a logjam of young talent at outfield right now, which for the Bucs is something of a strange and new problem to have at any position. I'd trade our outfielder logjam for y'alls pitching logjam in a heartbeat, though. By the way, I saw Vizcaino had Tommy John surgery. Too bad you guys don't have any other decent pitching prospects to fall back on...

[El_Josharino]

Yeah, Vizzy probably should have done the Tommy John thing last year when he first started having problems...

[El_Josharino]

So all of a sudden, I'm thinking of buying tickets to the Braves last home series (vs the Mets!!!) and the last regular season series @ Pittsburgh so I can properly bid Chipper farewell.

[davy]

Yeah.  

I'll be keeping a close eye on his career numbers this year. It'd be great if he could go out with a .300/.400/.500 triple slash line. I think the first and third numbers are safe. The OBP might be a challenge.

[El_Josharino]

Yeah, I figured he'd have to bat .197 over 350 ABs to drop his career BA below .300. OBP could be close, depending on how many plate appearances he gets, but if he's in the .350-.360 range he should be safe. Only seven dudes have had a career .300/.400/.500 slash line, which I didn't realized until today.

[davy]

Who are they?

[El_Josharino]

Nobody important, really: Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth, Frank Thomas, and Ted Williams.

Chipper would BE the 7th, I should have said.

[Thermofusion]

That's pretty amazing! Chipper always seemed like a bit of a goober off-the-field to me, but, still, reading the news a few minutes ago put me in a meta-moment where I realized we'll be saying farewell to one of the greatest (maybe the best?) switch-hitters in all of baseball history. I'll be sure to check out a few more Braves games this year simply 'cause of that. Closing out his career at home against the Mets, well ya can't ask for a more perfect farewell than that (except maybe closing out his career away against the Mets, with a walk-off, batting left)

[davy]

90s Chipper definitely had some regrettable dudebrah tendencies but he's grown up since then, and I like the grizzled veteran he's become. He's funny, insightful ... gives a great interview. And he's a great guy to have in the dugout whether he's playing or not.

[davy]

Also, I had no idea Frank Thomas was so consistent throughout his career. I knew he was sensational in his younger years, but for 18 years? Wow.

[El_Josharino]

It's pretty tempting to try to go to his last game at the Mets, too...
But yeah, listening to him talk about baseball is really a treat. Can't wait until he becomes a coach for the Braves. I doubt it will be long. I still love that he got ejected from a game last year while he was on the DL for hollering arguments from the dugout. A true student of Bobby Cox...

[El_Josharino]

Man. It's kind of like my childhood is officially over now...

[davy]

I might've told this story before, but when I was 10 or 11, just getting into baseball, playing on my first Little League team, Chipper played for the single-A team in my hometown, the Macon Braves. He was already a star. I can remember sitting on the little wooden benches outside the locker room, waiting for him to come out and sign some autographs.    He's always been this vital element of my perception of the game. It's hard to think about baseball without him.

[Thermofusion]

I think the only future superstar I got to witness playing minor league ball was Manny, back when Charlotte's minor league team was affiliated with the Indians. I may have seen Jim Thome also.

Speaking of little league, last weekend I unearthed a box of pictures and trinkets from my youth baseball days. I'll post some later when I'm at home. Would love to hear little league stories from you guys actually!

[Thermofusion]

Also another thing I respect the hell out of Chipper for: sticking with one team the entirety of his career

[davy]

Yeah, word.

[mountmccabe]

Speaking of little league, last weekend I unearthed a box of pictures and trinkets from my youth baseball days. I'll post some later when I'm at home. Would love to hear little league stories from you guys actually!

I played one year in Michigan and then a few years in Phoenix. I was terrible the entire time and did not play many innings.

One time I actually got a hit and actually got all the way to third base on throwing errors. The pitcher would eventually become one of my best friends.

My other most memorable time at the plate was when I got hit in the jaw by the pitch. That hurt like hell and I went and sat on the bench and someone pinch ran for me. Next time through the batting order they said I could bat again but I declined because my jaw still killed and also thinking hey, I came out of the game, I shouldn't be able to get back in.

The rest of it was mostly standing in right field in the cool of the night trying to keep my attention on what all was going on.

[Ignatius]

In 4th grade I had a .765 batting average on account of being left-handed and patient. It was maybe the second year or so with kid pitchers, so being on the other side of the plate threw everyone off. I couldn't find my glove once for the beginning of the season, so I played a game or two catching with my left hand (brother's righty glove), taking the glove off in my armpit and throwing w/ the left. That may be why I was so enamored of Jim Abbott when I was a kid.

[El_Josharino]

Well I just bought a ticket for the last Braves home game. Still thinking about doing the whole series...

[El_Josharino]

I only played organized ball for... 4 seasons? Although I played sandlot ball almost every day, every summer from age 6 to age 16. I was always a terrible hitter in organized ball (got walked a shit-load, though, Moneyball style), but pretty solid in sandlot ball. Not sure how that worked. Maybe I was pressing, maybe it was a matter of pitchers' skill. My throwing arm was golden, though. I remember one practice early on one season when I was shagging flies in right field and overthrew 3rd from deep right field. I was pissed about the overthrow, but my coach went, "Holy Shit, I know who my center fielder is!" In another practice later one someone was getting on the shortstop for not setting up to cutoff my throws, and the kid goes, "Josh don't need no cutoff, man!" Later that season there was a game where a guy (who was a classmate and track star) hit a ball to the fence in right-center. I chased it down from center field as the dude was trying to stretch it into a triple, reared back and fired and hit the third baseman right in the fucking chest and had the out by 2 steps.