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At D-O-V we have the graphix to support this post. Pictures are a bit wonky here. At https://drdetectovision.wordpress.com you can find the locations of the 5* back-leg specials the Mariners hit Tuesday.
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Q. Was Sale just lousy on Thursday?
A. In my opinion he had a normal game. He was sitting 93-95 mph; his pitch mix was 32-20-31; Chris Sale is Chris Sale. Were you expecting to come in and score 12?
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We've alerted you to Brent Stecker's excellence before. He's got yet another great read up this morning. Go hit that, then come back for Dr. D's reactions:
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1. Mitch Haniger gets recognition this year.
... I know what he means; he has the big 32-homer, 117-RBI year that cements him as a franchise player. I can relate. But my reaction to baseball industrywide, with all the "Hanger is better than Harper" shtick, is that I wonder whether you can get so underrated you're overrated.
If Haniger is Dwight Evans that's plenty nuff for Dr. D. I'll take the under on his repeating 2018, by a little bit, but that's still a 4+ WAR player and a great guy to represent your franchise.
First off, I'm glad to see you back, Doc. The world needs men like you doing what you've done for as long as I've known you. We are enriched by whatever measures of your presence we're blessed to receive.
In case you didn't read the by-line, this is Jonezy. I spend most of my time lurking these days as my limited internect access (and even desire to use it) dwindles more with each passing day. I miss y'all, certainly, but it's hard for me to balance my life while remaining connected so I mostly step back from online engagements that aren't business-related.
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One time David Letterman had a Top 10 list of Reasons To Acquit O.J. ... like Johnny Cochrane's silly "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," all of Letterman's reasons ryhmed. One of them was something like "If you look at Fuhrman, it'll / make you vote for an acquit'tl."
Heh. In baseball, each year there's a major new strategy taking root -- shifting, or launch angle, or whatever. This year, it's the "opener." Madison Bumgarner was asked about the opener and responded something like "Try to give somebody else my first / right out of the park we'll be disbursed." Way to put team first, Mad Bum. Glad Kyle Seager didn't moonwalk off the field the first time he was asked to move over to RF.
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Q. In my day, they used to do something real simple. It was called "skipping a turn." Is using a guy for one inning better?
A. The M's want to control Kikuchi's innings, and nominate the Opener strategy as their solution. According to Dipoto, once every 5 Kikuchi starts they will use him for the first inning, and then bring in (probably) Erik Swanson or Justus Sheffield or somebody they can send back down after the game.
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Along with the usual shtick, POTD's and "Last Night In Seattle Mariners World," we like to mix in some pure baseball. Saber stuff, F-500, Sports Is Life and what-have-you. Back in April 2012 James had an interesting question and reply. BJOL, $3 per month:
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Remember that bald guy in the wheelchair who was flying Bond around in a helicopter? "Mwahaha. I have waited for this moment for a lonngggg time, Meester Bond. I intend to enjoy it to the full." You and I have one gorgeous, precious week to enjoy leading the major league standings.
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YUSEI KIKUCHI - CAPT. OBVIOUS
1) The young Barry Zito used to run records like 23-5, 2.75 and it was all based on a shellshocking change curve. Zito would reach back, come through with the fastball arm action... and the ball would just pop a parachute, drop in from 45 degrees.* Batter after batter found it completely impossible to pull the trigger.
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Sherminator sez,
Incidentally, this is Best Bet time of year isn't it? I've got one for you guys. Domingo. I don't know why it took me this long to realize I should do this, but here we are. I see absolutely no evidence to disuade me from the thought that Domingo is going to be a minor star for the Mariners this year. Let's call it >2.5 WAR this year, next year, every year. 90% confidence. Does that meet the definition of a Best Bet? Doc? Anyone?
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Wow. 90% coefficient of confidence on a string of 3-WAR seasons, that's a very high bid indeed. It would normally be plenty to land you a home run call if it occurred except for one thing: during the first game in Japan, everybody on Slack seemed to think the same thing, except me :- )
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INVESTMENT IN NPB BRANDING
These days it's hip to distinguish between a next-morning, glib-but-shallow "hot take" vs. a more well-considered piece of thinking. A "hot take" on Ichiro's appearance leaves you aghast. It's hard to think of another situation in which an MLB team sacrificied obvious ML performance in the interests of a "fan stunt". Well, it made sense to Ichiro: Dipoto said he was blown away by Ichiro's "focus" over the course of 10 months in preparing for a measly two games.
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From a 2013 Hey Bill:
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My own reaction has been, if Dipoto has the answer this year why didn't he have it three years ago? If shedding Robinson Cano's contract was the path the Promised Land last month, why couldn't he see this when he got here?
