The MLB Thread

[vansmack]

The Cardinals are in BIG trouble.  HUGE.

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

The Cardinals are in BIG trouble.  HUGE.

Fascinating story.

It'll be real interesting to see the amount of vitrol and coverage compared to deflategate considering one is an actual landmark scandal by a beloved team and one is complete nonsense by a hated program. Prepare to see some interesting mental gymnastics from idiots everywhere.

[vansmack]

Fascinating story.

It does explain how those player notes were leaked a few years ago....

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

Fascinating story.

It does explain how those player notes were leaked a few years ago....

Well aren't they saying that leak is what predicated the investigation?

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

The deadspin story comments are absolute gold. Some highlights:

I?m sure that it?s just a big misunderstanding. Jesus probably just wanted access to some of the Astros? proprietary religious player data and asked his duly designated representatives on Earth, the St. Louis Cardinals organization, to take care of getting it for Him. Jesus could never want the Cards to do anything wrong.

The Cardinals built that network from the ground up. Really a class organization. The Astros bought their network. No values in the ball club, probably why they got hacked. Cardinals did it the right way.

?The Cardinal Way?

Ask any person in St. Louis to define ?the Cardinal Way,? and they will tell you that it?s a style of hacking that both pays homage to and respects the fundamentals of breaching computer security dating back to when the opposing team began digitally storing scouting reports within data networks in 1994. The style of hacking is described in phrases like ?password cracking? and ?brute force attacks.?

For any player scouted by opposing teams, the Cardinal Way is an 86 page handbook that outlines exploitation of each teams databases in areas ranging from vulnerability scanners to packet analyzers, spoofing attacks and computer worms, as well as the manner in which the Cardinals cyber scouts should conduct themselves on ?the ?Net.?

From a business standpoint, the handbook defines the organizational philosophy, a philosophy that places a greater emphasis on misappropriating digital scouting records and player transaction information from opposing teams than on generating home grown data from within the Cardinals organization. It?s the Cardinal Way.

[vansmack]

Well aren't they saying that leak is what predicated the investigation?

Exactly.  I mean, it's comical that their former employee used his same password in an elevated role with his new organization, but it's still going to land them in a ton of trouble.

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

Well aren't they saying that leak is what predicated the investigation?

Exactly.  I mean, it's comical that their former employee used his same password in an elevated role with his new organization, but it's still going to land them in a ton of trouble.

Agreed on the password security. *facepalm*

Here's my question: from the looks of the initial report, MLB asked for this investigation. They had to think it was someone outside baseball, right? If there's any scintilla of a thought it could be another team behind it, there's NO WAY they ask the FBI to get involved, right? This could go down as the final Bud Selig dramabomb he left behind to detonate (unintentionally) once he was out the door.

[vansmack]

Albert Pujols is on an incredible tear right now.

[vansmack]

Mad Bum's walk-up music is Sturgill Simpson's "Living the Dream".  At this point it's virtually impossible for me to hate him. 

[stevewizzle]

Albert Pujols is on an incredible tear right now.

it's albert fucking pujols. i'm not gonna sugar coat this too much because he is 35 and signed through 2022 and you're a realist, but he's the best hitter since barry bonds.  the past 2 years have been an unbelievably steep decline from what we would expect.

[vansmack]

he's the best hitter since barry bonds.  the past 2 years have been an unbelievably steep decline from what we would expect.

Even knowing that, he's never had 15 homers with 30 RBIs in a 24-game stretch in his career.  Probably most importantly, he's only struck out 5 times in that stretch.

[stevewizzle]

he's the best hitter since barry bonds.  the past 2 years have been an unbelievably steep decline from what we would expect.

Even knowing that, he's never had 15 homers with 30 RBIs in a 24-game stretch in his career.  Probably most importantly, he's only struck out 5 times in that stretch.

so, how many quality years do you expect to still get out of him?

[vansmack]

so, how many quality years do you expect to still get out of him?

I thought he was a bit overlooked last year - most people don't realize that he finished in the top 20 of AL MVP Voting.

The start of this season, teams were walking Trout to face Pujols, but they're not any longer.  That seems to have lit a fire in Albert.

I'll say through 2018, as he'll benefit from hitting behind Baseball Jesus.  Then he's just chasing records and selling tickets.  The Angels do have a ten year personal services contract with him after that, so I won't be surprised if he's the hitting coach for years to come.

[Space Freely]

I had no dog in the fight, but the Rays/Jays game I attended today may have been the most exciting MLB game I've ever attended.

And sadly, my wife actually loved Tropicana Field.

[stevewizzle]

so, how many quality years do you expect to still get out of him?

I thought he was a bit overlooked last year - most people don't realize that he finished in the top 20 of AL MVP Voting.

The start of this season, teams were walking Trout to face Pujols, but they're not any longer.  That seems to have lit a fire in Albert.

I'll say through 2018, as he'll benefit from hitting behind Baseball Jesus.  Then he's just chasing records and selling tickets.  The Angels do have a ten year personal services contract with him after that, so I won't be surprised if he's the hitting coach for years to come.

he quietly had a great year last year.  hell, he could pull a david ortiz, find a steroid that goes undetected, and DH effectively through the entirety of his contract.