Well they nailed the company name.MLB is already working with a company to do this. The Ball Mudder
Well they nailed the company name.MLB is already working with a company to do this. The Ball Mudder
Joe Castig said that the umpires haven’t done it for 15 years, fwiwWas it Remy and Eck recently saying the umps no longer do the mud rub pre-game? They outsource to the clubhouse staff. Seems ironic the umpire union will fight the threat of robo umps, but have delegated this job that they apparently are “specifically trained” to do.
I'm sure the robots can be trained to do it.Joe Castig said that the umpires haven’t done it for 15 years, fwiw
He was pretty good. @redsoxstats on twitter had an interesting tweet before the start about how unlucky Eddie has been and then posted an excruciating video of dribblers getting through the infield over his bad stretch. I expect more results like yesterday going forward.No word here about Rodriguez yesterday? He wasn't great but he did pitch an old fashioned quality start, picked up a W against our rivals and was better than the MFY's $30million man.
If he can keep doing just that 6 innings, two runs allowed, limited BB's allowed that's a giant step forward.
A step up from dead ones I am sure.Good news from Fenway. Chris Sale threw a simulated game to live hitters today. Seems like he's not far away at all from beginning his rehab assignment.
View: https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1408851533622611968
Whats not right is the loss of sticky stuff killed his spin rate. He needs some time to figure it out in the minors.So yah. Give Richards a “IL” stint to get his shit figured out. Just call it a dead arm or something.
Clearly something is not right.
He's almost afraid of throwing the ball at this point for lack of grip.Whats not right is the loss of sticky stuff killed his spin rate. He needs some time to figure it out in the minors.
Richards rubbing his hand in the dirt, rubbing it in the grass, grabbing the rosin bag. Looking for anything to offer grip.
Would it be a violation of the new rules if I suggest the glue factory?I don't know what they should do with him now.
Looks like he re-invented himselfThat was one of the most bizarre outings I've ever witnessed. I don't know what they should do with him now.
Holy cow. Richards basically reinvented his sinker tonight. Since 2015, it had averaged 2,541 RPMs. Tonight: 1,775, down by 766 RPMs.
Cora showed real restraint not pulling him in the second inning. I think he was ready to give the game to save the bullpen some wear and tear and that may indeed have been wise. Not sure how he didn't react out of sheer rage after the third home run in less than 2 innings. But Richards pulled it together. Though, yeah, something ain't right with him (just the sticky stuff?) ....Richards is a real DFA candidate now. You can’t let him take turns in the rotation while learning how to pitch on the fly. We’re in a tight division race. Send him down with a phantom injury and if he doesn’t figure it out, he has to go. He’s not the pitcher that was signed, not the pitcher that he’s been his whole career.
View: https://twitter.com/alexspeier/status/1409702194891296769Richards on icing: ‘I just need to stop sweating. If I can stop sweating, I’ll be a whole lot better off.’
The Article I Just Linked To said:The righty threw 26 changeups -- a pitch he said he learned in the days since his last start Wednesday against the Rays -- and introduced a slow, looping curveball that averaged 69.7 mph -- 9.9 mph fewer than he had averaged with the pitch all season. The shape of that pitch even surprised Richards, who said throwing it that slowly was not part of his pre-start plan.
...
“Just trying to figure out how to pitch again, man,” Richards said. “Stay in the zone, be competitive and give us a chance to win. That’s the only thing I care about.
He grabbed the rosin bag and squeezed it so hard it seemed he wanted to turn it back from dust into solid rock. In the dugout between innings, he jammed his arm into a bucket of ice.
“Your arm stops sweating for a short period of time,” Richards said of the ice. “I need to stop sweating. If I can stop sweating, everything will be fine.”
On the mound, Richards likewise sought something — anything — different, better. He expanded and reinvented his typical arsenal – mid-90s four-seam fastball, high-80s slider, high-70s curveball — by integrating high-80s changeups, a pitch that relies on diminishing rather than amplifying spin.
“A pitch I learned literally four days ago,” he joylessly revealed.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/28/sports/garrett-richardss-mid-game-adjustments-help-red-sox-top-royals/“Just trying to figure out how to pitch again,” he said. “I’ve never had to make this kind of change in my whole career. I’m just trying to make the best of it.”
Someone introduce him to the Buchholtz water cooling method.
168 I heard. He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sale's deciding about yoga—and his future in baseball.Any idea on velocity? That’s something I’m still worried about given his diminished velocity in 2019. It’s not like he was prime Sale before surgery.
I agree. Unless he has a weird combination of slick smooth skin and excessive sweat, he should be able to get a reasonably strong grip on the ball with rosin. Most every other pitcher does. Pedro was on MLB Network demonstrating how he used rosin to help him grip and said the key was mixing it with sweat, not trying to get dry.My nonprofessional take on Richards is that this grip thing is so deep in his head now that it's more mental than the loss of the use of foreign substance. There's no doubt the loss of this has real affect on pitchers, perhaps some more than others, but Richards is starting to act like a junkie going through withdrawal.
So he struggled in the cold because he'd never pitched in the cold before ("I didn't even bring a jacket with me"), and now he struggles in the heat because he sweats too much. Sounds like there's a small window there that's perfect for him, and everything else throws him off.Some of the quotes from Speier’s piece on Richards’ outing are pretty interesting:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/28/sports/garrett-richardss-mid-game-adjustments-help-red-sox-top-royals/
I know he’s been a mess and some people are seeing him as a poster boy for What’s Wrong With the Game but I kind of find Richards’ candor about how hard it is to pitch without this stuff refreshing. Certainly compared with a guy like Gerrit Cole who was a completely unaccountable weasel when he was asked about it a few weeks ago.
FenwayDome®So he struggled in the cold because he'd never pitched in the cold before ("I didn't even bring a jacket with me"), and now he struggles in the heat because he sweats too much. Sounds like there's a small window there that's perfect for him, and everything else throws him off.
These stats are amazing. Here is the follow-up from that twitter thread:He was pretty good. @redsoxstats on twitter had an interesting tweet before the start about how unlucky Eddie has been and then posted an excruciating video of dribblers getting through the infield over his bad stretch. I expect more results like yesterday going forward.
View: https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/1409130873069387781?s=20
In Eduardo Rodriguez's last 8 starts he has a 7.94 ERA with a .363 FIP and 3.62 xFIP. Batters have a .436 BABIP and only 53% of base runners have been stranded on base. League average is .293 and 72% This year he has a career high strikeout rate and career low walk rate.
He follows up with a thread of evidence backing up that he's been the unluckiest starter in baseball.
If it wasn't for bad luck, he'd have no luck at all.These stats are amazing. Here is the follow-up from that twitter thread:
He has a .297 BA allowed and .233 expected, the biggest difference among 180 pitchers.
He has a .491 SLG allowed and .372 expected, the biggest difference among 180 pitchers.
He has a 6.07 ERA and 3.31 expected, the biggest difference among 180 pitchers.
Bauer talks a lot about how for some players sweat and rosin does this but not for others. Seems for Richards it doesn’t.I agree. Unless he has a weird combination of slick smooth skin and excessive sweat, he should be able to get a reasonably strong grip on the ball with rosin. Most every other pitcher does. Pedro was on MLB Network demonstrating how he used rosin to help him grip and said the key was mixing it with sweat, not trying to get dry.
Honestly, I think Richards may have stumbled into a solution with the ice bath between innings. Not necessarily for the cooling effect, but because the water cleans up the greasy sweat that builds up. Combine that with the rosin and he might find a comfort level. He just has to get his brain to recognize that it's working and proceed normally.
Send him a case of extra strength anti-perspirant and have him spray it on his arm.
If only there was a large tarp of some kind...FenwayDome®
Of course, since the rosin bag is there as an absorbent, it would not replace the function of Spider Tack or even a gob of sunscreen. This article points out that rosin + sunscreen was a useful concoction. Rosin by itself? Not so much at least as far as Richards is concerned.“As soon as I get to the field, I put sunscreen on,” Richards said. “Well, now I can’t do that. On top of that, the only thing that’s provided is the rosin bag on the back of the mound, which, to be honest with you, is completely useless. It does nothing. It barely even dries up sweat. It might as well not even be there. I can’t even think of how many times over the entire course of my career that I’ve gone to the back of the rosin bag.
“It, by itself, doesn’t do anything,” he continued. “I don’t know anybody that just uses rosin. If we can somehow get a rosin bag that actually worked, I think that’s something that should definitely be looked into. I don’t think anybody’s looking for anything over the top. I think we’re just trying to find something that will allow us to throw more strikes and be able to compete.”
It's not often that you can assess a trade this early on, but my God did Bloom kill it with this one. Pivetta's not a FA until '25 and we still have Seabold working his way up the ranks.Pivetta has a 1993 Schilling vibe of a guy about to really break out after some early struggles. 2 of last 3 starts almost unhittable.
Of course, in that third start he was throwing batting practice to the Royals. It's all about command for him, and hopefully he's starting to learn how to be more consistent.Pivetta has a 1993 Schilling vibe of a guy about to really break out after some early struggles. 2 of last 3 starts almost unhittable.
Yep we’ve won no matter what happens from here forward. Workman and Hembree did zilch for Philly, Workman is back with us as a mop-up, and Hembree the same for Cincinnati.It's not often that you can assess a trade this early on, but my God did Bloom kill it with this one. Pivetta's not a FA until '25 and we still have Seabold working his way up the ranks.