Pitchers pitch and batters bat.

It's "the unknown," like that Matthew McConaughey movie where he went into a black hole and found a man-made tesseract which he used to communicate to his daughter back in time but the robot didn't survive the trip into the black hold and then his daughter solved time travel and saved humanity.

"Yet preparing hitters for this change is tricky. They’re used to being able to call time whenever they desired. A particularly stressful plate appearance might have previously entailed stepping out of the box several times. Adjusting their uniform. Taking a few deep breaths. Undoing and redoing the Velcro on their batting gloves. Maybe repeating all of the above."

When you write it down that way, it sure sounds exciting.

 

"Which, of course, is exactly why this rule was put in place: MLB wanted to cut out as much of that dead time as it could. But it means there’s a lot for batters to change—as much psychological as physical."

Get over it.

 

"And given the reactive nature of hitting, it’s more difficult for hitters to know how the clock will feel than it is for pitchers, who have been practicing with the timer all spring. Of course, there’s no replicating the environment of pitching in a real game, with all the attendant stressors that might cause someone to need more time. They can’t simulate a real game even with a sim game—and certainly not with a bullpen or live BP. By using the timer in all of those contexts, however, pitchers can still get a feel for how their delivery works (or not) against the clock."

It all sounds so very stressful. My advice is shut up and hit.

"For hitters … it’s tricky. They can’t set the pace of any given plate appearance the way a pitcher can. While a pitcher can work quickly or slowly, a hitter can only slow him down, and now, he won’t even be able to do that. That’s a hard dynamic to practice. Of course, hitters can use the timer in live BP, too. (Many teams are.) But most hitters already know they can take swings without stepping out of the box in BP. It’s specifically the context of hitting in a faster game situation that feels tricky—and that can’t truly be replicated in any practice or drill."

None of this sounds tricky.

Whatever your job is, anywhere in the world, I can almost guarantee you are faced with trickier challenges on a daily basis. In all likelihood, you've climbed the learning curve and have figured it out by now, but that's my point. Five or six at-bats to figure it out, tops.

Heck, I think a lot of retired people are facing trickier decisions this Monday morning.

The easiest task I can imagine in a workplace is, if I was a batter in a baseball game, standing in the batter's box. They even outline it with chalk.

Still a lot of discussion about a very bad baseball player.

“The Minnesota market is different than the New York market. The Texas market is different than the New York market. I always just wanted to play baseball, have fun, hang out with the boys. That’s my goal, just to play baseball and win games. I don’t really like it being more than that. I guess this is more my vibe, you know what I mean?”

I remember last year when Gallo said the same thing about the Dodgers. Had an early two-HR game, or whatever. Then he hit .159 with the Dodgers.

More from the referenced article about Gallo:

"I took pride in the fact that I still played. I was still diving for the Yankees, running into walls for the Yankees, running hard for the Yankees. I knew I was getting traded. But I still had the pride, the integrity for the game, the respect for the fans, respect for the organization. I’m still going to go out here and bust my ass. I’m not going to just cash it in."

I mean, I guess it's accurate. I don't recall any behavior that qualified as quitting. He was the worst player I've ever seen intentionally given a starting role on a team for an extended period of team. I also think when one examines his career, there's no reason to think he's going to rebound in Minnesota. But if he wants to pat himself on the back for not literally quitting, I guess that's better than nothing.

 

 

Tom Verducci has nothing to do.

I'd say Judge's breakout season was 2017 and I don't think he will ever have a better season than he had in 2022. It's a very high benchmark.

Baseball players are graded on a curve.

IKF was not great in 2022. I would say he was a disappointment in the field. A slick-fielding shortstop who hits .260 with 20 stolen bases, 66 runs, and 48 RBI is not bad at all. He just wasn't good enough in the field. Not bad in the field, but not great.

Having said that, he was better in every way than Donaldson (besides home runs) ... and IKF was paid 1/4th Donaldson's salary.

Good usage of his time from September 16th to February 21st, though.

To my knowledge, I have never met a person who has ever watched the WBC.

For one thing, it's not a big stage because not a lot of people are going to watch. More than a regular season Angels game for sure, but not a lot relative to entertainment events.

Furthermore, I can't imagine that anyone watching would be unaware of Trout's excellence. Like, I'm enough of a baseball fan to watch the WBC, but I  am mostly unaware of the decade's best player.

I suppose Trout keeps a relatively low profile, and in some ways this inhibits his worldwide popularity, but still: How is the WBC going to change his legacy or X Factor in any way?

The rest  of the article is just "Trout is great" and, for different reasons, comparing Trout to Ernie Banks and LeBron James.

The unmistakable rhythms of baseball.

 What else are you going to talk about in the off season?

"Necessity."

 No baseball player is "necessary."

Ah, yes, the question everyone has been asking: Should Billy Wagner be in the Hall of Fame?

No.

Billy Wagner should not be in the Hall of Fame.

I know it's symbolic for the Mets and Cohen to pump up the payroll.

But I'm going to engage in a little thought experiment.

When you thought Correa was signing with the Giants, did you think it upset the balance of the NL West? 

Or did you think the Giants were a third-place team who would maybe battle for a wild card?

The Mets were already a good team, in a surprisingly tough division if you think the Phillies are legit. I'm not so sure they are, but who knows?

I think Correa is better than Escobar and the Mets are hoping Correa comes through in October.

It's not that big of a deal in the scheme of things.

I would be very surprised if the Mets won more games in 2023 than they did in 2022.

Is $1 million a lot?

The over-reaction on both sides to the Correa signing is bizarre indeed.

The Mets didn't sell one million tickets in one day, the sold $1 million worth of tickets.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 single-day tickets. Just guessing $100 average ticket price. No big mathematical analysis here.

Not 10,000 season tickets, just 10,000 single-day tickets. Like, more than you'd expect to sell probably in the middle of December, but it's not like you have to rush if you're planning a family outing in May.

The Other Team in New York

We weren't even talking about the Yankees: 

 "What really just happened for Mets fans, like '’Twas the Night Before Christmas' a few nights early, can be traced back through 50 years of Mets history, all the way back to when Yogi Berra was their manager and once said this, famously and for all times in baseball:

'It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.'"

 Yes, Yogi Berra is probably most well-known for being a manager of the Mets.

Also, next time you write a story, just re-read it first. Now imagine the story without the opening paragraph.

Better? When the opening paragraph doesn't add anything? It's just, "it's almost Christmas, am I right?"

 

"Once George Steinbrenner, on the other side of New York baseball, became the most flamboyant owner in all of sports in the 1970s after he signed Catfish Hunter on New Year’s Eve and signed Reggie Jackson to what felt like the biggest deal in the world before the 1977 season -- $3 million over five years -- and then signed Dave Winfield to a 10-year contract after that. Steinbrenner was the one in the center of the baseball bullseye."

Let's talk about the Yankees from 35 years ago.

 

"The Yankees went deeper into the playoffs this past October than the Mets did, making it to the American League Championship Series before being swept by the Astros. The Yankees then spent with both hands and brought back Judge, their big man, on the biggest deal they’ve ever made, and just signed left-hander Carlos Rodón . Even with all that, the Yankees feel like the Other Team in New York, at least for today, because of what just happened with Correa."

I think Lupica is the only person keeping score of the Battle of New York.

Notable, of course, is the lack of derision in paying luxury taxes, hiring mercenaries from all over the world, treating the rest of MLB like a farm system, it's not how much you spend, it's how ... but that's very typical.

No one really wants to dismantle the Yankees. They want to emulate the Yankees.

The man with the six-year slump.

"Jason Heyward, the former All-Star and five-time Gold Glove Award winner who has struggled offensively for most of the last six years, has signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team announced Thursday. The agreement includes an invitation to spring training."

I think we should all get past these childish analyses.

Aaron Judge is a movie star. He will move massive amounts of merch and put fannies in the seats. He's the only Baby Boomer who made it (no offense to Severino). He's the face of a $billion corporation.

Also, he's earned it.

When you're casting "Taken 3," you would be a fool to replace Liam Neeson.

I truly don't know why these analyses of a contract's "worth" don't take these factors into account.

I know the hardcore angry fans who point out the subpar playoff performances and the unfortunate tendency of modern-day fans to take of the role of Comptroller for the Yankees: "They could have spent this money on two mediocre starting pitchers and a lefty reliever. This 'asset' will be de-valued by year seven."

I'm not even sure that's accurate.

In 2030, I'll bet half the fans in sold out Yankee Stadium will be wearing #99 jerseys.

 

 

Revisiting a prediction from September.

 

I'm going to guess eight years, $350 million, not the Yankees.

Nine years, $360 million, yes the Yankees.

Mike Lupica's lack of ethics is predictable and tedious.

This is Mike Lupica a couple of weeks ago, elevating the status of Jacob deGrom in the free agent pool, particularly vis a vis Aaron Judge.

Lupica acknowledges the risks associated with age and health, but basically concludes that you want this dude throwing effortless 100 MPH fastballs at awestruck batters.

He quotes his lone remaining MLB source Buck Showalter at length.

Then when the news of deGrom's signing blazes across the twitterverse (when is the last time Lupica has been first with breaking MLB news, by the way? Like, 1988?), Lupica instantly dismisses the signing.

Tweet number one points out that the Mets won 101 games in2022 and deGrom only won five (the Mets actually won six of his starts, which isn't much of a difference, but it's at least comparing apples to apples).

Tweet number two elevates the previously mentioned risks and mocks the Rangers for the size and length of the contract.

We already know how Lupica would have reacted if deGrom had re-signed with the Mets. It would be the 30th year in a row the Yankees need to look out for the superior Mets.

Have you tried ebay?

Just one iceberg sunk the Titanic.

"Five hundred sixty-nine home runs, 3,020 hits and one positive steroid test. That is the Hall of Fame candidacy of Rafael Palmeiro in one sentence."

I think PED-heads wll eventually make the HOF because a lot of them are already in. But I read "one positive steroid test" as "hundreds of false negatives because cheaters find ways to evade capture."

 

"He is infamous for wagging a finger at Congress two months before he flunked the drug test.

'If I could do it over, I would have handled the Congress situation differently,' he says. 'The pointing of the finger ... that was not my personality. That was not me. That was the advice I was given.'"

You sound like an unrepentant cheater who doesn't really take responsibility for any of his own behavior.

 

Without an infield shift, Rizzo is going to bat .300.

Because he's short. Get it? "Big" is an ironic description in the headline.

I mean, Jose Altuve certainly plays baseball for the Astros and the Astros make the playoffs a lot. So there's that. 

In the 2022 playoffs, he has not come up big:

"Altuve, who has been such a terrific postseason player in his career, somehow started the ’22 postseason by going 0-for-25."

"Somehow."

 

"He hit in a big October game the way he has so many other times in his career, and he reminded everybody of something, as if anybody needs reminding at this point in Altuve’s career:"

And yet, here we are.

 

"He has been one of the best players of his time, and one of the great second basemen of all time."

I guess you can sit on an article for a couple of weeks and wait for Altuve to finally get a hit. Which he did. Truly compelling stuff.

 

"Listen, everybody knows what happened with the Astros in 2017, even as they keep winning. Altuve and his teammates are always going to hear it in New York, and they’re sure never going to love the Astros in Los Angeles. But the team is the same as the guy who leads off for Dusty Baker and is still out there at second: They don’t go away."

Everybody knows and nobody needs reminding. 

Maybe the Daily News could therefore make better use of their resources by reminding their readers that the clocks are turned back next Sunday.