Hitters should be furious. MLB doctored the baseball to have them be lighter so they don't get their homers. The lighter ball also increases spin rate and velo, so it is both harder to make contact and harder to hit out. Now they want to take away the grip substance that allows the pitchers to control the harder thrown baseball, which now becomes a safety issue. This change wasnt needed and now rather than admitting their mistake, they are making it worse
Hal sucks
"Universal grip substance" - yes, absolutely.Originally Posted by mvp 78
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Manfred is a weak , incompetent commissioner. He has no idea what to do about anything.
Old school is good school.
Ok maybe I agree more here (in reference to his pace of play post on another thread)...
Cole still has really good stuff when he isn't cheating, but he isn't going to be quite as dominant going forward.Gerrit Cole's strikeouts and spin rate dropped as he pitched for the first time since Major League Baseball's crackdown on sticky substances.
Cole's fastball revolutions per minute, which averaged 2,534 coming in, ranged from 2,084-2,471. His curveball dropped from 2,824 to 2,441-2,773, his slider from 2,686 to 2,334 to 2,578 and his changeup from 1,746 to 1,518 to 1,812.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=401228144
Cole needs a nickname and I have the perfect one, how about Gerrit "Sticky Fingers" Cole?
Video evidence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG_Lz9f-ipE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_jUM3nrS2k
Unless I'm mistaken, I think Cole is scheduled to pitch against the Red Sox on Sunday and the game will be on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball? I hope that is correct--the pressure will be on Sticky Fingers Cole to perform without cheating. I love how they are enforcing this rule. Keep it up, MLB.
Last edited by Fan_since_Boggs; 06-23-2021 at 03:32 PM.
Lol you sure you love it? Sox starters have a 6.37 ERA since June 12th (when MLB said they planned to enforce these rules).
He’s such a troll. Cole last 3 starts, 21IP 6ER for a 2.57 ERA.
Richards was a cheater, but he will hopefully be dropped from the rotation.Lol you sure you love it? Sox starters have a 6.37 ERA since June 12th (when MLB said they planned to enforce these rules).
Check Sticky Fingers every inning on Sunday, the guy is a cheater. The Red Sox will send him to an early shower. Count on it!Cole last 3 starts, 21IP 6ER for a 2.57 ERA.
That Garret Richards guy sure seems to have adjusted well
Think you may have missed the other posts about Richards, including the one right above yours.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Cole will still be a really good pitcher going forward, but will he be less elite? Will he still be worth 300+ million? To be sure, the Yankees signed Cole to win a game like Sunday's loss to the Red Sox.
It seems like some pitchers abused the rules more than others. Some pitchers didn't bother with sticky stuff and some did. In the case of Cole, not only did he use sticky stuff, but he used it in excess, and will likely be more pedestrian without it. That's a problem, though, because the Yankees are paying him over 300 million.
This is a little reminiscent of Jason Giambi's situation from years ago. The Yankees signed him to a lucrative contract only to learn later that his stats were inflated due to steroids, and that without steroids he wouldn't be as great.
Richards is a sticky stuff guy too, but at least the Red Sox can get out of the contract at the end of the season.
Definitely worth watching:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SDIb2rf9EA
I learned a few things including, (1) Cole's numbers dramatically improved when he started using the sticky stuff; and (2) Corey Kluber is another pitcher who has been directly connected to using sticky stuff. Thus, I don't know if the Yankees can expect much from Kluber this year.
Come to think of it, the first time I heard anything about 'spin rates' had to do with the Astros. There was talk about Verlander having a dramatic increase in his spin rate when he went from the Tigers to Houston, and there was talk about strategic use of substances. Maybe that was where the Spider Tack Revolution (pun intended) really started. And then Cole went there.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Fangraphs did an article on them some years ago. Back on BDC, when I used to recommend certain lesser known players I hoped the Sox would get (Hidden Gems, as I called them) one of them was Miles Mikolas, who was pitching in Japan at the time, but I liked him based on his elite spin rates.
Of course, their article was about spin rates on curveballs…
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