IFB

Post Reply
DOUGHBOYS
Posts: 13088
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:00 pm

IFB

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:23 am

My Grandson is not a baseball fan. I try not to hold that against him. He does realize how much baseball means to me. He knows enough NOT to ask how any local team is doing and asking how my fantasy teams are doing. Good kid!
He called me last week to let me know he had covid. For me and my wife, the timing could not have been better. We just got back from a Thanksgiving trip and have had no contact with him for 10 days. I texted him yesterday to see how he was doing. Loss of taste. Short of breath. And cold-like symptoms he informed me. He ended the text with 'IFB'.
I am far from hip with text lingo. But of course, I still want to be cool. So, I didn't ask him what 'IFB' meant. I googled it.
No luck.
I asked some friends. They didn't know.
I gave in.
I called him and admitted I had no idea what 'IFB' meant.
He laughed.
"Did it drive you crazy for awhile?"
I admitted it did.
"It's something I made up and since baseball has stopped, you can probably use it too..."
I told him to just tell me what the Hell it means.
"It means, 'It F---ing Blows!"

He was right. It does describe baseball right now.
Joe Fan doesn't care about a lockdown. A fan's season doesn't start for months.
Us fantasy minions have no off season.
For us, fantasy baseball is constant mind play.
During the season, we think about our players, the matchups, how we're doing in the standings, how to improve those standings, lineups, FAAB, the whole nine yards.
During the off season, we are drafting, we are studying, we are constantly changing as the transactions dictate.
Now, there are no transactions.
Sure, we can still draft.
But after a draft or two, we'll only realize that we still like the same players we did the last draft we had.

Transactions were the major mind play for us during the off season.
Regular check ins with roto sites, MLB, or other sites are the norm for us.
Now, fruitless.
As for the negotiations, I could give a shit.
There isn't one thing either side can do that will change the sport much for us.
Sure, there might be more playoffs or a NL DH, etc.
In a way though, those are like transactions themselves.
We'll take that information and it'll move some players up or down in our minds the next time we draft.
I could care less about the money changing hands on either side. Both sides, a wonderful display of greed in America.
Meanwhile, the folks that both sides of the table take for granted, the fan, will be the ones hurt the most by paying higher prices for going to a game.
That's America.
And...IFB.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

DOUGHBOYS
Posts: 13088
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:00 pm

Re: IFB

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Sun Dec 05, 2021 8:58 am

There are some things about baseball I do not miss.
I do not miss the way the game is played today. Analytics trumpets the walk and OBP.
In doing this, teams have asked players to take more pitches. It has changed the game.
For one, it is damned boring in being a fan and just watch the pitcher play catch with his battery mate.
For two, some at bats at home can be filled with going to the refrigerator, getting some cold cuts, mayo and mustard, getting out the bread and knife and making a Dagwood....only to find the count is 2-2 on the same batter who was up when getting out of your chair.
For three, and this is what I hate the most, players are lauded for a walk as much as a hit. The Joey Vottoing of baseball.

The Vottoing of baseball has players with their lowest batting averages in history.
Five, count 'em, five teams hit over just .250 last year!
.250 used to be considered for a guy hitting seventh or eighth in the lineup.
Ugh.
The Yankees walked more than any team in baseball last year. An analytical cum.
They also finished sixth in home runs.
That's the name of todays game, right? Walk and hit home runs.
Trouble is, the Yankees finished 19th in Runs Scored.

The solo home run is prevalent throughout baseball.
Why?
Because all walks are counted as a hitters 'plus'.
Some of those walks are weapons used by pitchers.
We don't see as many home runs from Juan Soto because he is walked and has no large threat behind him.
Soto is trumpeted (as Votto was) for taking his walks.
The reality is, those walks play into the opposing teams hands.

One of our categories in roto is the RBI.
The RBI is shamed by the analytical community. I find that amusing.
This community treats every walk, even walks that are strategically made by opposing teams, as gold....yet RBI are lucky.
As if they don't want to admit that RBI are the product of something that is missing in todays game.
The rally.
The shift, analytics, little speed, and players all swinging from their heels have conspired to mostly eliminate rallies.
The big RBI guy is gone.
Not one player from this era ranks in the top 100 seasons of RBI.
The most being 139 from Miguel Cabrera in 2012.

One last thing and this is just me being subjective so take it with a grain of sand....
Remember when you were in Little League and their was an opposing pitcher who threw gas?
Looking back, that 'gas' was probably 45 mph but it looked fast to us!
Anyway, do you remember what Little League coaches would preach against a hard thrower?
They would say, drop down a bunt or choke up and get a good piece of the ball that way.
Those Little League coaches were smarter than the Harvard GM's in place now.
Pitchers are throwing harder than ever, yet teams have players taking pitches and swinging from their heels.
The result? A lot of walks. A lot of solo home runs. A lot of strike outs. A lot of boredom.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

User avatar
Edwards Kings
Posts: 5879
Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2004 6:00 pm
Location: Duluth, Georgia

Re: IFB

Post by Edwards Kings » Thu Dec 09, 2021 5:55 am

Agreed Dan. I was looking at IP per game started (Oooo...this guy averaged 5.8 IP per start! He's a keeper) as well as average # pitches per IP (any pitcher even near 15 pitchers per IP is a "control" pitcher) Pitchers per game? How may pitchers averaged 100 pitches per game last year? A) 12 B) 18 C) 14 D) 2. You know the answer. Pitchers with 100+ IP in GS last year averaged 89 pitches per game and over 16 pitches per inning so just over 5.4 IP per game. Can't even get out of the sixth. To bust the take/foul em off mentality of batters, try the strike zone a lttile more often. There are seven guys behind you who will have your back, at least 70+% of the time.

You have to believe somebody will win with the anti-Billy Beane approach. Teach going the other way to beat the shift. Station-to-station hitting. Stealing bases. It has got to come back, right?
Baseball is a slow, boring, complex, cerebral game that doesn't lend itself to histrionics. You 'take in' a baseball game, something odd to say about a football or basketball game, with the clock running and the bodies flying.
Charles Krauthammer

Post Reply