Thoughts for a Wednesday morning

 BIEBER

You know what really sucks?  When Bieber pitches it is really hard to tell whether the lineup is a bad one or a good one.   People tell me that the White Sox lineup is very good and all evidence supports that.   But, man, he just dealt last night and it was a thing to behold.   

One thing that was pointed out last night, but we all knew, is how good Perez is and how much the pitchers value pitching to him and how much he adds to their abilities.   But he has to have a day off some time, right?    I can only imagine the pitchers counting days and wondering if they will be pitching the day game after a night game where Hedges will likely be the catcher (like tomorrow's day game where Civale goes).  The question becomes that then we play the Reds where we have a night game, a day game and another day game.   Bieber is scheduled to go on Sunday.   How will the catching be set up so that Perez catches on Sunday.   Will Hedges catch McKenzie on Saturday, playing two games in 3 days?  It will all be interesting to find out but one thing is for sure.   We should set up that Perez catches Bieber, Plesac and Civale and then let Hedges catch one of Allen or McKenzie, whichever comes up to give Perez the appropriate number of days off.  This thought process may all be moot if his bashed finger from last night means he will miss some time.

Bieber's pitch count scared me.   I think large pitch counts impact the likelihood that pitchers will get injured or, at least, have their effectiveness later in the season impacted.  Is one game worth a season lost?  No way.

THE ZERO TWINS

Gamel and Bauers.   Bauers and Gamel.  Add in Hedges and we have the three hitless wonders.    In this time of COVID deaths and all the ethnic hatred it is really hard to hate on these guys.  But, man, they suck offensively.  I find myself rooting against them (especially Gamel and Bauers) just so that management has no choice but to read the writing on the wall and dump them.   But I hate myself, with death all around us, for rooting against them.   It is a conundrum but these guys do, in fact, suck.  I can even hear it in the announcers voices.   Do you think it is possible that the negative energy many of us are throwing on Bauers and Gamel can really impact their performance?   I have to wonder because except for their close relatives, I don't know of one person who still wants these 2 guys on the team and most want them gone today.   Can these bad vibes really be what is making these guys bad?

YU CHANG   

Regarding the Yu Chang hating.   First, RIDICULOUS.   On further thought...RIDICULOUS.   Looking at it from a purely baseball sense, we all realize that the reason he hit Grandal in the helmet is because (a) Gimenez hadn't gotten to the bag yet to set the target and (b) Grandal conveniently swurved outside the baseline as if to hit second making the turn for 3rd with Chang, not seeing the target, did what most infielders in his position would have done, throw to the outside of the bag.   So the 'error' came with multiple extenuating circumstances.   Should he have just taken the out at first?  Hindsight says yes but in the flow of the game, depending on how fast Williams is, maybe not. 

BASEBALL RULE CHANGES

Talking about baseball rules, MLB is trying out some new rules in the minors this season.   All have some level of merit...except for the two most recently proposed ones.  Let's look at the two latest proposals.

1. Move the pitching rubber back a foot: Designed to make it easier on the hitters because in the last 10 years the average fastball has increased by 1.7 MPH and they feel this change would drop the effective speed of the fastball back to 2010 levels.  I vote no on this one before it is tried.  Lowering the mound, deadening the baseball, when is it going to end?  Plus HRs are on the upswing.   And we are going to make it easier on hitters?  Do we want to turn this into slow-pitch softball?  Plus we would be favoring junk ball pitchers who depend on deception over power pitchers.   Who would you, as a fan, a guy flaming 100 mph fastballs or a guy getting hitters out with changeups or knuckleballs?   Taking the fastball away from pitchers by moving the rubber back is just stupid.

2. The double-hook designated hitter rule.   Your DH is only in the game as long as your starting pitcher stays in the game. The goal is to encourage teams to leave their starting pitchers in longer.   There are so many problems with this proposed rule I don't know where to start.   Where do you bat your DH as you might run into a scenario where your relief pitchers could be hitting cleanup for you?    Does this change who you want to DH as that player could be lost to you for the game if your pitcher gets knocked out early?  This proposed rule makes a mockery out of the DH and should never have made it out of the concept review in which it was first proposed.