2019 MLB Season Thread

[MRP]

Looks like Padres are going to name Tingler as their new manager.

-M

[Joker]

Astros fired Brandon Taubman. Apologized to Stephanie Apstein.

[MRP]

After 17 years of working as a consultant for the Boston Red Sox, Bill James has retired from the team. At 70 years old, he has other things he wants to pursue and has 2 books already written to publish and several other projects (including a TV project) in the works.

James is in many ways the godfather of the current analytics trends in MLB.

-M

[MRP]

Astros fired Brandon Taubman. Apologized to Stephanie Apstein.

It's the least they could do. The very least.

-M

[Joker]

At this point, yes. The least they could have done was not accuse Apstein of fabricating the whole thing.

I don't have time to unpack the whole thing right now, but yeah.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Astros fired Brandon Taubman. Apologized to Stephanie Apstein.

Good! On both counts!

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Taubman clearly was trying to be as misogynist as possible to the female reporters and thought he could mock their stance against domestic violence. The end result is ...his ass got fired. He lost his job because he wanted to be a piece of shit to women. Now he has to wake up and realize he's unemployed.

[Joker]

Good! On both counts!

It is good on both counts, but a few days short, and an entirely avoidable situation. Believe women.

Apstien reported an incident in the clubhouse. She's a reporter. Her report was corroborated by several other reporters. Reporters.

The Astros flat out accused her of making the whole thing up. They shit on her credibility as a professional. And it took them several days to retract that, which never should have happened in the first place. It's bullshit. Believe. Women.

Honestly, I wish teams would steer clear of athletes with domestic violence problems. It absolutely sets a precedent that it's okay as long as you're a good athlete, now on a cheap deal and 'learned from your mistake'. Guess what? Osuna knew assaulting women isn't okay. He just got caught. Fuck him.

So the Astros can talk all they want about a zero tolerance policy, and put sings up in the women's restrooms, and yadda yadda, but they signed Osuna. They accused a reported of fabricating an incident, and took several days to apologize for it. All of which is gross.

The whole thing is garbage. Fuck the Astros management. Fuck Taubman, and fuck all his boys who lined up behind him. Go Nats!

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It is good on both counts, but a few days short, and an entirely avoidable situation. Believe women.

Apstien reported an incident in the clubhouse. She's a reporter. Her report was corroborated by several other reporters. Reporters.

The Astros flat out accused her of making the whole thing up. They shit on her credibility as a professional. And it took them several days to retract that, which never should have happened in the first place. It's bullshit. Believe. Women.

Honestly, I wish teams would steer clear of athletes with domestic violence problems. It absolutely sets a precedent that it's okay as long as you're a good athlete, now on a cheap deal and 'learned from your mistake'. Guess what? Osuna knew assaulting women isn't okay. He just got caught. Fuck him.

So the Astros can talk all they want about a zero tolerance policy, and put sings up in the women's restrooms, and yadda yadda, but they signed Osuna. They accused a reported of fabricating an incident, and took several days to apologize for it. All of which is gross.

The whole thing is garbage. Fuck the Astros management. Fuck Taubman, and fuck all his boys who lined up behind him. Go Nats!

Speaking of which:

Opinion: Astros still don't get it, and must pay a steeper price beyond firing assistant

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Another reason to hate umps, beyond when they make crappy calls on the diamond:

MLB umpire Drake apologizes for tweets calling for civil war

The day after Major League Baseball said it was investigating a tweet from umpire Rob Drake calling for a civil war if President Donald Trump is impeached, the umpire unlocked his Twitter account and apologized in a string of tweets.

ESPN reported Wednesday night that Drake tweeted he was going to buy an assault weapon "because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL WAR!!! #MAGA2020."

Drake deleted the tweet soon afterwards, and then switched his account to private mode on Wednesday.

If I were commissioner Rob Manfred, I would've fired that shitstain for posting such a dangerously incendiary message. However, since that course of action would've raised howls of outrage from the ACLU and the umpire's union while turning him into a martyr for the MAGA Maggot crowd, at the very least, Drake should be fined out the ass and suspended for a goodly number of games at the start of the 2020 season. He absolutely CAN not and SHOULD not get off scot free.

[Joker]

Speaking of which:

Opinion: Astros still don't get it, and must pay a steeper price beyond firing assistant

They get it.

[MRP]

Max Scherzer's neck spasms sideline him and prevent him form making a game 5 start, and the Nats fall leaving them in a 3-2 hole after taking 2 from the Astros in Houston, they dropped all 3 home games. Travel day tomorrow then game 6 is Strasberg vs. Verlander. Verlander has been snakebitten in the World Series over his career, but we'll see. Before the series started I picked the Astros in 6, even though I was rooting for the Nats.

In other news, the Astros owner Jim Crane has sent a letter to SI reporter Stephanie Apstein apologizing and retracting the team's original statement about the incident saying we were wrong. Again, a nice gesture and the least the team good do, but doesn't actually correct the culture problem that exists within that team's management.

-M

[WestPhillyPunisher]

After the Nats scored all of three runs in three games in D.C., the Fall Classic returns to Houston where the Astros can wrap up their third championship in three years tomorrow night.

[Joker]

Tough pitching, but the Nats have looked lifeless out there.

As someone who's team faces the Astros a lot, it's not an unusual look when facing their best.

I'll probably skip game 6. If there's a game 7 I'll tune in.

[Scott Taylor]

Houston does this to teams, they've been doing it all year. Just when you think they are going down, they pull the old switcheroo and beat you. Their losses during the regular season are all over the place, not just to the best teams.