OnlyBucs

0C5A4C58574D5D565B4C7E59535F5752105D3E0 wrote: Cubs down 3 in the bottom of the 8th, lead off single.  What does fearsome slugger Javier Baez do? Tries to BUNT....and pops out to the catcher.



MLB is littered with questionable choices.


Baez is in the mold of Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco. Oodles of potential physical talent sitting beneath an empty cranium.  He's also too busy trying to be the coolest kid in class.  If he had the drive of a Pudge Rodriquez he'd be a Hall of Fame candidate.


Braves beat the Cubs 5-2. The Bucs and Cubs are now tied for 4th. A win tonight against doc's beloved Brewers and the bucs are out of the cellar


Only if you think "out of the cellar" includes standing on the first step on the stairs leading out of the basement.


Currently watching the Phillies- Cardinals- prior to Bucs- Brewers.

Cutch is only batting 137. I know he was a habitually slow starter while he was with the bucs. However, at his age, it could be a concern.


I'd be real surprised if he has even an average year left in him.  He's just a shadow of the player he used to be.  It happens to all of them.


Giants and Dodgers open up an important series tonight in LA.



In today's Atlantic City Press Mike Schmidt says that frisking the pitcher is just an excuse for lousy hitting. As of yesterday, the MLB average is 238. The lowest ever. he goes on to say " the decline of hitting today lies directly in the hitters inability to hit the high fastball and the lack of accountability for striking out. Learn to hit,or take the high fastball and make contact more often".

Mike Schmidt?



You mean the Mike Schmidt who quit on his team mid-season?



The Mike Schmidt who quit in San Diego?



I stopped caring what Mike Schmidt thinks on that day.



He was a great player.  I'll hand him only that.



How many pitchers did Mike Schmidt face every game? I guarantee that part of the BA decline is because tge modern hitter sees a new, fresh arm more often than Schmidt did.

794C5B5B50695B5B50575B3E0 wrote: Mike Schmidt?



You mean the Mike Schmidt who quit on his team mid-season?



The Mike Schmidt who quit in San Diego?



I stopped caring what Mike Schmidt thinks on that day.



He was a great player.  I'll hand him only that.
Yeah, what a quitter.  ::)



He was 39 and in his 18th season. He was coming off the worst season of his career that ended in August with rotator cuff surgery. He tried to come back for another season but it was clear he had nothing left. After a career of being one of MLB's best, he had become a 39 year old liability to his team hitting .203 with more errors (8) than HRs (6) after 42 games. The Phillies were out west on a road trip that began May 23rd and went from LA to SF to SD. After a costly error in the last game of the SF series Schmidt realized that he was hurting the team and announced his retirement when they got to SD on May 29. He was hitting .088 (5 singles in 57 ABs) over his previous 18 games. It was probably a relief to the Phillies who realized he just couldn't play anymore but would not have wanted to bench their legendary star.



Three weeks later the Phillies solved their 3B problem by acquiring Charlie Hayes from SF. Hayes was an upgrade both offensively and defensively over the 39 year old Schmidt. (I believe I heard he has a kid playing somewhere now.)



Schmidt obviously played about 2 years too many. By 1989 he was finished and knew it and retired for the benefit of his team.



So it wasn't midseason. It was about a quarter of the season. And it wasn't so much quitting on his team as it was retiring for the good of the team when it was obvious he could no longer play adequately. 

6154434348714343484F43260 wrote: Mike Schmidt?



You mean the Mike Schmidt who quit on his team mid-season?



The Mike Schmidt who quit in San Diego?



I stopped caring what Mike Schmidt thinks on that day.



He was a great player.  I'll hand him only that.



How many pitchers did Mike Schmidt face every game?  I guarantee that part of the BA decline is because tge modern hitter sees a new, fresh arm more often than Schmidt did.
No, I mean Mike Schmidt the Hall of Fame guy. The one who hit over 500 home Runs. The Mike Schmidt who made the All Star Team 12 times

Hall of Fame Quitter, too.

6D584F4F447D4F4F44434F2A0 wrote: Hall of Fame Quitter, too. 


You are just pis$ed because he owned the Bucs

6A5F4848437A48484344482D0 wrote: Hall of Fame Quitter, too. 


As for quitting, hopefully you read what Bobster said

Excuses, "reasons," they all have them. The spin came the day after he did what he did, and here we are again.



I've acknowledged his baseball accomplishments, so there's no need to revisit them. I've chosen not to respect Schmidt for his actions and decisions.



I agree with Bobster on that Schmidt probably held on too long, but the bottom line is- he should have either retired at the end of the previous season or at the end of the final season, and he should have been man enough to do it in Philadelphia.



If Doc hasn't forgiven Phil Mickelsen for the heinous crime of swiping at a putted golf ball, then quitting on teammates is a capital sports crime, and Schmidt is guilty as all hell.

1B2E3939320B39393235395C0 wrote: Excuses, "reasons," they all have them.  The spin came the day after he did what he did, and here we are again.



I've acknowledged his baseball accomplishments, so there's no need to revisit them.  I've chosen not to respect Schmidt for his actions and decisions.



I agree with Bobster on that Schmidt probably held on too long, but the bottom line is- he should have either retired at the end of the previous season or at the end of the final season, and he should have been man enough to do it in Philadelphia.



If Doc hasn't forgiven Phil Mickelsen for the heinous crime of swiping at a putted golf ball, then quitting on teammates is a capital sports crime, and Schmidt is guilty as all hell.
I see you point, but that has nothing to do with his opinion as to why averages are so low. I would say his record speaks for itself.

Schmidt's like every other old position player out there.



He's never going to admit that the modern hitter faces different types of pitching than he did when he played.



Every one of them want to make their time in the game sound better.



He had his time. No one's taking that away from him.



If he was playing today, he'd be doing exactly what today's guys are doing, and Mike Schmidt knows it.