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Will people please stop going off on steroids??

C

chuckywang

Lifer
People talk about steroids as the only reason we have a surge in the power game in baseball in the last decade or so.

Sure, performance enhancing drugs did not hurt the power numbers, but it's not the biggest reason why there is an increase in offense. The biggest reasons have to do with how the game of baseball is being played right now.

1) Teams have gone from a four pitcher rotation to a five pitcher rotation. This means that many many pitchers who wouldn't have made it to the big leagues back in the day are now pitching in the big leagues. Hitters are now facing more mediocre pitching because of this.

2) The expansion teams have brought more mediocre pitching into the big leagues. In addition to more pitchers per team, there are more teams as well. This further exacerbates the mediocrity of the pitching.

Imagine hitters always facing the top half of the pitchers in the major leagues right now and you get the sense of what I'm talking about.
 
I don't believe its the pitchers. I mean out of all the people in the US there is ample supply of decent pitchers out there.
 
Originally posted by: KK
I don't believe its the pitchers. I mean out of all the people in the US there is ample supply of decent pitchers out there.
Click to expand...

I dont think that's true. Name a dozen pitchers that are big names, I mean played for over 5 years and start just as much as the big hitters that sit in left field. Actually maybe I do agree with your statement about "decent" pitchers, but not if your reply refers to awesome pitchers. Pitchers used to be legends, now its all hitters.
 
Originally posted by: chuckywang
People talk about steroids as the only reason we have a surge in the power game in baseball in the last decade or so.

Sure, performance enhancing drugs did not hurt the power numbers, but it's not the biggest reason why there is an increase in offense. The biggest reasons have to do with how the game of baseball is being played right now.

1) Teams have gone from a four pitcher rotation to a five pitcher rotation. This means that many many pitchers who wouldn't have made it to the big leagues back in the day are now pitching in the big leagues. Hitters are now facing more mediocre pitching because of this.

2) The expansion teams have brought more mediocre pitching into the big leagues. In addition to more pitchers per team, there are more teams as well. This further exacerbates the mediocrity of the pitching.

Imagine hitters always facing the top half of the pitchers in the major leagues right now and you get the sense of what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't the resaons given for the increased mediocrity of pitchers also result in an increase of the mediocrity of hitters?
 
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: chuckywang
People talk about steroids as the only reason we have a surge in the power game in baseball in the last decade or so.

Sure, performance enhancing drugs did not hurt the power numbers, but it's not the biggest reason why there is an increase in offense. The biggest reasons have to do with how the game of baseball is being played right now.

1) Teams have gone from a four pitcher rotation to a five pitcher rotation. This means that many many pitchers who wouldn't have made it to the big leagues back in the day are now pitching in the big leagues. Hitters are now facing more mediocre pitching because of this.

2) The expansion teams have brought more mediocre pitching into the big leagues. In addition to more pitchers per team, there are more teams as well. This further exacerbates the mediocrity of the pitching.

Imagine hitters always facing the top half of the pitchers in the major leagues right now and you get the sense of what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...

Wouldn;t the resaons given for the increased mediocrity of pitchers also result in an increase of the mediocrity of hitters?
Click to expand...

How so? Teams still use the same amount of positon players. The pitching staff has grown, but the number of positon players has stayed the same.

As chucky said, you now have 5 man rotations. You also used to not have a middle reliever. Most starters went the distance and they only used closers. Now there are so many pitchers on a squad it's not funny.
 
Originally posted by: LikeLinus
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: chuckywang
People talk about steroids as the only reason we have a surge in the power game in baseball in the last decade or so.

Sure, performance enhancing drugs did not hurt the power numbers, but it's not the biggest reason why there is an increase in offense. The biggest reasons have to do with how the game of baseball is being played right now.

1) Teams have gone from a four pitcher rotation to a five pitcher rotation. This means that many many pitchers who wouldn't have made it to the big leagues back in the day are now pitching in the big leagues. Hitters are now facing more mediocre pitching because of this.

2) The expansion teams have brought more mediocre pitching into the big leagues. In addition to more pitchers per team, there are more teams as well. This further exacerbates the mediocrity of the pitching.

Imagine hitters always facing the top half of the pitchers in the major leagues right now and you get the sense of what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't the resaons given for the increased mediocrity of pitchers also result in an increase of the mediocrity of hitters?
Click to expand...

How so? Teams still use the same amount of positon players. The pitching staff has grown, but the number of positon players has stayed the same.

As chucky said, you now have 5 man rotations. You also used to not have a middle reliever. Most starters went the distance and they only used closers. Now there are so many pitchers on a squad it's not funny.
Click to expand...

You didn't read the other two reasons he gave?
 
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: LikeLinus
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: chuckywang
People talk about steroids as the only reason we have a surge in the power game in baseball in the last decade or so.

Sure, performance enhancing drugs did not hurt the power numbers, but it's not the biggest reason why there is an increase in offense. The biggest reasons have to do with how the game of baseball is being played right now.

1) Teams have gone from a four pitcher rotation to a five pitcher rotation. This means that many many pitchers who wouldn't have made it to the big leagues back in the day are now pitching in the big leagues. Hitters are now facing more mediocre pitching because of this.

2) The expansion teams have brought more mediocre pitching into the big leagues. In addition to more pitchers per team, there are more teams as well. This further exacerbates the mediocrity of the pitching.

Imagine hitters always facing the top half of the pitchers in the major leagues right now and you get the sense of what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't the resaons given for the increased mediocrity of pitchers also result in an increase of the mediocrity of hitters?
Click to expand...

How so? Teams still use the same amount of positon players. The pitching staff has grown, but the number of positon players has stayed the same.

As chucky said, you now have 5 man rotations. You also used to not have a middle reliever. Most starters went the distance and they only used closers. Now there are so many pitchers on a squad it's not funny.
Click to expand...

You didn't read the other two reasons he gave?
Click to expand...

I did, but i'm not sure what you're getting at. Yes there are bad hitters. His point was the power surge. You have great players out there hitting 22 home runs in 45 games because with expansion and a larger rotation, you have worse pitching. It's much easier to swing at a ball than to pitch it. Pitching is a science and that's why it's harder to field a good rotation as a whole.
 
But couldn't the argument that there are bigger pitcher rotations and middle relievers also be spun the opposite direction? By that I mean that batters today are now facing better rested pitchers than in the past. Why do you think they are called middle relievers? Obviously the teams are using that many pitchers for a reason... they must see some advantage to it. What makes you think the bigger rotations aren't in response to the better hitting?
 
If steriods did not provide athletes a significant performance increase, athletes won't use them. The fact is that even though there are well known adverse side effects and health risks, athletes still take that risk. The gains have to be worth the risks.

Go ahead and down-play the impact of steriods. The public is not convinced.
 
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: chuckywang
People talk about steroids as the only reason we have a surge in the power game in baseball in the last decade or so.

Sure, performance enhancing drugs did not hurt the power numbers, but it's not the biggest reason why there is an increase in offense. The biggest reasons have to do with how the game of baseball is being played right now.

1) Teams have gone from a four pitcher rotation to a five pitcher rotation. This means that many many pitchers who wouldn't have made it to the big leagues back in the day are now pitching in the big leagues. Hitters are now facing more mediocre pitching because of this.

2) The expansion teams have brought more mediocre pitching into the big leagues. In addition to more pitchers per team, there are more teams as well. This further exacerbates the mediocrity of the pitching.

Imagine hitters always facing the top half of the pitchers in the major leagues right now and you get the sense of what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't the resaons given for the increased mediocrity of pitchers also result in an increase of the mediocrity of hitters?
Click to expand...

Perhaps only due to the increase of the number of teams in the majors. The number of position players per team stayed the same. But the increase in the mediocrity of hitters is masked by the fact that the media only concentrates on the TOP hitters in the majors when they talk about the increase in offense. They point to McGuire, Sosa, Bonds, and Pujols as evidence, so they aren't talking about the overall offense of the league as a whole, but about the cream of the crop.
 
Originally posted by: pulse8
Why is it that the guys doing REALLY well are all on steroids, then?
Click to expand...

hell, even with steroids, i don't think i can hit anything.

you still have to work hard.
 
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