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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 2h

I stumbled onto Arm's Length last fall and I was blown away with Never Seen Before, Never Again Found and somehow There's a Whole World Out There was even better

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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 2h

I have no idea what is really new anymore, but I am positive both of these came out this year and I recommend them as strongly as I can

Bambi by Anxious
There's a Whole World Out There by Arm's Length

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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 2h

When I was in college in the fall of 2007, the Eagles started 1-3 and I had a professor say something that always makes me laugh when I remember it: "Usually, by this time of year, everyone is an Eagles fan, but now the Phillies are good and the Eagles are bad and everyone is a Phillies fan."

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 2d

Yet another reason why Chase Utley is the man. Not only did he get hit by pitches a lot, he never wore any kind of armor. He'd take his lump and jog to first like nothing happened

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 3d

This is all I guess a long-winded way of saying that having a bad team with players you know is way better than having a bad and anonymous team.

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 3d

This is a better example but one that is premised solely on "Let's save ownership money" because the production gap is nowhere near enough to justify the interest gap.

When the Phillies were losing 100 games a year, Howard was still a draw for casual fans. Darin Ruf, once he left Reading, was not

Matt Winkelman @mattwinkelman.bsky.social · 3d

Prior to Franco there was Darin Ruf, left fielder, as well

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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 3d

I'd have preferred to respond directly rather than this method, but Franco overlapped with Howard for half of 2015 and 2016 and also, Franco played 19 total games at first in his entire nine-year career, so I dunno. Doesn't really feel like a Ryan Howard issue

Jarrett Seidler @seidler.bsky.social · 3d

it's easy to say it was always written in the stars that Franco was going to bust but he was a pretty big prospect who played a position he absolutely shouldn't have been playing so the Phillies could continue to play Howard

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 3d

A big issue I have with modern analysis is the idea that peak optimization is all that matters. However, there is obviously more to it and making a compelling product matters. No one was mad at Joey Votto for the last few seasons of his career; instead him being a one-team superstar was celebrated.

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 3d

This is a weird analogy because the Phillies were straight booty for all five of those years and he wasn't blocking anyone from playing. At this point in his career and the in the Phillies competitive lifecycle, his value was far more about his contributions off the field than on it

Jarrett Seidler @seidler.bsky.social · 3d

Ryan Howard, for example, played regularly when healthy for *FIVE YEARS* as a negative value player

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 6d

Heck, they don't even want Puerto Rico to have representation at a football game

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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 6d

a man wearing a music band shirt is holding a skateboard over his shoulder

Alt: How do you do do fellow kids meme

media.tenor.com

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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 6d

The Stott bunt is the one thing that broke me. That's the decision that makes me think there needs to be at some level of shake-up

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 7d

You don't really have a choice for that one. You may start sitting, but by the end you're on your feet and throwing your seat into the pile to help with the barricade

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 7d

This is the worst part of 2023. If they didn't choke it away against Arizona, they would have been positioned pretty darn well against Texas

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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 7d

I do wonder how many outlets still require their staff to be there. For example, it looks ESPN writers still have to be there

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 7d

Thus far (I say as I'm furiously knocking on wood so as to not jinx it), I am very grateful that Bryce Harper took 15 years of media training classes because I'm pretty sure he has some truly awful opinions, but so far it's just been limited to raw milk in his coffee.

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 8d

That's not really what anyone means when they discuss mainstream outlets or "the media" in any broad sense of the term

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 8d

My realization over the past few months is that talking about the media as anything other than a business is a mistake. All mainstream outlets are designed to make money for their owners first and foremost, so they're simply not going to engage in anything that could jeopardize that

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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 8d

Yeah, having driven to Cooperstown many times over the years from the Philly area, neither the vibes nor the aesthetic on that trip are not very different than my journeys into Pennsyltucky

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 8d

His chief rival is Hank Aaron XXIV

Picture of Hank Aaron XXIV from Futurama

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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 9d

Literally the worst thing that could have happened if Stott swung away was the tying run on second base with one out, but the worst baserunner in baseball on second and want to play for the tie, I guess you gotta do it.

Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 9d

But if he were actually pitching effectively a third time through, odds are he'd be facing more batters, no? What this is demonstrating is he's winding down as soon as he hits the 19th and 20th batter, not that he's getting stronger.

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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 9d

Correct. As I said, though, each time through a lineup is nine PAs. There are guaranteed to be at least three full times through a lineup in every game. If Luzardo faces fewer batters the third time through, that means he's not actually going through a lineup a third time.

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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 9d

That's not what that means. Every time through a lineup is guaranteed to be 9 PAs. The fewer cumulative PAs is because he gets pulled before completing a full third time through the lineup. It's actually a demonstration of being less effective, not more.

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Tony Fioriglio @thetonyfioriglio.bsky.social · 9d

He didn't strike out as many and allowed a higher percentage to score. There's just so much noise by looking at the raw numbers like that. For starters, of the nine times he faced at least 25 batters, five were in April and May and a 6th was against the White Sox. That's not really relevant to now

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