NHL Talk Miscellaneous NHL Discussion CIX: Processing a Tremendous Amount of Insane Information

[Blackhawkswincup]

Ater 4 games the Avs gave him that

 

[Curufinwe]

Hart really cost himself a ton of money, huh. He's still 12 wins ahead of Blackwood.

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[freakydallas13]

I refuse to believe that was the cheapest they could have signed Blackwood for.

Big oof.

 

[deadhead]

Colorado must be desperate, between a lack of assets to trade and no goalies in the pipeline.
They traded this year's 1st and next year's 2nd.
Though they do have Nabokov, #38-2024, but nothing else:
2023-24: 43g .930, PO 23g .942
2024-25: 29g .926
Contract expires after this season, but rumors he might be extended, and was given a big raise.
Have to think Avs know he's not coming over in the near future.
Otherwise sign a veteran to pair with him instead of grossly overpaying an inconsistent goaltender.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

There’s one consistent Goalie on the planet. It’s as volatile a position as Relief Pitchers.

The divide between what Goalies get and what people think they’re worth only grows. If that was one less year, I’d have no problem with it.

 

[freakydallas13]

There’s one consistent Goalie on the planet. It’s as volatile a position as Relief Pitchers.

The divide between what Goalies get and what people think they’re worth only grows. If that was one less year, I’d have no problem with it.

Side note, I started watching baseball a few years ago without realizing this. It felt like 97% of relief pitchers could be as good or bad as any other in any given year for no reason at all, and that was extremely confusing to try and make sense of.

 

[deadhead]

I think b/c top RPs tend to be two pitch pitchers, one a high velocity FB, the best have the kind of movement like Wheeler, but for most it's more of a "show me" pitch to set up their second pitch.
That second pitch tends to be a slider, split finger, a changeup, etc.

When that second pitch is plus plus, coming off a FB with 10+ MPH difference it's almost unhittable.
When that second pitch goes south, or the pitcher can't throw it for strikes, ML hitters can hit any fastball with limited movement under 100 MPH these days.

Think Mariano Rivera, or Lidge in 2008 when his slider was untouchable.

 

[freakydallas13]

I think b/c top RPs tend to be two pitch pitchers, one a high velocity FB, the best have the kind of movement like Wheeler, but for most it's more of a "show me" pitch to set up their second pitch.
That second pitch tends to be a slider, split finger, a changeup, etc.

When that second pitch is plus plus, coming off a FB with 10+ MPH difference it's almost unhittable.
When that second pitch goes south, or the pitcher can't throw it for strikes, ML hitters can hit any fastball with limited movement under 100 MPH these days.

Think Mariano Rivera, or Lidge in 2008 when his slider was untouchable.

Anecdotally, it does seem like starting pitchers have more pitches in their arsenal on average than relief pitchers do. So I guess a SP struggling with a pitch can get by because of a greater variety available to throw, but a RP struggling with one of their pitches might really struggle?

I don't know, I'm not an expert by any means. Pitching in baseball is super interesting to me and I love watching it / learning about it.

 

[deadhead]

Anecdotally, it does seem like starting pitchers have more pitches in their arsenal on average than relief pitchers do. So I guess a SP struggling with a pitch can get by because of a greater variety available to throw, but a RP struggling with one of their pitches might really struggle?

I don't know, I'm not an expert by any means. Pitching in baseball is super interesting to me and I love watching it / learning about it.

Good starters tend to have three or four solid pitches, generally 4 seamer (rising,) 2 seamer (sinker, usually tails away from same side hitter, RHP/RH), slider or cutter, and changeup, splitter or curve. Few pitchers want more than 3 or 4 b/c it's hard to master that many pitches and a hanging slider can be big trouble. Key is to throw all your pitches from the same arm slot with the same movement so the batter doesn't have a "tell." And you want 10-15 MPH spread in velocity between your pitches, using both movement and velocity to move the batter's eyes and keep him off balance.

B/c a starting pitcher will go through the lineup three times, he needs enough pitches to change things up so hitters can't time his stuff.

A closer usually faces 4 or 5 batters, so two pitches are enough.