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It’s only Monday, and I’m not in the mood to argue all week, so we can move on to milquetoast topics and go back to burying our head’s in the sand. Mitch is not the guy. Period. Will archive the prior thread for posterity. Disappointing reactions here. I expect ABs to have higher expectations.

Moving on…Stanford is playing mediocre baseball as well, having gone 3-3 over their last 6. Should be an interesting clash of two powers playing Mike Riley style baseball. Odds are Stanford takes 2 of 3.

247 COMMENTS

  1. 19
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    Hahaha…”everyone doesn’t blindly agree with me so instead of defending my position I’ll just delete the thread”

    Good for you. It’s your site.

  2. I’m still genuinely curious if there are indications recruiting has declined. It still seems pretty strong to me, but following baseball recruiting is confusing and a different beast than football or basketball.

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      It’s hard to find great info on the players, but from memory they all had fewer MLB offers than past guys. Seems like a drop off. Though, I guess you could argue that’s better for a program since you get more time with the players. I remember Casey always hated guys who left early for this reason. If I’m wrong and these guys have high MLB offers then I’m wrong, but I don’t remember reading that. We also had to go to Canada for a guy and seemed more in-State guys than landing more prestigious CA guys, but again, from memory…I think we were ranked top 20…not sure where Casey’s classes were ranked, but I think many were top 10?

      Baseball recruiting info just isn’t out there. So it’s hard to say. I don’t feel as strongly about this opinion as I do about Mitch not being the guy. Seen enough to know the latter is true, and don’t think OSU is a “learn on the job” opportunity, so I’m not willing to give him any more time. Those are my standards.

    • I feel like with baseball too you can’t do too good of a job on recruiting or half your class goes pro. Definitely more of a threading the needle type approach.

      • This is a huge factor! Its good to try to lure the blue chips but realistically most will take the money. making sure you have a solid class of guys in lower rounds is key.

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    I have a bias against “over-thinkers”, by the way. e.g. Joe Maddon is/was a brutal manager.
    The Cubs had an enormous talent advantage, and he under-performed the talent, and they won a WS despite him. People are nuts if they think he’s a good manager. They should have had a dynasty with the talent advantage they had. He’s being exposed with the Angels.

  4. Angry said, “I’m not in the mood to argue all week” and “milquetoast topics and go back to burying our head’s in the sand” and “Disappointing reactions here. I expect ABs to have higher expectations.”

    For not wanting to argue you sure set some up!

  5. 3
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    I watched a kid in the Jayhawk KS Community College Conference this spring that’s coming in next year. Braden Boisvert, 15-HRs, 62-RBIs, SLG-687. Might be someone to watch.

  6. I was looking for where Angry “archived” the deleted post. Led me to some comments he made in 2015 about Beavs going after highly ranked prospects who just want to go pro, and not local kids who want to have heart and fire but little pro aspirations (like Dallas Buck, and…. Mitch Canham) lolololololol

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          That’s not a valid point at all. He was 18 and a player. Now he’s 36 and a manager. If you think that’s apples to apples it’s a you problem.

          But anyway, the other point of whether to recruit high picks who might go MLB is a debatable one.

    • Are you listening to the Into the Woods podcast? Interesting topic this week was discussing Casey getting local talent with high skill but the key being in state guys since there are I think 11.7 scholarships for the program. I hadn’t thought about the effects of getting players from Cali as your top guys but it really hurting how far you can stretch this scholarship shares. Reminds me somewhat of a salary cap situation. Really interesting hearing how the recruiting strategy changed over Casey’s tenure. Didn’t realize Buck played football his freshman year.

      • There was a really well made documentary posted a couple days ago (link below). If you’re an out of state kid with 1/3 of a scholarship, you’re going to be paying a ton of money to play ball. It also talks about how some top private schools (Vanderbilt, Stanford) have really generous need based financial aid which essentially allows them to have most of their team on a full ride scholarship.

        https://youtu.be/C7cKh4fo6Bg

  7. Learned that the Texas A&M transfer DT, Josh Rogers, will not be visiting the June 4th weekend, or any other weekend. OSU has “gone with another guy”. I’m assuming this means Schad is the one and only DT transfer we’ll be bringing in, although I cant rule out the “another guy” could mean a 2nd transfer. Just seems unlikely at this point.

    • Considering its just a single position you can’t load up the team too crazy on them or you won’t be able to recruit either. I would love to see one of the freshmen commit over another transfer. I am very happy with Schad for filling the hole but we need to get a development pipeline going.

  8. 3
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    My pedestrian breakdown of the year.

    Recruiting: Much harder to judge in baseball but I’m not seeing the negative.

    Line Ups: There’s lots of new parts on the team. The big issues I have seen are Casey and Jones. That said I haven’t seen Jones in quite awhile and guys who produce like Fuches, Froemke and Boyd have gotten more time. Melton was also getting more time before injury. I don’t see a problem with trying stuff out. It could have end up being an asset if bats go cold in the off season we may know a lineup that can kick you into drive.

    Attitude: There are many ways to lead. Being a demanding hardass is not the only way to be a success. I’d worry more about what the players have to say. I also don’t believe that screaming at refs/umps and getting tossed from games is a good indicator of management. The camera isn’t on the coaches and umps every second. Does Canham ever talk to umps to get clarification? This may be something we won’t have a good picture of until some of us net trolls can get to a majority of games.

    Pitching: I’m not seeing the pitchers improve much. Hjerpe and Mundt have improved as the season has gone on but I can’t name anyone else that isn’t static or worse. Weirdly we stick with guys too long and also pull hot guys early. Sometimes it seems like analytics and others I have no guess (last game). There isn’t enough check ins with pitchers when they start giving up free bases and seems like there’s a plan going into a game and not adjusting (Abel is a prime example, he is pretty good for about 50 pitches then falls apart with control). Personally I don’t like dormans management of pitchers.

    Defense: pretty dang good considering we don’t have any super stars out there right now.

    Hitting: I feel like there’s 12 guys on the team that are average hitters, a few thst are strike out machines and no great hitters. Hopefully some of.the guys can develop or we get some talent in. A team really does need a great hitter or two to stay in games.

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      I’d be curious to see OSU’s range factor. Anyone who studies sabrematrics knows stats lie once again when it comes to fielding %. If you’re range factor is under the league average, you basically a team full of maladroits who field the easy balls hit to them, but it doesn’t mean you have a great D. Great D in baseball = high fielding percentage with a high range factor per each respective position. You’re much better off with a “rangy” team that makes some errors than a maladroit team that makes no errors.

      • I have no idea where to find that in college ball, stats are generally awful. Just from the games I have watched I don’t see a ton of errors or guys not making plays in the field. We don’t have any mega star guys in the outfield or infield like we have in the past but plenty of very serviceable players.

        I have noticed that we don’t shift around as much as some teams (Arizona is the shiftiest team I have ever seen).

        • I don’t think anyone tracks it, so we’d have to calculate it. Eye test is fine with fielding percentage, but it isn’t great with something like range…can be very deceptive. It’s basically tracking the plays a player makes over the league average for that position.

          “The statistic is premised on the notion that the total number of outs in which a player participates is more relevant in evaluating that player’s defensive play than the percentage of cleanly handled chances as calculated by the conventional statistic fielding percentage.”

          It’s not a perfect statistic, but it’s better than something like fielding percentage. Really you want to combine the two to get the clearest picture, which is why I brought it up. People are saying OSU has great D. No, we have great fielding percentage. It’s different.

          Both stats are flawed on their own, but quite good when combined.

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            Armstrong is fantastic in the field, Ober is above average.

            Maybe next time you tune in for 12 pitches you could calculate our ranginess lol

            Days like today remind me that you could “sell” this blog since it’s clearly a financial burden (lol) and move on to your potatoes and bad music.

          • Cuz this site has archived threads, so why not keep it there? Why delete it at all?

            Oh because you control your own narrative.

          • Because I didn’t want it on the front page. The conversation wasn’t constructive at all and quickly fell into a basic “shoot the messenger” campaign, and I don’t have time for that this week. It’ll be in the archives once I repost it in a few weeks when it falls off the front page. There’s nothing to hide, no narrative to control, etc. Q-anon? I no longer like Mitch as the HC, and I feel I’ve seen enough to make that call. The end.

            Another option is to post it and close the comments. I’m fine with that, too. But I don’t have time to spend on attacks all week. Mitch should be the person attacked.

          • No, you deleted it until it falls of the front page. Then you will archive it.

            At least be honest.

            And if everyone was agreeing with you, it would still be up. It’s your ball, just admit you had a tantrum and took it home.

          • And if everyone was agreeing with you, it would still be up. It’s your ball, just admit you had a tantrum and took it home.

            No clue. The thread was about Mitch, not me, though, and you guys chose to make it about me. Don’t have time or energy for that.

          • LOL, now you are just lying to yourself. Zero percent chance the post is gone if everyone commented in agreement with you. Zero.

          • “No clue” means I don’t know. It doesn’t mean “no”…

            If people are agreeing they aren’t shooting the messenger, and therefore I don’t have to defend myself, so probably. Just common sense. But again, no clue.

    • I’m all in on getting a new pitching coach. All the walks, hit batters, etc. If you look at our avg runs given up starting with UC Irvine we’ve been giving up 6+/game. While the overall ERA for Dorman looks good on paper, you’ll find most of that was because of the weakers teams in the first half of the season. Get to “real” competition and we’ve been getting roughed up. Gave up 19 to UA.

      From a hitting perspective, we’ve left so many stranded on base. I agree we don’t have that true threat in the lineup. I think Melton was on his way to be that guy until the injury. I’ve liked what Meckler has done and I like Forester as a freshman. Think we have 3 or 4 guys that I’ve seen that can really be threats. There could definitely be more, just haven’t seen enough at bats on guys like Fuches, Boyd, etc to make any further assessments.

      As far as attitude from the coaches, I think you need to show some emotion from time to time and stand up for your players! From what I saw on that call last game, the only person giving any fight was Meckler. Canham kind of looked lost out there IMO. Perhaps he shouldn’t get tossed at that pivotal point in the game, but you have assistant coaches that could. Why not Barney at first? We don’t know what goes on in the locker room, etc but optics seem to show not much fight put up on questionable calls and I hope that doesn’t permeate to the players.

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        Good comment. All along I said once Conference play started OSU would be exposed. Especially Joe Casey. Boy…A@A said he improved and was legit. Lol.

        Conference play has exposed our talent and Mitch. YoungOrSt brought up that Casey had some bad seasons…yeah. He finished 6th or 7th three times since establishing a dynasty in 2005. 3 out of 13 years. Mitch now has a 5-9 record and a 6th or 7th place finish, depending how things pan out this weekend, on his resume.

        • Did you notice that Casey’s 6th place finishes (and a 7th) were in the season’s following the CWS runs (including the last national championship season)?

          You know, basically the years Canham is in right now?

          • Yeah I mean is that the basic baseball strategy? You never have enough scholarships for the team so your choices are unbalance the scholarships and be good for a couple years and then mediocre for a couple years. Or balance your scholarships and be good but never with enough talent to be great.

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            Say that to Vandy, Arkansas, Miss St, etc. They are always in it and go through the same issues we do with losing talent or having prospects opt to the majors. We are a top tier program now and being mediocre for an extended stretch shouldn’t be the expectation or acceptable. Compare this to what the new coach for U of O had done in his first season. He took over a team that was sub .500 since 2018. Success can be had even for newly hired coaches.

            As I’ve said before, I’m not calling for Mitch yet, some of the issues we’ve seen in the short season haven’t been corrected and still are issues today.

          • Good question. I guess I’m for giving the HC a little more room than the assistants. Maybe not the right approach but I feel like the issues we have with the pitching is more problematic and I think Dorman needs to go but I’d be for giving Mitch another year. However, another 6th or 7th place in the PAC and if the same issues are still prevalent, then I think it’s fair to say coaching is an issue and it’s time to move on. Similar to my thoughts on the football program. I’m for keeping Niner as HC but have not been impressed with Tibs at d coordinator. 3 years in and I believe the D has still been last in the PAC overall? Not to mention weird choices for schemes or lack thereof. He’s also another interesting case study on our fans being ok with being mediocre. In 3 years hasn’t moved us out of 12th place defensively and yet people have blasted me for wanting a new DC.

          • Look at how many times Vanderbilt has finished 3rd or 4th in their division (6th or worst in the conference).

            These are the years Vandy has been 3rd or 4th in its division.

            2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

            So I would say it to Vandy.

            Miss State.

            14th in 2015
            5th in 2017
            7th in 2018

            Yep, “always in it”

            LOL

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            Let’s see. MSU had made the tourney from 96-2007. A few years off then 2011-2019. So from 96 to 2021 they’ve not made the tourney 4 times. Regional Champs the last 4 years straight. I’d say that’s “always” in it. Lol.

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            Sure, if you eliminate the years they aren’t in it, they’re always in it.

            Agreed.

            Terrible argument but sure.

          • Haha, ok so because they’ve missed it 4 years in the last 25 or so seasons they aren’t always in it? You must be fun at parties if you take every word so literally. In my book, 21/25 years of post season play is good enough for “always in it”. Been fun chatting with you though.

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            Dude, look up their 2015 season. It was a disaster.

            Also, they’ve made the tourney with a losing conference record multiple times. The SEC gets like 10 teams in every year.

            Getting to regionals wasn’t the standard angry set. He mentioned conference finish. I’m using his standard.

            You are free to have a different standard but Miss State was NOT in it in 2015.

          • Vanderbilt has made the post season every year since 2006. Regional winners from 2010 – 2019 all but 2 times. So seems like they’re “always in” unless you don’t consider making post season play for 14+ years in a row as “always in it”.

            It’s OK to be critical of the program and/or coaches. They get paid good money to produce results and when they don’t, change needs to happen. We are one of the most successful programs since the initial championship and we should expect consistent results…good programs do and their coaches know they need to perform.

          • I wasn’t responding to Angry’s comment. My comment was in regards to the person saying teams are either good for a few years then mediocre or good but never great. So my argument is that the top programs are used to making the tourney under the same issues that OSU goes through. Sure, they might not win the conference every year but clearly they make the tourney year in and year out.

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            Yeah agree with most of that. At least Tibs has the excuse of inherenting a “dumpster fire”…Mitch inherited a top program and us turning it into a dumpster fire.

          • Lol, they’re a bubble team, disaster?

            Yeah. Like I said in the deleted (sorry archived for a future posting), bullshit hyperbole.

            If we want to use regional appearances as a guide.

            If OSU isn’t selected it will be the 3rd time since 2005. Mississippi State 4 times.

            So you can’t have it both ways here, if Mississippi State is a power than all powers miss the tournament roughly as many times as OSU.

            But that doesn’t fit your hyperbolic narrative.

          • What’s your narrative? Lower expectations, deal with it, and give him a longer leash than he deserves because he’s a former player?

          • Nope,

            My narrative is that even Pat Casey teams weren’t always great. And no national power is always great. And to assume being on the bubble in 2021 is a dumpster fire is hyperbolic nonsense.

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            I don’t care about all that. I’m saying, as a coach, is he good? If so, what’s his strength? He lost me when he didn’t realize you walk the bases loaded and play for a DP. Literally Little League managing that 999/1000 managers at this level know in their sleep, and he either didn’t, or he overthought it. Both awful traits. He should have been Grady Littled on the spot. I wanted to give him Arizona to see if he could redeem. Nope.

            I don’t care what Pat Casey did in 2007 or any of these other arguments. They literally have zero to do with the problem at hand. He’s not a good in-game manager. Nobody can even name a legit strength.

          • Considering this team was a top 15 team with 10 losses for the first half the season to being on the bubble, and imo if they don’t take the series from Stanford they’re not making the tourney, isn’t a good look.

          • Neither was finishing under .500 in conference play as defending national champs in 2008 and 2009.

            The 2008 team lucked into a regional and got hot but back to back losing regular conference seasons after a national title isn’t a good look.

            Did you want Casey fired?

          • Pretty good high fives. I think watching on tv makes it harder compared to being at the games. Only see what the camera shows.

          • That could be true but I did watch several of their games this year and last year at Surprise and it seemed the same as what I’ve been seeing on TV. Now, we obviously didn’t have anywhere near that type of call during the AZ trip but from what I’ve seen live, it appears to be the same.

          • I was asking the other guys. They seem to have no answer. So since he has no strength, it seems like Mitch is “out athleting” teams right now. This puts a huge emphasis on maintaining to improving recruiting.

          • I mentioned one of Mitch’s strengths in the thread that was “archived” aka deleted. I guess you didn’t like it.

          • You mentioned something about the Mariners saying he’s good. But I’m asking what you have seen. What do you see every weekend that’s a strength. Not what some other team says is a strength.

          • What’s the point in responding to you. People responded to you and those comments aren’t on this thread anymore. Keep talking to a brick wall and reassuring yourself that you are right. You are right. You are always right. Good points. They are correct. You are right. You are very smart. You are right.

          • ^ That just means you can’t answer the question. Once again making it about me and trying to insult me instead of answering the Q.

          • I answered it on the deleted part!!! Can you read man???? You are hilarious. Go back to the archived conversation. What did I say about defense? Was that an attack on you? I’m sorry if you feel attacked that I commented Mitch must emphasize defense because they have a pretty high fielding percentage (as mentioned in the ASU thread). But he sucks completely so he can’t possibly be responsible for that.

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            Yeah that’s not an answer. If your boss asks you to name a positive trait in a coworker, and you say, “the people who work under him do good things” then you’re basically naming the positive traits of the people who work under him.

            Also pointed out fielding % alone is useless if not combined with range factor.

            Back to the question: what is Mitch good at? Not what am I bad at or what are the people under Mitch doing that you perceive as good.

          • It is an answer. You are choosing not to accept it, and that’s fine. We don’t see eye to eye. Have a good one dude.

          • What is he good at?

            While the team is pretty good defensively.

            No, not what his players are good at.

            LOL, he is the coach, if the players are good at something the coach gets credit for that.

            But nope, you can’t ever accept that everyone doesn’t just blindly agree with you so you delete (sorry archive in your secret vault) the thread.

          • That’s a terrible argument. People don’t blame him for a loss – that’s on the players. But they credit him for team defense (which might be bad – depends on range factor). Lololol.

          • Who said he doesn’t take blame for the losses? You are the one arguing you can’t give credit/blame for what the players do.

            Frankly, you are embarrassing yourself at this point.

            Maybe delete (sorry secret archive) this thread too? Make yourself feel better?

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            Yeah yeah. Your current rant is more embarrassing than your Trump rants. Clearly you’re way too emotionally invested in this coach.

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            Bahaha, okay.

            BTW, I remain 100% right about Trump. But keep telling yourself Republicans aren’t authoritarians and wouldn’t crown Trump king tomorrow if they could.

            You are so sad and pathetic you are unable to handle even the tiniest bit of criticism. Won’t even admit you deleted the thread because everyone didn’t praise you as the genius you believe you are. Which that is exactly what you did.

          • Deflect more.

            At least I stand by my comments instead of deleting them like a coward.

            BTW, you loved the Andersen hire whereas I was amongst the few who didn’t so why should anyone listen to you?

            I am pretty sure bringing that up is why you deleted (sorry secretly archived) the thread.

          • Yes, I know. After it drops off the first page.

            I can’t read it right now = deleted.

            And not paranoid. Don’t care if you did delete it. Just don’t be such a whiney little bitch about everyone not agreeing with you.

          • LOL, whatever helps you justify your hurt feelings.

            BTW, I’d like this thread “archived”, it is just personal attacks.

            Oh wait, its fine when you do it.

            Hypocrite

          • LOL, It is your house, your rules.

            Just know that everyone knows you deleted the last thread because your feelings got hurt, everyone knows it no matter how much you try to claim otherwise.

            Angry’s feelings were hurt. Poor little guy.

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            Triggered?

            Try laughing my ass off at you. This shit is hilarious.

            And if libtard means loving democracy. Guilty as charged.

            Sorry you don’t agree.

            But I bet calling me a libtard makes you feel better. Good for you. Snowflakes (see I can use stupid buzzwords too) like you need all the emotional support they can get.

            Thank you for the entertainment. Triggered? LOL, what is this 2015?

          • For the record, I am just bothered by you deleting a bunch of comments than going into a different thread and claiming no one had valid arguments and was just attacking you.

            But of course, no one can verify that is the truth because you deleted the thread.

            Because your feelings were hurt.

            Even a libtard like me can see the truth.

          • Yeah I can see you’re bothered. If this happened in my life, I’d spend zero seconds on it and move on to something productive. Hence, the comment above, that you’re an unstable person. Anyone obsessing over me has serious serious problems.

          • LOL, obsessing?

            Jesus, you think highly of yourself.

            I literally haven’t posted to this site in months before yesterday. You said something really absurd, I called you out. You turned into a baby about it and now convinced yourself I am obsessed with you?

            I don’t like the idea that you are claiming I have said things that no one can verify because you deleted the thread.

            That is a bullshit whiney bitch move.

            I am calling you out for it.

            Obsessed? Get over yourself.

          • Thanks for the laughs, appreciate the entertainment.

            See you in a few months when I make the mistake of reading one of your ridiculous commentaries instead of just scrolling for recruiting news like normal.

            Who knows how many you’ll “archive” between now and then when your don’t get the affirmation you crave.

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            How can you say you’d spend zero time on it when you choose to archive the deleted thread in a secret archive, then delete others’ posts, block them, modify your own comments. That took some time

          • Don’t understand this comment? I’ve went to every game in surprise except 2 in the last 2 years. Def spent more than 10 minutes watching a game in person much less most every game thats been live streamed or on PAC 12 network. But yeah, 10 min is all I watched.

          • I’m thinking that 20-33 would be a “dumpster fire”, not 33-20. Regardless, this has not been a fun season.
            Way too many mistakes, HBP, W, WP, PB, balks, etc.

    • Meant as a reply to Nuc Beav: regarding us trolls getting to games comment, I’d like to hear if we could from players and players parents on how they view this year. I know that may never happen but it’s hard for us to know the ins and outs of what’s going on behind closed doors. There are a lot of local kids on the team so maybe there are some friends of players reading this high quality stuff ready to share a few tidbits…. just be nice to hear someone close to the program rather than all of these projections I mean professional opinions.

      • I do wish they could speak candidly while on a team but that’s a horrid idea for them. It’s always great to hear stuff from guys after they retire

        • That’s true. Even while guys are on the team though you can get a sense through interviews what type of culture has been established and the details the coaches are preaching. Is that always very candid though… just start up a Beaver Baseball reality show. It would be so real and authentic!

  9. Saw Rueck has lost another assistant. Kendall Knotz, who had the title “Assistant to the Head Coach” since 2016, and prior to that was a student manager. So lots of continuity lost. taking some communications job up in Seattle.

    His entire staffis is turning over.

  10. 1:40pm – just posted in the game thread from the weekend. Couple of 20 watt bulbs we got lurking here.

    • Hah. No, A@A is just trying to stir garbage. It’s in reference to a thread I made this morning saying I’m ready to part with Mitch.

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        I stand by my statement. The game thread is still there. And can still be posted in.

        Learn the difference between archived and deleted 20 watts.

        But considering one took something I wrote a few weeks ago, completely butchered one of my points and misquoted me in a response? Pretty easy to see some lack reading comprehension.

        Or are just plain fucking stupid. You pick.

        Duty calls. This degenerate is out.

  11. I’m flushing the Roger Carreon gut bomb. For how excited he was about getting his first P5 offer from OSU, he’s now pretty focused on gathering more offers and is getting noticed by sime pretty big name teams.
    Being from New Mexico, a move to OSU vs some of the SEC and Big10 teams recruiting him doesn’t seem very likely.

    • We do still have an official visit with him at the end of June, despite what 247 says, so I’m not counting us out. Getting him towards his last visit is nice.

      • Make that should be the Friday starter.
        And for those who say Abel is good for 50-60 pitches, he’s had some pretty shakey first innings.

        Someone above mentioned the difference in ERA and Runs Allowed per Game; I found it surprising that the Beavs don’t stick out as having a difference a lot higher than the rest of the PAC:
        OSU 3.49/4.11
        UofO 3.38/3.85
        UCLA 3.86/4.58
        Cal 3.94/4.51
        Stan 4.81/5.41
        AZ 4.45/5.38
        ASU 4.86/6.02
        etc.

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            Agree, that’s been my feeling all along.
            I don’t disagree with the notion that he was owed some special consideration for what he did in the CWS.
            Gotta wonder how long Casey would have kept him at Friday; certainly a challenge for Canham as a rookie HC. But, as mentioned, he gets paid for results.

            IMHO Canham is more focused on “building men” than on winning; he doesn’t seem to mind losing the way Casey did. That bothers me (and it’s not even the BEST way to build men).

          • IMHO Canham is more focused on “building men” than on winning; he doesn’t seem to mind losing the way Casey did. That bothers me.

            The Riley model, no?

          • I dunno if I buy that Riley didn’t mind losing, honestly I think losing drive him to depression at the end there. I hate losing too, but I don’t give up or start acting like a whinny bitch like some people that I have played sports with. Doesn’t mean I like losing any more or less.

          • Casey always seemed a little partial to the guys that had been in the program a while over the pure raw talent that was behind them. Think that is a common among coaches though. It is tough to say on your point of building men vs. winning at all costs. I think you have to do some building of men for the team to get better as the season wears on. I also think rebuilding seasons you probably do a bit more building than winning at all costs and when you have the deck stacked in your favor you probably do a bit more winning at all costs.

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            Very good thoughts.
            I still think it would have been to the teams benefit if the staff showed more emotion on at least a couple occasions to this point in the season.

            Darwin should have gotten himself tossed on the Meckler incident. Parker mentioned that he had words for the ump at the end of the game…………..too little, too late!

          • Yeah I think there is a time and place to show some emotion. I think Casey had that dialed in. Arguing the calls almost never works but sometimes it might get you the next close one and it can give the team an emotional boost. I remember that was a knock on Riley and he chucked his headset once after taking some heat for not arguing more.

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            Casey messed up not arguing more calls vs LSU, though…that Kwan HR call especially. Wonder if he knew the fix was in. #IllegitimateCwsTitle

          • True Casey should have got tossed by Street that game. I think that as time goes on you forget the mistakes and concentrate on the winning. In another 20 years we’ll look back and think Casey made no mistakes as the legend grows. I mean all coaches screw up. The good ones do it less. Can Canham learn? I hope so, his MiLB experience should be an asset but he also needs to more quickly learn the differences to the college game

          • Darwin’s primary job is to provide guidance to Canham throughout the game. He isn’t just a warm body standing by 1st. He is valuable to the HC. It isn’t that simple to say he needs to get run. How many times do you see assistants run? He’s letting his boss down if he’s not in the dugout. Agree there is a time and place for it but that’s Canhams not Barney’s.

          • True, assistants don’t often get tossed, BUT Darwin was closest to the play and his getting tossed would have impacted the team just as much as if Canham were run out, maybe more. If he was jawing at the ump after the game it doesn’t have the same effect on either the team or the ump as if he went off at the time of the play.

            You lack confidence in Wong’s ability to fill in?

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    This is a good time to see if my season preview was good or bad. Pretty close to the results, I’d say. Supers being the ceiling is still there and they are a bubble team. I still think talent is the biggest issue. There just isn’t enough on both sides. Coaching is probably 40% of the issue. Coaches can’t win games but they can certainly lose them. Dormans philosophy of pitching inside at a high rate has hurt more than helped. If he had the talent throughout the staff, that strategy would work at a dominant level. Canham has had blunders but not to the point of making a change. The losses this year have seemed to be much more heartbreaking than years past.

    I do expect them to win one game vs Stanford, just hope it’s the Friday game.

    “A baseball preview since there’s really not much to go on and my work is slow today. Usually summer leagues indicated what players were ready to burst onto the scene. One of the hardest years to predict but I’ll give it a try anyway.

    The biggest questions for the year,

    1. Is there enough talent on this team to contend for a conference title?
    2. What impact will the coaching staff have in year 1.5?
    3. Who are the breakout players? Always one or two guys who after a year or two have a great year.
    4. Impact freshman?
    5. What’s the ceiling of this year’s team?

    1. I don’t think there is enough talent on the team to contend for the PAC12 title. There was a dip in recruiting following the bonanza in 14-16 classes. There’s always guys who develop and have great years but the best teams are carried by guys who come in and become cornerstones immediately.

    The ’14 class was a pretty solid class. Harrison, Gillette were top 150 guys. Rasmussen, Cary, Gretler, Cary and Martinek were top 500 guys. Had three more top guys who went pro instead, Loehr, George and Hinz. Heimlich, Donahue and Tweedt rounded out that class. Heimlich was unranked as he graduated early. Would have been ranked if he came in his original ’15 class.

    The ’15 class was pretty special. Grenier, Madrigral were the top 150 recruits. Also had Fehmel, Larnach, Taylor, Kwan. Only Kwan was outside the top 500 rankings. Had one top guy go pro, Oxnevad.

    The 16? class was good but did not have a top 150 recruit. Gambrell, Verberg, Rutschman, Jones, and Willy were all ranked. Malone, Eisert, Mulholland, Armstrong, Mendazona rounded out this class. A class that benefitted from the cornerstone guys in the two previous classes.

    The ’17 class is where the drop begins. Only Abel was a top 150 recruit. Claunch, Burns and Foster were the only others ranked.

    The ’18 class had no top 150 recruits. Only two ranked guys made it to campus, Pfennings and Dukart. Easley turned pro instead.

    The ’19 class had a little bit more depth. Still no top 150 guy but 5 guys ranked. Only McLaughlin is gone and it appears grades were an issue as he is at a CC in AZ now.

    The ’20 class of course had Mick Abel but he’s gone. Only other two guys ranked were Giblin and Donahue.

    Though there is a dip, help is on the way. In each future class now, there is at least 1 top 150 recruit with more than a few top 500 guys.

    So long answer, outside of Abel, they don’t have enough cornerstone guys right now. Unranked guys from prior classes benefitted from the cornerstone guys by having room to make mistakes and learn from the better guys.

    2. Well since talent is an issue this year, coaches will need to coach the players up. Interesting add of Barney who goes from AAA manager to assistant coach. Adds another pro element to the staff as most of their coaching background is at the pro level. More modern day coaches vs Casey’s old school hard knocks type. Would hope to see defense as a strength this year. All coaches played at OSU and went to the CWS except for Dorman.

    3. I think we’ve gotten used to a guy coming out of nowhere and having a great year and then getting drafted. Been waiting for Jones for four years. Claunch too. Don’t really have an idea for this year. Would be nice to see guys from the ’19 class breakout. Valero, Boyd, McDowell.

    4. I guess Giblin and Donahue since they were the only ranked guys in their class that made it to campus. None of the freshman last year did much.

    5. Ceiling for this team is supers and everything will have to go right for that. They will have to scrap and dig deep every game to be a good team. Winning conference record is a reasonable goal. Can’t rely on CG SHO from Abel every Friday. Super Seniors will need to lead the team (Jones, Armstrong, Mulholland). Pitching should be ok but the offense will need to carry them occasionally. I hope they can make the tourney but they’ll be on the bubble the entire year.”

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        It is TBD. In terms of raw talent that’s committed, it’s probably a bit improved. I mentioned above about guys who can come in and be cornerstones. They produce right away and the rest of the team benefits from the consistency of the cornerstones. There are guys in each of the future classes that can be cornerstones.

        But it all comes down to if they choose to come to school. How much money does it take for a guy to go pro is the question. Remember Madrigal and Grenier were both expected to turn pro but the teams that wanted to draft them in the first round wanted to pay less than slot value. It turned a good class into a legendary class. Didn’t have to worry about their spot in the lineup for three years.

        • Thanks. Have we been recruiting fewer CA guys? Seems that way, but with baseball recruiting coverage so poor it’s hard to find all that info. What site do you use for baseball recruiting?

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    Oregonian has a Whitley article up. Just sounds like it came down to OSU medical staff not wanting to clear him to practice or play. Michigan maybe has some doctors willing to take more risk on their staff?

    • That’s usually the case. Where one sees too much risk, another sees a reclamation project.

      Helps the Beavs by freeing up a scholarship that likely would have resulted in no results as he wouldn’t have been cleared ever.

  14. Irish moves to CB. Hopefully this gives him a shot at more PT, but it kind of feels like the beginning of the end.

    • I felt like he showed promise as a freshman and then just never seemed to develop from there. Hopefully this move allows him to make some kind of impact aside from special teams.

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    So the Beavs have lost every series vs PAC opponents with a winning record. Say they go 1-2 vs Stanford. Post season or no?
    I think at that point RPI might not matter. I think 2-1 vs Stanford secures it. Anything less is iffy.

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      If they go 1-2, they are in for sure. Might drop them to a three seed though. One win secures a winning conference record. A winning conference record in the pac12 will get teams in nearly every year. It also secures a winning road record. Beavs get more credit in the committees eyes because they go on the road and play quality opponents.

        • 2016 is the year you are thinking. Utah won the conference but had like a 90 rpi. Beavs were at like 40 something. Had to sweep ucla at the end to even have a chance. Then the uw coach advocated for his team to be included instead of the Beavs when they had a worse overall record and rpi. Same conference record but the Beavs had won the series.

          It is similar in terms of wins/losses but the quality of opponents is higher this year. Pac12 was weak that year with Utah winning it.

          • Thanks…that’s it. ’16. Seemed longer ago.
            I guess we’ll see in a few days. 0-3 this weekend: are we in or not?

          • Not sure. In most years, getting swept in the final series would knock them out. But other bubble teams have a lot of work to do in their final series or conference tourneys. I’d lean very very slightly to being in, even if they get swept. But would be a very low 3 seed.

            Beavs will get credit too for a tough schedule. Boydsworld ranks their sos at #8 in the country.

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      I’m not a fan of his game. Too much scrambling. Throw #3 is a good example. He has the guy he ultimately threw to wide open right away, yet missed that, then dances around and ultimately has to make a much more difficult throw to the same guy. I watched about ten more throws, and on many he’s scrambling too much. I doubt he gets away with that in college. I’d give him a shot as a walk-on.

    • He’ll be taking an unofficial visit to campus in June. Hasn’t played any other position besides QB, so will be interesting to see if OSU is thinking about taking a 2nd QB for 2022, or recruiting as an Athlete, or maybe as a potential PWO.
      Or I guess they could be considering him as an insurance option in case Throckmorton bails at some point between now and December

    • That was enjoyable. I always had both those guys on my “watch list” in fantasy for that skill set. Unique and refreshing these days.

    • BA with 2 strikes, what’ll they think of next?
      Still, a worthwhile stat…………like all of ’em…..Mitch approves!

  16. MLB needs to move the mound back at least a foot. Baseball is completely unwatchable. BB, K, HR. 4 hour games because the ball is never in play.

    • There’s your anonymous Reser update donor.

      Speaking of Reser update, anyone see the GT article?
      https://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/osus-reser-stadium-renovation-to-cost-more-than-324-5-million/article_a60bd4e9-ee2b-5ecf-a8b2-6773f4a35118.html

      This especially caught my eye…
      “The university is projecting gross revenue of more than $1 billion from premium ticket sales over 50 years, before factoring “cannibalization” of existing premium ticket revenue, which averages out to more than $20.2 million a year in premium ticket sales.

      Those estimates come from CSL Consulting of Burlington, Massachusetts, which OSU hired to run the numbers. The firm has been contracted by the likes of Florida State University and the Columbus Crew Soccer Club to conduct market research and to consult on stadium construction and renovation projects.

      Those estimates represent a significant increase over current revenue levels generated by Reser Stadium.

      Since 2007, the university has averaged less than $7.5 million in annual gross ticket sales — for both premium and standard seating — according to Membership Financial Reporting System forms provided by the university. The most OSU has made from total ticket sales in a single year during that span came in fiscal 2017, when it reported just under $9.3 million in sales.”

      So they rarely/never make more than 7-9 mil but now they’ll rake in 20mil? That many big donors aching to get seats in a club/box? Seems unlikely.

        • Although since I learned that earlier, I can see that Coach Lose has started following him, so at least we’re looking.
          Toia has a couple of brothers who play D1 also, one at San Jose State and another at Baylor. The Baylor brother is Siaki Ika, another transfer DT who we pursued out of LSU a few months back before he chose Baylor.

  17. The new guy at the GT goes beyond repeating the company line in a piece on pitching and the bullpen. Points out the difference in success after the conference season started and shows the numbers which say OSU doesn’t BB at an inordinate rate except for one guy.
    “In 27 conference games, Oregon State’s pitching staff has walked 118 batters over 240? innings. That number is inflated a bit by the stats of Friday night starter Kevin Abel, who leads the conference in strikeouts, but has also issued a conference-worst 36 walks this season. When Abel’s numbers are removed from the equation, 13 Oregon State pitchers have combined to walk 82 batters in Pac-12 play.”

    Mitch has it figured out:
    “…I really think that if we can flip it — instead of getting to a full count, and we start thinking 2-2, it makes us more competitive early on. But the reality is that we need to be getting after guys in three pitches or less, not fearing contact and allowing our defense to work.”

    https://www.gazettetimes.com/sports/beavers-sports/baseball/osu-baseball-what-has-happened-to-the-beavers-bullpen/article_c7c10c23-4c80-57fa-b571-9ee64f91cff5.html

  18. Purdue site looks ahead to football opener, predicts victory over Beavers. Apparently their coach pulled in some portal transfer players that are expected to make a difference:

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hammerandrails.com/platform/amp/2021/5/26/22455219/purdue-oregon-state-2021-preview

    I’m actually looking forward to this game. The competition level provides a good indicator of Smith and staff’s progress or lack thereof, and their ability to have quality execution early.

    • Apparently their coach pulled in some portal transfer players that are expected to make a difference

      Luck o’ da Beavs.
      Watch Purdue have their once in a lifetime season starting with us.

      • I thought that but was interesting because there’s this (IMO) false narrative about Smith working the transfer portal to some special advantage . Most, if not all, coaches are working it…

        • Most coaches of non-elite teams, anyway. It’s a good change for the sport. Redistributes talent, which tends to flow from elite teams to non elite teams as depth chart reality sinks in.

          So I don’t think it’s fair to say that all coaches are winning at the transfer portal, but probably reasonable to say that most programs with talent gaps are using the portal to help plug them.

  19. Even Bennett just entered the transfer portal. Is he pissed about Schad coming in? Seems short-sighted, doesn’t Schad just have one year of eligibility?

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      Hey dummy, the coaches don’t teach the players defense okay. Stop blaming the coach for something the players do. Goodness sakes.

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    Since the dominant theme of this thread is about determining who was right and when, I can’t resist pointing out that in early March a year ago I was on this site indicating I had info from a source who indicated the Covid virus was a lab experiment gone awry. That was, by the way, even before other supposed “conspiracy theories” were being mocked by establishment media. Today, consensus seems to be developing around the lab theory. Even Biden wants a full investigation, now that he’s president.

    • Anyone that seems to be the leading health “expert” that ironically has a financial interest in that lab you are talking about? I think his name rhymes with crotchy.

  21. I thought they disproved it was an engineered virus? (Honest question on that) Lab leak has always been a real possibility though I do think the media mishandled it.

    • There’s 3-4 studies now that show it’s not engineered. An aspect that wasn’t really considered before is viral labs also have tons of samples of unknown viruses found in people and animals that are being studied. There’s growing concensus that may be the case in Wuhan and there was exposure in the lab that lead to the pandemic. Still nothing really proven.

  22. Yeah, missing the post-season after the way they started the year would be a shock. It feels to me like the offense has actually improved with guys other than Melton stepping up in his absence. Pitching is just a disaster, so maybe the blame will just get placed at Dorman’s feet instead of Mitch’s?

    • Probably. Mitch is untouchable for now. I can see that. 0-3 might change that for some fans.

      I’m not sure if he’d fire Dorman…not sure how strong that relationship is, etc. Should fire him to make a statement and set expectations.

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