2022 Baseball Thread

[slikmar]

Don't forget Rendon, though I wish he had stayed given he can't stay healthy for my Angels and when he has, has been less then stellar and his contract may cost any chance of resigning Ohtani. Now there is lots of talk of trading Ohtani and basically getting an entire team for him since he is under control thru next year. Soto is under control for 2 more years, so they should get a boatload for him also, and as one writer pointed out, because of the 3 playoff run control, even teams who may not be able to resign him could make a trade, then flip him next year if they are out of it or the year after.

[unclevlad]

They've been talking Soto quite a bit, and where he might end up, on MLB Tonight.  Plesak was figuring...given what you might have to trade to get him, you'd have to plan on signing him to an extension.

 

I can see trading Ohtani too.

 

In the "how bad can you look"...we have a new record.

Red Sox have been turned into road pizza tonight.  Outfield pop-up gets lost...turning into an inside the park grand slam.  Later on, with 2 outs, couple runners on, the Toronto hitter sends one straight up the chute.  Pitcher moves off to the side...third baseman and catcher watch each other.  It falls.  Halfway between the plate and the mound.

 

Toronto has already set the record for most runs scored by a visiting team at Fenway Park.

 

It's the 6th inning.  It's 27-4.

 

The modern day record for runs for one team is 30...Rangers vs. Orioles.  (Modern is since 1900 here.)  The all-time is 36, from 1897.  THAT could fall...Boston hasn't started putting position players out there as pitchers yet.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Just saw the final score for that game. Kinda wish I could have seen it. 

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

This highlight is just unbelievable. 

 

 

[slikmar]

would only have been nicer if happened to the Yankees, but i will take Boston.

[Cancer]

Send that CF back to Tee League and teach him how to field.

[unclevlad]

12 minutes ago, Cancer said:

Send that CF back to Tee League and teach him how to field.

 

If we required players to know how to play defense, we'd have to do that with a good quarter of them.

 

Could be worse;  if we insisted on them knowing how to run the bases properly (especially situationally)...it'd be at least half.

 

A notable question is, the trade deadline is imminent;  it's a week from Tuesday.  Sox have had a disastrous July...5-13, mostly against the division.  But they're only 3 back for the last WC slot, so...buy, hold, or sell?  I wouldn't try buying, personally;  they're nowhere near close enough to doing something significant in October.  Selling...could depend on who else moves.  Soto will devour the trade options for one team.  Some are pushing for the Angels to trade Ohtani...which I don't think will happen, as he's too interwoven with the team and fan base.

 

Oh, and Sox haters?  Jays are up 3-1 after 3 right now.

[slikmar]

Eh, I don't blame the CF. There are times, and anyone who has seen a game in California can testify, where a high, whitish clowdy sky makes the ball impossible to see. What was needed was one of the 2 side fielders to be screaming at him to go back.

Ohtani will only be traded if someone blows the Angels away with a package that could literally rebuild their team in a year, I really hope it doesn't happen, but I also think, barring a miracle that he will not resign with them. They basically can't commit money to anyone else to build up the team (if his contract doesn't start at 50 mil a year, I would be shocked) with already Trout at 35mil (and he is becoming injury prone, it feels like) and Rendon (who is turning into a bust as a guy who came to them having played the most games in the prior 3 years now having played the least in the 3 he has been with the angels) at 30+mil. Some of our young pitching looks like might be good - Sandoval, Detmers, Suarez (hit and miss) and Canning and Rodriguez (both on IL and probably not back till next season). I just don't know if they have enough to compete even next year. <Rant on as fan of Angels>It didnt help that they signed 4 bullpen "studs" (Iglesias, Loup, Bradley and Tepera) and all 4 had subpar season. during the Angels 14 game losing streak, at least 5 of those games, those 4 guys were given leads late and could not hold up. Add that to the back slide of Walsh and Stassi, injury to Fletcher and really the disappointment of Marsh and Adell as future stars. some of this could be pointed straight at the new dead ball, as their power seems to have disappeared at the warning track<rant off>.

[unclevlad]

The criticism about the CF wasn't losing the ball;  sure, as you say, that happens.

 

The problem is he stood there twiddling his thumbs, and didn't even react when he had to see the LF charging over.  The claim post-game was that he thought it was out, but...well, we know what happens when you assume.

 

Plus, a couple innings later, there was the moonball pop-up that dropped, untoucned, halfway between the plate and the mound, with the 3rd baseman, catcher, and pitcher all too afraid to actually try to catch it.

 

Nats have apparently set their expectation for trading Soto...4-5 top prospects or major leaguers with limited service time.  Translation:  young, cheap, and promising to good.

[slikmar]

2 hours ago, unclevlad said:

Nats have apparently set their expectation for trading Soto...4-5 top prospects or major leaguers with limited service time.  Translation:  young, cheap, and promising to good.

And will probably get it, Soto is that good. Sadly, the same type might get Ohtani out of Anaheim and my world will get dimmer.

Nevin will not survive after the season, I suspect a full coaching change up, and hopefully a hitting coach who will get these guys out of their own heads, because it becomes obvious watching they are guessing, wrongly a lot, on pitches and trying to hit HRs on everything with only a few exceptions. If I were Moreno and Minasian, when they go to replace the managers and coaches, you better have a long talk with Ohtani if you want to keep him and if he suggests bringing his old Japanese manager over, do it if he will resign. Ohtani is one of those players that more then pays for himself through merchandise, ticket sales, TV contract etc. even if his value takes you over the threshhold. Pujols, when they got him was like that, hence why they were willing to pay him that much. Trout was like that. There are players who transcend the game and their contracts, right now, Ohtani is that guy. Judge in NY (and I have heard the argument he means more there then anywhere else), so if they don't pony up, and there is a chance they won't, he will leave just like Freeman left Atlanta when no one thought he would.

[unclevlad]

Joey Cora's days may well be numbered.

 

Boston had another fiasco.  3 more errors today, and a couple more bonehead moves (infield dribbler, pitcher fails footwork and is never close to tagging the bag...the first baseman's throw was fine, the pitcher messed up).  45-35 after winning on the 4th of July, 3-13 since, 1-9 in their last 10.  

 

It feels like a classic "you can't fire the team..." situation.  And the boo-birds were singing loud and often this weekend.

[slikmar]

And considering the risk they took in hiring him after the Astro thing and suspension, will really make the players look bad. Not sure what is going on with their defense, but I think getting Sale back and then losing him again was a gut punch to the team.

[unclevlad]

So MLB Network is doing a Clubhouse Edition game...Stephen Nelson host, CC Sabathia as principal guest, ex-players coming and going somewhat...guys just sitting around talking the game.  Current guest is Tom Glavine, so they're talking career numbers...Glavine has the record for Silver Sluggers for pitchers, that's a record that now can't be broken.

 

CC brought up a point about pitchers now...that pitchers are more likely to reach 3000 strikeouts than 150 wins.

 

Not even 200...just 150.  I'm not sure I buy that;  I would agree with 200, but 150 feels achievable.  And note, I think he was thinking of the newest generation...starting in the last decade or so.  Because thats when Velo, Velo, Velo's exploded.  Here's some numbers...career active innings pitched leaders.  Stripped names, they're not useful.  First column is # of years, second is IP, third is average AP per year.  The 6 and 7 year numbers are probably a bit distorted due to the Covid season but that should be less significant for longer careers.  

 

6	785.1	130.9
6	762	127.0
7	953.1	136.2
7	918	131.1
8	1261.2	157.7
8	1150	143.8
9	1312.2	145.8
9	1155.2	128.4
10	1568.2	156.8
10	1489.2	148.9
11	1655.1	150.5
11	1625.2	147.7
12	1678	139.8
12	1600	133.3
13	1507.2	115.9
13	1470	113.1
14	2138.1	152.7
14	2127	151.9
15	2611.2	174.1
15	2530.2	168.7
16	1958.1	122.4
16	1867.1	116.7
17	3104.1	182.6
17	2492	146.6
18	1205.1	67.0
19	3187.2	167.7
20	1465.2	73.3

 

That's just the top 2 for each career length.  Note how few have managed even 150 innings per year.  Some of these are more old-school...exceptional...pitchers.  (The 182/year is Verlander.)  What it's saying is, even the top pitchers are likely losing a lot of time due to injury...Kershaw's back, Verlander had, IIRC, Tommy John, etc.

 

It's hard to get more than 10-12 wins or so, I'd think, if you're only getting 150 innings...so CC might not be overly conservative here.

[slikmar]

I could see Alcantra (of the younger pitchers) making it, but I get his point. with analytics saying you don't face order 3rd time, a lot of pitchers are leaving before 6th inning or 5th ends. Also, lot of late rallies. I actually think 300 strikeouts will be tough, for same reason, lot of strikeouts but not as many batters faced.

And hey, shouldn't Ohtani be eligible for a silver slugger in the games he pitches and hits?

[unclevlad]

20 minutes ago, slikmar said:

I could see Alcantra (of the younger pitchers) making it, but I get his point. with analytics saying you don't face order 3rd time, a lot of pitchers are leaving before 6th inning or 5th ends. Also, lot of late rallies. I actually think 300 strikeouts will be tough, for same reason, lot of strikeouts but not as many batters faced.

And hey, shouldn't Ohtani be eligible for a silver slugger in the games he pitches and hits?

 

Since Ohtani is the ONLY pitcher who's hit...other than desperation pinch hitters...they won't award a Silver Slugger, I think.  Did he win one last year?

 

300 strikeouts in a season is rare but not quite impossible...Cole and Verlander in '19, Scherzer in '18, Sale in '17.  But they're extremely rare...and rarely repeatable.  Also note that Verlander and Scherzer are almost transitional...they're still somewhat tied to older-school thinking...they're built to go longer.

 

Another good comment from the game tonight:  every *pitch* is "got to win this pitch."  EXTREME short-term thinking...by pitchers, by hitters, by runners.  The point was focused on how hitters get pigeonholed...they can't hit lefties (say) and few organizations think past each separate encounter, and give their kiddies a chance to learn to hit lefties.  The most obvious case was before the 3-batter-minimum rule for relievers...managers would exhaust their bullpens sometimes within 7 innings, and if it goes extras???? Someone may have to take one for the team.

[unclevlad]

Well.....

 

Arizona drafts Andruw Jones' kid #2 in the draft...some apparently had him rated #1.

 

He signs for a nice, tidy $8.2M signing bonus.

 

And injures his shoulder during his first MLB batting practice.  

 

Certainly out for the year.  "Unsure" if he'll be ready for the start of spring training next year.

 

Talk about a snake-bit franchise..........

 

In other news, Mike Trout has a rare spinal issue that, from reports, is going to be a problem for the rest of his career.  The stories suggest it's largely manageable...but from the sound of it, it could flare up at any time and cost him time.  It's a couple weeks this time.  Worse, his track record is really bad.  Since the start of the 2017 season, including this one, the Angels have played 806 games;  Trout has played in 460.  Obviously, last year was the worst, but he only played 140 in '18, so that's still missing 15% or so.  And he's out at least for a while as he gets it looked at.

 

It's blindly, foolishly optimistic to expect this will get better, too, as Trout gets older...unless there's some surgical repair option.  Odds are that back surgery lays him out for a year...back surgery tends to need a LONG rehab.

[unclevlad]

Red Sox coaching staff is in deep doo-doo, I think.

 

2nd inning.  Cleveland has runners on 1st and 3rd, no outs.  Rolling ground ball between pitcher and first.  First baseman takes 5 full steps to his right to try to snare a ball...when you can see the 2nd baseman in position behind him to make the play.  First baseman clanks the ball off his glove...well, he's moving.   Ball deflects towards 2nd.  He continues that way, picking it up.  He then whirls and tries to throw to first...blindly.  And wildly.  It hits the dugout fence, but the runner who started on 1st still makes it to 3rd.  Cleveland ultimately scores 3 that inning.

 

Then, in the 8th...same play.  Rolling ground ball between pitcher and 1st.  First baseman does it again...goes after the ball, clanks it, recovers, fires blind and wild, and throws it away.  He only gets 1 error on this one because it only resulted in 1 base.

 

Bad plays, yes...but worse instruction.  The first baseman's job is NOT necessarily to try to grab any ball in range;  and trying to make the wild, miracle play is generally a Very Bad idea.  And the guy's mostly an outfielder...all the more reason to make sure he gets a LOT of practice time and guidance from the coaches.  

 

 

[Pariah]

The Colorado Rockies are currently down 11-0 in the bottom of the fourth. They gave up two runs in the first on an errant pickoff throw to third base and then on a subsequent wild pitch. It was even worse than the second and third, and then Colorado brought in one of their starters in relief part way through the 4th. He's already thrown almost 30 pitches. Meanwhile, the Rockies have shown practically no offense, but they do have two errors.

 

This team is just awful.

 

They need to acknowledge the need for a rebuild and then embrace that as their identity for the rest of the season. They need to have a fire sale, starting yesterday. But they won't. When it comes right down to it, the Monforts don't care whether the Rockies are competitive or not, only if they're profitable.

 

What's the old saying, "You can't fire the owner"?

[Pariah]

And now down 13-0 in the top of the 9th, the Rockies have trotted out catcher Brian Serven to act as their closer. He did just induce a double play, followed by a fly out to shallow right, so he's miles ahead of the rest of today's pitchers so far.

[unclevlad]

22 hours ago, Pariah said:

When it comes right down to it, the Monforts don't care whether the Rockies are competitive or not, only if they're profitable.

 

What's the old saying, "You can't fire the owner"?

 

Comment on either Around the Horn or PTI today about Morena and the Angels, WRT trading Ohtani.  Moreno won't trade him during the season;  he'll wring every last buck he can out of him first.

 

Also took a peek...FiveThirtyEight gives the Dodgers and Astros > 99% chance to win their division...and it's not even Aug. 1st.  Yankees are 98%;  I presume the difference, such as it is, is that they've got more competition in their division.

[Cygnia]

[unclevlad]

Looks like the Padres have gone all in.  Grabbed Hader from the Brewers for 4 prospects, the MEGA deal for Soto, and another deal with Boston for a prospect.  Altogether, 10 prospects and 2 roster players, getting back a closer, Soto, and first base replacement.

 

The trade ticker ran LOOONNG.....

https://www.mlb.com/news/every-2022-mlb-trade-deadline-deal

 

Same old, same old, mostly.  The AAAA teams lived up to their role.

[Cygnia]

Vin Scully, iconic former Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster, dies at age 94

[unclevlad]

NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

 

 

Well, 94 is 94, and at that point it can happen at any time.

 

The BEST broadcaster ever.  Period.  

 

 

[slikmar]

SoCal boy that I was, I grew up on Vin. there is no other broadcaster who was better.