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Here's the Meet The Team Thread. Post long screeds about your baseball team and roster in this thread. One example of a baseball team is the Chicago Cubs.
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Mar 28, 2024 03:12
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THE MEDIOCRE CHICAGO CUBS ARE SORT OF TRYING TO WIN THEIR DOGSHIT DIVISION WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR The Cubs came into the second full season after their 2021 sell-off of World Series Heroes in a weird sort of holding pattern where they didn't really expect to compete but were starting to pay some competent veterans so they wouldn't be a complete embarrassment. They spent big money on shortstop Dansby Swanson and took a flier on Cody Bellinger while mixing in some of their younger pitching prospects and still relying on warmed over veterans like Nick Madrigal and journeyman outfielder Mike Tauchman. After a miserable start, the Cubs started to get unexpected results: Bellinger had his best season in years at the plate, young pitchers like Justin Steele and Jordan Wicks looked good in the rotation, "Cool" Kyle Hendricks had some vintage Professor games left in him, and the NL Central remained one of the crappiest divisions in baseball. The Cubs stayed in contention for a wildcard spot to try to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2020, but faltered at the end. Now the Cubs retain largely the same roster with their heralded prospects closer to the majors and they hope that they can win 85-86 games and sneak into the playoffs. As the most well-known and richest team in their division, you would think they would be more ambitious, but the Ricketts family have empowered Jed Hoyer to try to run them as cheaply as possible, so they'll probably be scrapping the whole year and hoping that the young talent in the division doesn't catch them. THE MANAGER In November, the Cubs made a stunning move: they fired David Ross and hired Milwaukee's Craig Counsell. Counsell, considered one of the top managers in the game, was available and the Cubs pounced. Ross, the clubhouse leader of the World Series team, was now unexpectedly out on his rear end. How good is Counsell? I have no idea, he's never won anything. But we can all admit it was extremely funny when Brewers fans freaked out including spraypainting the word "rear end" on the little league park named for proud Milwaukee native Counsell.  THE TEAM  Yan Gomes, Catcher .267/.315/.408 When the Cubs decided not to pay Willson Contreras, they said they wanted to go with an emphasis on run prevention. Gomes, who split time with Contreras in 2022, was apparently the favored target of Cubs pitchers. Gomes also had a pretty good season hitting as well, especially in the clutch. Gomes will turn 37 this year and will cede more starts to Miguel Amaya, but he's one of the leaders of the clubhouse even if he did cost Drew Smyly a potential perfect game last year by accidentally tackling him.  Michael Busch, 1B .167/.247/.292 The Cubs haven't had a reliable first basement since Cubs Legend Frank Schwindel had the funniest two months of a baseball season when he emerged from obscurity after the 2021 Rizzo trade and then left for Japan. They hope they found one in Busch. Busch, who had been tearing up the Dodgers minor leagues, was blocked by Freddy Freeman. He's a first base or DH bat; any attempt to move him throughout the infield had been a disaster though he came up as a second baseman. Busch got a chance in the big leagues last year and put up the horrible slash line above in 98 plate appearances. The Cubs apparently were higher on him than their own minors-mashing, big-league-stinking first base prospect the Cubsposting legend Matt Mervis since they traded two pretty well-regarded prospects for him. If he sucks, Bellinger is available to play first as well or they can give Mervis another shot and we can all spend the rest of the season blissfully Mervposting as he strikes out on three straight pitches.  Nico Hoerner, 2B .283/.346/.383 Hoerner's value comes from the fact that he's a gold-glove caliber shortstop playing second. He and Dansby make up one of the best-fielding middle infields in the game. He's a good contact hitter who has been improving at getting on base, which is good because he decided to become one of the most dangerous runners in the game with 43 steals last year. Maybe Nico has a little more thunder in that bat, in which case he is an all-star caliber second baseman, but this is probably who Nico is.  Dansby Swanson, SS .244/.328/.416 Swanson was clearly the least star-like of 2023's crop of star free agents. He's not really a middle of the order bat, and he had a down year offensively even if he did manage to club 22 dingers and make an all-star team. He is one of the best fielding shortstops in baseball, so if he is even slightly above average of hitting then he should be useful. He's become one of the leaders of the team, has a great head of hair, and hopefully blasts a few more bombs into the bleachers and does some really cool plays with Nico and isn't decapitated by an errant Christopher Morel throw.  Christopher Morel, 3B .247/.313/.508 This season is the Great Christopher Morel Third Baseman Experiment. He came up as a second baseman, settled in as a very adventurous center fielder, and spent most of last season at DH. Morel's bat plays; he hit 26 home runs after being kept down in Iowa for more than a month. He has never really played third base before, but the Cubs didn't bother to sign a third baseman so they're hoping it can be him. Results this spring have been mixed-- Morel is a great athlete, but he's also made a bunch of boneheaded mistakes. If he can even hold up there a little bit, it would be very useful, reminding me of when Aramis Ramirez came over and could only successfully throw to first because Derek Lee was nine feet tall. Morel was in some trade rumors, but he's already beloved on the North Side for his effervescent, hug-forward personality. The Cubs are betting big on Morel this year who has not yet turned 25.  Ian Happ, LF .248/.360/.431 Happ is a solid player, a gold-glove outfielder who has gotten better at getting on base. Counsell wants to move him back to leadoff this year. Happ's the longest-tenured Cub, avoided getting traded off, and has a robust coffee business, and tips the bleacher bums. The Cubs have a lot of good outfield prospects, so I don't imagine he'll be around forever, but he really seems to like being here. Bring back his terrible hair billboards, I am sick of Brian Urlacher!!!!!  Cody Bellinger, CF/1B .307/.356/.525 What a weird career. Bellinger came up with the Dodgers, became a superstar, won an MVP, and then got hurt with a catastrophic Celebration Injury and turned into one of the worst hitters in baseball for a few years. The Cubs took him on as a reclamation project, and it worked out spectacularly. He became their best hitter, an apparently beloved teammate, and a fan favorite. The analytics dweebs say that Bellinger's numbers show that he's a candidate for regression; teams certainly used that as a justification to avoid giving him a huge contract this year, and he signed back with the Cubs on another opt-out heavy deal. I don't care. Belli rules and I hope he mashes again and does cool catches in the outfield and looks like he is doing a lot of weed even if he claims that he just has a natural Weed Face.  Seiya Suzuki, RF .285/.357/.485 Seiya had a hell of a rollercoaster ride last year. He got injured in camp, missed the WBC where Team Japan hung his jersey in the dugout, then suffered a disastrous few weeks until David Ross benched him. Suzuki got an opportunity to reset and change his approach and all of a sudden turned into a baseball monster. For the last two months of the season, he put up some cartoonish Barry Bonds numbers. Suzuki, with another year to acclimate, will hopefully continuing to mash. Despite the language barrier, he is a delightfully goofy character and one of the funniest dudes on the team. BENCH Nick Madrigal, IF, 263/.311/.352 Madrigal is still on the team, still tiny, still playing a surprisingly good third base despite having to literally run halfway across the diamond to the throw to first, and still injuring his hamstrings every 2-3 weeks. Madrigal hit two dingers last year, including a very funny one against the White Sox. With Codi Heuer released and Madrigal unable to start, we have a final verdict on the Cubs/Sox Craig Kimbrel trade: it is very funny. Garrett Cooper, 1B/DH .239/.323/.402 Righty platoon bat coming over from San Diego who spent most of his career with the Marlins. His numbers are pretty lousy for a first baseman, hopefully he will be put in a position to only hit lefties. Miles Mastrobuoni, UTIL, .248/.308/.301 "So the Braves will go from Johnson to Hand, and the batter will be Mastrobuoni." Miguel Amaya, C .214/.329/.359 The Cubs' catcher of the future for the fifth consecutive year. Amaya played really well in the minors but kept accruing devastating, season-ending injuries. He came up last year after all of the other backup catchers were complete garbage. The pitchers seem to think he's developing into an excellent receiver and game-caller, he has some pop in the bat, and he'll be doing more catching as Gomes eases into his dotage. Mike Tauchman, OF, .252/.363/.377 The "Palatine Pounder" (sorry, not my fault, I didn't do it) is a local kid who turned into a journeyman including stops overseas. He's an excellent fielder who made one of the most ridiculous catches I've ever seen to rob a walkoff homer from the hated Cardinals and even enjoyed a few weeks when he was hitting the poo poo out of the ball. I hope the Cubs are not relying on Tauchman as anything other than a defensive replacement this year. Patrick Wisdom, IF/DH, .205/.289/.500 Wisdom hits baseballs to the moon on the rare times he doesn't strike out. He's starting the year on the IL and will vie with Cooper for the right-handed platoon bat and can also fill in at first and third. I will always appreciate Wisdom for being one of the faces of the dogshit Tank Cubs but if he's playing a lot this year, the Cubs are probably hosed. STARTING PITCHERS  Justin Steele, LHP Steele was one of the best pitchers in the National League last season and is set up as the Cubs' ace. The lefty doesn't throw super hard, but gets good movement on his fastball and bamboozles people with his slider. He faded a bit down the stretch in his first season handling an ace workload, but if he can stay healthy, he should be the guy.  "Cool" Kyle Hendricks, RHP It looked like Kyle was cooked in 2022. He was pitching badly and then dealt with a shoulder injury. Instead he came back with his best year since 2020. Hendricks is still fooling people with his changeup and his 88 mph fastball. His near no-hitter last season in San Francisco was one of the best moments of the season. Hendricks completely lost his curveball last year, so hopefully he can get that back and still be effective. The Professor is the last World Series Cub on the roster. Long may he throw slowly.  Shota Imanaga, LHP The "Throwing Philosopher" may not be the most heralded Japanese pitcher to move to the majors this season, but the Cubs need him to be good. He doesn't throw heat, but he has weird movement on his fastball and a forkball. Imanaga was susceptible to the homer in Japan, so it will likely be a terrifying sight when he's out there on days where the flags are whipping out at Wrigley. He looked incredible in spring training, so hopefully he won't get completely lit up here. Apparently, Shota fell in love with Chicago while staying here during the winter and he has cultivated a love of baseball theme songs, including Go Cubs Go.  Jordan "The Goon" Wicks, LHP The Cubs have a type and it's unassuming guys who don't throw hard. Wicks, a pie-faced doofus who looks like a 1950s accountant, is not exactly lighting up the radar gun, but he has a devastating changeup. He looked great last year coming up in the middle of a playoff race even if he served up his first major league pitch for a home run.  Javier Assad, RHP Assad was used mainly as a multi-inning bullpen guy last year until forced into the rotation again because of injuries. He was quietly very good last season, even if he doesn't strike a ton of guys out. It's not his fault he has the same name as a notorious dictator. MAIN BULLPEN GUYS Adbert Alzolay, RHP Adbert was excellent as the closer last season until he got hurt. If he can stay healthy, he should be their top bullpen arm. Hector Neris, RHP Neris, a former Astro, was a rare bullpen arm not brought in as a bargain or reclamation project. He should be the main right-handed setup guy. He's in his mid-30s, his peripherals are trending in the wrong direction, and he was really bad in spring training, so the spotlight will be on him quickly. Julian Merryweather, RHP A successful reclamation project, this guy throws 100, turned himself from a terrifying oh no he's going to walk a guy pitcher to their most reliable setup man, but he's an oft-injured relief pitcher so who knows. Drew Smyly, LHP Got moved into the bullpen late last year. I expect he'll be a swing man and spot starter, though he looked quite good as a lefty out of the pen once he really started to suck poo poo when he was starting. Luke Little, LHP Luke Little is loving huge, actually. Came up last year and throws a gazillion miles per hour. He made the team out of spring training, but unless he is absolutely nails, he'll probably spend some time in Iowa. SEASON OUTLOOK The Cubs won 83 games last year and barely missed the wild card. They brought back mainly the same team this year, but hope that Counsell and some development from young guys especially pitchers will help carry them to the division title. They're also hoping that the Brewers collapse, the Cardinals remain mediocre, and the Reds and Pirates don't make a big leap when their prospects arrive. The Cubs have a highly-rated farm system with some big prospects knocking on the door, particularly insane center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong who is already one of the best fielding center fielders in the game and is in Iowa hoping to develop his bat. It seems to me that the Cubs don't want to commit a lot of big money to free agents until they can determine if their top prospects can come up as a wave like in 2015. They're also depending heavily on untested corner infielders. I think on paper the Cubs should have a decent chance to win this lovely-rear end division but if they don't they can only blame themselves. R.D. Mangles fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Mar 28, 2024 |
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Mar 28, 2024 03:12
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The San Diego Padres are a mystery box. What you see is never what you get. Usually they crash and burn but sometimes they smoke the Dodgers and the city goes bananas because if there's one thing my beloved fellow San Diegans have is an inferiority complex towards Los Angeles. And rightly so because LA sucks. If you claim to understand why the Padres do Padres things, there's a Nobel Prize in Physics waiting for you because you have revolutionized our understanding of the basic tenets of cause and effect and other such basic physical laws of the universe. Or maybe management sucks. I dunno. Anyway go Padres. I work downtown and got the afternoon off to attend Opening Day tomorrow.
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Mar 28, 2024 03:19
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R.D. Mangles posted:Ian Happ, LF
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Mar 28, 2024 06:08
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Is the Cubs starting rotation the slowest average velocity in MLB? Feels like it must be.
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Mar 28, 2024 06:16
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Almost certainly, Taillon would drag it up a tick since he can hit 95-96 but he's gonna start the season hurt. If Horton manages to make it up this season as well he tops out at 98. I am glad between Merryweather and Little we're actually getting some velo in the pen at least.R.D. Mangles posted:THE MEDIOCRE CHICAGO CUBS ARE SORT OF TRYING TO WIN THEIR DOGSHIT DIVISION Couldn't have put it much better myself. It's annoying that with such a bad division the Cubs didn't ball out and make themselves the clear favorites, but they should still take the thing on paper. The Cards and Brewers' rotations are utter dogshit out of their #1's, the Reds are hella injured to start the season, and the Pirates kinda need all of their young guys to play up at once. Feels like ~87 takes the division easy barring shenanigans.
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Mar 28, 2024 09:00
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Sydin posted:Almost certainly, Taillon would drag it up a tick since he can hit 95-96 but he's gonna start the season hurt. If Horton manages to make it up this season as well he tops out at 98. I am glad between Merryweather and Little we're actually getting some velo in the pen at least. All but a couple teams in baseball are trying to be just good enough to make the playoffs and then hope for some magic happening.
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Mar 28, 2024 13:38
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I am at the beach with the fam for Spring Break but I am planning on making a Seiya Appreciation Effortpost
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Mar 28, 2024 13:46
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Lmao i completely forgot JameO was on the team, oops
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Mar 28, 2024 14:55
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I've been trying to forget Taillon is on the team for months now. I guess it didn't work.
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Mar 28, 2024 15:01
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the St. Louis cardinals The last two seasons I typed like a thousand words about the cardinals. This season I cannot muster the enthusiasm and the above image really accurately illustrates what the team building strategy has been. The only expensive free agent the cardinals signed is a 35 year old pitcher who is starting the season on the IL. The youngest member of what was supposed to be the rotation is 34 year old Steven Matz (the pitcher filling Sonny grays spot while he’s hurt is young). The manager who started his season last year by alienating his starting center fielder within a week of opening day and led the team to their worst record in 30 years has been given an extension. The two high priced infielders who disappointed last season have publicly revealed that they are both unable or uninterested in being clubhouse leaders. The rotation features the pitcher who gave up the most home runs last season, the most hits last season, and both of those are guys the team opted to bring in. Our opening day starter gave up ten hits per nine innings last year and had his worst strikeout rate as a cardinal. The positives for this team are that we have three exciting young up and comers at RF (Jordan walker), SS (Masyn Winn) and CF in a late addition (victor Scott). Wilson Contreras was pretty good last season after he recovered from being thrown under the bus by our clod manager and moron pobo and worthless starting pitchers. The best case scenarios for the cardinals this season are as follows: The team utterly shits themselves in April and Oliver Marmol gets fired. Replacing him is beloved cardinals alum yadi Molina, and the team digs themselves out of their hole to make a playoff run. Jordan walker hits a ball so hard that it hits bill Dewitt in Chicago. After recuperating from his injuries he realizes that life is too short to not try harder to leave a winning legacy and starts spending money on his baseball team. Bizzy Bouillabaisse’s Season Prediction This team is hosed from jump street. They finish fourth in the division and Oli Marmol gets fired. One of the old dude pitchers has a slight bounceback from last year but the others are terrible. Final record: 70-92 Bismack Billabongo fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Mar 28, 2024 |
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Mar 28, 2024 17:27
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The Atlanta Braves are Good At Baseball, An Effortpost In 2021 the Braves won 88 games, got hot in October, and won the World Series. In 2022 the Braves won over 100 games and lost to the Phillies in the first round. In 2023 the Braves won over 100 games and lost to the Phillies in the first round. Baseball, man. The Braves won the East pretty effortlessly last year, never being out of first place after April 2 (when they were 2-1 to the Mets' 3-1), largely on the back of their high-powered offense lead by the unanimous MVP Ronald Acuna Jr's sensational season. It was maybe too effortless, as they looked decidedly sluggish down the stretch and into the playoffs. Having signed most of the team's core to extensions, they bring back pretty much the same team for another go-round in 2024. The Lineup! The Braves' record-breaking 2023 lineup returns basically intact for 2024, so expect a lot of scoring once again. Catcher: Sean Murphy The team's big offseason acquisition last year was Murphy, who they quickly signed to an extension. At the beginning of the year, he made them look like geniuses, smacking the crap out of the ball in the first half en route to an All-Star appearance. He faded down the stretch, but is still one of the better catchers in the game, and his backup, Travis d'Arnaud, is much better than those of anyone you can argue is clearly better. The Braves like to divide their catching ABs on a roughly 60/40 split in order to keep them relatively fresh in the Atlanta heat, so Murphy probably won't accumulate the counting stats you'd expect of a star catcher, but he is one nonetheless. 1B: Matt Olson Olson maintained his pattern of putting up excellent seasons in odd-numbered years, as he followed up his so-so Braves debut in 2022 with a dynamite 2023. He set the teams' franchise record for homers in a single season with 54 and finished fourth in the MVP voting behind teammate Acuna and two jokers from some awful team everyone hates. I'd kind of like to see him break his pattern this year. He's the old man of the Braves' core players at a grizzled 30 years old. 2B: Ozzie Albies Olson might be the oldest, but Ozzie is the longest-tenured member of the Braves' core, and the only one who can still remember the bad old days of the rebuilding years. No one ever talks about Albies except in the context of his contract, which criminally unpays him, but that does a disservice to what a fun, well-rounded player he is. When he first game up I thought Ozzie would make his name on batting average, speed, and defense, but he actually developed into a pretty substantial power threat. Maybe some day he'll get a real contract and we can talk about him between the lines. 3B: Austin Riley There's not a whole lot to say about Riley that hasn't already been said. He's 27, he's signed forever, he destroys baseballs. It's a testament to how good he is that I spent much of 2023 thinking he was having kind of a down season and waiting for him to break out... and he still hit 37 homers. I guess the real news here is that after spending most of his career as a defensive liability who was always on the verge of getting moved to first base or the outfield, Riley has improved his defense to the point where he's basically an average defensive third baseman -- which, given how long he and Olson are both signed, is a relief. SS: Orlando Arcia I was pretty baffled this time last year about the Braves' decision to promote their backup infielder to starting shortstop... and then he went and made the All-Star team. That being said, it's a bit of an oversell -- Arcia's not that good, and if there's a position you can point to as being a weakness for the Braves, shortstop and left field are definitely the ones. Still, I'm less annoyed by him still being the starter than I might otherwise be because there weren't any good shortstop options on the market this offseason, so you might as well continue with the devil you know. The team signed him to an extension early last offseason that pays him peanuts, so he's still a good value even if he eventually moves back into a part-time role. I'm pulling for Nacho Alvarez to have a good season and push him next year. LF: Jarred Kelenic Lacking any obvious holes on the roster to address, Alex Anthopolous decided to gamble in left field. There were a flurry of trades around this transaction, but when all was said and done the Braves paid roughly $17 million in 2024 for the rights to former top prospect Kelenic, who was a high draft pick for the Mets before being dealt to Seattle as the centerpiece in the Edwin Diaz trade. The Mariners were expecting Kelenic to be the Robin to Julio Rodriguez's Batman, but it didn't quite work out that way between injuries (some self-inflicted) and ineffectiveness. Still, I like this risk for the Braves. Kelenic has shown flashes, and the Braves have a strong enough team already that they don't need him to blossom into a superstar or anchor the lineup. If he's Just A Guy, that's fine. And if he does manage to restore some of his top-prospect value, the upside is considerable -- as in "best outfield in baseball for the next five years" considerable. Kelenic could do anything from being cut in June to being a fixture in Atlanta for the next decade and it wouldn't surprise me, but I like rolling the dice on him more than signing the next Eddie Rosario. Kelenic had a disastrous spring and the Braves ended up signing old friend Adam Duvall to give themselves a backup plan, but he looked better as Spring Training wore on and the swing changes he'd been working on started to bear some fruit, so who knows. CF: Michael Harris II Harris was hampered by minor injuries early in the year and got off to an extremely slow start, but once he shook off the rust he was even better than during his RoY-winning 2023. Money Mike is good at everything, and he's still only 23, so I could absolutely see him popping off and turning in a real superstar season. Even if that doesn't happen and what you see is what you get, though, he's still one of the best center fielders in baseball. RF: Ronald Acuna Jr I don't get a lot right about baseball, but in the last version of this thread I warned everyone that they were sleeping on Acuna because of his medium 2022 and that he was going to have a huge season, so I'm going to take the W's where I can get them. Acuna founded the 40/70 club last year on his way to an overall dominant season in which he made everything on the offensive side of the ball look easy. Even more incredibly, according to his batted ball data Acuna actually got unlucky in 2023, so it's possible there's still more there -- although I have no idea what that would even look like. Most importantly, Acuna played in 159 games and didn't show any aftereffects from his torn UCL at all. Ohtani's in the NL now so Acuna's reign as the best player in the league might end after 2024, but as far as pure position players go it's hard to find one you'd rather have. Partway through the spring Acuna had to have his knee looked at, but it appeared to be mostly precautionary. DH: Marcell Ozuna Ick. Ozuna was right on the verge of being cut in May when he went on a tear and saved his roster spot for another season. He actually ended up hitting 40 home runs and turning in basically the kind of season the Braves thought they were signing up for when they signed him before the 2021 season. If he has another decent season in 2024 he might actually put picking up his option on the table, which no one would have dreamed of even nine months ago. Ozuna would probably be a fan-favorite if he wasn't such a piece of poo poo, but, well. I'm hoping the Braves make the right decision at the end of the season. The Bench! d'Arnaud, Duvall, Luis Guillorme, Forrest Wall. I wouldn't bother memorizing any of these guys' names, because with the exception of d'Arnaud and Duvall they're not going to play. The Braves achieve depth not by having a bunch of 1-2 WAR players they can shuffle around, but by building their roster such that almost every plate appearance is taken by someone you'd want taking it. The Rotation! Aside from Spencer Strider, the Braves' 2023 rotation was ravaged by injuries and spent most of the season being a patchwork of temporary fixes and riding hot streaks. 2022 rotation stalwarts Max Fried and Kyle Wright missed most of the season, and most of the fill-ins provided either quality or volume, but not both. AA addressed this issue by... trading for Chris Sale and signing a reliever to start? Okay. RHP Spencer Strider The undisputed ace of the staff these days, Strider is the premier strikeout artist in the game. (He also went 20-5 last year, for what that matters.) His top-line run prevention stats kept him out of the Cy Young conversation last year, but this was mostly the result of a flukey-high home run rate, so he has to be considered one of the pre-season favorites for 2024. He's been toying with a new pitch in Spring Training, because he needed more ways to make guys look dumb. LHP Max Fried Well, it's been fun. Fried's 2023 was mostly lost, but he seems healthy now for what will almost certainly be his walk year. If he's healthy, he'll be a strong one-two punch with Strider in his last year before fleeing out west to join Freddie in LA. Thanks for Game Six, buddy. LHP Chris Sale AA was apparently involved in the bidding for Aaron Nola and Sonny Gray, but after striking out on both of them, he pivoted to the trade market in search of a pitcher who could conceivably give the Braves quality postseason innings. To that end, he traded pseudo-prospect Vaughn Grissom to Boston for Chris Sale straight-up. Now, Sale has been consistently effective -- even elite -- when he's been on the mound, but "when he's been on the mound" is carrying a lot of weight in that sentence. If he's healthy and able to give you vintage Sale when October rolls around, this trade will look brilliant. If he pitches ten innings and spends the rest of the season on the IL... less so. The Braves are good enough that they don't need Sale to turn in a Cy Young season to make the playoffs, but they would desperately like that kind of performance once they're there. Hopefully the uniforms are up to his exacting standards. They (of course) signed Sale to an extension shortly after acquiring him, but in truth, I think the real motivation for that was getting all his deferred money off their books. RHP Charlie Morton Morton has quietly become something of a fixture in Atlanta despite doing the retirement dance basically every offseason since signing here. The quality of his innings have gone down over the years, but he sure will give you a lot of them, and the Braves need that quantity. You have to figure this is the end of the line, though, leaving the Braves with two rotation spots to fill next offseason. RHP Reynaldo Lopez AA must really love this guy because he rushed out to sign him basically as soon as free agency opened. Not on that, they immediately announced they were going to stretch him out as a starter despite the fact that Lopez has only ever been good as a reliever. I guess it could work? Relieving is at least a viable backup option if the starting thing doesn't work out. Lopez won the fifth starter job in camp fair and square, but he wasn't exactly facing down the toughest competition either. ...And the rest The big name here is Bryce Elder, who made the All-Star team in 2023 after a stellar first half, but was absolutely wretched the rest of the way -- and frankly, "wretched" is probably closer to his true talent level than "All-Star." He's probably still the first man up when they need a starter, though, which is... ugh. The Braves spent much of the offseason clearing a lot of the flotsam and jetsam from their pitching depth chart. Michael Soroka and Jared Shuster are in Chicago, Kyle Wright is rehabbing in Kansas City, Kolby Allard is in Philly. The remaining pitchers can be pretty clearly divided between real prospects who could break through (AJ Smith-Shawver, Hurston Waldrep) and organization filler for emergencies (Huascar Ynoa, Dylan Dodd, Darius Vines). I have to figure that they'll look to the trade market before they give too many starts to the second group. The Bullpen! As usual, the Braves have a lot of live arms who they can slot in in some configuration. The Opening Day bullpen looks like this: CL Raisel Iglesias LHP AJ Minter RHP Pierce Johnson RHP Joe Jimenez LHP Aaron Bummer LHP Tyler Matzek LHP Dylan Lee RHP Jesse Chavez But they've also got a bunch of quality depth pieces at lower levels, plus Lopez or any of the other depth starters could end up here. By the end of the season they'll have a good bullpen, even if it takes them a while to figure out who specifically should be in it. Management! The man who signs everyone to an extension ultimately received an extension himself, as Alex Anthopolous signed a seven(!) year extension this offseason. GMs do eventually reach their expiration dates with a team, but I can't pick a single GM I'd rather have running the show than AA right now. Frankly, despite the fact that he's more controversial with fans, the same can be said of Brian Snitker. You do have to build a roster around his limitations as a manager, but the Braves have by and large done that, and the players respect the hell out of him and play hard for him. This is very much an "if it ain't broke" situation. Snitker did lose several of his coaches to other organizations this offseason, most notably Ron Washington and Eric Young Sr to Anaheim. Farm System! The Braves have slowly been rebuilding their minor league depth since graduations and trades thinned it out, but they're not quite there yet. They've got a few pitching prospects who will find their way onto Top 100 lists in the form of Smith-Shawver and Waldrep, but they lack any kind of blue chip superstar prospect right now (not that they need one presently). Keep an eye on Ignacio "Nacho" Alvarez, who could force his way into the infield discussion by the end of the year, or Drake Baldwin, who might be d'Arnaud's successor within the next year or two. Prognosis? The projections say you could lop the reigning MVP off this roster and still have an easy divisional favorite, but, well, projections. Still, it would be a shocker if this team didn't make the playoffs fairly comfortably in this playoff format -- they'd have to be absolutely ravaged by injuries on both sides of the ball not to. The question is, as always, how deep can they go in October?
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Mar 28, 2024 17:35
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YOUR SEATTLE MARINERS https://twitter.com/zachleft/status/1773071615040844029
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Mar 28, 2024 20:09
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Your 2024 Minnesota Twins Owner: The Heirs to the Fortune of Carl Pohlad, Parasite Front Office Dorks: Derek Falvey, Thad Levine Manager: Rocco Baldelli Overall Expectations: If they can stay healthy, they're one of the best teams in baseball. Almost a lock for the postseason, possible deep run, extreme longshot WS participants. Dearly Departed: Donovan Solano, Michael A. Taylor, Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda, Jorge Polanco, Tyler Mahle Added Despite Ownership's Stinginess: Carlos Santana, Manuel Margot Today's Opening Day Squad SP: Pablo Lopez Lopez is team's ace now that Sonny Gray (the team's other ace last year) and Maeda (the team's other other ace) are gone and Joe Ryan was merely effective last year. He was bonkers in his time in Miami, and last year was an All-Star and received Cy Young votes. At 27, he still has room to improve, but even if he doesn't and stays merely Very Good, he'll have been great for the Twins. Seems to like Minnesota, and Minnesota seems to like him. C: Ryan Jeffers This looks to be Jeffers' year to shine. Last year, Vasquez started the bulk of the games in the season after losing longtime Twins backstop Mitch Garver. Jeffers has spent most of his time as backup, but with a great offensive season last year and Vasquez certainly not getting any younger, it should finally be his turn to see the majority of appearances. 1B: Carlos Santana First has been a position in flux since Joe Mauer's retirement in following the 2018 season. The trend continues this year with Santana taking the place of the departed Donovan Solano. While the two were productively similar last year from an OPS standpoint, Santana brings a bucket of power and a defensive upgrade with him, despite being two years older. He's been effective everywhere he's played and was long a fixure in the AL Central, first with Cleveland, and then Kansas City. Santana, however, will not be the only one seeing time at 1B, with Alex Kirilloff and Kyle Farmer on the big league roster and Jose Miranda and Brooks Lee waiting in the minors. 2B: Kyle Farmer Farmer, ultimately, is a utility infielder, but will be platooning with Eduard Julien, who is much more exciting and discussed below. Farmer's ability to play all over is his biggest asset, as he is a below-league-average bat and on the wrong side of 30. As mentioned above, he will likely see time at 1B and 3B as well when the starters need off days. 3B: Royce Lewis This is something that could be said of a good half of the 2024 Twins: when he's healthy, he's the best guy on the team. When he came back to the team last year following his second ACL sugery, he was good, but then he just got better and better, getting extremely hot in September and a remarkable postseason. He's one of the first-overall draft picks on the team, and every plate appearance is something to watch. Defensively, while he was drafted as a shortstop, the long-term signing of Carlos Correa (another first overall pick, though for Houston) necessitated some shuffling. With the departure of Polanco, it looks to be his position to hold onto, ideally with no ridiculous outfielding experiments in the future. (RIP Lewis' second ACL.) SS: Carlos Correa A first overall pick, Rookie of the Year, an All-Star, and a Gold Glove defender. When he's healthy, he's the best guy on the team. Last year, Correa was hampered by plantar fasciitis, which sapped a lot of his power and caused him to lead the league in GIDP. Turns out running to first is hard when every time your foot lands it causes agonizing pain. In any case, late in the season, the tendon in his foot that was causing the problem finally ruptured entirely, and after a couple weeks off the field, he came back and played to his normal caliber, hitting just over .400 with an OPS of 1.004. He'll turn 30 in the middle of the season, hopefully making this a prime year for him. As long as The Worst Ankle I've Ever Seen continues to hold together like it has for the past decade, he should be absolutely earning his paycheck. LF: Willi Castro Left field will likely be the position with the most churn this year. Castro is listed here only because he is the Opening Day left fielder. Castro is a capable player, playing in 124 games last year at every position except catcher and hitting just above league average OPS. Matt Wallner and Alex Kirilloff figure to see play here as well, with Trevor Larnach being a possibility coming up from Triple-A again, as well as backup CF Manuel Margot. CF: Byron Buxton When he's healthy, he's the best guy on the team. 2nd-overall pick to Correa's 1st in 2012, Buxton has some hardware and honors, but still has only had one 100+ game season in a 9-year career. He has suffered from injuries to nearly any body part one could name, plus has a history of concussion and migraine. He is, as is often pointed out, his own worst enemy, and has spent the majority of his career trying to unlearn his superhuman athleticism in order to play through an entire season. His spring has been Good and he is, as one might say, in the best shape of his life. But part of the reason Buxton is such an electrifying player is the capricious nature of his body. Playing 105% on every play means that when things happen, good or bad, they happen big, and every Twins fan knows that it's likely not a question of if Buck gets hurt, but when. And it's more likely this year, as he's slated to start and play the entire year as the regular center fielder rather than being able to get inside his own head as a full-time DH. So long as he manages to stay safe around walls, we all wish him the best. (But just in case, the front office picked up Miguel Margot, as they did last year with Michael A. Taylor.) RF: Max Kepler Currently the longest-tenured Twin now that Polanco is gone, Kepler has been a constant source of trade rumors as a relatively cheap, plus defender with an okay left-handed bat attached. This may be his last year as a Twin, and when the trade dealine comes up in July he will again be the first person on the list from the squad. The entire state of Minnesota is in love with him despite his sometimes mediocre play, and if he leaves everyone will be sad. If he doesn't, we'll all know why. (It's because he's Pretty Good and not Great, in that gray area where his return wouldn't be worth giving him up, especially as one of the few lefty power bats we have.) Whether he comes back next year remains to be seen. DH: Manuel Margot Today's edition. DH, like left field, will likely be whoever fits the bill best for the day. Baldelli uses the position pretty indescriminately, and aside from Buxton's spot as full-time DH last year, he rarely employs one guy like the Twins have done with players like Jim Thome in the past. The team is built to be flexible in a lot of positions, and DH enables a lot of it. So, effectively, literally any non-pitching player on the roster could be in this spot on any given day. Today is Margot's day. Other Fielders/Bench C: Cristian Vasquez As mentioned previously, Vasquez got the lion's share of playing time last year, but this year is largely going to be filling the "veteran presence" role, I think. He's not bad, but he is old, slow, and historically just as well-suited to a backup role as main. If Jeffers really continues to shine this year, Vasquez may become a trade chip, especially with another year owed him. That said, he's fine, but his value is mostly in experience. 1B/LF: Alex Kirilloff A former 1-rounder, the sheen has sort of faded from Kirilloff. In 2021 and 2022 both, he had his seasons ended by surgery to his right wrist, and at the end of last year, he had a torn labrum on his right shoulder repaired. While, as a lefty, this mostly won't affect his throwing, he also bats left, thus leading with his right arm. As I mentioned, he'll likely platoon with Santana at 1B, hang out in LF from time to time, and he'll probably be spotted at DH now and then. When he's healthy, etc. etc. 2B: Eduard Julien Last year was Julien's first year in the majors, and it was a heck of an effort. The Canadian's callup was due to Jorge Polanco being moved to the Injured List, and played so well at second that when Polanco came back to the team, *Polanco* was moved to 3B. Julien garnered a few Rookie of the Year votes, and if he continues the pace he's on, looks to be a great player for an 18th-round draft pick. CF: Manuel Margot Mostly brought in as Byron Buxton insurance and with his salary offset at least partially by the Dodgers, he's a perfectly cromulent outfielder. I don't expect anything particularly flashy from him, especially after having had Taylor play effectively the same role but with a bat last year. OF: Matt Wallner I dunno. He's fine. He's a solid hitter, but the Twins have so dang many outfielders. He'll probably see most time at DH if I'm pressed to answer. He's technically a 1st-round draft pick, and he'll definitely stick in the majors somewhere, but where and when is a question. He's mostly likely Max Kepler: Part 2. The Rest of the Rotation Joe Ryan A pretty good pitcher, all told. He definitely aims for the strikeout, with 10ish per nine innings. He's split pretty evenly between ground and fly balls. He's got a good fastball and added a splitter and sweeper, dropping his changeup and curve. Really good at missing bats (which is a phrase I never thought I'd say.) Minnesota loves him. From what I can tell, he's an absolute goof. Bailey Ober One of the tallest dudes to have played for the Twins at 6-foot-9, Ober was one of the guys that was on the outside looking in to start last year. He has a pretty standard 4-seam, change, slider, curve repertoire and tracks similarly to Ryan in results, though last year his ERA was a full run better (albiet in 2/3 as many games.) His long extention and high fastball make for a wicked strikeout. Seriously. He's a scary big dude. Louie Varland Varland was another question mark last year, ultimately appearing in 17 games and starting 10, as well as pitching two innings against the Blue Jays in the Wild Card round. He has a slightly-faster-than-average fastball, a cutter, slider, and changeup. He even threw 10 sinkers last year, for outs in both PAs involved. However, his biggest claim to Twins fame might be that he's the most recent Hometown Kid, having grown up in St. Paul, MN. His call up to fill in for Tyler Mahle last year famously (if you're Minnesotan) interrupted a family reunion. It's repulsively wholesome. I mean that in the best way possible. Chris Paddack Oh, Sheriff. I had such high hopes for you. And then you exploded after three starts. Paddack enters this year as his first full season back from Tommy John Number Two. I don't recall, but I may have seen him play in one of his three games for Fort Wayne, right before his first TJ. In any case, I always have a soft spot for Padres prospects, and until his elbow blew up I thought Paddack was gonna Make It. I'm still hoping he does, considering how much time he's spent with or recovering from an exploded UCL. If he stays healthy, his curveball is absolutely nauseating. Here's hoping the Twins extention/buyout of his contract pays off. The Somehow Already Decimated Bullpen There's some names in here, and the biggest one, Jhoan Duran, is starting the season on the IL, along with Caleb "Retired to Coach College Ball then Unretired" Thielbar. However, Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax, Kody Funderburk, Cole Sands, and Jorge Alcala are all names I recognize and don't immediately dread hearing. No one knows how the bullpen will shake out, but last year it was extremely good, and Duran is, well. His intro is up there with Rivera and Ruiz. When he's healthy, he's the best guy on the team. Probable Minor League Role-players Fielders Jose Miranda, Trevor Larnach, Emmanual Rodriguez, Brooks Lee, Yunior Severino, Austin Martin The first three have some MLB time, but Lee, Severino, and Martin do not. Lee could have very well broke camp on the MLB team, but will likely be spending a lot of time in AAA due to the infield mostly being set. He was the 8th overall pick in 2022, so he's basically going to need seasoning and that's about it. He's just waiting for an opportunity. Severino is likely a corner infielder and may see time at either. Martin is a utility guy through-and-through, with great contact and not much else. A bog standard Twins Org Guy that will provide depth. Pitchers David Festa, Matt Canterino, Simeon Woods Richardson Canterino hasn't played above AA, Festa only has 3 games at AAA, and Woods Richardson has played in two games at the MLB level. The Twins pitching situation is grim, folks. Absolute Question Marks Jovani Moran and Randy Dobnak are both technically part of the org? Jair Camargo is on the 40-man, and will probably remain at AAA so long as neither Jeffers nor Vasquez are hit by a train. Josh Winder's loving SHOULDER BLADE is broken?? Amazing Baseball Names in the org: Dalton Shuffield, Jake Rucker, Ernie Yake And Just Now I Find Royce Lewis Hit A Dinger and Then Limped Out of the Game I'm Gonna Puke rickiep00h fucked around with this message at 22:38 on Mar 28, 2024 |
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Mar 28, 2024 22:24
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Tony Phillips posted:YOUR SEATTLE MARINERS This is very unsettling.
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Mar 29, 2024 03:25
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The cardinals are going to suck this year for sure so I’m gonna have to find a plucky underdog in the AL to root for. Thinking Yankees.
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Mar 29, 2024 14:27
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I suppose as the (typically) most invested Guardians Poster the duty must fall to me to pitch my midwestern failures in a sea of cubsposting. Also I made most of this before opening day and got lazy so you'll just have to live with anything that mentions Opening Day. _______________________________________________________________________ Hell is Real, and Closer Than You Think: The 2024 Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are, against all odds - both imposed by themselves and others - one of the most notable faces of the oft-derided, oft-embarrassing, rarely-boring AL Central Division. They're feuding for this right with basically anyone who aren't the Royals, but right now it's mostly the Minnesota Twins and a slowly-coming-out-of-rebuild Detroit Tigers. This is impressive when you recall that the Cleveland Guardians are now the holders of the longest active win drought (discounting those who have never won the Series before, sorry Mariners) in baseball. Last winning shortly after World War II, the Cleveland Blues - that's what I'm calling it now, and you can't stop me - turns 76 this year, meaning it trails the Red Sox' Curse of the Bambino by a scant decade, and is now a good five years older than the agreed-upon origins of the Curse of the Billy Goat(though, obviously, has some room to grow on how long the Cubs went without a WS win in general). The people of Cleveland are no stranger to "there's always next season", but the nigh-inconceivable 2016 World Series choke to the Chicago Cubs still hangs over the ol' Mistake By The Lake like the early spring overcast that will almost surely blot out any eclipse viewing over Cleveland this coming week. What Happened Last Year? Last year was a rough one for Cleveland. Fresh off a 2022 season that looked for all the world like a youngblood squad ready to light the world on fire and prove contact-heavy offense wasn't a nonstarter in the modern day, they quickly cratered due to a myriad of factors. For one, the Guards were plagued by injury to their rotation from the jump - Triston McKenzie, shorly before Opening Day, would go on the IL, and would remain there until September, well after the Guardians were out of the race by any sane metric. This set the tone for the Guardians' problems for their rotation in 2023 - at no point was the starting 5 ever able to put it together, or even exist on the same roster at the same time, with various solutions called up. While rookies Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, and Gavin Williams all showing baseline competency and proving that the Guards can still develop a strong pitcher, a few blunderous trades made in desperation for pitching depth, hampered a post-All Star Break recovery. The most notable of these was flipping starting shortstop Amed Rosario for a 90%-washed Noah Syndergaard that only gave Cleveland a measly 6 starts before finally running out of gas for good, while also trading Aaron Civale for potent Tampa Bay rookie Kyle Manzardo... who admittedly still isn't ready yet. Still, the breath of fresh air in the rotation meant that while Cleveland was constantly fumbling for an answer to their pitching problems, they still had produced some solutions. If only the same could be said for their bats. Cleveland's offense, which was hovering precariously over absolute basement levels in 2022, stayed at about that mark or lower throughout all of 2023. To wit, in every metric except contact, the Guardians were at or near the very bottom of the league. And with Cleveland's inability to drive in runs, and Tito's propensity for leaving pitchers in just long enough to blow the save (Cleveland's closer, Emmaneul Clase, lead the league both in saves and blown saves last season), you have a recipe for disaster. Still, it can't be said Cleveland didn't prove contact-heavy teams were completely dead, only finishing a measly 3rd place in AL Central behind the division-winning Twins and a Detroit Tigers making a late-season surge that no one, not even Detroit saw coming. The biggest news last year, however, was not any moves on the field, but adjacent to it - Terry "Tito" Francona, skipper of the team since 2013, hung up his hat at the end of last season. Tito will almost certainly go down as one of the greatest managers Cleveland baseball has ever seen, despite his quirks and foibles, and that leaves some big shoes to fill for Stephen Vogt, who slid from on the field to off it between 2022's retirement and 2023's bullpen managing of the Mariners. This'll be his first year being the captain of his own ship, but, that said, Vogt's youth compared to Tito could be his strength - the 39-year-old fresh-faced former catcher knows a little more keenly what the state of baseball is on the field compared to the 64-year Francona, and that could be a strength for a Cleveland crew that needs to rely on every trick in the book if they want to make a case for themselves. But enough about the past. Let's look at the present. Who are these jerks, anyway? _______________________________________________________________________ Catcher: Bo Naylor / Austin Hedges (Austin Hedges batting 8th on Opening Day) Previously: Bo - 230 PA, .237/.339/.470 | Hedges - 212 PA, .184/.234/.227 It's no secret that Bo Naylor has been Cleveland's big prospect project for a few years, now. Younger brother of current starting first baseman Josh Naylor, this'll be Bo's sophomore year as the main catcher, which was a role he wasn't too awful at, though his defensive metrics weren't super inspiring. In addition, Bo's minor league stats were more than a little inconsistent - and he did spend some time in Triple-A Columbus, last year. Were it not for the fact that Mike Zunino didn't manage to recover to a productive level from thoracic outlet syndrome, he might have been left to cook for another year. That said, his bat played even if he was utterly abysmal at throwing people out attempting the steal, which means Cleveland's going to hope his first year wasn't a total flash in the pan. As will be a common refrain in this list, Bo Naylor needs to prove he has what it takes here, because the other options are pretty ugly. Now, if that sounds like I'm a bit down on Bo, know that is much better than the score I reserve for Austin Hedges. Catcher for Cleveland from 2020-2022, Austin Hedges is a 'defense-first' catcher, which is a very kind of way of saying the man couldn't hit a loving tee-ball if his life depended on it. Austin Hedges has had exactly one, count 'em, one year over 75 OPS+, and most years he hangs out 50 or below. Regardless, his veteran leadership/clubhouse presence, against all odds, keeps him employed. Last year, despite going Catcher Sans Frontières and hooking up with the eventual World Series-winning Texas Rangers, was his worst year yet, and his defensive metrics currently don't look that better than Bo's. Unfortunately, the scam of pitch framing remains alive and well, and so despite my protests, Hedges got another year with Cleveland, ostensibly as Bo's backup, a new ring on his finger, and is even starting Opening Day over Bo. Why? God only knows. First Base: Josh Naylor (Batting 4th on Opening Day) Previously: 452 AB, .308/.354/.489 Josh Naylor, along with Steven Kwan and Jose 'Hosey' Ramirez, make up the heart of the 2020s Cleveland team, and looking at the above line, it's probably not surprising to understand that. Called up in 2020, Josh didn't really hit his stride until 2022, and is one of the few performers from the 2022 Guardians to maintain that same energy the following year. While Guardians' offense might have been bottom of the barrel, it can't be said Naylor didn't do his best to offset that, with 31 doubles and 17 homers last season. Considering he looked like a dogshit replacement player when the Padres flipped him for Mike Clevinger, a reliable arm who pitched a whole 19 innings with the Padres before being sidelined for the next two years, it's not been a bad deal! That said, Naylor is kind of a butcher at first base. A lot of guys are, and he's not the worst, but a -0.7 DWAR means that when something goes wrong in Cleveland, it's usually Josh's fault. If he stays with the team, his move to DH is eventual, but given he's still 26, that's very early talk, yet. Second Base: Andrés Giménez (Batting 7th on Opening Day) Previously: 557 AB, .251/.314/.399 If Hedges is what it looks like when you're faking being a defense-first player to keep getting paid, Gimenez is the real mccoy. Leading the American League last year with an eye-watering 2.9 DWAR, and winning his second consecutive Gold Glove (as well as last year's Platinum Glove), the myth of Cleveland's stellar defense comes down entirely to how well Gimenez handles anything hit his way. And, frankly, he's not that bad with a bat, either! In 2022 hit he for an absolutely unsustainable .297/.371/.466 for a meteoric 141 OPS+. Last year he regressed hard, but still managed to be a league-average bat with absurd defense. If his bat and glove remain as good as they were last year, he's going to once again be the squeak-free joint the team pivots around, and his bat has some room to climb back to those sweltering heights from the Guardians' 2022 Run. Shortstop: Brayan Rocchio (Batting 9th on Opening Day) Previously: 81 AB, .247/.279/.321 Spring Training: 51 AB, .250/.294/.417 Bryan Rocchio is another big unknown this season, the prospect call-up replacement for Amed Rosario and supposedly the whole reason the org flipped Rosario for the broken remains of the Mighty Thor. (Amed, admittedly, was having an absolutely dreadful year defensively, when he can at least expect his glove to make up some of the difference from his bat). In his limited run in 2023, Rocchio didn't exactly set the world on fire - a sub-league-average bat and replacement-level defense sure contributed to Cleveland's late-season woes last year, and his spot in the 9-hole reflects that. That said, as seen, his Spring Training stats seem to be looking up, but it's hard to say for sure whether he'll manage to stick. It's not like Cleveland can't continue to play him at short, but fellow prospect and current utility-man Gabriel Arias is waiting in the wings if Brayan doesn't put it together to at least produce about where Gimenez is now. Third Base: José Ramírez (Batting 2nd on Opening Day) Previously: 691 AB, .282/.356/.475 Hosey, Hosey! This is the guy you know even if you don't know any other Guardians, and probably 50/50 odds it's from his late-season square-off with White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson last year. The face of the franchise at the moment, and for good reason - a Cleveland prospect called up who's been proving he's got what it takes since Cleveland's last shot at the World Series, Hosey's bat is the heartbeat of the lineup - 36 doubles and 24 home runs last season, he lead last year in intentional walks, which is both a small damnation of Cleveland's offense in how much it runs off Jose Ramirez, but at the same time the league knows that the man is a killer threat. He might not be a Juan Soto or an Aaron Judge, but with five All-Stars, 4 Silver Sluggers, and a consistent name in the MVP conversation since 2017, it's impossible to discuss the Guards without discussing Captain Smiley. Jose's probably gonna retire with Cleveland - he's already 30 years old, and his contract extension looms large over the franchise. If he has a weakness, it's that his defense is only about replacement level at best in the hot corner, but when you have a bat like Jose Ramirez, you play it in the hot corner, defense be damned. Left Field: Steven Kwan (Batting 1st on Opening Day) Previously: 638 AB, .268/.340/.370 If I told you, in his first year in the majors, Steven Kwan did not take a strike looking until after 80 pitches, would you believe me? Steven Kwan, along with Gimnenez, was probably the breakout star from the Guardians' 2022 run. While his 2023 performance was, like Gimenez, a pretty painful regression to the mean, his batting eye is still pretty drat phenomenal - compared to his 62 Walks vs 60 strikeouts in '22, Kwan had 70 Walks vs 75 Strikeouts in 23. And for a classic contact-first doubles guy, he's actually not that bad in Left, either, managing a relatively healthy 1.0 DWAR so far in both years of Left Field experience. Of course, the problem is that LF is, in tradition baseball team-building exercises, the butcher's spot where you put your big, brutal sluggers who can't field worth a drat. The fact that Left Field is where the Guardians have their leadoff man does kind of establish that the Guardians are never gonna be a power-first team. Even still, if Kwan can recapture even a little bit of his 2022 performance, the Guards stand to at least drive in a few more runs this season, which is where they're lacking most. Center Field: Tyler Freeman (Batting 6th on Opening Day) Previously: 153 AB, .242/.295/.366 Spring Training: 37 AB, .297/.366/.459 Tyler Freeman is definitely an enigma, in both good and bad ways, and none of that encapsulates the sophomore's troubles more than his 2023 fielding stats, where he played 25 games at Third Base, 17 at Second, 11 at Short, 10 at DH, and one game apiece at First Base, Left Field, and generic Outfield replacement. Freeman's DWAR reflects that confusion as well, with a -0.5 DWAR on the 2023 season. Now, based on his Spring Training stats, Freeman might have figured it out - while his bat was never dreadful, it was still sub-league average last year, and those numbers would put him right up there with Hosey and Naylor as being primary run production machines on the 24 Guardians. That said, his defense is still a question mark - playing him in Center means he'll be attempting to fill in the shoes of previous CF Myles Straw, who, while never a run producer, was nevertheless a considerable feather in the cap of the Guardians' defense. The big questions for Freeman are whether he's going to be carrying those small-sample-size stats into his 2024 performance, and whether his glove can play in the cavernous depths of the Jake. If not, well, Myles is still in AAA Columbus, if worst comes to worse. Right Field: Ramón Laureano (Batting 3rd on Opening Day) Previously: 303 ABs between OAK/CLE, .224/.304/.371 Laureano is a refugee from the dying Oakland As, the screwjob of which will go down in baseball history. But that's a different story. Claimed off waivers because the Guardians, frankly, have no idea what they're doing with their outfield in the current team configuration, the most you can say about Laureano is that he's a warm body - he's got exactly 0.0 DWAR, his almost comically league-average bat (the man has been between 90 and 110 OPS+ since 2020) means he theoretically won't be a part of the ship the team has to constantly fret over, and ultimately that means the Guardians can continue to shuffle around pieces as they look for another answer. Maybe he wins over the team, maybe he doesn't, but it's probably better than staying in Oakland. Designated Hitter: David Fry (and others) (Batting 5th on Opening Day) Previously: 101 AB, .238/.319/.416 Spring Training: 44 AB, .295/.380/.523 Cleveland is weird in that they don't really have a true "designated hitter". David Fry is usually the utility man, and the other man who might be taking starts at Right Field from Laureano or picking up the slack at Catcher if something catastrophic happens to either Bo or Hedges. His defense there is comparable (but slightly worse), and his bat is about the same as well. Realistically, he's here because the usual guy the Guardians stick at DH, Will Brennan, is a lefty, and the As are starting left-hander Alex Wood on Opening Day, so Fry is getting the nod over Brennan for the handedness matchup. They'll probably do what they have the past few seasons and stick a few of their utility-men and other bench bats here to figure out who's hot, who's not, and then play them depending on whether the other team is starting a righty or lefty. On Fry himself, it's hard to really calculate how Fry is going to do. In 100 ABs after getting called up during 2023, he was pretty much league-average. He could do better, he could do much worse. Like Freeman and Rocchio, he's part of a handful of unknowns on the current roster - if he has a breakout season and Laureano doesn't, I can see them moving Laureano to DH and giving David Fry a chance at the outfield spot full time. The Bench: Estevan Florial (CF), Will Brennan (RF), Gabriel Arias (UT). Previously | Spring Training: 71 AB, .230/.324/.311 | 52 AB, .154/.241/.173 [Florial] 432 AB, .266/.299/.356 | 47 AB, .319/.360/.574 [Brennan] 315 AB, .210/.275/.352 | 43 AB, .233/.298/.395 [Arias] While Cleveland has some other position players waiting in the wings, these are the guys you're going to most likely see Cleveland pivot to. Of them, Estevan Florial looks by far the worst, with an apocalyptically bad showing in Spring, which isn't ideal when we flipped a reliever to the Yankees for him. Brennan is the opposite - he didn't look great last year, but if he can capture even a whiff of whatever poo poo he was smoking in Spring Training he could see a lot more at-bats, and Arias is mostly here because Cleveland needs someone to sub in for Naylor, Rocchio, or Ramirez depending on who needs rest. His bat looks like it's improved in Spring, but considering the margin of difference there I wouldn't expect him to hit any better than he did last year. Starting Pitcher: Shane Bieber Previously: 128 IP, 3.80 ERA Spring Training: 17 IP, 1.56 ERA Shane Bieber is the current incarnation of the Guardians' pitching-forward Aces High strategem that saw them make it inches from the World Series victory in 2016. Bieber saw some pretty serious regression last year, which continued a trend from 2022, and culminated with an injury that sidelined him during the two most important months of baseball and helped trigger the mass rookie callup the Guardians did last year. His fastball has never been the fastest on the market, but with a slight drop-off in velocity from his best stuff and his off-speed pitches not quite getting as many people to bite in the past few years, he's been seen as merely "okay" rather than "great". That seems to be changing for 2024. While Bieber doesn't have a huge sample size to go off of, apparently improving his curveball and getting velocity back in his fastball has made him as seemingly unhittable as his 2020 Cy Young-Award Winning self. Time will tell if he can keep that energy going into the season, especially since one of the biggest questions for the Guardians this season is what to do with Bieber. He hits Free Agency this winter, so the Guardians may try and flip him at the trade deadline if they don't expect to keep him, and seeing as how the Cleveland Guardians are perennially one of the cheapest teams in baseball, they might deal him if they don't expect to make it to October. The Rotation: Logan Taylor "L.T." Allen, Triston McKenzie, Tanner Bibee, Carlos Carrasco, Hunter Gaddis Previously | Spring Training 125 IP, 3.81 ERA | 18 IP, 5.50 ERA [Allen] 191 IP, 2.96 ERA* | 14 IP, 3.07 ERA [McKenzie] 142 IP, 2.98 ERA | 18 IP, 4.00 ERA [Bibee] 90 IP, 6.80 ERA | 14 IP, 2.57 ERA [Carrasco] 42 IP, 4.50 ERA | 11.2 IP, 1.54 ERA [Gaddis] * - McKenzie's stats taken from 2022 Cleveland fields a lot of pitchers, and it still might not be enough, as we'll see. Allen and Bibee are two of the rookies that made a case for themselves last year. The third, Williams, had elbow inflammation during Spring Training and so wasn't cleared for opening day. All three are expected to perform well, but both Allen and Bibee appear to be having trouble in Spring, which is not a great sign. William's sample size is so small it might as well not exist, so one can only hope they all shake off the sophomore jitters and perform, for Cleveland's sake. Carrasco, weirdly, has the opposite trend - a Cleveland callup in 2009, he'd been with the org for a solid decade (he missed 2012) before Cleveland flipped him to the mets in 2021. He was okay for the Mets in 2022, but 2023 he looked absolutely washed. Conversely, in Spring Training, he looks better than he ever has been, but whether that translates to success once the season gets rolling is gonna be an open question. At 36, he's easily the oldest member on the team, so I would expect him to only come out and eat innings when absolutely necessary, unless the team thinks he's completely bounced back to his 2016-2018 form. McKenzie's coming off nearly a whole year on the IL, and elected not to take Tommy John when everyone thought he would. Time will tell if that decision will bite him in the rear end - he looks good now, but I'm not sure I would bet money on him staying healthy the whole season. But if he does, that'll be a huge boon to Cleveland's pitching, considering he hasn't seem to lost a step from his 2022 performance and with three sophomore pitchers in the question consistency might be the most valuable word in the Cleveland clubhouse. I'm putting Hunter Gattis here because he started 7 games for Cleveland last year, which is more than we got out of Noah Syndergaard, but in reality, he's effectively the long man, expected to play more innings than the other relievers. He'll probably start a few games this year too, depending on what happens to the rotation. In Spring he seems to be doing better than most, so if Vogt is confident that'll play we might see him sooner than expected. Relievers: Emmanuel Clase, Scott Barlow, Eli Morgan, Nick Sandlin, Tim Herrin, Tyler Beede, Cade Smith Everyone who's a baseball nerd will tell you that Relievers are volatile, but Cleveland going into this losing two relievers to sickness (Xzavion Curry, Ben Lively), two with minor injuries that delayed their Spring Training (Sam Hentges, James Karinchak), and one to Tommy John who is almost certainly missing the whole season (Trevor Stephan) makes this a much harder road to hoe. This makes the flipping of Cleveland's 2023 main setup man, Enyel De Los Santos, even more boneheaded in hindsight. Despite how much I rage at the bullpen sometimes, they were all fairly good last year, and were given an insurmountable task to be perfect with how slim Cleveland's run margins were. Rather that describe them all, I'm gonna break out the tier list and wrap things up. The Closer: Clase Will Be Good: Sandlin Might Be Good: Herrin, Morgan, Barlow Don't Expect Much: Beede Answer Hazy, Try Again Later: Smith _______________________________________________________________________ Predictions This year in AL Central, the Twins are the favorite to take the division - they were pretty hot last year, and the regression from 2022 hurt the Guardians a lot, given their offense isn't based super heavily on the ever-consistent dinger. That said, if anyone ever told you that the AL Central could be locked down day 1 I'd laugh you out of the room. More than either of its bigger brothers, the AL Central is a volatile madhouse where the only law that plays is Murphy's Law - in 2022, the White Sox looked good, and then injury after injury turned them in a hobbled laughingstock whose current odds of winning the division are lower than the Royals. In 2023, the injury bug coupled with a rash of regressions totaled the Guardians' playoff hopes and dreams, but they still came within spitting distance. The Twins' players' health is an ongoing concern, so it could be their turn to look like the kings of the smallest mountain only to get buried in a cavalcade of absolute horseshit. That said, if the Guardians' don't win the division, their chances of winning a Wild Card are pretty slim - they'd need to try and wrestle one out from under the nose of whichever of the Mariners/Astros/Rangers don't win AL West, and basically everyone from AL East except probably the Yankees. On the other hand, part of the reason the Guardians' outlook is so low is due to unproven talent - their Catcher, Shortstop, Center Fielder, three of their Starters, and two of their Relievers are either coming up on their second year in the majors or are staring down their first ever call-up. Add to that Gimenez and Kwan are only in Year 3 of the Majors, and that's a lot of talent that can explode out and stun people. Even if everything goes right, it won't be easy, but there's a lot of untapped potential in this roster that might yet surprise folks. If they do make it to the postseason, will they win the World Series? Well... hard to say. Usually when the Guardians make the postseason, their gatekeeper is the ever-infuriating New York Yankees. This year, despite having Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, the Yankees are considered a bit of an underdog in their division. Without their gatekeepers, the Guardians could go on the mother of all runs... ...but I'm a Northeast Ohio native, so I'm not gonna hope until we get to October. Until then, though, let chaos reign in AL Central - and the least-injured team limp across the finish line. Monathin fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Mar 30, 2024 |
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Mar 30, 2024 07:58
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CHICAGO WHITE SOX TO CITY: DROP DEAD You might remember the White Sox as a team on the brink of contention that emerged from a horrible tank with one of the most exciting young rosters in baseball. But then Jerry Reinsdorf hired his buddy the ancient drunk Tony LaRussa, they tried to play a bunch of DHs in the outfield, everyone kept getting hurt all of the time, and Reinsdorf refused to spend any money to augment their young core with established veterans, and they went immediately into the shitter. Now they're tanking again, they will be one of the worst teams in baseball, they have a new front office with another warmed over White Sox Guy, and Reinsdorf is demanding public money for a new stadium thirty years after demanding public money for a new stadium. They also allowed their beloved announcer, one of the best broadcasters across sports who grew up a White Sox fan to move to the Detroit Tigers because Jerry Reinsdorf is cheap and awful. I am very sorry to anyone who is still rooting for this team. MANAGER Pedro Grifol The Sox brought in Grifol from the Royals to try to reverse the horrendous La Russa vibes. White Sox fans don't seem to like Grifol, the players don't seem particularly jazzed about him, and the White Sox still play like sloppy poo poo. Departures Dylan Cease, RHP Cease, one of the best pitchers in baseball in 2022 had a worse year in 2023 and the Sox decided to cut bait on him for prospects before his arm exploded. Apparently got several well-regarded prospects for him from the Padres in a stunning late spring training trade. Tim Anderson Once the face of the White Sox and one of the most exciting young players in baseball, Anderson forgot how to hit last year, had a bunch of weird drama in his personal life, and got punched about the face by Jose Ramirez after starting a fight by squaring up to him like he was the Notre Dame mascot. No one seemed to want him, but he eventually signed for virtually nothing with the Marlins, who will either get a completely washed second baseman or a free all-star. What a strange career for a guy who was legitimately one of the coolest dudes in baseball three years ago. ROSTER  Martin Maldonado, C The Machete was a mainstay of the Astros, with a cannon of an arm and a reputation as a pitch-caller, veteran presence, and defensive stopper. Anyone who follows baseball knows exactly how to read this: this dude can't fuckin' hit. Giving several hundred plate appearances to this guy is like bringing back pitchers hitting.  Andrew Vaughn, 1B Vaughn was drafted as a this guy can hit but we don't even know if he can play first in the majors bat. Instead, the White Sox, already jammed with first basemen and DHs, made him play left field for two seasons. It was not a total disaster, but he's settled in as the everyday first baseman. His bat never really developed and he's never managed more than a .750 OPS. At least every picture of him is very funny because he looks frightened and bug-eyed whenever he is photographed. Nicky Lopez, 2B I have no idea who this guy is. Former Royal who I guess is from the Chicago suburb of Naperville. I just looked him up and I guess he must have a good glove because he is a lousy hitter. Paul DeJong, SS You may remember this guy as an extremely annoying Cardinal who came up out of nowhere and was really good for a few seasons. He lost the ability to hit, but he is guaranteed to be better at short than 2023 Tim Anderson of the reanimated corpse of Elvis Andrus. Yoan Moncada, 3B It's been enough years since he came up as the prized #1 overall prospect in baseball acquired in the Chris Sale trade to determine that he just kind of stinks now. Moncada had a little bit of a breakthrough season as he regressed from guy who should not be playing professional baseball to roughly average at the plate. The Sox are probably hoping he can hit enough where they can finally trade him but that will be tough because Reinsdorf isn't going to have to pay enough money off his huge contract to get them a decent return. Andrew Benintendi, LF The Most Expensive Free Agent in White Sox History had an awful season last year. Still a decent glove, he needs to rebound from his .682 OPS. Either way, Sox fans should get used to him because he's not going anywhere for a long time. Luis Robert, CF Finally, a non-depressing White Sox player! Luis Robert is one of the best in baseball who finally stayed healthy enough to have the breakout All Star-caliber season we've all been waiting for. Robert can hit, has power, is an incredible fielder, and is very fast. He clubbed 38 dingers last year and had 20 steals and is only 26. He could possibly have an MVP-type season this year. If you go to see this garbage team this year, he is the reason why. RF Dominic Fletcher I have no idea who this guy is. He will platoon with Kevin Pillar, who the White Sox cut from their camp, then reacquired the next day and started on opening day. Real White Sox poo poo. Eloy Jimenez, DH Once one of the most exciting players in baseball, he is a gigantic Dinger Man who hits majestic Ding Shots. Except he kept getting hurt attempting to play the outfield and last year, when he was largely able to stay healthy enough to get to almost 500 plate appearances, seems to have lost his power with only 18 homers. The only explanation for why Eloy fell off a cliff is White Sox. PITCHERS Garrett Crochet, RHP The White Sox confused a lot of people when they announced that Crochet, a guy who hasn't started a game since his sophomore year in college, would be their opening day starter. Crochet has insane stuff but is coming off Tommy John surgery and is a career reliever. Crochet pitched really well on Opening Day so maybe they are not insane. Michael Soroka Came over from Atlanta, he was a very good starter who has been injured and crappy for the past few seasons. Erick Fedde Guy who washed out of American baseball then went to the KBO and dominated, so the Sox are hoping that he can be a reclamation project. Chris Flexen I saw this guy pitch twice last year against the Cubs, once when he was on the Mariners and coughed up a 7 run lead in the second inning and then once when he was with the Rockies. He really seemed to stink! Anyway now he's on the White Sox. Michael Kopech This guy used to throw like 103 then he got a hurt a bunch and walked a bunch of guys and now is in the bullpen and is not very happy about it. Season Outlook The White Sox look like they are going to absolutely suck this year. It should be illegal for Jerry Reinsdorf to own sports teams.
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Mar 30, 2024 18:46
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I did a quick writeup on the Giants here, so I will just add that I am excited for this guy: https://twitter.com/NBCSGiants/status/1773922816452391066 and also him: https://twitter.com/SFGiants/status/1773902242850246859 and this handsome fellow: https://twitter.com/NBCSGiants/status/1773939125324013586
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Mar 30, 2024 20:28
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Are there any MLB teams that have any players from the West Indies? Particularly Trinidad and Tobago if possible. Coz that's where Gus Logie is from.
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Mar 31, 2024 12:08
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BrigadierSensible posted:Are there any MLB teams that have any players from the West Indies? The West Indies have a shitload of players if we're talking Greater Antilles. Cuba, the Dominican, and Puerto Rico are awash in baseball players. Lesser Antilles and outer islands of North and South America are less common, but most "Dutch" players are actually from Curaçao. Unfortunately no players seem to be directly from Trinidad and(/or) Tobago.
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Mar 31, 2024 14:25
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Xander Bogaerts is from Aruba, Kenley Jansen is from Curaçao, Jazz Chisholm is from the Bahamas. There’s a few others, but I think those are the biggest name current players from the smaller islands. Tons from Cuba and the DR.
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Mar 31, 2024 21:17
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Ozzie Albies is from Curaçao
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Mar 31, 2024 21:21
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Squinky v2.0 posted:Xander Bogaerts is from Aruba, Kenley Jansen is from Curaçao, Jazz Chisholm is from the Bahamas. There’s a few others, but I think those are the biggest name current players from the smaller islands. Tons from Cuba and the DR. Albies is also from Curaçao. Highest MLB players per capita of any country I believe. Edit : Beaten by a minute, of course. Here - a picture of a big rear end cereal box billboard with Wlad Balentien that I saw while there in 2017  Tony Phillips fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Mar 31, 2024 |
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Mar 31, 2024 21:22
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my cardinals are going to suck a lot this year but i need to know who is going to step up and be That Annoying Fucker the Cubs Can Never Strike Out
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Apr 1, 2024 15:26
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Doctor Teeth posted:my cardinals are going to suck a lot this year but i need to know who is going to step up and be That Annoying Fucker the Cubs Can Never Strike Out why can't it just be Matt Carpenter again
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Apr 1, 2024 15:28
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 YOUR 2024 TORONTO BLUE JAYS begin the season homeless for the second year in a row, who as in 2023 are on an extended road trip while their corporate overlords build more "drink rails" around SkyDome to justify raising prices at the seventh-oldest park in the majors. These kinds of front office shenanigans have been the norm ever since Rogers Communications got that meddling Alex Anthopoulous out of the way, the worst in recent memory being last season's disastrous early hook to José Berríos in game 2 of the Wild Card. They couldn't hide from that one and promised things would be different this year, but what exactly has changed? Did they add enough run support? Will pretending the coaching staff has a longer leash have any meaningful effect on team culture? Have the Blue Jays become--as many fear--yet another Toronto profit-over-product, run-it-back cash cow, forever to be wild card fodder with all systemic flaws plastered over by a slick corporate marketing machine? These questions and more are best contemplated watching this hype vid as you lean against your nearest drink rail and #WorkFromDome. OPENING DAY LINEUP: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B) - Our baseball-loving son, our Quebec representation, our home run jacket enjoyer, our face of the franchise etc. Ownership decided his down year in 2023 was worth taking him to salary arbitration which they lost. Showed up to training camp in the best shape of his life, will have to see if this translates more to his bat or his glove. Either way the debates on if 2021 was a one-off will spring eternal. Cavan Biggio (2B) - Son of hall-of-famer Craig Biggio, who alongside Vlad Guererro Sr. makes him and Jr. the first sons of hall-of-famers to be major-league teammates. Spent the first half of 2023 trashed on by fans and sports radio alike as an underachiever kept afloat only by pedigree, but really seemed to figure out his ABs down the stretch and became a good offensive contributor. Hopefully can hit on this again in 2024. Bo Bichette (SS) - Vlad's pal and the Blue Jays' other baseball son, Bo is often described on the broadcast as a "student of the game", which in practice is a cyclical process of starting the season slow and then having a very good July/August before levelling off in time for the playoffs. Is quietly improving every year so who knows? Was the Jays' nominee for the Roberto Clemente award last year for his work sponsoring baseball camps. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (3B) - The only new face on the opening day defense, we saw him a lot with the Yankees so it's nice to have a known product I guess. He replaces Matt Chapman at what seems to be half the offense for half the asking price so we'll see how this turns out. Daulton Varsho (LF) - Our president and GM have insisted that you can't fairly evaluate if a trade was "good" or "bad" before the five-year mark and to pretty please stop being mean to them for sending Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr to Arizona in this deal. He's fine I guess, not his fault, I hope he has a good year if only so he gets a break in our rabid market. Kevin Kiermaier (CF) - Kiermaier won his 4th gold glove last year and was a big part of why the Jays quietly were among the league leaders in outfield defense. Was not expected to stay on but apparently nobody else made him a good offer so welcome back. Came from the Tampa Bay Rays in part because he was really impressed with our team barber. George Springer (RF) - Relocated to a foreign country after the whole garbage can thing. At the halfway point of signing the biggest contract in team history, he so far has paid it back with hard work and professionalism even in the face of Alejandro Kirk (C) - Definitely another player the front office really is hoping/relying on to find a consistent offensive groove. Not having it figured out in years prior was in part smoothed over by being Alek Manoah's personal catcher but at this point it's probably just as much that he's the only one who stays healthy. José Berríos (SP) - The opening day assignment was well-earned, in 2022 he had a bit of a problem letting bad starts snowball so I was surprised to learn it didn't put a dent in him being one of baseball's most reliable 6+ IP starters over the past few years, including winning a gold glove in 2023. Luckily there are no (apparent) hard feelings over the wildcard thing because he has the longest remaining contract on the rotation. Justin Turner (DH) - The cream that rose to the top of the front office's master plan to add offense by signing a bunch of older players and hoping one of them can still hit. He perfected his craft with the Dodgers and is now 39, so I imagine the Jays' hitting coaches inevitably ruining him as they did Vlad will coincide with when he was going to turn into a pumpkin anyways, leaving none the wiser. MANAGER: John Schneider - Former AAA catcher in the Jays organization who was offered a lower-league coaching position when released in part due to a concussion history, Schneider worked his way up to the show through great player relations and solid game management, both of which seem to vanish under front-office pressure come playoff time. Maybe this is the year he pushes back or gets fired or both. THE REST OF THE ROTATION AND OTHER OPTIONS: Chris Bassitt - A take-charge-of-his-own-game personality sort of pitcher, Bassitt has his ups (8-pitch arsenal) and downs (random implosions, ignoring public health advice) which balanced into a reliable arm that gave us 3.60 over 200 IP last year. Long may it continue. Yusei Kikuchi - A solid starter last year who, much like Berríos, had a rough 2022 that was a little rougher to the point that he was demoted to the bullpen for awhile. He got through it and became one of last year's studs, never forced to make a relief appearance again... until that wildcard game. I hope he has a good contract year. Fun fact: was admired by a young Shohei Ohtani who went as far as living in his former high school dorm room. Kevin Gausman - Found himself as a pitcher just as the Jays found him and has been great on and off the mound. I was surprised to learn we aren't even halfway through his contract, he's been so reliable that it feels like he's been around a lot longer. Bowden Francis - The guy on the wrong end of the Jays becoming the fastest team to be no-hit in MLB history. We got him from the Brewers a couple years ago and he's been an up-and-down guy, mostly down, but made the rotation out of spring training this time. If he sticks around long enough we could potentially get a ballpark promotion based on this shirt. Alek Manoah (IR?) - Who could have known egging on an A-ball pitcher to go 200 innings in his first complete MLB season would end badly??? I don't know what's going on with this guy but I have more faith in him than I do in the front office. Yariel Rodríguez (AAA) - If I am understanding this correctly: Rodríguez was an NPB reliever who had one (1) four-inning start in the WBC and was so sure of a bright future in the majors that he ghosted his Japanese team and spent a year doing nothing. Once his contract situation was resolved the Jays signed him to a five-year deal and then immediately demoted him. Probably nothing to worry about. Ricky Tiedemann (AAA?) - Hot prospect at one point being "carefully developed along the same path as Alek Manoah" which obviously has taken on a whole new meaning lately. Might see him as an injury replacement or a bullpen day guy. BENCH AND BENCH-ADJACENT GUYS: Danny Jansen (C) - Regular #1 catcher, whichever poster said he kept himself in the majors by hitting clutch home runs off the Yankees was probably right. Now he's keeping himself out of it by repeatedly breaking miniature bones you've never heard of in his hands and wrists. I wonder how long he's going to keep signing one-year deals. Brian Serven (C) - Backup catcher who will see plenty of MLB time while Jansen continues to do his thing. Daniel Vogelbach (DH/1B) - Fan-favourite(?) player imported from the Mets, and one of very few in the history of the game to never so much as attempt a stolen base (min. 500 opportunities). Was apparently a member of the Blue Jays for 9 days back in 2020. Davis Schneider (2B/OF) - An out-of-nowhere underdog fan favourite who homered in his debut last year and went on to post 1.358 OPS in his first 20 games, a modern era best. Then he went on a huge o-fer and I think was stapled to the bench for the playoffs? Seems to ride a razor's edge between crushing baseballs and being completely figured out, the most consistent part of his game is that any home-run heroics are generally followed by being left out of the lineup the next game. No relation to the manager. Ernie Clement (IF/OF) - I think was up and down a few times over the previous year but broke camp with the team this time around, good luck to him. Joey Votto (DH) - At one point the highest-paid Canadian professional athlete, when the Reds didn't bring him back for an 18th season he picked up the phone and called his hometown team. Said he's willing to ride buses in the minor leagues until he gets another chance and good on him for still loving the game, currently is either doing that or rehabbing an injury or something. I will need to see him in a Jays uniform a little more for him to not look photoshopped into it. Arjun Nimmala (SS) - The 20th overall pick in the 2023 draft, will very likely become the first first-generation Indian American to play in the show, hopefully they don't rush his development but I could see him getting a game or two if the injury bug goes around in the summer or something. BULLPEN STAFF I CAN NAME: Trevor "Old Man" Richards (SP/RP) - I wonder if our premier innings-eater went prematurely grey in part from all of the weird situations the team tosses him in, last year's 72 were the most of anyone not a starter. His ERA isn't pretty but neither are his assignments. Jordan Romano (C) - Team closer and local kid from nearby Markham, the sum of his good and bad stretches of performance make him the kind of closer that when he comes on we are just as nervous as everyone else. Hurt currently, so for the foreseeable future his duties will be split between Yimi García and former Yankee Chad Green. Erik Swanson (RP) - Went on almost as much as Richards but far less memorable for whatever reason. I think he is hurt ATM. Génesis Cabrera (RP) - Acquired at the trade deadline last year, did fine, already suspended this year for shoving a guy. Tim Mayza (RP) - Very effective put-out-the-fire guy last year to the tune of 1.52 ERA over 51 innings, apparently he is not confident in his fastball velocity in tyool2024 which I am sure will end well. Nate Pearson (RP) - Last year's 4.85 over 42 innings of relief were more than the rest of his injury-riddled career combined, it was nice to see some return on a guy we have had in our system going on eight years. Mitch White(SP/RP) - A bubble pitcher and a bit of an underdog I hope figures it out to someday be trusted in anything other than no-leverage situations. We DFA him a lot but there's a good arm in there and I imagine one of these days another team will claim it. NOTABLE DEPARTURES: Whitley Merrifield (IF/OF) - Left the Royals to chase a ring and wound up in Toronto, has since realized his mistake and went to Philly. Adam Cimber (RP) - Our local eccentric sidearm pitcher guy is now an Angel, however he is still alive  Jay Jackson (RP) - This one stung. Jackson was one of our better relievers in 2023 but spent his entire tenure somewhere between undervalued and disrespected by the front office, the cherry on top being DFA'd on the last day of the season to make room for who the hell knows. We all hated it and it tbh felt like the writing on the wall for the team's short postseason, poetically he has now signed with the Twins. Matt Chapman (3B) - Signed with the Giants, his dugout beefs with the manager were funny but I understand why he didn't stick around. Brandon Belt (1B/DH) - After 90M and a World Series ring with the Giants, in 2023 he signed a 1-year deal with the Jays he spent half of publicly waffling about retirement, decided not to and now is reportedly surprised he isn't getting any good offers. I would imagine any spot for him in the Jays org is taken by Joey Votto. Luis Rivera (Coach) - Our third base guy has retired after ten or so years. His weird sends will be missed. 
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Apr 4, 2024 05:26
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Doctor Teeth posted:my cardinals are going to suck a lot this year but i need to know who is going to step up and be That Annoying Fucker the Cubs Can Never Strike Out 
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Apr 5, 2024 14:28
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mariners 2023: eliminated on last day of the season. the team that took their spot did this:  no, not bitter at all offseason: team declared "we strike out too much"  stay tuned to this space as robbie ray comes back after the all star break to go 9-0 with a 1.70 ERA and 14 strikeouts per 9 with the giants they DID do some free agent spending. however Desperately Sorting Through The Dented Cans Aisle Mitch Garver, DH/C 2024 strikeout percentage, to date: 12.5% the mariners decided their headline FA pickup would be to pay for two years of the decline phase of the backup catcher / dh of the aformentioned world series champion texas rangers. he's never had more than 359 plate appearances in a season, at 33 is the definition of "guy you put at catcher once a week at most to minimize the damage", and is as likely to spend half the season with boneitis and ops .550 as he is to be a semicompetent bat, but on the other hand it is only two years, leaving him ready to be pawned off for some recently dfaed guy in june of 2025 Ryne Stanek, RHP RP the star closer of the astros, he had an off year last year and the astros let him go and was unsigned into spring training and a few mariners relievers had minor injuries so he was signed on a 1 year deal for $4mm. they already have a million reliever so he's probably the role of "setup guy traded to a contender for an untarnished prospect in july when the mariners are languishing along at like 45-47" Austin Voth, RHP RP i have no clue who this guy is. baseball reference said his best season was 2019 on the nationals, but after that has languished as a home-run-happy swingman for the nationals and later the orioles. it's a 1 year deal for $1.3mm. moving on Notable Losses  moving on The 2024 Seattle Mariners C: Cal Raleigh 2024 Strikeout Percentage: 31.6% lots of power, lots of strikeouts, good catcher defense, hit a home run in 2022 that the mariners advertising crew is going to milk for 20 loving years. 1B: Ty France 2024 Strikeout Percentage: 22.2% 120 OPS+ mainstay for a while, underwhelmed last season, spent the offseason fixing his problems, seems to be fixed and 2023 was an aberration buckle up now folks, it's allllll downhill from here  2B: Jorge Polanco 2024 Strikeout Percentage: 42.9%  mariners had a gaping hole at second thanks to kolten wong, so the mariners decided to trade for a guy the twins were willing to trade for a guy that's already pencilled in to hit a walk off three run homer against the mariners in 2028. currently has four hits in 26 at bats with 12 strikeouts. SS: JP Crawford 2024 Strikeout Percentage: 20.7% traded from the phillies, has been a mainstay at short for a few years. starting 2024 off slow, but that's the entire loving roster outside of like three people, so whatever. will probably bounce back. 3B: Josh Rojas / Luis Urias platoon 2024 Strikeout Percentage: 25.0% (Rojas), 35.7% (Urias) Part 1 of the This Guy Makes Too Much Money Saga, the mariners traded off Eugenio Suarez to the diamondbacks and replaced him with a platoon of guys on the fringes of their previous MLB rosters. Urias looks terrible but Rojas might be a keeper so i wouldn't be surprised to see the platoon experiment given up on and just giving rojas the position full time. LF: Dom Canzone 2024 Strikeout Percentage: 47.1% theoretically, a slow, lumbering bat-first corner outfielder that didn't have a place in the diamond backs offense. the reality is "roll a d20 and if it's a natural 20 it's a home run and anything less is a popup or strikeout". CF: Julio Rodriguez came onto the game by storm in 2022, winning the rookie of the year with a 147 OPS+ can do it all, bat, glove, looks, the whole shebang. the mariners declared if the future of the franchise and gave him infinity billion dollars for the next zillions. if he has a problem, it's that he knows at times the whole team's on his back, presses, going into slumps, and has at bats like this:  which leads to incredibly infuriating slumps. on the other hand he's 23 and will learn to handle it better. this is the bright spot of the mariners hitting future. RF: Mitch Haniger 2024 Strikeout Percentage: 23.1% lineup mainstay for a while a few years back, signed a moderate free agent deal with the giants, sucked and was hurt there, traded back in the robbie ray deal. will hit well as long as he's not hurt DH: Mitch Garver played for rangers, good if brittle hitter, you already read this above BENCH: Luke Raley Seby Zavala Dylan Moore these three couldn't crack the lineup of an offense that everybody expected to be below average and is currently meeting expectations i'm not going into it beyond the fact that luke raley might come through with a few big hits or two this season, dylan moores a utility guy that's surprisingly better with the bat than you'd expect at "a little bit below league average", and zavalas a backup catcher on his third team that hits like a backup catcher on his third team" ROTATION Luis Castillo George Kirby Logan Gilbert Emerson Hancock Bryce Miller i'm gonna do these all in a clump for reasons that will become eviden Luis Castillo Traded from the Reds to the Mariners for a pile of shortstop prospects in a 2022 deadline deal, took over as the ace of the rotation and has pitched like it. mainly the ace because he's 31 and not much else. George Kirby Logan Gilbert Emerson Hancock Bryce Miller all between the ages of 25 and 27, all nasty stuff, all excellent pitchers, the backbone of any hopes of a playoff appearance is on these five pitchers. they even have a few people in the minors that are only slightly less good than this for the expected arm injuries. if theres any difference, bryce millers a little less strikeout-y and a little more groundbally than the others, i guess BULLPEN Andres Munoz Cody Bolton Austin Voth Trent Thorton Tayler Saucedo Ryne Stanek Gabe Speier they're relievers in 2024. near triple digit heat, wipeout breaking stuff, able to come in and get the last 3 or 4 innings after the starters are pulled because it's 2024 and 7 innings is a workhorse start. these pitchers are boring because they're competent. Josh Rojas yeah we're eight loving games in and there's already been a game they brought in the third baseman to pitch. he induced a double play. this is one of the highlights from the season so far PREDICTION  they heat up after the slowest most infuriating start in team history, alternate good streaks with more infuriating streaks, finish 83-78 a few games out a playoff spot, and i hate life a little more Craig K fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Apr 6, 2024 |
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Apr 6, 2024 07:28
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rickiep00h posted:The West Indies have a shitload of players if we're talking Greater Antilles. Cuba, the Dominican, and Puerto Rico are awash in baseball players. Lesser Antilles and outer islands of North and South America are less common, but most "Dutch" players are actually from Curaçao. Thanks. But I am thinking in particular of players "stolen" from cricket playing regions. Coz that is always given as to why the West Indies are relatively poo poo nowadays. That all the best players are choosing to play baseball or basketball these days. Ignoring the corrupt clown show that the West Indian Cricket Board has been for decades now. BrigadierSensible fucked around with this message at 12:29 on Apr 6, 2024 |
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Apr 6, 2024 12:27
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