2024 MLB Season Thread

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by stevew

It’s pretty amazing how much Edwin Diaz has had his career derail since the “spiking of the football” Timmy Trumpet entrance. Mets fall apart in 2022. Diaz tears ACL and misses 2023. Earlier this season, he hast to step back from the closer roll due to ineffectiveness. Then the Mets get that Grimace bounce. And now he’s missing 10 games for having funky ass sticky hands.

Welcome to life as a Mets fan.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

It is hard seeing Paul Skenes come up and deal this way, have him and Jared Jones on minimum salaries for the next few years and not see the front office add a couple of even league average bats to the lineup. The NL Central and NL, in general, is down this year - if the Pirates don't act now, I don't know when they ever will.

They are sitting with the second lowest payroll in MLB (behind the A's) at $85.5M, with their three most established players under contract now for at least the next 4 years (Reynolds, Hayes, and Keller) and still fielding a team that has negative WAR at catcher, 1B, and corner OF. So hard to be a fan.

Yeah, I’m hoping they can piece together enough relief pitching. They also have some starters that might be able to contribute here in a few months. Is going to be back soon, so maybe you can get rid of that bullpen game once a week. Mike Burrows is ramping up and might be able to give them something later on. He was really well regarded but had TJ. Falter is decent most of the time.


Hitting wise you have no prospects. Looking at needing an upgrade at 1b/c/RF/CF on offense.

Shoutout to Bryan Reynolds right now. He’s killing it in June.

[Swaggs]

The Pirates' announcers have been going nuts about how hot Bryan Reynolds has been in the month of June and he has been. He has like a 23 game hit streak and has hit in every single game to this point, which is cool. He has a slash of .360/.418/.663 (1.081 OPS) which is fantastic.

I looked up Barry Bonds for comparison and his career OPS is 1.051 and he had six entire seasons that were better than Reynolds' June and his career OPS was 1.051 (and 1.143 in his 15 years with the Giants). His OPS in his 7 years with the Pirates was only .883, which dragged down his career total. And he won two MVPs with Pittsburgh and finished 2nd in another. It is just insane how good Bonds' was and I still think ridiculous that he is not in the Hall of Fame.

[stevew]

In the past 100 years, Reynolds has the 23rd highest career batting average in June

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

The Pirates' announcers have been going nuts about how hot Bryan Reynolds has been in the month of June and he has been. He has like a 23 game hit streak and has hit in every single game to this point, which is cool. He has a slash of .360/.418/.663 (1.081 OPS) which is fantastic.

I looked up Barry Bonds for comparison and his career OPS is 1.051 and he had six entire seasons that were better than Reynolds' June and his career OPS was 1.051 (and 1.143 in his 15 years with the Giants). His OPS in his 7 years with the Pirates was only .883, which dragged down his career total. And he won two MVPs with Pittsburgh and finished 2nd in another. It is just insane how good Bonds' was and I still think ridiculous that he is not in the Hall of Fame.

Think what Reynolds might hit if he was the sleazebag that Bonds was.

The only HOF that Bonds belongs in is "People Who Should Only Be Mentioned Again When They Do The World A Favor and Fucking Die"

[sovereignstar v2]

Lol I knew that was coming

[stevew]

Looking thru offensive guys who teams might be selling is depressing. The list of (maybe)available 100 OPS+ guys is pathetic. It’s like Brent Rooker, Taylor Ward, Gavin Sheets, Pham?, like I guess Luis Robert and uhhhh. Nobody can hit and it sucks.

In the next 30 or so days there has to be some sort of WC separation in the NL especially.

[Ksyrup]

Today's MLB looks like when I create a fictional OOTP league and let it change modifiers on its own, then in like 2045 the league is hitting .223 and I'm in the settings adding zeros to everything trying to right the ship.

[GrantDawg]

Happy Bobby Bonilla day to all who celebrate!

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Happy Bobby Bonilla day to all who celebrate!

Pretty sure that is a party of one..... Bobby.

[Ksyrup]

Not as well known as Bonilla's payday, but today is also the 16th and final payment of $3.6M the Reds have to make to Ken Griffey Jr.

Nice deal if you can get it.

[JPhillips]

That Griffey payment makes him the sixth highest-paid player on the team.

Given the way they've played this year he might be the best OF, too.

[Swaggs]

I just saw that the Marlins released Tim Anderson, who just signed a one-year deal for $5M.

I wonder if the Pirates know that they can release one-year rentals halfway through the season when they bring zero to negative value. Looking at you: Rowdy Tellez, Michael A. Taylor, and Yasmani Grandal.

It's almost like their management thinks they are playing a sim with an algorithm, where your front office loses reputation if you cut players or something.

[stevew]

Tellez threw up a .936 OPS last month but yes for the love of god I’ve seen enough of Taylor and Grandal. But already we’re working on a 5 catcher season so Grandal being available(at present) is worth something. Connor Joe gets away with not getting a hit for months too. Hayes is also back to being an auto out it seems.
I think they should at least try to cut Taylor in the next seven days and bring up either Palacios who is on the 40 man or at least give Matt Gorski a shot. He’s pretty much the only one in AAA who’s doing anything. You might be the only hitter in the whole entire organization that is doing anything right now.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by stevew

Tellez threw up a .936 OPS last month but yes for the love of god I’ve seen enough of Taylor and Grandal. But already we’re working on a 5 catcher season so Grandal being available(at present) is worth something. Connor Joe gets away with not getting a hit for months too. Hayes is also back to being an auto out it seems.
I think they should at least try to cut Taylor in the next seven days and bring up either Palacios who is on the 40 man or at least give Matt Gorski a shot. He’s pretty much the only one in AAA who’s doing anything. You might be the only hitter in the whole entire organization that is doing anything right now.

Tellez has looked a little better, but I'm not sure I have ever seen a supposed power hitter (4 HR in 215 ABs from our 300 lb 1B!) take so many fastballs right down the middle for called strike threes. If there is a scouting report, I feel like the pitchers must be, "So you are telling me I should just throw a straight fastball down the middle with two strikes and you are reassuring me he will not swing?!"

Grandal has been awful - I can't find statistics on catcher's interferences, but I know I have seen him do it at least twice this season in like 40 games. He gives up passed balls and throws out like 20% of SB attempts. I don't know how his WAR isn't negative 10.0.

Taylor, I hate the least, but his defense hasn't been great and his hitting is hilarious. He hit 21 homers last year and has 6 extra base hits all this year as a regular.

That's before we even get to the younger(ish) guys that still have control: Davis, Suwinski, Hayes, Olivares. It is a mystery how the 4 or 5 legitimate big league hitters that they do have are able to be around ball bats everyday and not just bludgeon some of these guys to death.

They do have OOTP legend Seth Beer sitting in AAA right now...

[JonInMiddleGA]

All the Pirates talk made me curious about something, so I grabbed the ESPN stats page. I'm not trying to defend nor convict any Pirates, I was simply curious about how many players this season have been arguably even worse than their worst offenders.

582 players listed with a WAR score (since I can't filter out those with too few ABs to even qualify).

#580 is Jack Suwinski at -1.8 on 200 ABs
Only Benetindi and Maldonado of CWS are both worse with 100 or more ABs

From here, I'll start to try to narrow it to something like "players with similar or meaningful ABs"

Next lowest Pirate is Grandal at #533, with a -0.5 WAR on 115 ABs
There are 5 catchers alone even worse (mostly part-timers) and nearly 50 non-Pirates of all positions even worse

Next lowest Pirate is actually Olivares at #503, with a 0.4 WAR on 167 ABs
There are 7 right fielders with at least half his ABs even worse

Next low Pirate is Alika Williams, #459 with -0.2 on 62 ABs but I'll skip over since that's kinda low appearances

Next low Pirate is Henry Davis, #446 with -0.2 on 85 ABs
11 total catchers (including those even worse than Grandal) with similar ABs are lower

Next low Pirate is Tellez, #436 with a -0.1 on 198 ABs
13 first basemen with at least 80 ABs are even worse. That feels like a real benchmark, that's close to half the teams giving playing time at the position who are in even worse shape

Next low Pirate is Taylor, all the way up at #233 with a 0.4 on 157 ABs
There are 12 CFs (not counting Suwinski) with at least 75 ABs even worse.

So now I know, and so do you

My own conclusion, YMMV, is that there's plenty of suck on the Pirates but there's also plenty of suck in MLB too.

[RainMaker]

The Suwinski dropoff is pretty baffling. He was a decent player at 23 and 24. Looks like he's been a bit unlucky this year (.227 BABIP), but even his defense has cratered. I guess there is a much smaller margin for error when you strike out 30% of the time.

[Atocep]

Brandon Nimmo should have been the Mets All-Star. There's probably 7 guys that should have made it off the Mets over Pete Alonso this year.

[JPhillips]

Sweep the Yankees.

Get swept by the Tigers.

It sucks to be a Reds fan.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Brandon Nimmo should have been the Mets All-Star. There's probably 7 guys that should have made it off the Mets over Pete Alonso this year.

I feel like Nimmo has 10 doubles during this weekend series. Mets fans and Furries in town this weekend. What a mix.

[miami_fan]

Wander has been charged.

Tampa Bay Rays SS Wander Franco charged with sexual abuse against a minor - ESPN

[stevew]

Brewers game

[RainMaker]

I've gushed half a dozen times in this thread about him but he's must watch any time he starts. Maybe it's recency bias but he's surpassed Strasburg and Prior as the two best young pitchers I've ever seen.

[RainMaker]

Well I sort of get the decision but come on.

[Ksyrup]

First reliever got that out of the way quickly.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Well I sort of get the decision but come on.

I get it, but it sucks.

[RainMaker]

It's a shit spot for a manager too. If you let him throw 130 pitches and he tears his UCL down the road, you'll be blamed for it. If you pull him early, you ruin a potentially cool moment.

[dubb93]

I don’t get the steroid era hate. If I want to see what normal guys can do there is a local beer league I can go watch. I want to see the best of the best in professional sports and if they have to drink horse piss to perform at their best I bet there is a farm in Kentucky that will sell it to them.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by dubb93

I don’t get the steroid era hate. If I want to see what normal guys can do there is a local beer league I can go watch. I want to see the best of the best in professional sports and if they have to drink horse piss to perform at their best I get there is a farm in Kentucky that will sell it to them.

I'm pretty consistent. I hate scumbags using wall hacks in video games, I hate Bonds. Both are wastes of oxygen the planet would be better off without and deserve nothing but scorn, derision, and the fastest exit off the planet that can be arranged.

[Mota]

I'm going to the All-Star game next week! Flying in on Monday, and will be going to the HR derby as well. Can't wait!

I'm staying in Forth Worth, hopefully there's some good BBQ places around there somewhere. Although I don't have my schedule yet, so I may be at the ballpark during most dinner hours.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Mota

I'm going to the All-Star game next week! Flying in on Monday, and will be going to the HR derby as well. Can't wait!

I'm staying in Forth Worth, hopefully there's some good BBQ places around there somewhere. Although I don't have my schedule yet, so I may be at the ballpark during most dinner hours.

Awesome! There are definitely awesome BBQ places, the one ranked #1 by Texas Monthly is between downtown and the ballpark. Here's an article from Texas Monthly listing their recommended top spots:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/barbecue-fort-worth/

[GrantDawg]

Paul Skenes goes from the number one MLB draft pick to starting the All-Star game in one year. And his girlfriend is gymnast/model Olivia Dunne. Talking about winning in life...

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Paul Skenes goes from the number one MLB draft pick to starting the All-Star game in one year. And his girlfriend is gymnast/model Olivia Dunne. Talking about winning in life...

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

About all he is missing is a better mustache

[Swaggs]

Thank the lord that they didn't go with one of the safe hitting options (like I hoped for last year) and got Skenes.

Langford has actually been pretty solid, getting close to 300 ABs for the Rangers and keeping his head above water already. Crews, who seemed like the safest bet, has gotten to AAA but is not doing anything special yet.

I was talking to a friend yesterday and asked if the Pirates could trade Skenes for most other teams' top 5 prospects, if they did it right now. Considering his current salary and value (plus, the $9.2M signing bonus has already been paid out), it is an interesting thought. I know teams that have top 10 guys that are near ready are probably a no, but having a cost controlled Cy Young caliber guy for the next 5 years on a contending team would be really valuable.

Apparently, he was a great college hitter, as well. Before he went to LSU, he played two seasons at Air Force (not the greatest conference for competition) and slashed .367/.453/.669 with 24 HR and only struck out 85 times in 402 plate appearances. In other words, he's probably the Pirates second best hitter, as well.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

About all he is missing is a better mustache

He looks like he is straight out of the mid-80s in a baseball uniform and I love it.

[RainMaker]

Like this is just unfair.

Paul Skenes, 99mph Fastball (noncompetitive pitch/ ball) and 85mph Back Door Slider (backwards K), Individual Pitches + Overlay.

Why you'd give up on Paul Skenes's back door slider. pic.twitter.com/jrfIZGf80a

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 12, 2024

[Atocep]

I really like the MLB draft. The level of strategy involved dwarfs the NBA and NFL draft.

Looking at the draft this year, it looks like Weatherholt or Bazzana are most likely to be the top pick although Condon is the top talent. Caglianone is probably going in the top 5 picks but is the guy I'm not touching in this draft. His chase rates are absolutely frightening (40%). Vance Honeycutt is another guy I'm not touching. He has a high floor as a defensive outfielder but I don't see the bat playing.

This isn't a great draft by any measure, but Condon is a legit #1 overall type player and Weatherholt, Bazzana, Chase Burns, Konnor Griffin, and Hagen Smith are all solid talents as well.

I also don't think many people saw Tommy White not being a first round pick after his first 2 years but here we are. He may go in the first, but he's looking like he might be a guy that falls into the 2nd or later.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Thank the lord that they didn't go with one of the safe hitting options (like I hoped for last year) and got Skenes.

Langford has actually been pretty solid, getting close to 300 ABs for the Rangers and keeping his head above water already. Crews, who seemed like the safest bet, has gotten to AAA but is not doing anything special yet.

I was talking to a friend yesterday and asked if the Pirates could trade Skenes for most other teams' top 5 prospects, if they did it right now. Considering his current salary and value (plus, the $9.2M signing bonus has already been paid out), it is an interesting thought. I know teams that have top 10 guys that are near ready are probably a no, but having a cost controlled Cy Young caliber guy for the next 5 years on a contending team would be really valuable.

Apparently, he was a great college hitter, as well. Before he went to LSU, he played two seasons at Air Force (not the greatest conference for competition) and slashed .367/.453/.669 with 24 HR and only struck out 85 times in 402 plate appearances. In other words, he's probably the Pirates second best hitter, as well.

I had a text exchange with my brother the other day where I think I’m pretty convinced he can hit .230 and be the starting catcher on our team right now.

[stevew]

Also trying to figure out what type of extension he might consider taking at this point. I don’t think 7/175 is insulting considering he will make approx 75-95 going thru the arb process. I already assume he is winning rookie of the year this year and we will only get six total years of control

[JPhillips]

As a Reds fan, I'd love to see a late-season game that matters with Skenes and Greene on the mound.

[JPhillips]

dola

This debut week for Rece Hinds has been crazy. In his first six games in MLB he's accumulated 1.1 fWAR.

[Atocep]

If Chase Burns' arm holds up, he's got frontline starter stuff. Love that pick for the Reds. His analytics are on par with Skenes.

Happy to see Weatherholt drop down to the Cardinals, there were a lot of landmines after the first 2 picks.

[stevew]

Pirates back to .500 but their schedule is brutal back out of the break.

[Mota]

Originally Posted by stevew

Hey swaggs, What’s up with Nick Gonzales? I’m starting to think that this might be a little bit real. He finally looks like the player we drafted.

It was a mirage...

[stevew]

Yeah he’s been pretty bad of late.

[Swaggs]

He's still a rookie and is one of the only guys on the team at roughly league average level. I read that he worked out on his own and built his own cage over the off season. The bigger concern is that this is the third report of guys going outside of the big league hitting coach and improving (Hayes used his AA batting coach, Jon Nunnaly, outside of their program and he got fired, Tellez reportedly worked with his dad during his slump, and Gonzo did his own thing over the summer). They need a big league calibre hitting coach after this season.

[Ksyrup]

Dustin May, who's been shut down since May 2023 with an arm or shoulder surgery, was close to starting a rehab assignment when he had a sudden torn esophagus while at dinner last week. He had surgery and is expected to recover fine, but he can't do anything for about 2 months, and given he already needed to rehab the arm/shoulder, he likely won't be a factor for the Dodgers this year. He's the 12th pitcher to go on the IL for them.

I looked it up, and apparently a torn (or perforated) esophagus can be caused by repeated vomiting or forceful regurgitation, or a bone (possible, since he was at dinner and it was "sudden"), or something called Boerhaave's Syndrome which affects approximately 0.0003% of the population.

The more you know...

In any event, that's some damn bad luck.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

He's still a rookie and is one of the only guys on the team at roughly league average level. I read that he worked out on his own and built his own cage over the off season. The bigger concern is that this is the third report of guys going outside of the big league hitting coach and improving (Hayes used his AA batting coach, Jon Nunnaly, outside of their program and he got fired, Tellez reportedly worked with his dad during his slump, and Gonzo did his own thing over the summer). They need a big league calibre hitting coach after this season.

Pretty reassuring they drafted a guy (griffin) who allegedly has a significant swing issue. I’m sure they won’t fix it.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by stevew

Pretty reassuring they drafted a guy (griffin) who allegedly has a significant swing issue. I’m sure they won’t fix it.

Definitely disappointing that they didn't draft some college bats. They've been so poor at developing hitters, the upper levels are pretty barren of them. I was hoping they might get a relatively quick to the majors OF/1B/DH-type in the first and then some good college hitters. So far, 3 for 3 high school picks, including a 2nd rounder that sounds like a defense first SS, which seems like really aiming low.

[Ksyrup]

That was the worst national anthem I've ever heard, and I sat through Carl Lewis, Fergie and Rosanne. That was the worst - hands down. These are the moments Twtitter was made for.