Baseball Thread

[Looseleaf Paper]

How much time did Betts and Muncy miss ? How about Freeman with the family issues and then the ankle injury late in the season ?

What about the absolute Frankenstein’s monster tier job that the pitching staff had to do with all of the injuries to their frontline pitchers ? Did the Yankees have to deal with any of that ?

Raw stats are important but circumstances are just as important to consider.

Ohtani had a much higher degree of difficulty given all of the flux and injuries. That has to be taken into account and when you do that in good faith, even as a DH he’s the very best player in the league.

He was the one constant on the team that finished with the best record in Baseball. The NL is also a tougher league with much better teams than the AL.

The Circumstance is literally being on the team with the better lineup. There are a total of eight games where Ohtani played without at least 2 of M. Betts, F. Freeman, or T. Hernandez. These three players are all-stars and each has higher AVG and OPS than Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton. These 3 players also have higher OPS than Jazz Chisholm, the Yankees 3rd best player who only played 46 games for them. And the 5th best player on the Dodgers, Will Smith, was also an all-star and has a higher OPS than Gleyber Torres anyway. The only other all-star the Yankees had in the lineup was Soto, who was always in front of Judge and never behind him.

If you exclude Judges and Ohtani’s numbers from the equation, the Dodgers have higher: Hits, AVG, OPS, and Runs. They are tied in HRs and the Yankees only have 1 more stolen base. The Dodgers simply still had the better team, despite the injuries, because everyone on the Yankees not named Juan Soto or Aaron Judge just wasn’t that good, and Chisholm who was pretty good came late in the season. And despite that, Judge still put up his crooked numbers.

The Yankees did have better pitching, but I fail to see how that is overtly relevant to the performance of position players, especially ones that don’t even play defense.

I’m not saying Ohtani is a bad player, but the initial statement that he is the most valuable player when looking at both leagues this year is wrong. Judge put up better numbers on a worse team, while also playing pretty good CF defense.

NL teams were better, but Judge had a higher AVG vs NL teams anyway.

 

[Neighborhood Janny]

One last point would be this: if you could pick any player from anyone on a roster across the entire MLB, then would anyone pick someone other than Shohei Ohtani ?

You couldn't make that argument, though. Ohtani is a fucking cheat code of a human being. He can pitch, hit, AND field. That question is just asinine. Rather, I would argue how you build AROUND Ohtani so that he isn't your team's only good pitcher, hitter, and fielder. And there is certainly plenty of talent to build around him that the Dodgers have and that is why they won the Series.

 

[JJLiautaud]

You couldn't make that argument, though. Ohtani is a fucking cheat code of a human being. He can pitch, hit, AND field. That question is just asinine. Rather, I would argue how you build AROUND Ohtani so that he isn't your team's only good pitcher, hitter, and fielder. And there is certainly plenty of talent to build around him that the Dodgers have and that is why they won the Series.

The sensible centrist take.

 

[Iron Hamster]

The city wanted to prioritize city reconstruction and were fine with repairing the trop, as long as the Rays stayed in Pinellas.

Where did they think the Rays would play since the repair wouldn't have it ready until 2026?

 

[AllieKat]

Where did they think the Rays would play since the repair wouldn't have it ready until 2026?

The Rays also own the local soccer team the Rowdies which play at Al Lange stadium which is right on the water in downtown St. Pete. Used to be a minor league stadium and can be expanded to 10k capacity which is just a thousand less than Steinbrenner field. The Rays has options but decided to give Pinellas county the finger.

 

[Armor of God]

You couldn't make that argument, though. Ohtani is a fucking cheat code of a human being. He can pitch, hit, AND field. That question is just asinine. Rather, I would argue how you build AROUND Ohtani so that he isn't your team's only good pitcher, hitter, and fielder. And there is certainly plenty of talent to build around him that the Dodgers have and that is why they won the Series.

Fair enough. I suppose that I get pretty angry about idiotic takes from certain YouTubers.

It really does make you wonder about teams like the Angels and their inability to build a contender for so many years.

 

[Nikes_JustDoIt]

Ohtani is a fucking cheat code of a human being. He can pitch, hit, AND field. That question is just asinine. Rather, I would argue how you build AROUND Ohtani so that he isn't your team's only good pitcher, hitter, and fielder. And there is certainly plenty of talent to build around him that the Dodgers have and that is why they won the Series.

The Angels learned this hard way.

 

[Gay Communist Gun Club]

Fair enough. I suppose that I get pretty angry about idiotic takes from certain YouTubers.

It really does make you wonder about teams like the Angels and their inability to build a contender for so many years.

Here's the condensed version as to why:

Anthony Rendon has been an injured disaster since arriving, and he will make $38.5 million the next two years which will be the most on the team. Even Mike Trout, who is amazing, has only played more than 100 games twice in five non-pandemic seasons since signing his megadeal in 2019. Don't forget about that Albert Pujols deal that was a dud all things considered. They also gave batshit crazy contracts to Josh Hamilton and Vernon Wells in their early 30s that they ended up eating. Then they let Ohtani walk for nothing. They've had 5 managers and three GMs since their last playoff appearance 10 years ago. Did I mention the consistently bottom 5 farm system because Arte Moreno gutted most of the resources to make it better?

There was a good story last year written as Ohtani was coming toward free agency called "A Decade of Disaster" that I recommend highly.

 

[Pablo Sanchez]

Where is Soto's rabid fanbase who will generate literal billions in revenue for the team that he goes to, as in the case of Ohtani ? Fuck it, I'm old enough to remember how popular Griffey was...many of you likely remember ARod and the dollars that he generated. The Dominican Republic ? Straight up literal shit hole that no one cares about.

Yeah, ARod and Griffey were real personalities that had some charm attached to them, but most people seem to just view Soto as a "consistently exceptional" baseball player rather than a 'brand' like the former two. He definitely deserves a big payday, but the fact that figures equivalent to 600-700 million fucking dollars are in the air is astonishing.

Silver lining when the Rays attendance is under 10k for the year I'll never have to hear another Trampa Faggot say the Rays would draw if they were in Hillsborough.

Can MLB's expansion to Florida be categorized as somewhat of a failure? I don't have any vendetta against either franchise, but the Rays are in limbo and Miami can't draw for shit; even after Jeffery Loria was giftwrapped a brand new stadium post-Expos liquidation. Meanwhile, the Lightning in the NHL are quite popular and even the Panthers have been able to pull some momentum their way in the past few years. I guess it's all really down to ownership, but I don't buy into the 'St. Petes traffic' excuse as the sole reason for the Rays abysmal attendance.

 

[TheHarbinger]

Can MLB's expansion to Florida be categorized as somewhat of a failure?

The last few major expansions for nearly all major league sports promotions are failures. In that they would never have happened without massive taxpayer subsidies. Can barely keep a competitive team and are often years or even decades between world championship challenges. And another issue is that there is not enough talent to justify this many teams. And when they expand, those teams are often huge losers, meaning already existing big New York, California, or New England teams are now getting tons of free wins off of them.

Right now there are not enough high level starting pitchers to fill all of MLB. And the NFL doesn't even have enough players to make 32 elite quarterbacks. They have guys playing the most important position that are awful. So imagine being the newest expansion team and realizing that you are basically guaranteed to have terrible pitching or a terrible quarterback for probably the first decade or two of owning your franchise. Because all of the top players are already playing for big teams. And that you might be able to put together a world championship caliber team every decade. Whereas the Yankees or Dodgers or whatever can just spend their way into the playoffs every year.

 

[JJLiautaud]

The last few major expansions for nearly all major league sports promotions are failures. In that they would never have happened without massive taxpayer subsidies. Can barely keep a competitive team and are often years or even decades between world championship challenges. And another issue is that there is not enough talent to justify this many teams. And when they expand, those teams are often huge losers, meaning already existing big New York, California, or New England teams are now getting tons of free wins off of them.

The only league that can benefit from an expansion IMO is the NBA because there's enough talent that it can be diluted out a little bit.

 

[AllieKat]

Yeah, ARod and Griffey were real personalities that had some charm attached to them, but most people seem to just view Soto as a "consistently exceptional" baseball player rather than a 'brand' like the former two. He definitely deserves a big payday, but the fact that figures equivalent to 600-700 million fucking dollars are in the air is astonishing.


Can MLB's expansion to Florida be categorized as somewhat of a failure? I don't have any vendetta against either franchise, but the Rays are in limbo and Miami can't draw for shit; even after Jeffery Loria was giftwrapped a brand new stadium post-Expos liquidation. Meanwhile, the Lightning in the NHL are quite popular and even the Panthers have been able to pull some momentum their way in the past few years. I guess it's all really down to ownership, but I don't buy into the 'St. Petes traffic' excuse as the sole reason for the Rays abysmal attendance.

It's Florida. You have good weather year round. Beaches. Fishing. Night life.

It's hard to talk people into spending gobs of money to watch sports indoors or even out. The dolphins can't fill their stadium despite being a somewhat storied team. The Marlins can't draw nor can the Rays. Only the hockey teams have good attendance because they plan in shoeboxes compared to baseball and football

The last few major expansions for nearly all major league sports promotions are failures. In that they would never have happened without massive taxpayer subsidies. Can barely keep a competitive team and are often years or even decades between world championship challenges. And another issue is that there is not enough talent to justify this many teams. And when they expand, those teams are often huge losers, meaning already existing big New York, California, or New England teams are now getting tons of free wins off of them.

Right now there are not enough high level starting pitchers to fill all of MLB. And the NFL doesn't even have enough players to make 32 elite quarterbacks. They have guys playing the most important position that are awful. So imagine being the newest expansion team and realizing that you are basically guaranteed to have terrible pitching or a terrible quarterback for probably the first decade or two of owning your franchise. Because all of the top players are already playing for big teams. And that you might be able to put together a world championship caliber team every decade. Whereas the Yankees or Dodgers or whatever can just spend their way into the playoffs every year.

All four major leagues could do with contraction. The talent pool is so diluted it's embarrassing, but because we live in this gay corporate dystopia of forever growth any contraction would be seen as a sign of failure.

Hockey should literally close up shop in any city without appreciable snow accumulation. Baseball should be limited to metro areas with at least two million in population. The NFL should consolidate the two LA teams into one, fold the Jaguars, Titans, and possibly the Cardinals. The NBA should be shut down entirely because I'm tired of seeing niggers on TV.

 

[Armor of God]

Dodgers picked up Blake Snell for more money than I think he deserves. I've just never been a fan of guys who walk batters regularly.

I'm concerned about what this means for their prospects of keeping Teo and Walker, both of whom I desperately want back.

Although looking on the bright side, this probably means that the Dodgers will not be signing Soto. Let him and his soon to be bloated contract be someone else's problem.

The NBA should be shut down entirely because I'm tired of seeing niggers on TV.

Amen brother, Amen.

 

[JJLiautaud]

Dodgers picked up Blake Snell for more money than I think he deserves. I've just never been a fan of guys who walk batters regularly.

Hopefully this doesn't preclude them from getting Saskai for the total Nippon Sweep.

 

[Looseleaf Paper]

Hopefully this doesn't preclude them from getting Seskai for the total Nippon Sweep.

Sasaki when signed would be on a Minor League contract, so money isn't a problem for any team. In theory that's cool because every team could have a shot but lets be honest, there is a 99% chance he goes to the Dodgers. He could play with Ohtani, Yamamoto, and live in LA as a Japanese person. I really don't think there is anything else he would rather do in his entire life. Not to mention they just won the WS.

 

[Armor of God]

A lot of news flying around these days about the Juan Soto situation.

News outlets are claiming that the offers from all remaining teams are above $600 million. They're also claiming that the remaining teams are the Mets, Yankees, Blue Jays, Dodgers and the Red Sox. Let's take a closer look at each possible destination.

Blue Jays

Toronto is out. Canada is a shit hole with high taxes and after having lived in places like New York and San Diego, I just can't see him living in Toronto. There's also the issue of exchange rates and the strength of the Canadian Dollar years down the line. It's just not an attractive destination for marquee free agents.

Dodgers

I don't believe that the Dodgers are serious about signing Soto. You just get the feeling that this is an elaborate smokescreen for 2 key reasons. Firstly, they are creating negotiating leverage when facing their own free agents like Teoscar Hernandez and pushing them to accept realistic deals. Secondly, they're probably scaring teams into offering more money than they would like to, which inhibits the winning team from filling holes in their own rosters. LA is out in my book.

Yankees

This one is interesting. Judge has said that he has not spoken to Soto during the offseason, which most people would think is unusual. Normally, you would expect your Captain and star player to be a key voice in convincing key free agents to come onboard. Perhaps Judge doesn't really have that kind of personality ? Perhaps Soto and Judge don't have the best relationship ?

It's difficult to say, but there were rumblings in New York media that perhaps Soto wasn't the best locker room guy. Soto himself probably wonders about playing second fiddle to Judge even though when you put their whole body of work together, one could argue that Soto is the better overall player (certainly in the playoffs).

So it's conceivable that Soto has issues with having to play in the shadow of an inferior player. I personally think that Alex Rodriguez is the greatest Shortstop that I've ever seen and that the Yankees would have been better off allowing him to play his natural position...but he had to bow his head to Jeter. Rodriguez is also Dominican and it's interesting to note that he was all onboard to join the Red Sox before that trade fell through because of the Player's Union's meddling. One can only imagine what kind of advice Rodriguez may be giving to Soto.

I am also not entirely sure that the Yankees are truly offering over $600 million. There were also reports in the recent past that they had an internal number (around $550 million) that they didn't feel comfortable going past.

Also, if Soto was truly serious about giving the Yankees serious consideration, I don't believe that he would be making Hal Steinbrenner fly out to California for a glorified dog and pony show.

Lastly, if he truly did want to be a Yankee so badly then he would have already signed with them. This had dragged on for so long that it feels deeper than just money, when it comes to the Yanks.

All in all, I think that the Yankees are also out.

The Mets

The only reason why the Mets are even in the Soto sweepstakes is because they have a Giga Kike in charge with access to monopoly money like no one else in the league. That's just pretty much it. It's the same city as the Yankees but a franchise with nowhere near the same legacy (but one that is perhaps more chill with "rules and regulations"). They fulfill the desire to be the highest paid player in terms of annual contract value but not much else.

I'm not ready to say that they're truly out, but I don't think their the top dog.

The Red Sox

This is where I think that he'll end up. I believe that the Red Sox won't be able to offer him the most money, but they'll get close enough. I think that both David Ortiz and ARod have been pushing Soto to sign with Boston. It's on the East Coast, and generally a similar distance to the Dominican Republic which appears to be important to him.

It's in the AL, which for the next several years will be a much easier league to compete in compared to the NL. I mean, who wants to go through the murderer's row that is the Dodgers, Phillies, Padres and Braves just to get to the big dance ?

While Yankees Stadium is famously easy for left-handed hitters to slug there is a school of thought that Boston is even more conducive to them. Soto grew up a huge Red Sox fan because of their Dominican players like Ortiz, Ramirez and Martinez.

The Red Sox never should have let Mookie walk and they feel that this is their chance to turn their fortunes around. They're going to go all out and along with the reasons above, this is where I think he ends up.

Talking heads and commentators continue to think that it's the Mets who are in the pole position but I think he goes to Boston.

 

[Preferred Penne]

Rob Manfred is planning on fucking up baseball even further by introducing the "Golden At-Bat" rule, which allows a team to have a player take an extra at-bat once per game at any time. This would encourage teams to put their best hitter in a clutch situation whenever they want to and fans to form a lynch mob and finally kill this retard who is systematically destroying the game.

 

[Looseleaf Paper]

Soto to the Red Sox would be the most interesting decision, A line up with Soto-Devers-Duran is nasty, but in my heart of hearts I think he's going to be a Met. He can ask about Player Development and other team aspects all he wants, but I think deep down all he wants is money and money means Mets. He has already won the WS, and has a bit of an Ego so I could see him really try to fuel that with a massive contract that only Cohen could give him. But I agree Blue Jays aren't getting shit and Dodgers don't even need him, plus I doubt he will want to defer much of anything which is the Dodgers whole MO. In my mind it's between Boston and the New York teams.

Rob Manfred is planning on fucking up baseball even further by introducing the "Golden At-Bat" rule, which allows a team to have a player take an extra at-bat once per game at any time. This would encourage teams to put their best hitter in a clutch situation whenever they want to and fans to form a lynch mob and finally kill this retard who is systematically destroying the game.

When I saw that I couldn't believe it was ever even an idea. I understand the idea to try and produce more epic highlights or whatever but it really is just so utterly disgusting to the game, and the players too.

 

[Fleetwood]

Soto sweepstakes

You're not the one who started calling these massive contract negotiations a "sweepstakes" so don't take it personally, but I hate it. It's been for years. Call it negotiations, recruitment, a gamble. Signing the player may mean losing the "sweepstakes" (kill me now), example:

 

[Armor of God]

You're not the one who started calling these massive contract negotiations a "sweepstakes" so don't take it personally, but I hate it. It's been for years. Call it negotiations, recruitment, a gamble. Signing the player may mean losing the "sweepstakes" (kill me now), example:
View attachment 6712515

Find it in your heart to forgive this old man for using hackneyed expressions.