2024 Baseball Season

[Eizan 126]

How do you feel about Barry Bonds probably not going to the Hall of Fame? 

 

Especially with Ortiz possibly going in who actually tested Positive for PED's.

[dr. b 492]

Barry's gotta be in the HoF, to me that's a no-brainer. IIRC he is alleged to have used PEDs started in the late 90's..? Look at his stats from the decade before that. He was obviously already on the HoF fast track. His numbers were insane. Steals, HRs, average, OBP, I think 2 or 3 MVP awards when he was still on the Pirates, numerous Gold Glove awards in the outfield. Bonds is no doubt in my mind deserving of a place in the HoF.

[dr. b 492]

Ortiz is in, Bonds (and Clemens) are out. I don’t get it. I would argue that Ortiz was not as good of a hitter as Bonds was, and Ortiz didn’t really have any other skills while Bonds was a very good base runner and defender on top of being an incredible hitter. 

[Eizan 126]

16 hours ago, dr. b said:

Barry's gotta be in the HoF, to me that's a no-brainer. IIRC he is alleged to have used PEDs started in the late 90's..? Look at his stats from the decade before that. He was obviously already on the HoF fast track. His numbers were insane. Steals, HRs, average, OBP, I think 2 or 3 MVP awards when he was still on the Pirates, numerous Gold Glove awards in the outfield. Bonds is no doubt in my mind deserving of a place in the HoF.

I agree, they hold him way too accountable for being a cheater, but like they couldn't tell me that everyone in the HoF is clean. To where La Russa and Selig are in the HoF and primarily a reason Steroids got bad in the first place. 

 

What I don't like about Ortiz getting in on the first ballet is the HoF committee punished Edgar Martinez for playing DH, to where it took his last year of eligibility to get in. 

[dr. b 492]

10 hours ago, Eizan said:

What? I don't like about Ortiz getting in on the first ballet is the ?HoF comm?ittee punished Edgar Martinez for playing DH, to where i??t? took his last year of eligibility to get in. ??

I was thinking the same thing. Don’t make any sense to me. Many things about the HoF don’t make sense to me

[Eizan 126]

We got 2022 Baseball! 

[dr. b 492]

Ohhhh yeah! That’s worthy of a new season thread. @webhead can you split this into a new thread starting at Eizan’s post? 2022 Baseball season here we come!

[dr. b 492]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/yankees-acquire-josh-donaldson-isiah-kiner-falefa-from-twins-for-gary-sanchez-gio-urshela.html
 

Wow. 

[Eizan 126]

Freeman went to the Dodgers.

 

Season can't get here quick enough. 

 

How do feel about the Blue Jays? If they stay healthy that's a pretty dangerous lineup. 

[dr. b 492]

I would still like to see more pitching, but I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about the Jays this year. I am hopeful that their team of pitching coaches can help Kikuchi unlock something and become more reliable. He’s shown flashes of being good in Seattle. Peter Walker and co. have been quite good at helping pitchers get better. Here’s hoping!

 

I also like the trade for Chapman. Now they have 3B covered. And the Jays’ lineup is already dangerous enough that they don’t really need him to hit too much. He’s dropped off at the plate the last couple seasons. 

[dr. b 492]

But speaking of dangerous lineups... The Dodger's should be very scary too  

[Eizan 126]

1 hour ago, dr. b said:

But speaking of dangerous lineups... The Dodger's should be very scary too  

Yea, and in a division that may not be that good. I mean the Rockies tried by signing Kris Bryant, but uhh they need a lot more than that. 

 

Tatis Jr. being out 3 months could possibly hurt the Padres as well. 

 

I know the Giants were good last year, but can they repeat that success? 

[dr. b 492]

I dunno about the Giants. I thought it was a mirage, but... they were really good all year last year, and baseball is a long season. So maybe they're legit. I don't think they'll be that good again this year though.

 

The Dads seem doomed to disappoint. I want them to be good

 

I have no clue why Bryant signed in Colorado. Like, I get why he'd take the money, but if he wants to win anything then that's not the place to go! But if he just wants to be 'the guy' and make big money then it makes sense. He instantly becomes Colorado's "Franchise Player" by signing there. And his stats will probably get padded by playing half of his games in Colorado. It's still a head-scratcher to me though...

 

Hard to expect anything of the D-Backs either.

 

Dodgers should steamroll that division unless the Giants surprise them again this year.

[dr. b 492]

Season starts tomorrow!

 

It's been a weird spring what with the late start. Even up to like yesterday there have been some trades happening.

 

There's been a stupid amount of chatter about Jose Ramirez getting dealt, which I thought was the dumbest idea ever, but apparently the Jays were pursuing a deal for Ramirez so I was hearing/reading a lot about it lately. Apparently the Dads were trying hard to trade for him too. It's good to see that he got an extension and will stay in Cleveland at least for now. I'm tired of hearing about it   Cleveland hardly has any money on their books, so despite being one of the teams that cries poor, they can afford to extend him. And they just re-branded and probably want to sell a bunch of jerseys. And the season hasn't even started yet so fans can still be optimistic, especially since they play in a weak division. They'd be fools to trade him before the start of the season.

[dr. b 492]

Opening Day is here!

 

And somehow trades are still going down  

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/04/twins-padres-trade-chris-paddack-taylor-rogers.html

 

Paddack has really disappointed the last couple seasons after his exciting rookie performance.

[Eizan 126]

I'm looking forward to Julio Rodriguez. Hopefully the Mariners can have a positive run differential this year and make the playoffs. 

[dr. b 492]

I hope the M’s are good this year too. I felt they were a bit of a mirage last year, out-performing their actual talent level a little bit, but I think they’re an improved team this year. Guess we’ll see what happens. 
 

Projection systems and analysts all seem to be fairly high on the Jays this year, which is cool, but I’m not totally convinced just yet that they can win the AL East. It’s gonna be tough. Super high hopes though.

[dr. b 492]

Jays getting killed by the Rangers in their home opener. Berrios got pulled in the 1st inning.  
 

edit: And they came back to tie it up and then take an 8-7 lead

 

edit #2: They held on to win 10-8!

[dr. b 492]

Well, the Jays came out of Opening Weekend with a 2-1 record, so I guess I can live with that. Keep winning 2-of-3 and that's an 108 win team! Pitching really hasn't looked sharp though. They had to come back from a 7-0 deficit to win on Opening Night, and yesterday they were up 6-1 and ended up taking a 12-6 loss  To the Rangers' credit, it looks like they've put together a pretty solid team this year. Maybe they can take a run at the AL West if things all work out for them.

 

Nice to see Seattle sitting at 2-1 too! 

[Eizan 126]

Yea. I'd hope this isn't a sign of last year, win close games, but get blown out a bunch. 

 

Looks like the AL East will probably have 4 teams with 90+ Wins. Poor Orioles.

[dr. b 492]

I think the Red Sox will experience a bit of a drop-off this year, but I still expect them to be in the high 80’s. I need too see the O’s win a few more games against the Sox, Yanks, and Rays this year! Help the Jays out a bit plz. 

[Eizan 126]

Well it's only been 3 weeks and we already have a team on a 10 game losing streak. 

 

 

[dr. b 492]

The Reds cleaned house a bit this off-season. Guess they’re tanking this summer. Doesn’t help that most of the lineup seems to be slumping.

[Eizan 126]

Mariners playing pretty good right now, sucks it's so early in the season. 

 

Division might look like it will be pretty tough. Angels and Astros are good teams, Rangers might have a solid team and the A's are well the A's they seem to always win regardless of what they do in the offseason. 

[dr. b 492]

I'm kinda surprised to see the M's and Angels at the top of the NL West right now. I wasn't a big believer in the M's last year despite their successes. I guess I'm still not convinced about that team from last year. But they're still winning games here in 2022 so I guess they're better than I thought! I also just expect the Angels to underwhelm despite having Trout and Ohtani. They've never really managed to put a good team around Trout in the decade or so he's been around. Dude's a perennial MVP candidate and usually the teams is going nowhere fast. I hope they're actually good this year. It's weird to see them winning so many games  

 

The Jays won again last night. Come-from-behind, extra inning win over the Red Sox. You can never count this team out of a game!

[Eizan 126]

Damn, 2 year suspension for Trevor Bauer. 

 

I mean it seems people who actually got caught just got a slap on the wrist compared to this(looking at Ozuna/Osuna)? Maybe his appeal gets it dropped to one year, but wow. 

 

 

[dr. b 492]

It’s about time they did something re: Bauer. His leave just kept getting extended for the longest time, kicking the can down the road. Nice to see action taken, and tough action at that. Osuna and Ozuna (and others) should have received harsher punishments too IMO. 

[Eizan 126]

Mariners losing now, so uhh yea. I do like that Logan Gilbert is looking to be a pretty solid starter. 

 

Oh, I just noticed the Red Sox are in last place in the East. 

[dr. b 492]

The Jays lost in Cleveland last night. Finally scored more than 1 or 2 runs, and they let the Guardians score more I don’t get it. The team is getting hits, it’s just their numbers with RISP that are bad. That’s gotta fix itself soon, I hope. Need more timely hits!

 

The Yankees are in first place and their run diff is looking very nice. The Jays are negative right now

[Eizan 126]

Mariners and Blue Jays play each other, it's nice to take 2 of 3 from the Mets.

 

Yankees looking pretty good. 

 

Oh and the Reds are so bad they don't allow a hit and still lose. 

 

I'm also impressed with the NL West all still being above .500. 

[Eizan 126]

Well just swept by the Red Sox. On my way to watching the Mariners extend that playoff drought to 21 years. 

[dr. b 492]

It’s still early! Definitely want to see your team trending in a better direction though. 
 

It appears the Red Sox are starting to heat up. I don’t want to see that. 

[Eizan 126]

Blue Jays playing good baseball right now. 

 

They got a nice stretch against the Royals, Tigers and O's coming up. 

[dr. b 492]

Yes, they are!  

 

They're on a nice little wining streak, and it's a great time because they're coming up on a softer spot in their schedule. The first two months were stacked with good opponents. More of the bats are coming to life, the win differential is in the positives now. It's great! All of a sudden they have two of the best hitting catchers in the league now that Jansen and Kirk have both kinda caught fire--and a top catching prospect in AAA, Moreno, that's doing quite well for himself down in Buffalo. I'm excited!

[Eizan 126]

Do you think the Angels will fire Maddon if they keep falling farther back out of playoff contention?  

[MT 917]

Something has to fucking change, that's for sure. I don't think they've won more than 3 or 4 games in the last 20?

[dr. b 492]

Yeah, looks like 4 wins in their last 20 games, and they're on a 12-game losing streak. That's rough. It was nice to see the Angels off to a good start this year. It sucks that despite having Trout and Ohtani, they've never really been able to put the right players around them to be more successful. I don't think it's for lack of trying either. They pretty consistently run a top-10 payroll, so they're spending money on players... I guess it's a combination of making bad decisions in signings / trades, and bad luck. 

 

In other news: The Jays won 8-0 last night in KC  Great to see them go out and score some runs to start this little road trip after dropping 2 of 3 to the Twins at home over the weekend. 

 

Back to the Angels -- these new jerseys are fantastic  Wear them everyday. They're so much better than the current jerseys.

 

 

 

[Eizan 126]

 

[dr. b 492]

He gone

[MT 917]

Eizan! What did you do!?

[dr. b 492]

Mike Trout HR’d in his first at-bat tonight. Clearly firing the manager was the right thing to do

[dr. b 492]

Angels lost anyways, and Mike Trout left the game with groin tightness. Fire the manager again!!! 13 L’s in a row 

[Eizan 126]

I think EPSN cursed it by talking about Trout and Ohtani in the playoffs...

 

At least there is 3 wild card spots...

[dr. b 492]

 

  

[MT 917]

Going to the game on Sunday with my partner and his family. We bought the tickets before the losing streak, and now i'm just afraid they're gonna lose yet again while we're there.

[Eizan 126]

Oh, yea I went to see who they were playing and well things don't get better against the Mets. 

 

 

[Eizan 126]

This Yankees team is pretty good. I like how right now all 3 Wild Card spots in the AL belong to the East. 

 

Braves are also playing really well, I know it's against bad teams, but they pretty much haven't been close games. +60 run differential in the 14 game winning streak. 

[dr. b 492]

Yeah the AL East is silly again this year. No teams from the ALC / ALW are all that close to the WC picture right now, though I'm sure that can change if Boston, Toronto, and Tampa beat up on each other all summer.

 

The AL West especially is a bit of a joke right now. You'd think one of those teams could pull ahead a bit and get into the WC, any of Texas, LAA, or Seattle ought to be better. Check this out:

 

 

The Astros don't even have to do anything to win that division  

[Eizan 126]

Red Sox have 17 games with the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Rays before the All-Star break. That's going make things interesting for the AL East, also kind of surprised the Orioles have played way better than expect so far this season. 

[dr. b 492]

The O's have a decent lineup, and some surprisingly OK arms in the bullpen. Not much starting pitching though.

 

The Jays have been stinking it up lately. Can't seem to win a series anymore. The division is most likely out of reach now. But if they keep going they way they have in the last 1-2 weeks, they'll be dropping out of the Wild Card picture before long too. Ugh.