Around Baseball 2018

[TheHurl]

Like a cockroach.

 

hdmh

[John_Havok]

Tiny Tim is back the he majors

 

Get dat save!

[Superdood]

[Abomination]

Tiny Tim is back the he majors

2 k's in his first inning back! No save today though.

[Spanky__99]

F U Tanaka!

[glory]

Phil Hughes DFA'd by Twins despite having $22m left on his deal.

 

I think you know where I'm going with this by bringing it up......

[P2F]

Mike Trout is out-of-his-mind good.

 

On Sunday, the Angels played their 40th game, the closest thing to a quarter mark for the season. Mike Trout started the game on the bench -- his first day off of the season -- and finished it with 3.51 WAR. The game's best player was on pace to produce 14.2 wins above replacement. It's almost unimaginable -- nobody has cracked 12 WAR in a half-century, and no active player has ever WAR'd higher than 2016 Trout's 10.5 -- but it's time to take seriously the possibility that we're watching the greatest season of all time. Also, considering how relatively quiet it has been, it's time also to wonder: How?

 

There are two things to know. The first is this: Between April 8, when after 10 games of the season, Baseball-Reference tallied up 2018 WAR for the first time, and Sunday, Trout played 30 games. In 25 of those games, he had a positive WAR. This isn't normal in baseball -- not even for superstars. Trout doesn't homer every day; he doesn't even get a hit every day. But almost every day, he finds a way to add value some way or another.

The second thing to know is this: There is no area of WAR's calculations in which Trout isn't sensational right now, which helps explain the first thing to know. WAR involves dozens of calculations, but it can be summed up simply like this: It's a player's hitting value (batting runs) added to his defensive value (defensive runs saved compared to others at the position, plus adjustments for the difficulty of his position) added to his baserunning value (baserunning runs) added to, as the final pinch of detail, his value added by not hitting into double plays. These are Trout's paces in each of the four through Sunday and where those paces would have ranked among all major leaguers in 2017:

 

• Trout was on pace to produce 85 batting runs. Last year, Aaron Judge led the majors with 61 batting runs. Nobody has produced 85 or more batting runs since Barry Bonds in 2004. The most this decade was 71 by Bryce Harper.
  
• He was on pace to produce 8.1 baserunning runs. Last year, that would have ranked third in baseball, behind Byron Buxton (9.1) and Mookie Betts (9.0).
  
• He was on pace to produce 20.3 defensive runs saved, at a premium position, for a total defensive WAR of about 2.7. Last year, that would have ranked fourth among all defenders at all positions, behind Andrelton Simmons, Buxton and catcher Tucker Barnhart.
  
• Even his double-play rate was adding value. After grounding into two early in the season, Trout grounded into just one more over his next 30 opportunities (runner on first, fewer than two outs), about one-third of the leaguewide average in such situations. He was on pace to add about 1.5 runs of value by avoiding double plays, which would have been 28th-best in baseball last season and ninth among all right-handed batters.
  

 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23520017/los-angeles-angels-mike-trout-pace-greatest-season-mlb-history

[Bobthe4th]

Only 1 player has managed a hit on an Ohtani splitter this season:

 

[Bobthe4th]

There are also rumours that Ohtani will be in the homerun derby. He could be selected for the All Star game as a DH and as a pitcher as well. How awesome would that be?

[Bobthe4th]

Michael Saunders has been given another minor league chance, this time with the White Sox.

[onwego]

There are also rumours that Ohtani will be in the homerun derby. He could be selected for the All Star game as a DH and as a pitcher as well. How awesome would that be?

 

Hopefully the Angles forbid him doing this reckless stunt of a HR derby.

[Brownie19]

Oyster Burns

1:03 you more confident swanson or rosario becomes a good hitter?

Kiley McDaniel

1:03 Swanson

[Dr. Dinger]

Oyster Burns

1:03 you more confident swanson or rosario becomes a good hitter?

Kiley McDaniel

1:03 Swanson

 

Remember heading into the 2017 season, when there was a big debate over who was the better hitter between Rosario and Torres? Baseball is funny.

[jaysfan2014]

Another injury for Seattle--Dee Gordon on the 10-day DL (broken toe). They just can't catch a break.

[Bobthe4th]

Another injury for Seattle--Dee Gordon on the 10-day DL (broken toe). They just can't catch a break.

 

Pun intended?

[jaysfan2014]

Rays are calling up SS Willy Adames! About time..

[TheHurl]

Rays are calling up SS Willy Adames! About time..

 

Super two calculations must be completed.

[King]

Adames nearly had 1500 plate appearances at AA and AAA before his callup

[Dr. Dinger]

I feel like he'll be the most boring 3 WAR player in baseball.

[King]

 

lol rays

[jaysfan2014]

Yet another Angels pen arm bites the dust--Blake Wood looks headed for Tommy John surgery--what is it with the Angels and so many frequent pitching injuries?

 

[Dr. Dinger]

 

lol rays

 

This makes sense, with the Super 2 cutoff still purportedly a few weeks away. They'll make sure to snip off a few days of service time after the date passes before they bring him back.

[TheHurl]

I feel like he'll be the most boring 3 WAR player in baseball.

 

So Alex Bregman without the top of draft hype.

[Jonn]

If Adames played for a big market organisation this would be a much bigger story. I can't believe the Rays get away with this s***. This is so blatant. In few organisations he would been called up in 2016. For almost every organisation he would be up in early 2017. He crushed the ball in Spring and still want sent to repeat AAA as a top prospect. Its madness.

[TheHurl]

If Adames played for a big market organisation this would be a much bigger story. I can't believe the Rays get away with this s***. This is so blatant. In few organisations he would been called up in 2016. For almost every organisation he would be up in early 2017. He crushed the ball in Spring and still want sent to repeat AAA as a top prospect. Its madness.

 

He was given an opportunity to play everyday to start the year but he wouldn't sign. It's not like he's making a mockery of the minors and he started last season so poorly that he played himself out of a chance to play last year (no one was calling for his call-up when he had a sub .650 OPS in June). The Rays made a smart financial decision on a player that projected to be a slight upgrade over the first 40 games this year.

[P2F]

I feel like he'll be the most boring 3 WAR player in baseball.

 

Ultimately, you might not be too far off with this. He looks an awful lot like a Bregman or Benintendi type of player. You may recall our PM conversation from a couple years ago when we discussed a few prospects like AJ Reed, Devers, and Adames. If you do, you'll remember how Adames was/is one of my "guys". He's just a great all-around ballplayer; a guy that does everything at an above average clip but is not flashy with any one tool. Let's see what he does - he has a good eye at the plate.

 

Having said that, he's also a potentially small bat path tweak away from becoming a stud. Like Gleyber.

[Pendleton]

I'm interested to see how Andrew Suarez looks up against the tough Astros lineup tonight.

[Abomination]

I'm interested to see how Andrew Suarez looks up against the tough Astros lineup tonight.

My DFS projections loved him, but I got cold feet lol.

[BTS]

I'm interested to see how Andrew Suarez looks up against the tough Astros lineup tonight.

 

I'm watching this one too. My first look at him.

[P2F]

Willy Adames just homered off Chris Sale lol.