Around Baseball 2020

[dineke]

Yeah, he should probably on be hitting .310 or something like that but still, another example of why core skills (hit tool, speed, power) can be so important and peripheral or secondary skills (batting eye / walk rate) are not everything

 

Oof... Cavan. Ever since Keith law brought it up I have noticed he doesn't do much with meatballs in the zone, or maybe that's confirmation bias. Hopefully his batting eye does carry him to a long and successful career though.

[glory]

Interesting.

 

Do the voters look at WAR or are they just getting smarter??

 

If they aren't smart but look at WAR how could Anderson not win?? He'd be the winner by traditional stats and WAR.

 

If they are just smart and don't look at WAR, but sort of know the things to look for, then they might clue in that he isn't really a .380 hitter.

 

Weird though that he's now hit .350 for 1 entire year. I assume he hits .280 next year.

 

He looks very good with traditional stats as well. He won the batting title last year, and is leading the AL in average again (though it's close). Since the start of 2019, he's had nearly 700 PA, and is hitting .345/.371/.530. As mentioned, he's probably closer to a .300 BA hitter than what he's done since 2019, but I don't think he's a big fluke, either. He's likely still a very good player even when his BABIP normalizes. Not a MVP player, but this is a 60 game season, so crazy things are going to happen when you're basing performance on small sample size.

[Boxcar]

f*** Tim Anderson. How does he still have a BABIP over .400 (did last year too) without hitting the ball that hard?

 

Freeman's making a push for NL MVP - after recovering from a bad bout of COVID too. Mookie still there also.

 

Small sample. f*** Tim Anderson.

 

Give it to Rendon. Or give a make up MVP to Trout for all the times he got f***ed over since this season doesn't matter anyway

[Krylian]

Every award this season will be based on small sample size.

[connorp]

He looks very good with traditional stats as well. He won the batting title last year, and is leading the AL in average again (though it's close). Since the start of 2019, he's had nearly 700 PA, and is hitting .345/.371/.530. As mentioned, he's probably closer to a .300 BA hitter than what he's done since 2019, but I don't think he's a big fluke, either. He's likely still a very good player even when his BABIP normalizes. Not a MVP player, but this is a 60 game season, so crazy things are going to happen when you're basing performance on small sample size.

 

Yeah, I’m not much of a TA fan and clearly he’s been lucky to a point but also, after 2500 mlb ABs or whatever it is, it looks like he going to have a babip that’s comfortably over .300 as the likely mean

[Ray]

Congrats to the White Sox, who just clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2008. Rick Hahn and co. have done a good job with that rebuild. Definitely think their pitching this season sans Giolito is a bit of a mirage (although Dane Dunning looks pretty legit too), but their position player core is ridiculous and under cheap control for the forseeable future:

 

Luis Robert

Yoan Moncada

Tim Anderson

Eloy Jimenez

 

with Abreu, Grandal, and McCann playing a strong supporting role. Doesn't even include Andrew Vaughn yet!

[glory]

 

Still miss him.

[Boxcar]

 

Still miss him.

 

He was the ideal baseball player. Entertaining, good, and a bit of a dick

[Krylian]

 

still miss him.

 

fysmc

[TheHurl]

He was the ideal baseball player. Entertaining, good, and a bit of a dick

 

The guy who seems to always speak in absolutes goes with "bit of" on JD's dickness. He's full dick

[Brownie19]

Bryon Buxton is up to 12 HRs now - 129 wRC+

 

1 walk, 27K

 

a 0.9 BB% That's insane.

[Brownie19]

What is wrong with Jack Flaherty? Adam Wainwright is the Cards best pitcher this year - that's pretty incredible. Always loved watching him pitch.

[G-Snarls]

The guy who seems to always speak in absolutes goes with "bit of" on JD's dickness. He's full dick

 

Yeah, but he was OUR dick for a while...

[Orgfiller]

What is wrong with Jack Flaherty? Adam Wainwright is the Cards best pitcher this year - that's pretty incredible. Always loved watching him pitch.

 

There's nothing wrong with Flaherty. He's missed a lot of time due to covid related reasons, but his velocity is intact, swinging strikes are identical, and his K/BB ratio is similar if only slightly worse than it was last year. His xFIP (incoming Boxy rant) and by extension xFIP- is actually even slightly better than it was last year. He was always unlikely to come close to repeating his second half performance from last season which had significant batted ball luck, unless he actually got better which is certainly possible given his age and talent level, but unlikely in a season like this one.

 

I don't think Wainwright has actually been their best pitcher (a .228 BABIP in a small sample size will make a lot of pitchers look good) though certainly the most reliable, and I agree he's fun to watch. In his prime he was an ace in a team that consistently went deep into the playoffs.

[Slade]

 

Can the White Sox hit twice on a 6-6 Left hander debuting in their draft year?

[Jimcanuck]

Lewis Brinson is an above average hitter.

[Spanky__99]

Justin Verlander to undergo TJS... RIP

[Stangstag]

Justin Verlander to undergo TJS... RIP

 

Big surprise... I think nost of us figured he was done for the season when the injury first hit. Sucks for him that he’ll have to miss next year too.

 

Astros deserve this though, and I don’t feel bad for king hypocrite.

[DigitalRock]

Big surprise... I think nost of us figured he was done for the season when the injury first hit. Sucks for him that he’ll have to miss next year too.

 

Astros deserve this though, and I don’t feel bad for king hypocrite.

He's filthy rich and sleeps with Kate, I'm sure hes ok.

[G-Snarls]

Justin Verlander to undergo TJS... RIP

 

Age 37

 

Hard to see him ever being the same again

[Abomination]

Age 37

 

Hard to see him ever being the same again

 

It'll be interesting to watch. I certainly wouldn't bet against him returning to be elite (at least for a year or two).

[Spanky__99]

Age 37

 

Hard to see him ever being the same again

 

Highly unlikely, sooo many bullets on that arm.

[G-Snarls]

Highly unlikely, sooo many bullets on that arm.

 

Regardless he's also a sure fire hall of fame even of he never threw another pitch

[Spanky__99]

Regardless he's also a sure fire hall of fame even of he never threw another pitch

 

First ballot.

[Spanky__99]

Kyle Lewis is good at beisbol.

[Deadpool]

Age 37

 

Hard to see him ever being the same again

 

Hard to see him ever getting an MLB contract again if he misses all of next season. I wouldn't feel comfortable giving a 39 year old recovering from TJS anything but a MiLB deal, regardless of their HOF credentials. That being said, some s***** team trying to save money but still draw fans might give him a novelty contract...

[connorp]

Hard to see him ever getting an MLB contract again if he misses all of next season. I wouldn't feel comfortable giving a 39 year old recovering from TJS anything but a MiLB deal, regardless of their HOF credentials. That being said, some s***** team trying to save money but still draw fans might give him a novelty contract...

 

He’ll have an MLB offer from literally every single team in bb that he wanted. The only difference will be the $ amount

Ask me if I’d rather have a HOF SP that was still on top of him game but missed a year at 1/8 or something vs. 2/24 for a 33yo shitbag like Roark. And I’m not just saying that w/benefit of hindsight. Just good logic

[connorp]

“Roark 2/24

Anderson 1/9 (if not 2yr)

...

Verlander off TJ: would not bang”

[Laika]

If Verlander wants to pitch then every GM will be willing to give him a decent one year deal. f***, he might get a two year deal. This is a Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan type of pitcher. If he doesn’t retire he might be good for five more years!

[connorp]

He could prob even get a Clemens-like contract still paying $10m+ (I could see more even) for the 2nd half/playoffs of 22’ season. If you’re a contender that’s prob something you want to do with his timeline anyway