Around Baseball 2022

[jaysblue]

Prob Aug 4 at 12:45... day game

 

Buying tickets off Seat Geek today - where should we sit???

 

And where do I find the Barry Bonds statue?

 

Buy tickets the day of before the game. Will be cheaper.

 

Beautiful ballpark. Anywhere you sit should be fine. Upper levels are decent as well.

[Omar]

Put on the pinstripes for the first time and you're great for the first six months.

 

[Stangstag]

Put on the pinstripes for the first time and you're great for the first six months.

 

 

Lol what are you talkin bout

[mellowgold]

Wife and I going to San Francisco this week and Dodgers are playing there. Going to one of the games... never been to that park. Excited.

 

Beautiful, beautiful park. That and Pittsburgh are my favourites.

[Omar]

Lol what are you talkin bout

 

A career year. Everyone seems to get better in pinstripes.

[Olerud363]

People here were telling me Vladdy is not worth a ten year extension right now

 

Few weeks later old friend AA is giving Austin Riley guaranteed money until he's 35

 

Nuts

 

Wasn't the Vlad and Bo contract starting point said to be 10/300 with some saying that wasn't enough?

 

What am I missing here? Riley came up in 2019, I assume is not super-two (unlike Vlad), is better than Bo and Vlad but a bit older.

 

If you use some career fWAR most recent weighted more and consider age and position then Vlad is about the same as Riley, or maybe a bit better if you ding Riley for age and Bo is less.

 

So Vlad 10/225 and Bo 10/170 maybe? I think most people would be for that.

[Laika]

Wasn't the Vlad and Bo contract starting point said to be 10/300 with some saying that wasn't enough?

 

What am I missing here? Riley came up in 2019, I assume is not super-two (unlike Vlad), is better than Bo and Vlad but a bit older.

 

If you use some career fWAR most recented weighted more and consider age and position then Vlad is about the same as Riley, or maybe a bit better if you ding Riley for age and Bo is less.

 

So Vlad 10/225 and Bo 10/170 maybe? I think most people would be for that.

 

Riley could legitimately be dead money for 4/5 years on this contract, it takes him to 35. The age tips the risk assessment quite a bit IMO even if it's only 2 years.

 

I don't think he's better either. Playing better this year but 2021+2022 Vlad is 8.8 fWAR and he is 9.3; it's effectively a tie.

 

Riley also has/had some contact warts and projects worse across the board of projection systems.

 

I don't think the Riley contract is necessarily bad, but my reference here was more to the people who didn't want to extend Vlad at all. Many were saying "he hasn't earned it" and s***, or they were not interested at all in long term deal at any conceivable dollar value. Just funny to see old friend AA lock up an older player for a decade in context.

 

I still think they should lock Vlad up for a decade if at all possible. If anything the Riley contract could be used as a team friendly comp. I'd be ecstatic at anything close to that dollar figure and yeah I would go higher.

 

Bo is completely separate consideration.

[HERPDERP]

Man you gotta feel bad for Gallo

https://www.nj.com/yankees/2022/08/joey-gallo-sums-up-yankees-fans-feeling-like-a-piece-of-crap-on-eve-of-new-start-q-a.html

 

Hopefully he has a lot left in him like Matt Carpenter

[BTS]

I don't think that Riley contract is going to age well. He's already a bad 3B at 25, and his only real skill is hitting the ball hard. Seems like one-dimensional sluggers with K/BB issues have not had much longevity.

[jaysblue]

Man you gotta feel bad for Gallo

https://www.nj.com/yankees/2022/08/joey-gallo-sums-up-yankees-fans-feeling-like-a-piece-of-crap-on-eve-of-new-start-q-a.html

 

Hopefully he has a lot left in him like Matt Carpenter

 

Some guys just can't play in New York. Look at Gallo, Sonny Gray, AJ Burnett, Javier Vazquez, etc.

[Stangstag]

Man you gotta feel bad for Gallo

https://www.nj.com/yankees/2022/08/joey-gallo-sums-up-yankees-fans-feeling-like-a-piece-of-crap-on-eve-of-new-start-q-a.html

 

Hopefully he has a lot left in him like Matt Carpenter

 

Q: Have you been living in Manhattan?

 

Gallo: Yeah.

 

Q: What’s it been like for you when Yankees fans notice you on the streets? Are they rough on you away from the ballpark, too?

 

Gallo: I don’t go out in the streets.

 

Q: That’s sad.

 

Gallo: Yeah. I really don’t want to show my face too much around here.

 

Ooof. The dude is a 6’5 monster too, probably sticks out like a sore thumb in public.

[Laika]

I don't think that Riley contract is going to age well. He's already a bad 3B at 25, and his only real skill is hitting the ball hard. Seems like one-dimensional sluggers with K/BB issues have not had much longevity.

 

I did not expect him to maintain his 2021 level, let alone improve.

 

Riley had legit contact issues, K rates approaching 30%, in the minors.

 

And he is outhitting our generational talent 70 hit 80 power first baseman, simply because said first baseman has one very specific flaw this year with breaking balls down and away.

[Solaxys]

And he is outhitting our generational talent 70 hit 80 power first baseman, simply because said first baseman has one very specific flaw this year with breaking balls down and away.

 

His LA issues have resurfaced, haven't they?

Also seems to be completely missing meatballs (sliders especially) - can't seem to pick the spin leading to late swings

[Stangstag]

His LA issues have resurfaced, haven't they?

Also seems to be completely missing meatballs (sliders especially) - can't seem to pick the spin leading to late swings

 

Vladdy with glasses = Barry Bonds

[Laika]

His LA issues have resurfaced, haven't they?

Also seems to be completely missing meatballs (sliders especially) - can't seem to pick the spin leading to late swings

 

Something is definitely off. He does not look like 2021 Vlad, has not all year.

 

Observationally he is just getting eaten up by breaking balls on the outside corner. It's like every at bat starts with a slider away and he is taking borderline pitches with calls not going his way (tough luck) or whiffing on them (bad swings). But some of the called slider strikes down there are not even great pitches and a locked in good hitter like Kirk pounds them the other way consistently.

 

I dunno. Tough data to parse. He's not hitting the oppo homers this year that's for sure. He crushed fastballs last year and is not this year. Seems like he is caught in between fastballs and breaking balls right now. Like how they are pitching him is in his head and he doesn't know whether to sit breaking ball away or keep sitting FB.

 

When you look at his "swing/take" profile on Statcast it really seems like the primary issue is simply not doing damage on pitches in the zone. That's it.

 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/visuals/swing-take?playerId=665489&playerSet=hitters&year=2021

 

toggle 2021 and 2022

[Solaxys]

When you look at his "swing/take" profile on Statcast it really seems like the primary issue is simply not doing damage on pitches in the zone. That's it.

 

Ya a lot of meatballs (90-95 mph fastballs middle/middle or slightly middle/in, 80-85 hanging sliders) are just not getting blasted.

There have been shades of it since the ASB (and during the KC series) with some missiles for doubles but it hasn't been consistent.

He's still finding holes with the grounders or bloop singles to keep his AVG/OBP afloat, walks have gone down in the last month (5 in July).

And still he has a 142 wRC+ clip in the month.

 

He's either late on the meatballs (I have seen way too many pitches fouled back, which is weird considering how insane his bat speed is) or he's early (his swing path, in this case, leads to grounders to SS with the 110+ EV because his contact to the ball is after the bat has risen past the plane of the pitch; every grounder on a meatball is the same swing, same contact, same pull to SS - can see it happen the same way over and over again).

His timing is just off and it might be in his head. His LA issue could be due to timing.

 

He also definitely needs to take things the other way - he did at the start of the year for a good stretch. Then maybe he started pressing/pulling and hasn't shed the bad habit yet.

 

Oh well, he has two months to lock in; if he gets it going by then, he can carry the playoff offense by himself.

[Sorrow]

If Gallo is DFAd I'd take a flyer on him. Grow the beard back and bring back the bat, it's simple logic.

[Carlos Danger]

If Gallo is DFAd I'd take a flyer on him. Grow the beard back and bring back the bat, it's simple logic.

 

I say no to that.....

[Sorrow]

Since I can't reply with a quote you'd rather have Tapia, and his abysmal defense in the OF as the 4th OF vs Gallo who has a history of hitting and is a good defensive OF?

[Laika]

If Gallo is DFAd I'd take a flyer on him. Grow the beard back and bring back the bat, it's simple logic.

 

Me too

 

Revenge pinch hitting heroics?

[G-Snarls]

Me too

 

Revenge pinch hitting heroics?

 

ALCS Gallo hits 3 HRs against the Yankees for us. I like it!!!

[Stangstag]

ALCS Gallo hits 3 HRs against the Yankees for us. I like it!!!

 

All porch shots

[THANOS]

No thanks to Gallo, that historical high K% and low BABIP scares me.

[keggy]

Since I can't reply with a quote you'd rather have Tapia, and his abysmal defense in the OF as the 4th OF vs Gallo who has a history of hitting and is a good defensive OF?

 

Even in this disaster season, Gallo has more generated more defensive and baserunning value than Tapia. Gallo has a higher wRC+ against righties this year. They have the same overall xwOBA. Gallo could remain this s***** for the rest of the year and he would probably still be a better fit for this team than Tapia.

[John_Havok]

Something is definitely off. He does not look like 2021 Vlad, has not all year.

 

Observationally he is just getting eaten up by breaking balls on the outside corner. It's like every at bat starts with a slider away and he is taking borderline pitches with calls not going his way (tough luck) or whiffing on them (bad swings). But some of the called slider strikes down there are not even great pitches and a locked in good hitter like Kirk pounds them the other way consistently.

 

I dunno. Tough data to parse. He's not hitting the oppo homers this year that's for sure. He crushed fastballs last year and is not this year. Seems like he is caught in between fastballs and breaking balls right now. Like how they are pitching him is in his head and he doesn't know whether to sit breaking ball away or keep sitting FB.

 

When you look at his "swing/take" profile on Statcast it really seems like the primary issue is simply not doing damage on pitches in the zone. That's it.

 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/visuals/swing-take?playerId=665489&playerSet=hitters&year=2021

 

toggle 2021 and 2022

 

This is the kind of thing ive been really digging into recently. Basically, he's been taking way more crushable pitches over the heart of the plate (-4 take runs over the heart already this season when he was -5 takes runs over the heart in all of 2021), and doing far less damage with them when he does get them. The take runs are worst, but then that is only maybe a 5 runs difference by the end of the season. His swinging runs this year (+2 so far) vs last year (+29) over the heart are like night and day.

 

He's also trending noticeably worse in the Chase zone, but still good in the waste zone.

[Terminator]

Even in this disaster season, Gallo has more generated more defensive and baserunning value than Tapia. Gallo has a higher wRC+ against righties this year. They have the same overall xwOBA. Gallo could remain this s***** for the rest of the year and he would probably still be a better fit for this team than Tapia.

 

Yeah with his defense and base running being pretty solid he's a decent 26th man. But if the bat improves to career norms you basically have a good strong side platoon player.

[Laika]

DeGrom back tonight

 

all eyes on him

[BTS]

DeGrom back tonight

 

all eyes on him

 

Dude gets to pitch against whatever's left of the Washington lineup. Talk about easing back into things.

[Captain Adama]

Dude gets to pitch against whatever's left of the Washington lineup. Talk about easing back into things.

 

I thought they wanted to extend his minors rehab stint.

[BTS]

DeGrom throwing 99-102 and struck out Robles with a slider at 93.