Around Baseball 2023

G-Snarls · July 1, 2023

Hey snarls, did you forget your dynasty team?

Was away in NB for 2 weeks with s***** Wifi

I'll get caught up this weekend

Spanky__99 · July 2, 2023

lol

Stangstag · July 2, 2023

Rays scored 6 runs off Castillo in 3 innings so far. Ooof

Spanky__99 · July 2, 2023

What a gun Teo has... boing

Stangstag · July 2, 2023

What a gun Teo has... boing

You see the collision with France and Paredes? Pretty hard hit

Spanky__99 · July 2, 2023

You see the collision with France and Paredes? Pretty hard hit

NHL centre ice collision hit, and they're both tanks, lol.

Spanky__99 · July 2, 2023

Alvarez is phenomenal.

Stangstag · July 2, 2023

Alvarez is phenomenal.

He’s basically what everyone thought Vlad would be

Spanky__99 · July 3, 2023

A fan legit just fell on the field, a good 15 feet easy.

Jimcanuck · July 3, 2023

Interesting that no team has picked up Anthony Bass.

Stangstag · July 3, 2023

Interesting that no team has picked up Anthony Bass.

Well now that pride month is over… maybe

jaysblue · July 3, 2023

Interesting that no team has picked up Anthony Bass.

He's even still available in the LOD.

Brownie19 · July 3, 2023

This is a massive, massive long shot, but still fun to consider...

Ohtani is currently in the running for the AL triple crown and if things all broke right in the second half, he could also be in the running for the AL Cy Young award. Imagine a season where he wins:

AL MVP

AL Triple Crown

AL Cy Young

AL Silver Slugger

Is that the greatest accomplishment in sports history?

jaysblue · July 3, 2023

This is a massive, massive long shot, but still fun to consider...

Ohtani is currently in the running for the AL triple crown and if things all broke right in the second half, he could also be in the running for the AL Cy Young award. Imagine a season where he wins:

AL MVP
AL Triple Crown
AL Cy Young
AL Silver Slugger

Is that the greatest accomplishment in sports history?

Definitely would be one of the greatest personal accomplishments in a regular season. Would be fun to see it happen.

It's a shame the Angels might not make the Postseason. Such an awful organization.

mphenhef · July 3, 2023

Definitely would be one of the greatest personal accomplishments in a regular season. Would be fun to see it happen.

It's a shame the Angels might not make the Postseason. Such an awful organization.

The Jays missed the playoffs in a year where they had the Cy Young winner, and the second and third place in MVP voting, who would have been 1/2 if not for Ohtani.

keggy · July 3, 2023

This is a massive, massive long shot, but still fun to consider...

Ohtani is currently in the running for the AL triple crown and if things all broke right in the second half, he could also be in the running for the AL Cy Young award. Imagine a season where he wins:

AL MVP
AL Triple Crown
AL Cy Young
AL Silver Slugger

Is that the greatest accomplishment in sports history?

Yes possibly.

Of the major sports, some contenders are

Bo Jackson making All Star teams in two different sports in the same year

Deion Sanders for similar reasons. At one point he nearly played a professional football game and baseball game in the same day both at a star level

Babe Ruth when he out homered entire teams and ended the dead ball era

Steph Curry single handedly changing the NBA

At this level I wouldn't even include all time great seasons like Barry Bonds, Michael Jordan, and Wayne Gretzky. Those were essentially the peak of GOAT players but didn't transform the way we think about sports like the above examples.

Terminator · July 3, 2023

I bet John Olerud could have done it. He was probably the greatest college baseball player of all time and his stats as both a hitter and pitcher were insane. In his sophomore season he hit something like .464 with an .876 SLG and was 15-0 on the mound with a 2.64 ERA.

He suffered a brain aneurysm shortly after that season but came back and put up good numbers in his junior year and completely skipped the minors after the Jays drafted him. No way the Jays, especially Cito Gaston, would let him try doing both.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Terminator

Stangstag · July 3, 2023

The Jays missed the playoffs in a year where they had the Cy Young winner, and the second and third place in MVP voting, who would have been 1/2 if not for Ohtani.

What could have been… they were super hot too. Probably could have done damage. f*** Washington for blowing a 5-0 lead and f*** the Rays for blowing the Yankees game

BTS · July 3, 2023

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/07/mariners-trade-chris-flexen-mets-trevor-gott.html

Desperation is a stinky cologne

Jimcanuck · July 3, 2023

Yes possibly.

Of the major sports, some contenders are

Bo Jackson making All Star teams in two different sports in the same year
Deion Sanders for similar reasons. At one point he nearly played a professional football game and baseball game in the same day both at a star level
Babe Ruth when he out homered entire teams and ended the dead ball era
Steph Curry single handedly changing the NBA

At this level I wouldn't even include all time great seasons like Barry Bonds, Michael Jordan, and Wayne Gretzky. Those were essentially the peak of GOAT players but didn't transform the way we think about sports like the above examples.

Tiger Woods winning US Open by 15 shots. And/Or, Tiger Woods winning the Master's by 12 shots.

jaysblue · July 4, 2023

The Jays missed the playoffs in a year where they had the Cy Young winner, and the second and third place in MVP voting, who would have been 1/2 if not for Ohtani.

Yeah that was a huge blow. That 2021 team looked like they could have went on a deep run in the Postseason. The FO did a poor job in addressing the bullpen that season and threw games away with guys like Brad Hand instead of going after better arms.

jaysblue · July 4, 2023

Luis Robert quietly putting together an excellent season - .276/.337/.575 with 24 HR, 46 RBI and 8 SB. His 3.8 WAR is third best in all of baseball behind Ohtani and Acuna.

BTS · July 4, 2023

Luis Robert quietly putting together an excellent season - .276/.337/.575 with 24 HR, 46 RBI and 8 SB. His 3.8 WAR is third best in all of baseball behind Ohtani and Acuna.

I legit had know idea he was doing this.

Spanky__99 · July 4, 2023

This is a massive, massive long shot, but still fun to consider...

Ohtani is currently in the running for the AL triple crown and if things all broke right in the second half, he could also be in the running for the AL Cy Young award. Imagine a season where he wins:

AL MVP
AL Triple Crown
AL Cy Young
AL Silver Slugger

Is that the greatest accomplishment in sports history?

I wonder where his true value is at, must be insane. He's must watch tv and such a gentleman. Love this guy.

Spanky__99 · July 4, 2023

Definitely would be one of the greatest personal accomplishments in a regular season. Would be fun to see it happen.

It's a shame the Angels might not make the Postseason. Such an awful organization.

Now Trout is hurt, Oof. Ohtani's OBP is now going to balloon.

Spanky__99 · July 4, 2023

What could have been… they were super hot too. Probably could have done damage. f*** Washington for blowing a 5-0 lead and f*** the Rays for blowing the Yankees game

Yeah, that damn hurt, man.

Omar · July 4, 2023

AMS528 · July 4, 2023

I wonder where his true value is at, must be insane. He's must watch tv and such a gentleman. Love this guy.

So it seems like he'll probably be worth about 5 bWAR this year as a pitcher. Last year was 6, and the year before was 4. That honestly means he has Gerrit Cole value as a pitcher. Cole signed a 9 year 324 million dollar deal. He's also been worth 5, 3.5 and this year it honestly looks like he could wind up with 7 bWAR as a hitter. But even conservatively at 6, he's pretty much a 4.5-5 WAR batter. Similar guys in terms of 1B/DH types Olson and Freeman signed 8/160 and 6/162. Ohtani and is younger than Freeman and is probably worth more than Olson as a hitter and is just going to get paid more as a hitter. If his arm ever falls apart and you really have to decide to make him a hitter, he'll gain value cause he can play in the outfield again.

It's really hard to quantify what an Ohtani contract should look like cause 500 million does seem to be what he's worth. He'll undoubtedly increase the number of fans watching games, and sales of merch as well. The otherside of it is, because there's never been anyone like him, there's no way to no how long he can do both without deteriorating health wise. He hasn't so far, and for three years has been remarkably solid. But whatever contract it is, is probably going to contain some incentives that kick in for both managing to pitch and hit in the same year maybe? No idea honestly, it's also possible a team just says screw it and gives him the 500 million without any of that, but for say 10 years and 500 million that could feel a bit risky even for Ohtani.

AMS528 · July 4, 2023

Atlanta is ridiculous. Even the guys who were struggling hard like Harris have bounced right back to being good. Wild how all these AA trades and extensions continuously work out. They're carrying less payroll than the Jays which is just frustrating. Their backups are even great. D'Arnaud, even Pillar is hitting. I forgot he was even in the league still. They've been doing it without Fried.

Albies is probably going to be worth his entire contract from this year alone and Acuna is somehow going to probably be worth 75% of his extension in just this season. Just unconscionable stuff.

He's gotten some luck, but I do wish AA had stuck around under Shapiro.

Laika · July 4, 2023

So it seems like he'll probably be worth about 5 bWAR this year as a pitcher. Last year was 6, and the year before was 4. That honestly means he has Gerrit Cole value as a pitcher. Cole signed a 9 year 324 million dollar deal. He's also been worth 5, 3.5 and this year it honestly looks like he could wind up with 7 bWAR as a hitter. But even conservatively at 6, he's pretty much a 4.5-5 WAR batter. Similar guys in terms of 1B/DH types Olson and Freeman signed 8/160 and 6/162. Ohtani and is younger than Freeman and is probably worth more than Olson as a hitter and is just going to get paid more as a hitter. If his arm ever falls apart and you really have to decide to make him a hitter, he'll gain value cause he can play in the outfield again.

It's really hard to quantify what an Ohtani contract should look like cause 500 million does seem to be what he's worth. He'll undoubtedly increase the number of fans watching games, and sales of merch as well. The otherside of it is, because there's never been anyone like him, there's no way to no how long he can do both without deteriorating health wise. He hasn't so far, and for three years has been remarkably solid. But whatever contract it is, is probably going to contain some incentives that kick in for both managing to pitch and hit in the same year maybe? No idea honestly, it's also possible a team just says screw it and gives him the 500 million without any of that, but for say 10 years and 500 million that could feel a bit risky even for Ohtani.

I think he gets $500M guaranteed.

One of these 12 WAR seasons to a team is worth like.... $100M to $120M on its own. So he only needs to give the signing team a handful of elite years to earn the deal.

And like you said, even though he seems like a high risk player because of what he does his double skill set is actually a hedge against some catastrophic, career ruining injuries.

So on an annual basis yes, you are always worried about injuries because of how much he does, but over the course of a decade maybe the injury concerns aren't as severe? If that makes any sense.