Around Baseball 2025

[Grant77]

10 hours ago, G-Snarls said:

Trade 4 Devers 

Does his contract have positive value at this point? Probably a bit, but not a huge amount.

Would you be ok playing him at 3B for the next few seasons? 

[mphenhef]

41 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

It's basically just Volpe and Jazz as far as I know. Of course it became a big story when the Yankees hit a billion HRs this weekend, but it would've otherwise gotten swept under the rug as a neat little innovation that teams were trying out.

Volpe, Jazz, Bellinger, Goldy and Wells are all using them.  Stanton too when healthy although he may be blaming the bats for his injury too.  Apparently it was suggested to Volpe when an analyst saw the most common spot he was making contact with the ball was lower on the bat so they adjusted it.  I wonder how custom the bats are per each player and if they are moving the new sweet spot to suit each one of them best. 

[Brownie19]

9 minutes ago, Laika said:

Who remembers when the axe handle bat took the league by storm? 

Don't really see or hear of it anymore. 

The torpedo bat makes sense in theory but I am sure there are certain downsides. Pitchers with east-west movement probably have a better time against torpedo users since the end of the bat is more useless than ever. At the end of the day the mass of the bat is a zero sum game. 

I think there are still lots of players who use Axe bats.  I remember seeing someone the other day to be honest.  I think Springer still uses one.  I will say though at the youth level - nobody uses it anymore.  They were popular about 5-6 years ago, but no kids use them now.

You also need to remember that even if you put more mass in the sweet spot, you can't exceed the max barrel diameter.  So instead of the barrel to the end being the max diameter, now it's just the sweet spot that is that big.  Torpedoing the end just takes weight out of the end of the bat.  People who like an end loaded bat will hate these things, but I suspect they feel "light", with more of a balanced swing profile.

[Orgfiller]

11 minutes ago, Grant77 said:

Does his contract have positive value at this point? Probably a bit, but not a huge amount.

Would you be ok playing him at 3B for the next few seasons? 

If his own team is already claiming he's a DH not two years into the contract with 8 more to go, I don't see how he has positive value. Granted, I think he should at least go down the defensive spectrum to first base, rather than being plopped directly at DH like he's some 37 year old who can't move. Some guys just can't handle sitting on the bench the whole game until they come up to hit.

[John_Havok]

Cowser out 6-8 weeks with a fractured thumb from, sliding into 1B like a moron. 

 

[Brownie19]

How long is Nick Kurtz going to be in the minors?

[Laika]

13 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Cowser out 6-8 weeks with a fractured thumb from, sliding into 1B like a moron. 

lmao hahahahaha lmao 

 

[Orgfiller]

43 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Cowser out 6-8 weeks with a fractured thumb from, sliding into 1B like a moron. 

 

Shouldn't be forgotten that he was out on the play as well. All that and couldn't even get a basehit out of it.

[Orgfiller]

31 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

How long is Nick Kurtz going to be in the minors?

Depends on Soderstrom I think.

[mphenhef]

28 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

Shouldn't be forgotten that he was out on the play as well. All that and couldn't even get a basehit out of it.

It was so close he probably would have been save had he run through it.

[Laika]

Like a tortoise, slowly but surely, I think Kenley Jansen has crossed the Hall of Fame line in the sand. 

He already comps well to Wagner. He could end up with 500 saves if he plays in 2026 and stays healthy. 

 

#	Name	Team	W	L	SV	G	GS	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	BABIP	LOB%	GB%	HR/FB	vFA (pi)	ERA	xERA	FIP	xFIP	WAR
1	Trevor Hoffman	3 Tms	61	75	601	1034	0	1089.1	9.36	2.54	0.83	.263	76.7%	34.2%	6.4%	86.0	2.87		3.08	3.79	25.9
2	Kenley Jansen	4 Tms	49	36	449	873	0	870.1	12.65	2.74	0.83	.266	79.7%	32.8%	8.9%	93.2	2.56		2.54	2.97	24.8
3	Billy Wagner	5 Tms	47	40	422	853	0	903.0	11.92	2.99	0.82	.261	82.0%	42.4%	9.6%	95.9	2.31		2.73	2.76	24.0

[Orgfiller]

The Brewers must just be garbage. Already down 3-0 in the first inning at home against the Royals.

[Laika]

no it was the torpedos! they got torpedo'd by cheaters! 

[Orgfiller]

4-0 now. They're getting booed already.

[Laika]

Devers 0-3 with 3 Ks today. 

This is insane. 

[Barrelsandbombs]

 

[Brownie19]

Yikes for the Braves/Profar.

[jaysblue]

6 hours ago, Orgfiller said:

The Bronx is not in the middle of nowhere lol. Just because it's not in a super central location doesn't mean it's in an inaccessible spot. With half the teams barely playing in the cities that they claim as part of their identity, the Yankees playing in the Bronx is not one of those problems.

There is nothing around the ballpark other than apartments and stores. It's not like you can go out to bars before the game or after the game right outside of Yankee Stadium. It's not like Landsdowne Street in Boston or the Battery in Atlanta etc. 

Yankee Stadium is accessible via public transit. So is Citi Field in Queens. There's nothing even around Citi Field in terms of bars/restaurants/nightlife. You just get off at the subway or commuter train stop and then walk to the ballpark. 

[jaysblue]

2 hours ago, Orgfiller said:

The Brewers must just be garbage. Already down 3-0 in the first inning at home against the Royals.

I don't like the Brewers at all this season, but yeah it's still early. If the Jays were in the same boat, sure you wouldn't be saying their garbage. 

[jaysblue]

4 hours ago, John_Havok said:

Cowser out 6-8 weeks with a fractured thumb from, sliding into 1B like a moron. 

 

Boneheaded decision. 

[Brownie19]

3 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

I don't like the Brewers at all this season, but yeah it's still early. If the Jays were in the same boat, sure you wouldn't be saying their garbage. 

I think he's saying that because people were questioning whether the Yanks had some unfair advantage using the torpedo bats and they destroyed Brewer pitching.  I think he's trying to say "well maybe the Brewers jus suck and it's not the bats" - but I could be wrong.

[jaysblue]

13 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Yikes for the Braves/Profar.

Braves play the Dodgers next series. After starting the season 0-4, going into LA will be tough. 

[jaysblue]

6 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I think he's saying that because people were questioning whether the Yanks had some unfair advantage using the torpedo bats and they destroyed Brewer pitching.  I think he's trying to say "well maybe the Brewers jus suck and it's not the bats" - but I could be wrong.

Yeah I don't expect the Brewers to make the Postseason this season. Don't think they're an awful team however. Peralta is still very good at the top of the rotation, and Woodruff should be back in May. Quintana should be ready mid-April as well. Not a huge fan of Cortes, but he should be fine pitching in the NL as a No. 4/5 starter after being in the AL East. They have been getting lit up though geez haha, but yeah never easy to start the season in Yankee Stadium. 

[Orgfiller]

21 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I think he's saying that because people were questioning whether the Yanks had some unfair advantage using the torpedo bats and they destroyed Brewer pitching.  I think he's trying to say "well maybe the Brewers jus suck and it's not the bats" - but I could be wrong.

Easy to skip the reading comprehension part and bring it back to Ross Atkins suxxx and we're all just homers, irrelevant to the topic at hand.

[Stangstag]

Yikes on Profar.

Alpha Ross strikes again, dodges a major bullet. That contract is looking disastrous already 

[jaysblue]

39 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

Easy to skip the reading comprehension part and bring it back to Ross Atkins suxxx and we're all just homers, irrelevant to the topic at hand.

Define "garbage" though? Are we talking about White Sox/Rockies/Marlins level? Or 75-80 win team? 

[jaysblue]

1 minute ago, Stangstag said:

Yikes on Profar.

Alpha Ross strikes again, dodges a major bullet. That contract is looking disastrous already 

Looks like Jarred Kelenic will be playing everyday, even after Acuna returns.

[Grant77]

15 strikeouts in 19 at-bats for Devers. That's got to be close to record. Boston is, unsurprisingly, playing like s*** to begin the season. Their extremely weak rotation will be their downfall.

[jaysblue]

8 minutes ago, Grant77 said:

15 strikeouts in 19 at-bats for Devers. That's got to be close to record. Boston is, unsurprisingly, playing like s*** to begin the season. Their extremely weak rotation will be their downfall.

Grant:

[BTS]

1 hour ago, Barrelsandbombs said:

 

Braves are in shambles right now