Around Baseball 2025

[Pendleton]

17 hours ago, Laika said:

Imagine having to cheer for a team that has Marcus Stroman opening for Ryan Yarbro?

lolll

I have both these guys on the LoD Yankees, both available for trade 

[Laika]

Just now, Pendleton said:

I have both these guys on the LoD Yankees, both available for trade 

Despair 

[BTS]

Stroman looks like a guy whose career is just about over. He's averaging under 90 now on his fastball and his stuff has gone from league average in 2023 and before to absolute slop tier. Probably gets cut by the Yankees this year, resurfaces with another team for a few starts, then retires in the offseason when nobody offers him a guaranteed rotation spot. 

[Jays24]

48 minutes ago, max silver said:

Ignore WAR if you want, but the reduction in WAR in recent seasons is due to a combination of declining value in every phase of the game. Alonso was coming off of the worst defensive and baserunning seasons of his career along with the worst expected statistics of his career. It's a neat story that he's producing the way he is right now but there was nothing to indicate this type of resurgence was coming. He was a picture perfect candidate for a pillow contract to prove that he was capable of a bounceback. It's completely hindsight criticism on your part to suggest it was somehow dumb for MLB front offices to be wary of handing out an expensive long term contract to a player that appeared to be firmly into his decline phase. This really has nothing to do with your claim of WAR not properly encapsulating value of offensive players and more of a case of a player who was showing signs of serious decline in his physical skills.

None of this is intended to attempt to take away from what Alonso has done so far. He's managed to improve his overall swing speed while shortening the length of the swing, reduce his whiff rate, drop his strikeout rate, and impact the baseball at Aaron Judge levels so far. It's a very impressive turnaround up to this point.

I actually think WAR might be the best advanced statistic created but it still has some flaws.  It's mainly overvaluing defensive WAR or underrating power imo but it's still a great metric.  

And you clearly haven't been reading my posts as I was hard on the Alonso bandwagon all offseason.  It was exactly what this team needed from an offensive standpoint. 

I've said countless times, any player who is willing to accept a pillow contract is a guy id be willing to "overpay" on a longterm deal.  It's also why I cried over not bringing Teo back before lol.

[max silver]

10 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

I actually think WAR might be the best advanced statistic created but it still has some flaws.  It's mainly overvaluing defensive WAR or underrating power imo but it's still a great metric.  

And you clearly haven't been reading my posts as I was hard on the Alonso bandwagon all offseason.  It was exactly what this team needed from an offensive standpoint. 

I've said countless times, any player who is willing to accept a pillow contract is a guy id be willing to "overpay" on a longterm deal.  It's also why I cried over not bringing Teo back before lol.

Alonso wasn't even particularly impressive when you only factor in his offensive contributions. Consecutive seasons of approximately 120 wRC+ output from a 1B/DH type is not something would have any front office in the sport clamoring to hand out a massive deal. Alonso has typically been a one trick pony who hits a bunch of home runs and doesn't offer a ton of value aside from this, and he was coming off of his worst full season total of his career. But MLB front offices are stupid for not thinking he was worth a massive deal.

I am fully aware that you were banging on the Alonso drum this offseason as I was right there with you. I just find it fascinating that you would be so willing overpay players that are forced to take pillow contracts. These players are largely due to a combination of inflated asking prices and declining results on the field. For you to go about insisting that MLB front offices are stupid for not opening themselves up to the massive risk of handing out largely underwater contracts to declining players is exactly the kind of low thought post that you tend to take so much flak for. 

[Nexii]

27 minutes ago, max silver said:

Alonso wasn't even particularly impressive when you only factor in his offensive contributions. Consecutive seasons of approximately 120 wRC+ output from a 1B/DH type is not something would have any front office in the sport clamoring to hand out a massive deal. Alonso has typically been a one trick pony who hits a bunch of home runs and doesn't offer a ton of value aside from this, and he was coming off of his worst full season total of his career. But MLB front offices are stupid for not thinking he was worth a massive deal.

I am fully aware that you were banging on the Alonso drum this offseason as I was right there with you. I just find it fascinating that you would be so willing overpay players that are forced to take pillow contracts. These players are largely due to a combination of inflated asking prices and declining results on the field. For you to go about insisting that MLB front offices are stupid for not opening themselves up to the massive risk of handing out largely underwater contracts to declining players is exactly the kind of low thought post that you tend to take so much flak for. 

Though it is interesting that 1B wRC+ has been down a lot recently, 93 so far this year and only 104 last year. 120+ is pretty good how things are right now.

I wonder why there aren't that many good slugging 1B lately? Is it because defensive metrics are pushing them into DH roles?

[John_Havok]

14 minutes ago, Nexii said:

Though it is interesting that 1B wRC+ has been down a lot recently, 93 so far this year and only 104 last year. 120+ is pretty good how things are right now.

I wonder why there aren't that many good slugging 1B lately? Is it because defensive metrics are pushing them into DH roles?

Could be a combination of things, but overall, you're probably close enough to right.

[BTS]

Corbin Burnes has been ass so far

[BB17]

Padres another win to go to 12-3, Tatis has been one of the best players in baseball so far super fun to watch.

[Brownie19]

Ryan Ripken (@ryanripkenshow) • Instagram reel

WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM

---

30K likes, 238 comments - ryanripkenshow on March 25, 2025: "Who knew that you could call a game...

That is an insane story!  I love that kinda stuff.

 

 

[hanton]

so ESPN has Nico Hoerner mic'd up and of course a tuff blooper is hit over his head and he and the outfielder go after it and neither make the catch then the stupid ESPN announcer says - with the mic off I assume - I was about to say "...somebody call it call it but I didn't want to interfere ...".  really?  What an idiot

[max silver]

23 hours ago, BTS said:

Corbin Burnes has been ass so far

His stuff+ ratings have taken a real nosedive in the early going. The Blue Jays front office may have dodged a bit of a bullet when Burnes turned down their offer in free agency.

[Spanky__99]

Fwiw...

https://twitter.com/hgomez27/status/1911207956005220426

[hanton]

I wonder if the Dodgers are second guessing getting rid of Busch, another homer today off Glasnow 

[glory]

1 hour ago, max silver said:

His stuff+ ratings have taken a real nosedive in the early going. The Blue Jays front office may have dodged a bit of a bullet when Burnes turned down their offer in free agency.

From Bo(o)b Nigtengale's most recent column:

There were supposed to be at least two or three teams who made larger offers to Burnes before he decided to stay home and sign with the Diamondbacks. Well, as it turns out, no one made a higher offer to Burnes. The Orioles stopped at $180 million. The Blue Jays offer was not only low, but was 75% deferred, which Burnes never took seriously. The San Francisco Giants’ pursuit of Burnes stopped before it really got started.

“This," Burnes says, “was by far the best offer that we had.”

Seems like their interest in Soto and Alonso was legitimate, but interest in Burnes and Bregman was fabricated, at least based on Nigtengale's report. 

[John_Havok]

3 hours ago, glory said:

From Bo(o)b Nigtengale's most recent column:

There were supposed to be at least two or three teams who made larger offers to Burnes before he decided to stay home and sign with the Diamondbacks. Well, as it turns out, no one made a higher offer to Burnes. The Orioles stopped at $180 million. The Blue Jays offer was not only low, but was 75% deferred, which Burnes never took seriously. The San Francisco Giants’ pursuit of Burnes stopped before it really got started.

“This," Burnes says, “was by far the best offer that we had.”

Seems like their interest in Soto and Alonso was legitimate, but interest in Burnes and Bregman was fabricated, at least based on Nigtengale's report. 

Nigtengale himself reported in December the offer from the Jays was higher.

Almost like, it either was....or he was making stiff up for clicks at the time.

Or he's making stuff up for clicks now.

Nigtengale is a hack. Complete gutter trash of baseball journalism.

[Jimcanuck]

13 hours ago, hanton said:

I wonder if the Dodgers are second guessing getting rid of Busch, another homer today off Glasnow 

Nah.  They got Zyhir Hope for him, a top prospect and potenial 5 tool player.  A nice return for a 1B only guy with average power.

[L54]

15 hours ago, Spanky99 said:

Fwiw...

https://twitter.com/hgomez27/status/1911207956005220426

It would be tough to turn down 500M sitting in front of you 

[hanton]

49 minutes ago, Jimcanuck said:

Nah.  They got Zyhir Hope for him, a top prospect and potenial 5 tool player.  A nice return for a 1B only guy with average power.

it's weird they were forced to move him as they had no roster room at the time and still managed to get a good if not great prospect in return

[Jimcanuck]

3 minutes ago, hanton said:

it's weird they were forced to move him as they had no roster room at the time and still managed to get a good if not great prospect in return

If the rumours are to be believed, they are about to do the same thing with Rushing

[mphenhef]

Arenado on why he vetoed a trade to the Astros.

“[Kyle Tucker] is one of the best players in the game,” said Arenado, via The Athletic’s Chandler Rome. “When you see a team trade him, 99 out of 100 players would probably be wondering, ‘What does that mean?’ That’s the question I asked myself. And obviously if I went there, [Alex] Bregman wouldn’t have been going there — that’s another player.”

This definitely shows that not having Vlad or Bo locked up would have been hurting the Jays in negotiations trying to convince players to come play in Toronto.  Hopefully with Vlad locked up that changes.

 

[Terminator]

Obviously cheating

[jaysblue]

2 hours ago, Terminator said:

Obviously cheating

So you're saying bet the Yankees when at home haha. 

[Spanky__99]

Kris Bryant to the IL with a degenerative spine disorder, I don't wish that sh*t on nobody. Sucks for him.

[BTS]

Baltimore’s prized FA signing Charlie Morton got blasted again and they’re down to 6-10. You love to see it. 

[jaysblue]

1 minute ago, BTS said:

Baltimore’s prized FA signing Charlie Morton got blasted again and they’re down to 6-10. You love to see it. 

Love it even more after Spanky picked him up in the DDL haha

[Brownie19]

Tyler Soderstrom is on some kind of a heater.  

8 HRs, 227 wRC+ 

[Laika]

Jackson Holliday sucks again 

His projections are starting to tumble too. Preseason Steamer was 110 wRC+ now his Steamer ROS is 103 wRC+ 

Interesting case study 

[Orgfiller]

28 minutes ago, Laika said:

Jackson Holliday sucks again 

His projections are starting to tumble too. Preseason Steamer was 110 wRC+ now his Steamer ROS is 103 wRC+ 

Interesting case study 

I wonder if they'll demote him again. His 2B defense hasn't been good, and the K/BB is ghastly. 1 BB in 48 PAs. The ability to make good contact is there but just about everything else needs work.

[BTS]

The Athletic polled 40 executives on what the top MLB front offices are. Toronto was one of 10 teams that received no votes:

Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays.

This is not good company to be keeping.