Around Baseball 2025

[mphenhef]

On 4/23/2025 at 11:57 PM, Pendleton said:

 

As of today, Cutch would be tied for the team lead in homeruns and only behind Springer, Straw and Heineman in OPS and OPS+ on this Jays team.

[Brownie19]

9 hours ago, Terminator said:

Two things on this whole Jarren Duran trying to fight a heckler thing.

1. Any Red Sox fan showing any indignation over the heckler is rich given the vile filth that is flying out of the majority of their fans’ mouths on a nightly basis. Very nasty people.

2. With the Sox coming to town this week and the Jays scuffling I would like to remind all Jays fans to remain polite and respectful. That is until Duran comes to the plate in a big spot at which point we need a few courageous fans to unleash on him. Yeah you’re probably getting kicked out of the game but we absolutely cannot fall any further behind in the standings right now.

C'mon man.  What that fan yelled is wrong and there should be consequences for being a c*nt.  It's not Duran's fault that Boston also has fans who are c*nts (which every team does - let's not pretend).

[Terminator]

2 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

C'mon man.  What that fan yelled is wrong and there should be consequences for being a c*nt.  It's not Duran's fault that Boston also has fans who are c*nts (which every team does - let's not pretend).

Oh there are definitely consequences. You'll be kicked out of the game and probably 86'd for life (based on personal experience it's very hard for them to enforce the latter).

But have you taken a look at the standings lately?? NOT GOOD

[BTS]

We're 2 days from May and the Orioles are 10-17. Their SPs have given them 0.0 fWAR and have a 5.83 ERA. Their K/9 is 6,17, by far the worst in the league. 

Mike Elias should be immediately fired. Dude thought he was the smartest guy in the room and could coast to the playoffs while using his big brain to assemble a pitching staff with no long-term risk or cost of prospect capital. 

[Spanky__99]

24 minutes ago, BTS said:

We're 2 days from May and the Orioles are 10-17. Their SPs have given them 0.0 fWAR and have a 5.83 ERA. Their K/9 is 6,17, by far the worst in the league. 

Mike Elias should be immediately fired. Dude thought he was the smartest guy in the room and could coast to the playoffs while using his big brain to assemble a pitching staff with no long-term risk or cost of prospect capital. 

Their fWAR in offense is 24th as well. They just were absolutely roasted on MLB Now and it was glorious.

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, Terminator said:

Oh there are definitely consequences. You'll be kicked out of the game and probably 86'd for life (based on personal experience it's very hard for them to enforce the latter).

But have you taken a look at the standings lately?? NOT GOOD

Dude - our season is over.  Enough.

[Terminator]

29 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Dude - our season is over.  Enough.

Yankee fans are literally PHYSICALLY ASSAULTING the other teams' outfielders to try and help the team win.

All I'm suggesting is that we use a few choice WORDS to help the team out a little bit before the season is lost.

I am not going to let this team ruin my entire summer again if I can help it.

[max silver]

On 4/27/2025 at 9:28 AM, Brownie19 said:

It's almost like the saying "it's still too early to panic" is true.  Interesting, as there are some here who regularly blame Atkins for not taking action promptly to make changes if they go through a rough patch.

I don't think anyone actually thought the Braves were screwed after that slow start.  I think we all knew there was a good chance they'd crawl back into it.  They're a good team if their SPing can stay healthy.

Quote

Dude - our season is over.  Enough.

Wait a minute, on one hand it's too early to panic with regards to the Braves lousy start but then it's perfectly fine to declare the Blue Jays season being over before the calendar turns to May? 

[BB17]

2 hours ago, max silver said:

Wait a minute, on one hand it's too early to panic with regards to the Braves lousy start but then it's perfectly fine to declare the Blue Jays season being over before the calendar turns to May? 

To be fair the Braves are way more talented than the Jays and will only get stronger with Acuna back. Jays season could turn around but the next 3 year outlook still looks god awful.

[Brownie19]

2 hours ago, max silver said:

Wait a minute, on one hand it's too early to panic with regards to the Braves lousy start but then it's perfectly fine to declare the Blue Jays season being over before the calendar turns to May? 

Correct.

[jaysblue]

8 hours ago, max silver said:

Wait a minute, on one hand it's too early to panic with regards to the Braves lousy start but then it's perfectly fine to declare the Blue Jays season being over before the calendar turns to May? 

I don't think the Blue Jays season is over, but their lineup looks more in shambles than the Braves right now.

Braves have won 8 of their last 10, and have a more talented group of players in their lineup who are proven All-Stars. Acuna is expected back soon as well. Whereas the Jays have a bunch of #8-9 hitters occupying majority of their lineup. 

[Brownie19]

3 hours ago, jaysblue said:

I don't think the Blue Jays season is over, but their lineup looks more in shambles than the Braves right now.

Braves have won 8 of their last 10, and have a more talented group of players in their lineup who are proven All-Stars. Acuna is expected back soon as well. Whereas the Jays have a bunch of #8-9 hitters occupying majority of their lineup. 

I'd suggest the Braves have 5 good hitters (Ozuna, Olson, Riley, Albies and Murphy) and you could even argue Albies may be declining.  His last 550 PA's have been as concerning at Bo's...They also have their own Kirk in Harris III, who started his career hot with the bat, but has fallen every season and they have a ton of #8-9 hitters (per your definition) in Kelenic, Arcia, Verdugo, Allen, De La Cruz, White, etc.

Baldwin is a really nice prospect, but it's hard to be a young catcher at the ML level.  Getting Acuna back will be massive, although the last time he came back from a major knee injury - he wasn't very good and it took a whole year to get back.  It will be interesting to see what happens the second time around.  Maybe he's more prepared for this?  Maybe it's that much harder.  Who knows.

I think the Braves offense will be "good enough" and like last year, it will come down to pitching health.  Lopez is already dead and Sale is never a good bet to stay healthy.  The young guns may have a lot of pressure on them this year and they need Strider to come back and stay healthy.

The typical criticism with AA is he runs a shallow team.  We'll see if that approach bites him this year.  I hope it doesn't, as I like the Braves and AA.

[Brownie19]

BTW - is Marcel Ozuno the new Nelson Cruz?   This guy has been incredible since (wrongly) working on his grip strength back in 2021...

[BTS]

Kyle Gibson has given up 5 HRs in 1.1 innings in his Orioles debut

[Terminator]

5 minutes ago, BTS said:

Kyle Gibson has given up 5 HRs in 1.1 innings in his Orioles debut

I had to double check to make sure my eyes were working and you're right.

5 homers, 2 doubles and a single though 2 innings. 

I don't think we've hit that many home runs all season. 😐

[BTS]

Just now, Terminator said:

I had to double check to make sure my eyes were working and you're right.

5 homers, 2 doubles and a single though 2 innings. 😐

Imagine the humiliation of being Mike Elias 

[jaysblue]

2 hours ago, BTS said:

Kyle Gibson has given up 5 HRs in 1.1 innings in his Orioles debut

I think Spanky picked him up in a couple leagues and owns him in the LOD haha

[Spanky__99]

20 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

I think Spanky picked him up in a couple leagues and owns him in the LOD haha

Wheels on your bus go round and round... don't forget to buckle up your chin strap...

 

[Orgfiller]

A's player Jacob Wilson has an insane profile, particularly as a rookie.

In 112 PAs this season, he has 6 strikeouts and 2 walks!! You'd think he's just some s***** slap hitter, but he has a pretty solid 127 wRC+ and an ISO of .138 with 3 HRs. 97th percentile xBA, 100th percentile squared up with a 98th percentile whiff rate. Expectedly, his K rate is in the 99th percentile and the walk rate in the 1st.

SS Luis Arraez with like 40th percentile power could be an interesting player to look out for in the future.

[John_Havok]

6 hours ago, Orgfiller said:

A's player Jacob Wilson has an insane profile, particularly as a rookie.

In 112 PAs this season, he has 6 strikeouts and 2 walks!! You'd think he's just some s***** slap hitter, but he has a pretty solid 127 wRC+ and an ISO of .138 with 3 HRs. 97th percentile xBA, 100th percentile squared up with a 98th percentile whiff rate. Expectedly, his K rate is in the 99th percentile and the walk rate in the 1st.

SS Luis Arraez with like 40th percentile power could be an interesting player to look out for in the future.

Literally what the FO was dreaming of in any of the Buffalo boys. 

[Jays24]

 

[Spanky__99]

58 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

 

It looks like he jumps?

[Laika]

very weird, he either jumped on purpose or just got excited and jumped and is the biggest klutz in history 

[Spanky__99]

1 minute ago, Laika said:

very weird, he either jumped on purpose or just got excited and jumped and is the biggest klutz in history 

Pretty much. Hah! That dude's in critical condition, geez.

[Brownie19]

I saw that last night.  Frightening, but as noted, it's hard to understand how or why that happened.

When I took the Wrigley Field tour, they said the "bleacher bums" used to run along the top of the wall - racing from each end towards CF with the winner getting a beer.  Unfortunately, they used to fall onto the field regularly, which required the game to stop, while an ambulance came onto the field to take them away.  That's why they installed the baskets at Wrigley.  They also made the top of the wall a "peak" so nobody could run along it anymore.

[Stangstag]

Was checking up on Jordan Romano, dude has a 12 ERA and -1 bWAR. 

Safe to say Atkins was probably right to move on from him

[BatFlip]

2 hours ago, Jays24 said:

 

Oh man, that was a brutal fall.  Hope for the best for that guy.

[Brownie19]

is Adolis García washed up?

[Orgfiller]

6 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

is Adolis García washed up?

Statcast and xWOBA doesn't seem to think so. His savant page looks pretty good

Still hits the ball hard often, his issue is just he's a free swinger who whiffs a lot which makes his profile more volatile and less impactful overall. Still a good player though, and because he debuted so late he's cheap.

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, Orgfiller said:

Statcast and xWOBA doesn't seem to think so. His savant page looks pretty good

Still hits the ball hard often, his issue is just he's a free swinger who whiffs a lot which makes his profile more volatile and less impactful overall. Still a good player though, and because he debuted so late he's cheap.

Interesting - I should have checked that.  But he's going on about 750 PA's with a wRC+ of 92.

Semien may also be done as an above average offensive player...