Around Baseball 2025

[jaysblue]

Paul Skenes gave up 3 solo home runs today in the same inning against the Cubs. 

[John_Havok]

Jose Ramirez becomes the first CLE player with 250 HRs and 259 SBs. 

Criminally underrated player by MLB fans.

[Jonn]

Gunnar Hoglund has arrived for the A’s. Solid debut thus far for the former Blue Jays first round pick and key piece acquired for Matt Chapman.

[G-Snarls]

Charlie Morton moved to the Orioles bullpen

If I were him I'd prob just stop showing up for work

[Grant77]

Casas out for the year. I'd say it's a blow for Boston, but it's not like another player could be worse.

[jaysblue]

Aaron Judge is just on another level.

10 HR, 32 RBI, .430/.521/.777, 266 wRC+ and 3.3 WAR in 32 games. 

I hate the Yankees, but got to tip your hat when a ballplayer puts up those numbers. 

 

[Stangstag]

1 hour ago, jaysblue said:

Aaron Judge is just on another level.

10 HR, 32 RBI, .430/.521/.777, 266 wRC+ and 3.3 WAR in 32 games. 

I hate the Yankees, but got to tip your hat when a ballplayer puts up those numbers. 

 

Are you putting down a bet for him to win MVP?

[BB17]

16 hours ago, jaysblue said:

Aaron Judge is just on another level.

10 HR, 32 RBI, .430/.521/.777, 266 wRC+ and 3.3 WAR in 32 games. 

I hate the Yankees, but got to tip your hat when a ballplayer puts up those numbers. 

 

Closest thing to Barry bonds we’ve seen. 

[Terminator]

19 hours ago, jaysblue said:

Aaron Judge is just on another level.

10 HR, 32 RBI, .430/.521/.777, 266 wRC+ and 3.3 WAR in 32 games. 

I hate the Yankees, but got to tip your hat when a ballplayer puts up those numbers. 

 

He's unreal. He's also fairly likable. I hate him. 

[jaysblue]

1 hour ago, Terminator said:

He's unreal. He's also fairly likable. I hate him. 

Can't say that about many Yankees players. Maybe the only other likeable Yankees star was Mariano Rivera. Everyone else not so much. 

[Pendleton]

 

[hanton]

baseball instincts

 

 

[L54]

3 hours ago, hanton said:

baseball instincts

 

 

Love it 

[mphenhef]

On 5/3/2025 at 10:43 PM, jaysblue said:

Aaron Judge is just on another level.

10 HR, 32 RBI, .430/.521/.777, 266 wRC+ and 3.3 WAR in 32 games. 

I hate the Yankees, but got to tip your hat when a ballplayer puts up those numbers. 

 

As a jays fan, I loved the contract he signed with the Yanks as I thought it was going to age so poorly.  He's put up so much value already it's a huge win for them and now the Jays have saddled themselves to an even more expensive and longer contract for a player who puts up nowhere near the numbers Judge does :(

[mphenhef]

17 hours ago, BB17 said:

Closest thing to Barry bonds we’ve seen. 

[Orgfiller]

16 hours ago, jaysblue said:

Can't say that about many Yankees players. Maybe the only other likeable Yankees star was Mariano Rivera. Everyone else not so much. 

I wouldn't be looking up recent news about Mariano Rivera if you'd like to keep that image of him intact.

[Spanky__99]

20 hours ago, BB17 said:

Closest thing to Barry bonds we’ve seen. 

He has to keep it up all season, but you're bang on.

[Brownie19]

Javy Baez is back from the dead perhaps?  1 WAR on the year already and a 139 wRC+

Castro Bros did a breakdown of the changes he's made in his swing, which suggests there's a higher chance this is sustainable.  Huge for the Tigers really.

[BTS]

34 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Javy Baez is back from the dead perhaps?  1 WAR on the year already and a 139 wRC+

Castro Bros did a breakdown of the changes he's made in his swing, which suggests there's a higher chance this is sustainable.  Huge for the Tigers really.

4% BB rate 23% K-rate and 0.294 xwOBA are all pretty much in line with his entire Detroit tenure. 

I feel like 99% of the "this player's recent hot strike might be legit because of swing/approach change" articles are just slop written because content needs to be pumped out, and the player is back to their old self within a month. 

[Orgfiller]

3 minutes ago, BTS said:

4% BB rate 23% K-rate and 0.294 xwOBA are all pretty much in line with his entire Detroit tenure. 

I feel like 99% of the "this player's recent hot strike might be legit because of swing/approach change" articles are just slop written because content needs to be pumped out, and the player is back to their old self within a month. 

Yeah this might be at best a case where instead of returning to elite form, he might just not be god awful anymore? A ~90 wRC+ projection with elite defense everywhere in the field is still a valuable player although obviously not close to being worth his contract.

As you note, his success to date is entirely BABIP and HR/FB noise. His statcast metrics are arguably all much worse across the board compared to last season. Javy is a guy who lives and dies with BABIP luck.

[mphenhef]

Rangers fire OC Donnie Ecker after extended run struggles - ESPN

 

Imagine actually holding coaches accountable.

[Brownie19]

47 minutes ago, mphenhef said:

Rangers fire OC Donnie Ecker after extended run struggles - ESPN

 

Imagine actually holding coaches accountable.

Ironically, when people started calling for the Jays to fire all their hitting coaches, I believe Ecker's name came up often as someone people thought was a great hitting coach who was on the leading edge.  

I could be wrong about that...but Texas was a Top 5 offense in 2023, so the timelines make sense.

And we already brought in a new hitting coach this year in Popkins.  You want him fired after 34 games?  That's savage.

[mphenhef]

No, I actually think it would be ridiculous to fire him so quickly into his first year.  This was more in reference to prior years (and perhaps a sign of a bigger problem that needs to be addressed elsewhere in the org) given this isn't a problem new to this year.  

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, mphenhef said:

No, I actually think it would be ridiculous to fire him so quickly into his first year.  This was more in reference to prior years (and perhaps a sign of a bigger problem that needs to be addressed elsewhere in the org) given this isn't a problem new to this year.  

Jays offense was one of the best in baseball for 2021 and 2022, I think it's reasonable to give Martinez 2023 and 2024 before firing him at the end of the year.

Texas was great in 2023 and pulled the plug on the guy early into 2025.  Just a little faster hook than Toronto had.  I'll be curious to see if it makes any difference in Texas.

[Terminator]

The Rangers winning the World Series on the strength of their lineup only to end up firing that same hitting coach 18 months later is more proof that anyone can win if you simply get in to the playoffs.

[Stangstag]

7 minutes ago, Terminator said:

The Rangers winning the World Series on the strength of their lineup only to end up firing that same hitting coach 18 months later is more proof that anyone can win if you simply get in to the playoffs.

No no no, you see the Rangers were a much better team than the Jays that year. For... reasons!

[Laika]

16 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

Ironically, when people started calling for the Jays to fire all their hitting coaches, I believe Ecker's name came up often as someone people thought was a great hitting coach who was on the leading edge.  

I could be wrong about that...but Texas was a Top 5 offense in 2023, so the timelines make sense.

And we already brought in a new hitting coach this year in Popkins.  You want him fired after 34 games?  That's savage.

Yes everybody was drooling over Eckers two years ago. He was the one saber people would name drop as a good hitting coach if not the best. 

[mphenhef]

14 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

Jays offense was one of the best in baseball for 2021 and 2022, I think it's reasonable to give Martinez 2023 and 2024 before firing him at the end of the year.

 

I am a strong believer that Dante Bichette was a lot more responsible for that offensive output than Martinez was.

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, mphenhef said:

I am a strong believer that Dante Bichette was a lot more responsible for that offensive output than Martinez was.

Void if any sort of evidence, this doesn't really mean much to me.  Sorry.  Dante also left the Jays in Feb 2022.  I wonder if the abilities of the players on the team have anything to do with the performance of the offense...

[Brownie19]

2 hours ago, Laika said:

Yes everybody was drooling over Eckers two years ago. He was the one saber people would name drop as a good hitting coach if not the best. 

I thought so.  This either goes to show you how quickly hitting coaches can go from being one of the best in the sport to pure sh*t - unworthy of a job (much like Martinez).  Or it shows you how little impact they have.