Couldn’t find the 2023 baseball thread.
Enjoyed by first Saturday night of the year watching the Sox on mlbtv.
Crazy finish - the games over as Yoshida pops up at 7-8 in the bottom of the ninth. Fielder somehow drops it - and Duvall makes them pay with a homer at the end. Two games in and already I’m loving my baseball.
So who are we all cheering for? Who are we betting on?
Mets and Padres have spent huge. Yankees always spend which makes it funny when they miss out.
Bring on the season
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Zach Neto is one to watch for the future, I think.
Mets gonna Met
How the hell have the A's just reeled off 6 wins in a row?
Elly De La Cruz looks pretty special
The Padres have to come good at some point, right?
Without Aaron Judge, the Yankees really aren't that good (what a shame...)
Also, I will be going to an Angels game in a couple of weeks when they play the White Sox in Anaheim. Given I grew up going to "The Big A" I've always had a bit of a soft spot for them. Any kit or anything you'd like I'd be happy to ship it over.
I am going to go home to LA to see the Sox in a couple of weeks. I did want to see them at Dodger Stadium, as they're there this week, but the timing wasn't right with work. They're doing Dodgers and Mariners, and then two weeks later Angels and A's. Baseball scheduling tends to be pretty silly.
I have a lot of colleagues in Baltimore who are Orioles fans, and it's been nice seeing them enjoy that young, fun team.
https://www.mlb.com/giants/video/condensed-game-sf-lad-6-16-23?partnerId=web_multimedia-search_video-share
Not just 0-6 on the road, but sweeping the Dodgers and inflicting their worst ever home defeat!
For those who don't know, Jason Benetti was born with Cerebral Palsy. He's the play-by-play guy for the White Sox, his hometown team, plus he does college basketball, college football, NFL, I think NBA, and he now does a national MLB game of the week. He's bright, he's funny, he's incredibly charming, he is by all accounts a wonderful guy, and he is absolutely beloved by Sox fans.
As far as what is to be done about this team...uh, nothing good. Lucas Giolito will be sold at the trade deadline. It's a shame, I love Lucas, he's a bright, interesting guy who grew up about 10 minutes (and 10 years) away from me in LA. But he's a Free Agent at the end of the year and the Sox aren't going to resign him so he's all but gone.
I think Graveman and Kelly will also be traded. I don't know that either will bring back all that much, but better than nothing. I could see Lynn going as well. I don't know if he'll bring back anything, but he has a $15m club option for next year that won't be picked up, and if I were a team that needed experience and innings eaten, I'd take a chance on him.
After that is where things get hard. TA needs a rest. If you look at his stats over the last calendar year, they're awful. Awful hitting, poor defending, and he's only played about half of the games due to injury. Such awful food, and such small portions. His personal life stuff has been around in public for a while, but obviously he opened up about it a couple of weeks ago, and the little bit I saw of the interview, he came across well. I think he's a good guy, he does great work in the community. But he can't keep doing this.
He needs an IL stint and then he needs to be batted 7th. You can't trade him this season because you won't get anything for him. I think he probably needs a change of scenery for personal and baseball reasons. But no team wants a poor defensive shortstop with a .584OPS. The Braves and Dodgers have that already, and they're cheaper and better defenders. So, for now, you're stuck with him. But I just hope they give him a break, he's not right. Some of it is probably the knee injury from earlier in the season. Some of it is probably mental.
Beyond that, I don't think any of the other guys will be traded at this point. Maybe Grandal, again, if there's interest. But rumor has it (from Bob Nightingale) that no one with a contract past this season will be traded, and he has a direct line to Kenny Williams and Jerry Reinsdorf, so I'm inclined to believe him.
As for the Front Office and ownership, they all need to go. Reinsdorf, who is part of my villain origin story, needs to sell. And then there needs to be a clear out. None of this will happen, so I won't spend much time on it.
I think the bigger question here is Grifol. This is a worse roster than last season, and it's a worse team. The problem is, none of the things they did badly last year have improved with the exception of a little more HR power. The pitching has gone backward. The team still doesn't walk and they swing at fucking everything. They look ill prepared, they don't hit bullpens, and they play bad defense and make awful baserunning decisions.
I had relatively high hopes for Grifol. I didn't think this would be a playoff team, but I thought Grifol would make them more solid. And instead, he really hasn't. And while this is by no means all Grifol's fault, what has he done to deserve to keep his job? He refuses to move TA from the leadoff spot despite TA being an automatic out. And he basically says the same things La Russa said: "He's going to get hot one day." Like great, when he does, bat him leadoff again.
It's all a mess. It's easily one of the worst-run organizations in the sport. The Farm System is non-existent at the high minors. The record of drafting and developing players is awful. There is nothing good happening here. This rebuild is a failure. And nothing is going to change until the people in charge change.
As usual going quietly about their business
Need to win the Series though to complete the cycle for Champa Bay
Any tips for getting the most out of the experience?
By the time you get to the game you will know most of the players and what to expect from them. You’ll also pick up a few more nuances of the game and some rules you may be unaware of.
Traditionally this is a game you’d expect Dodgers to win but they’re not at their best this year…but Rockies are their usual dire selves (though they have a few decent players who can pull off the odd shock).
The hardest thing to know will be who is starting pitcher for each team (about 4 or 5 pitchers are rotated as it is s strenuous role and you get injuries if you play too regularly) . The Dodgers usually have some top starting pitchers to choose from.
Where baseball excels compared to cricket is in the fielding. Ok, baseball players have gloves for catching but they make incredibly few errors as it can cost games in a relatively low scoring sport. You will notice how wildly accurate the fielders throws are compared to cricket and how many of the throws are made from very off balanced positions, on the turn, with astonishing accuracy and at lightening speed. The athleticism in the field and the accuracy is on another level to cricket players and never ceases to amaze me. I respect both sports highly but independent studies/tests have shown baseball fielders to be significantly better than cricketing fielders for accuracy and pace and just watching games regularly will make this apparent.