MLB: The 2017 Season

[Olympic Fan]

Years ago there was a weekend that went something along the lines of "What will unis look like in the year 2100?" We greeted the Olde English D with a sigh of relief, albeit with some Star Trek like sleeves.

This nickname sitch is relatively silly but as long as guys aren't making up their own nicknames, I guess it's kinda ok.

You cannot give yourself a nickname! A screen name, sure, but not a walking around nickname.

You made me think of one of my favorite characters in one of my favorite novels -- Nickname Damur from The Great American Novel.

He was a 15-year-old second baseman playing for the worst team in Major League baseman who wanted nothing more than to have a nickname. He finally bugged his teammates so much that they nicknamed him Nickname.

[Olympic Fan]

More bad news for my Yankees -- Tanaka just joined Sabathia and Pineda on the DL -- that's three-fifths of our starting rotation.

Pineda is out for the year. No telling how long Sabathia (knee) and Tanaka (shoulder) will be out.

It's a good thing we picked up Sonny Gray. He's 0-2 as a Yankee, but has pitched decently in his two starts (3.00 ERA). Jaime Garcia has been battered in his two starts, but the he kept it close last night and the Yankees managed to rally to beat the Red Sox.

We got Aaron Hicks, who has been out a month, back for that one and he had a big night -- a homer, a double and he threw out the tying run at third base in the ninth.

We've really missed Hicks (.909 OPS). Now, if we could just get Starlin Castro (.816 OPS) back, maybe we can stay in the race until Tanaka and Sabathia return. Until then, a lot of Chad Green, Bryan Mitchell and Luis Cessa starts. Plus, Jordan Montgomery is back after a brief trip to SWB. He's probably our No. 3 starter at the moment after Severino and Gray.

The other question is Aaron Judge. Statistically, he was the best player in baseball up to the all-star break -- better than Trout, Harper or anybody else. Since the break, he's been pathetic. He's gone from a 201 OPS-plus (meaning he was twice as good as the average MLB hitter) to an 87 OPS-plus (13 percent blew average) He wouldn't be that good, except he continues to walk at a high rate.

If Boston could get it together and play up to their abilities, I'd turn my focus to the wild card. But even with their recent win streak, they allow us to stay in it. But we need a lot more help .. or health.

[duke74]

More bad news for my Yankees -- Tanaka just joined Sabathia and Pineda on the DL -- that's three-fifths of our starting rotation.

Pineda is out for the year. No telling how long Sabathia (knee) and Tanaka (shoulder) will be out.

It's a good thing we picked up Sonny Gray. He's 0-2 as a Yankee, but has pitched decently in his two starts (3.00 ERA). Jaime Garcia has been battered in his two starts, but the he kept it close last night and the Yankees managed to rally to beat the Red Sox.

We got Aaron Hicks, who has been out a month, back for that one and he had a big night -- a homer, a double and he threw out the tying run at third base in the ninth.

We've really missed Hicks (.909 OPS). Now, if we could just get Starlin Castro (.816 OPS) back, maybe we can stay in the race until Tanaka and Sabathia return. Until then, a lot of Chad Green, Bryan Mitchell and Luis Cessa starts. Plus, Jordan Montgomery is back after a brief trip to SWB. He's probably our No. 3 starter at the moment after Severino and Gray.

The other question is Aaron Judge. Statistically, he was the best player in baseball up to the all-star break -- better than Trout, Harper or anybody else. Since the break, he's been pathetic. He's gone from a 201 OPS-plus (meaning he was twice as good as the average MLB hitter) to an 87 OPS-plus (13 percent blew average) He wouldn't be that good, except he continues to walk at a high rate.

If Boston could get it together and play up to their abilities, I'd turn my focus to the wild card. But even with their recent win streak, they allow us to stay in it. But we need a lot more help .. or health.

How would Duda, Bruce and/or Walker have looked in pinstripes? After last night, and the reliever trades at the deadline, Reed a good nontrade for you.

[Blue in the Face]

How would Duda, Bruce and/or Walker have looked in pinstripes?

I would've really liked the Yankees to add Duda - it sounds like the Mets really weren't interested in discussing him with the Yankees, but there's been a bit of back and forth between the two teams about which team was at fault for no deals getting done between them, so who knows.

[CDu]

Judge was always due for a substantial regression. His BABIP was over 100 points higher than expected, despite not having a higher line drive %. That is a clear indicator that luck was in play. His BABIP in July was .310, which is probably close to accurate. So in reality he is probably more like the guy in July (maybe a bit better) than the guy in April to June. Which makes sense as the guy from April-June was way better than he had ever been and also arguably one of the best hitters of all time.

He is surely much better than he has been in August, where his power is down AND his BABIP is below average. But reality for him is probably more like an .850-.950 OPS guy rather than the 1.100 OPS guy.

[Blue in the Face]

Bryce Harper avoided major injury on an awkward play last night, slipping on the bag at 1B, with his leg buckling and him grabbing at his knee in pain. Certainly looked like it could be an ACL, but fortunately there's no ligament damage, and it's a bone bruise. The Nats are "hopeful" he can return this season, and obviously making the playoffs is all but a foregone conclusion, so they can afford to lose him for awhile. Severe bone bruises are notoriously slow healing though, so despite the relatively good news, it could be still something that keeps him out into the post-season.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2...running-injury

[JBDuke]

Bryce Harper avoided major injury on an awkward play last night, slipping on the bag at 1B, with his leg buckling and him grabbing at his knee in pain. Certainly looked like it could be an ACL, but fortunately there's no ligament damage, and it's a bone bruise. The Nats are "hopeful" he can return this season, and obviously making the playoffs is all but a foregone conclusion, so they can afford to lose him for awhile. Severe bone bruises are notoriously slow healing though, so despite the relatively good news, it could be still something that keeps him out into the post-season.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2...running-injury

Yet another injured National. I know lots of other clubs have been hit just as hard or worse, but the Nationals' entire opening day outfield is now on the DL (Harper, Eaton, Werth), along with shortstop Turner, a couple of reserves (Rayburn, Drew), two starting pitchers (Strasburg, Ross), and three relievers (Glover, Kelley, and Romero). Eaton, Turner, and Harper were the first, second, and third batters on opening day. Werth was #6.

Sheesh. Thank goodness for big division leads.

[juise]

My Dodgers are really, really fun to watch. Clutch hit after clutch hit from all over the line-up. The season has been so fun, it will not sting horribly if they don't make the series.

[Blue in the Face]

Some things you just don't see everyday.

Travis d’Arnaud’s position in Wednesday’s box score read “3B-2B-3B-2B-3B-2B-3B-2B-3B-2B-3B-2B-3B-2B-3B-2B-3B-2B”

The Mets had to scratch both Jose Reyes and Wilmer Flores an hour before Wednesday’s game against the Yankees due to ribcage injuries, so Travis d'Arnaud — normally a catcher — borrowed David Wright‘s glove and played third base for the first time in his career. He had played some third base in spring training, but as far as an official professional game goes, he’s never been there. The first two batters the Yankees sent up to the plate in the first inning were left-handed. But when the right-handed Aaron Judge came up, manager Terry Collins swapped second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera with d’Arnaud. It became a thing. The two swapped once more in the first inning, three times in the second, once in the third, five times in the fourth, once in the fifth, three times in the sixth, four times in the seventh, once in the eighth, and twice in the ninth. It worked, as d’Arnaud didn’t have an opportunity to make a play until catching Todd Frazier‘s pop-up for the first out of the ninth inning — as a second baseman.

The only other time I can remember something like this was also with the Mets, in Rusty Staub's last season, when he was inserted late into an extra-innings game as a pinch hitter, then had to stay in the field and was shuffled between right and left to avoid having to make a play. (And if you remember Staub late in his career, dashing back and forth across the outfield repeatedly didn't mesh well with his body type). Ultimately he caught the final out, on the run no less.

[duke74]

Some things you just don't see everyday.



The only other time I can remember something like this was also with the Mets, in Rusty Staub's last season, when he was inserted late into an extra-innings game as a pinch hitter, then had to stay in the field and was shuffled between right and left to avoid having to make a play. (And if you remember Staub late in his career, dashing back and forth across the outfield repeatedly didn't mesh well with his body type). Ultimately he caught the final out, on the run no less.

And...I think he only toughed the ball in the ninth vis a pop up to second. Girardi called Terry's strategy "brilliant" or "genius" or something similar.

I will be so glad when this season is over...

[Blue in the Face]

Mets move another bat, sending Granderson to the dodgers for a ptbnl. Grandy Man's a pretty good player, and given LA's depth, will probably be a platoon guy the rest of the way, and he's got a pretty big righty/lefty split, so that should work out well (not to mention another bat for potential games in the AL park in october). Not a high average guy, but against righties he's got a good obp and very good power. Obviously not as big an add as Darvish, but nonetheless, they're really loading up out there.

[duke74]

Mets move another bat, sending Granderson to the dodgers for a ptbnl. Grandy Man's a pretty good player, and given LA's depth, will probably be a platoon guy the rest of the way, and he's got a pretty big righty/lefty split, so that should work out well (not to mention another bat for potential games in the AL park in october). Not a high average guy, but against righties he's got a good obp and very good power. Obviously not as big an add as Darvish, but nonetheless, they're really loading up out there.

A real character guy for us. I will miss him. Glad that he has the chance to play postseason and to be a champion.

[Olympic Fan]

Some things you just don't see everyday.



The only other time I can remember something like this was also with the Mets, in Rusty Staub's last season, when he was inserted late into an extra-innings game as a pinch hitter, then had to stay in the field and was shuffled between right and left to avoid having to make a play. (And if you remember Staub late in his career, dashing back and forth across the outfield repeatedly didn't mesh well with his body type). Ultimately he caught the final out, on the run no less.

Actually, I just saw a replay of a 2004 Yankees-Red Sox game in which the Red Sox did this on almost every batter. I only saw the 11th inning on -- the Yankees loaded the bases with no out, but couldn't get the run in. The Bosox went up a run in the top of the 12th, but the Yankees got two in the bottom of the inning to win.

[YmoBeThere]

FWIW, Judge just set the record for most consecutive games with a strikeout for a position player.

[Blue in the Face]

FWIW, Judge just set the record for most consecutive games with a strikeout for a position player.

That was Thursday. Last night he set the record for any player.

[YmoBeThere]

While maybe not on the same level as Whitney Houston's Star Spangled Banner, the gentlemen who sang God Bless America today during the Reds-Braves game gave me goose bumps. Unfortunately, with the Braves up 8-0 and both teams going nowhere in the standings, there weren't many people in the stands and likely few viewers on TV to witness it.

[YmoBeThere]

That was Thursday. Last night he set the record for any player.

Meh, it appears he's started his sophmore season early.

[YmoBeThere]

Meh, it appears he's started his sophmore season early.

And he just struck out in his 4th AB to keep the streak alive.

[Olympic Fan]

And he just struck out in his 4th AB to keep the streak alive.

Judge's strikeout streak ended tonight (it was at 37 straight games), but it as kind of cheap.

He did get four plate appearances. He walked the first three times up, then hit a RBI single.

That was in the 6th inning and at that point, the Yankees were up 11-1. Girardi pulled Judge -- I'm sure to make sure the streak ended ... he could have had two more at bats (two more chances to strike out).

Judge leads the AL in walks and strikeouts. Has anybody ever led those two categories in the same season?

Actually, I think Babe Ruth did it several times in the '20s, when he was leading the AL in Ks with about 90 a year and in BBs with about 150 a year.

[YmoBeThere]

Judge leads the AL in walks and strikeouts. Has anybody ever led those two categories in the same season?

Mike Trout has lead the league in each but not in the same season.Joey Votto strikes out quite a bit for someone who has lead the league in walks multiple times. Paul Goldschmidt has been close, Jim Thome also.

But for certain a correct answer to your question is Jason Giambi who led the AL in both categories(110 BBs, 140 SOs) in 2003 while playing for the NYYs.

There may be more, but that was all the digging I did.