2018 MLB Season

[sagegrouse]

In the first inning last night against the Mets, Bryce had a perfect swing but hit the ball about six inches above his fists. The bat broke in half, but the ball went 406' to right field for a home run. Only time I have ever seen that happen.

[acdevil]

Gleyber is coming tomorrow

[Jim3k]

Could be. After tonight's no hitter by Sean Manaea over the Red Sox, the A's are now one game under .500. Manaea only walked 2, while striking out 10 on 108 pitches. His counterpart, ace Chris Sale did pretty well, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits over 7 innings. But three of the hits were extra bases, driving in all three runs.

It's still only April, but one can be hopeful. Team BA is .270 and Lowrie is hitting .372, second in the league, while leading the league in hits with 32 and RBIs with 22. He's also tied for second in HRs, his 6 to Trout's 7.

The team has won 6 of it's last 10. If this continues, a big if, given the spotty but improving pitching, Oakland will be a factor. But it looks like the AL West will once again be a tough nut to crack.

[Jim3k]

After tonight's no hitter by Sean Manaea over the Red Sox, the A's are now one game under .500.

Yup. The A's rose up and broke the surface with today's 4-1 win over the Bosox. They haven't seen .500 in several years. Now comes the hard part: maintaining the pace.

[ncexnyc]

My how things have changed. Just a week or two ago all I saw on the various sports shows was the Red Sox are 14-2, the Red Sox are 14-2. Well don't look now, but after tonight's game the Bronx Bombers are two games back. Didi is playing some insane baseball and Sanchez is stroking it. What happens once Stanton starts to hit?

[acdevil]

It’s karma for that stupid stunt the Pawtucket Sox pulled

[A-Tex Devil]

Nice callback win by the 'Stros last night. 2-1 in Minute Maid must seem all too familiar.

The Trevor Bauer/Astros back and forth today has been pretty funny. Basically, he accused the whole Astros' staff of cheating. McCullers and Bregman took him to task (as did the rest of baseball).

I'd embed the tweets, but I am in a rush.

[Blue in the Face]

Last night, Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez couldn't come up with a pitch in the dirt, and as it rolled around underneath him, he shoveled it to himself with his mask. Turns out that's illegal, and runners were each awarded a base on catcher's interference (ultimately neither scored). That's a new one for me.

https://twitter.com/wibwChrisLilly/s...818562/video/1

[weezie]

So You Think You Know Baseball, A Fan's Guide to the Official Rules, by Peter E. Meltzer, a fun handbook published in 2013.

You can read it and watch the game at the same time! And maybe even catch a little nap on Sunday afternoon.

[Blue in the Face]

Ah, the perils of wearing fine jewelry to work.

Yoenis Cespedes experienced a sparkling mishap Wednesday night at Citi Field, leaving the diamond littered with what looked like diamonds. The Mets’ leftfielder blooped a double down the rightfield line in the first inning of the Mets’ 7-0 loss to the Braves.

But after Cespedes got there, he bent over to stretch his legs at second base and noticed that one of his necklaces was dangling. He pulled it off with his right hand and checked it out. The diamonds dropped off. A look of disgust flashed across his face. Cespedes fired the necklace into the ground.

[mr shadow 008]

Is anybody paying attention to what the aptly named “Baby” Braves are doing right now? The Braves are 19-11 with a 1.5 game lead in the east at the moment with 3 players aged 21 or younger. They are the three youngest players in mlb baseball but all are major contributors so far. The real question is gonna be whether or not their youth catches up to them later in the season.

[wilson]

Is anybody paying attention to what the aptly named “Baby” Braves are doing right now? The Braves are 19-11 with a 1.5 game lead in the east at the moment with 3 players aged 21 or younger. They are the three youngest players in mlb baseball but all are major contributors so far. The real question is gonna be whether or not their youth catches up to them later in the season.

Eff the Barves and eff Cobb County.

[Matches]

Is anybody paying attention to what the aptly named “Baby” Braves are doing right now? The Braves are 19-11 with a 1.5 game lead in the east at the moment with 3 players aged 21 or younger. They are the three youngest players in mlb baseball but all are major contributors so far. The real question is gonna be whether or not their youth catches up to them later in the season.

There's a lot of reason for optimism right now. The Braves won't keep winning at a .600+ clip but this isn't smoke and mirrors either. A few guys are hitting over their heads and probably will regress but even with regression this lineup should be pretty good.

The real question is the starting pitching, IMO. The whole rebuild has been premised on the idea of stocking up on pitching prospects and waiting for them to break through, but none of them really have yet. Newcomb is now looking better, Soroka had an excellent first start, Folty seems useful if erratic - we need the SP to improve and to pitch deeper into games. If/ when that happens, look out.

[DUKIECB]

Ah, the perils of wearing fine jewelry to work.

I have long loathed the ridiculousness of major league players wearing their jewelry during games. No other major sport does this, why do baseball players think this is necessary? It's stupid and needs to be banned. Ok, curmudgeon rant over.

[COYS]

There's a lot of reason for optimism right now. The Braves won't keep winning at a .600+ clip but this isn't smoke and mirrors either. A few guys are hitting over their heads and probably will regress but even with regression this lineup should be pretty good.

The real question is the starting pitching, IMO. The whole rebuild has been premised on the idea of stocking up on pitching prospects and waiting for them to break through, but none of them really have yet. Newcomb is now looking better, Soroka had an excellent first start, Folty seems useful if erratic - we need the SP to improve and to pitch deeper into games. If/ when that happens, look out.

The Braves are still my first and fiercest sports love. It has been a lot of fun to watch this season unfold after the last three years of fielding bad teams in service of the rebuild (and those three seasons followed a very disappointing 2014). I am forever cautious when predicting how the season will unfold for Atlanta, but it's really hard not to start getting at least a little excited.

While some of the Braves hitters will regress, it's worth pointing out that Atlanta has already replaced (or at least partially replaced) the most obvious places where regression was going to set in (left field and third base). Preston Tucker started hot and still has power potential, but the Braves not only replaced his strong, early-season production before he had time to regress too much, they upgraded by bringing Acuña, Jr. into the team. And there is also no doubt that Flaherty will regress, but that is mitigated by getting Johan Camargo back from his early season injury. And while Camargo was probably a little lucky to hit for such a high average last season, he's young enough that there's still potential for upside, and he's already hit two homers from the left side of the plate (his far weaker side). There's also the Joey Bats experiment, which is apparently starting tonight. It's a low-risk gamble by Anthopoulos and gives Atlanta another bat to throw out there to guard against Flaherty and Camargo falling off. And, if all else fails, there's always a chance that Anthopoulos pulls off a trade and/or elects to see what Austin Riley (currently dominating in AA Mississippi) can do.

Otherwise, there is reason to think that the Braves hot hitters will continue to at least be good hitters, even if they can't continue at the current, ridiculous pace. Kurt Suzuki has completely re-tooled his approach to elevate the ball more frequently and make harder contact. At the same time, he hasn't seen a corresponding increase in strikeouts, which is the usual trade-off. His late career transformation seems pretty legit. And now Tyler Flowers is healthy so Atlanta doesn't have to waste catcher at-bats on Perez, anymore. Freeman has been one of the best hitters in baseball for a few seasons now. No reason to think he won't continue that trend. Albies has done his damage despite a career low BABIP. With his speed, I can't imagine that he'll have a sub .280 BABIP for long. A normalizing BABIP will help compensate if his current home run pace slows. And the power he is showing from the left side is super encouraging and gives him a much higher baseline. Markakis has been truly (and shockingly) amazing this season, so far. He is currently ahead of Freddie Freeman in fWAR!. While he is probably the most likely of the aforementioned players to see a big regression, he has also managed to change his batted-ball profile a little bit and is hitting far fewer grounders, which is a welcome sign and gives me just a little hope that maybe he has altered something about his approach that makes this more than just a hot six weeks. He's also upped his walk-rate and lowered his strike-out rate. If he keeps it up, he can join Suzuki as a veteran who managed to completely change his hitting profile late in his career.

As for pitching, I agree that it is a big question-mark. However, the best of the Braves pitching prospects from the rebuild are only just now reaching the majors. From the 2015 draft class, Soroka and Minter are already here with Kolby Allard dominating in Gwinnett. Luiz Gohara looked really promising when he came up last year. His trying offseason with the death of his father and his mother's illness combined with his preseason injuries has him way behind schedule, but he still remains perhaps the Braves pitcher with the highest ceiling. It's true that it is unfair to expect any of these guys to be a Scherzer-level ace right out of the gates, but at the same time, it gives Atlanta a lot of depth and flexibility on the trade market (if Anthopoulos so chooses). It's basically an entire rotation of #3 starters. That might not be ideal for a playoff series, but it should keep the Braves in good shape throughout the regular season. With that depth, the Braves can be quick to bump any poor-performers from the rotation (which is why Matt Wisler and Lucas Sims are probably done as starters for Atlanta). Also, outside of McCarthy and Sanchez, the staff is still so young that it's entirely possible that one or two will emerge as a #2 or possibly even #1 starter as the year goes on. There is a lot of upside . . . and some of that upside might reveal itself this season. The rotation hasn't been stellar, but it has already been productive, even with all the warts. If Newcomb continues to keep his walk-rate down, if Folty can get his walk-rate back down and maintain his current high strikeout rate, if Gohara can get back to where he was at the end of last year, if Soroka just continues doing what he has always done and exceeds expectations, and if Teheran really has figured out how to be effective even with his diminished velocity, Atlanta will really be in business. Yes, it's unlikely that ALL of those "ifs" work out, but it is not at all unreasonable to think that at least a few of those "ifs" will break favorably for the Braves. We saw a glimpse of what that could look like against the Mets when Soroka, Newk, and Julio combined to pitch 20 innings of 1-run baseball (and the well-rested bullpen combined for 7 innings of 1-run ball).

So, even though i consider myself a "realist" as a fan, there really is a lot of evidence out there to support the fact that Atlanta could really contend for the playoffs this year.

At any rate, I'm just plain old excited. It's so much fun to be watching the Braves play meaningful games, again. I'm going to try and enjoy it.

[Blue in the Face]

Quite a fall from grace.

The Mets have requested that Matt Harvey agree to a minor league assignment. He refused to accept, and will be DFA'd.

https://twitter.com/AnthonyDiComo/st...94657610371072

[ncexnyc]

Quite a fall from grace.



https://twitter.com/AnthonyDiComo/st...94657610371072

Matt must be related to Carmelo.

[JasonEvans]

Quite a fall from grace.

It is hard to feel too sorry for him, as he did make some very good money, but Harvey never got his "wow, both you and YOUR CHILDREN will never have to work a day in your lives" payday. He made about $16 mil over his time in the bigs. Great money... money he can retire on if he wants... but if he had been good for just 1 or 2 more seasons, he probably signs a 5-year, $120 million dollar deal.

[JasonEvans]

It is hard to feel too sorry for him, as he did make some very good money, but Harvey never got his "wow, both you and YOUR CHILDREN will never have to work a day in your lives" payday. He made about $16 mil over his time in the bigs. Great money... money he can retire on if he wants... but if he had been good for just 1 or 2 more seasons, he probably signs a 5-year, $120 million dollar deal.

Actually, if they invest it right (perhaps some revenue-generating real estate) then the Harvey kids should not have to work if they don't want to. Still, my larger point that if he had just been good a little while longer holds.

I recall feeling the same way about Steve Avery. He was amazing for 4 years... and made like barely $1 mill during those 4 seasons. Then, his career started to go downhill. He ended up earning like $20 mil in his lifetime, but when you saw what he did from the ages of 20-24, you would have sworn he would be a $100+ mil guy.

[YmoBeThere]

In other words, he could have been Homer Bailey?