*** OFFICIAL MLB 2022 THREAD ****

[gut]

Jays pitching has been great to start the season. Where are the bats?

Biggio 0.038. You can't have him on your roster if he is hitting that poorly regardless of his last name.
Zimmer .128 . Been great defensively so Springer can rest, but again how can you have him in your lineup.
Chapman .187 has been a bust.
Hernandez .152 has been hurt and needs time to get up to speed.
Gurriel Jr .221 well below his career avg.
Bichette is starting to come around but didn't get a great start.


I'm not going to sound any alarms yet but if they want to load up for a post season run they will need to deal for help at the plate.

Chapman should eventually be the picture in the baseball encyclopedia when talking about the analytics era for hitters. He's always been a glove-first player. Great defense at a premium position with limited hit tools. 30 years ago, guys like that were in the Ozzie Smith or Omar Vizquel mold, slap hitters who will bat .260 and run the bases well while hitting at the bottom of the order. How times have changed.

Dead ball REALLY killing Chapman. 2018 was an outlier, he aint hitting .275 again, barring major approach changes. His 2021 is what you expect now, and he's not horribly far off that pace.

Now next year, when whatever rules they implement limiting/banning the shift begins, his value becomes interesting. His glove becomes less valuable, but as an extreme pull hitter, his AVG should just organically rise by .010 or .015.

[Dan Druff]

You didn’t mention Betts defense. Even last night the exchange from Betts to Bellinger was sublime.

$360m mistake? Brace yourself for Soto if you think $360 is money.

Mookie was signed to begin play in the 2020 season, at age 27 1/2. They agreed to $360m for 12 seasons, meaning he would be just turning 39 when the final season (2031) would end.

This means that, in all likelihood, the last few years will be mostly a waste of (big) money. So in order to have a contract like that pay off, you need him to absolutely kill it in his productive years -- meaning right now.

2020 was very nice. 16 HR in just 55 games. .292 average. OPS of .928. Great defense.

However, he played only 122 games in 2021 (despite being very durable in every other year he's played so far), hit just .264, and his OPS was .854. If that's a "productive" year, you're in trouble when the contract is so huge and long.

With the start of 2022 actually being lousy (he was a below-average player, even with the dead ball), I wondered if this was the beginning of an inexplicable decline, given that 2021 was also below expectations.

However, the last few weeks have shown that he's still got it. He's absolutely firing on all cylinders now, and is pretty much doing everything. Keeps getting hits over and over. Hits HR after HR. Continued great outfield defense. And then you have Freddie hitting behind him, driving him in.

This is actually masking some of the Dodgers' other issues. Nobody else besides Betts and Freeman is hitting particularly well, and there's some real concerns about Justin Turner (old), Max Muncy (nagging injury), and Cody Bellinger (weird inability to hit consistently since 2020).

Giants seem to be regressing to the mean after walking on water for a year, but the Padres are looking pretty real. Imagine when Tatis comes back. Dodgers will obviously make the postseason no matter what, but this might be another dogfight for the division.

[gut]

Anybody catch 1986 Don Mattingly return yesterday for the Yankees?



Actually Matt Carpenter, back from the dead after his "scouting showcase" playing for Texas's AAA team.

That stache tho.

[gut]

Also Druff, tell young Joc to stop being all Jewish in fantasy football.

Though seriously, how the fuck do Joc and Pham wind up in the same FFB league. Hilarious story.

[Dan Druff]

Anybody catch 1986 Don Mattingly return yesterday for the Yankees?



Actually Matt Carpenter, back from the dead after his "scouting showcase" playing for Texas's AAA team.

That stache tho.

That's pretty amazing. Totally looks like a mid-80s pic.

I see he hit a HR today.

Carpenter was mind-bogglingly bad in 2020 and 2021. Pretty amazing fall, given how he played in 2018.

[Strokeofluck2020]

Braves are playing better baseball. Heading out west to play the Diamondbacks. Today we are giving A rookie his first start. So far Strider has been a strikeout machine out of the bullpen. We called up our best prospect in Michael Harris. Won our first home series over the weekend and won 4 out of 7 on the homestand. Chop on Braves.

[gut]

This Young Joc-Pham beef story just keeps getting better.

It honestly reminds me off Druff-Marty.

[Dan Druff]

The Brewers are overrated, and will be overtaken by the Cardinals soon. You heard it here first. Not that the Cardinals are great, but they're good, and that should be enough. The Brewers are nowhere near as good as their 31-18 record shows.

NL Central is a really bad division. 3 of the 5 teams (Cubs, Pirates, Reds) are pretty damn bad, and neither of the top two are great -- just good.

The NL East has the Braves and Mets (even though Braves have underperformed), and maybe even the Phillies if they get it together (probably not). The NL West has the Dodgers and Padres, and maybe the Giants will contend as well.

AL East is stacked (even the Sawks are starting to come around), and even the Orioles have greatly improved. AL West has the Astros and Angels. AL Central is another fail division, though not as bad as the NL Central. I'm not impressed with either the White Sox or Twins, though. The Twins are another overrated team.

If there is any justice in baseball, the NLCS will be Dodgers/Mets, just like in 1988.

[ftpjesus]

The Brewers are overrated, and will be overtaken by the Cardinals soon. You heard it here first. Not that the Cardinals are great, but they're good, and that should be enough. The Brewers are nowhere near as good as their 31-18 record shows.

NL Central is a really bad division. 3 of the 5 teams (Cubs, Pirates, Reds) are pretty damn bad, and neither of the top two are great -- just good.

The NL East has the Braves and Mets (even though Braves have underperformed), and maybe even the Phillies if they get it together (probably not). The NL West has the Dodgers and Padres, and maybe the Giants will contend as well.

AL East is stacked (even the Sawks are starting to come around), and even the Orioles have greatly improved. AL West has the Astros and Angels. AL Central is another fail division, though not as bad as the NL Central. I'm not impressed with either the White Sox or Twins, though. The Twins are another overrated team.

If there is any justice in baseball, the NLCS will be Dodgers/Mets, just like in 1988.

Dbacks series was painful to watch.. Blown out in Game 1 and then just couldnt get their shit together in the rest.. yesterday was flat out exasperating (was at the game second level behind home plate Sec 316).. Out hit the Dodgers.. Left 4x as many runners on base.. Shouldve been a win but totally inept with base runners on to say the least.. Only finally getting a couple PHs in the 9th even got a run across (and for the second straight game tying run to the plate). I know the Dbacks are a young team I get it and theyre actually outperforming their expectation coming into this season but the ineptness from minor league level mistakes are just astounding to me at times.

[Sanlmar]

Druff didn’t respond to my first Soto - Dodger inference

Is Soto to Dodgers gonna happen? Giants? Sawks?

[Sanlmar]

Great article in the Athletic Druff

Walker Buehler Looking To Get His Fastball back on the Fast Track
https://theathletic.com/3322991/2022...his-dominance/

Bump

The kid is searching. I hope he finds peace

[Dan Druff]

Great article in the Athletic Druff

Walker Buehler Looking To Get His Fastball back on the Fast Track
https://theathletic.com/3322991/2022...his-dominance/

Bump

The kid is searching. I hope he finds peace

Yeah it's been pretty bad. I just remarked to Benjamin that, next time we go to Dodger Stadium, I don't want it to be when Buehler is pitching, at least until he figures things out. We saw a Buehler game and the Dodgers lost. Wasn't awful, but definitely wasn't good.

That Zach Thompson kid pitching for Pittsburgh... he has potential. Bad start to the year, then two very good starts, then a bad one, and he's doing well so far today. I have him on my fantasy team and got cold feet with him after the last start, and reserved him. Probably a mistake in hindsight.

[Sanlmar]

Pirates SS Castro misses catch at second on what should have been the start of a double play. Difficulty factor 0

Then he make a bone head base running error at 3rd base.

But Castro is rocking the Pimp Master 12 gold chain starter set.

Fool

[Dan Druff]

Mookie trying to put the Dodgers on his back again. Three solo homes for the team, one by Betts (his 15th), and Dodgers are down 4-3 in the 8th.

Buehler recovered somewhat and didn't allow any runs after those 4 to begin the game.

Pirates actually have a good closer (for the moment) in David Bednar, so the Dodgers have their work cut out for them. Cool night in the west. Even Vegas didn't top 85 today.

[Sanlmar]

I thought for sure Buehler would cough up one more.

Trea Turner is a thrill to watch. Mad hitting streak. His feet don’t touch the ground when he runs. Smooth speed.

Corey Seager is just a Dodger trivia question now.

[Dan Druff]

Old man Justin Turner got it done and knocked in the other Turner.

4-4 Dodgers. Nice comeback. Now they gotta win.

[Sanlmar]

Old man Justin Turner got it done and knocked in the other Turner.

4-4 Dodgers. Nice comeback. Now they gotta win.

That was a nice stroke.

5-4 and I can now afford pizza for lunch.

Pirates are a dreadful team.

Lol, “The Craig Kimbrel Experience”. Today I learned from Joe Davis there is a name for it in LA. Kimbrel ain’t the answer but he will be there come the playoffs….. cause history repeats

[Dan Druff]

You didn't need to wait for the playoffs.

Somehow Kimbrel went 10 save opps without blowing it, though he came close a few times.

Now he did.. plus Freeman made an error, allowing the go-ahead to score.





On the bright side, Bednar threw 25 pitches and for some reason they're sending him back out, even though he hasn't thrown 30 yet this year.

[Sanlmar]

David Price called in at the top of the 9th in a one run game.

You still need to brush your teeth, shower and order groceries. Go outside for 5 minutes

[Sanlmar]

Lol Dave Roberts not knowing the position player pitching rule (6 or more runs)



MLB needs fine Dodgers. Dave Roberts got away with not knowing the rule and suffering no penalty. 15 minutes of standing around

Joe Girardi is still available

Mets broadcasters are ripping Roberts. Very entertaining

Buck Showalter is still furious after the final pitch. It’s the greatest team ever assembled Buck. You gotta let it go. You’ll never get those 11 minutes back