2023 MLB Season (1 Viewer)

[Jeffrey D]

Nice debut for Reds farmhand Andrew Abbott- first pitcher in team history to throw 6 innings, allow no runs on 1 hit in his major league debut. Attendance was announced at 13,000 and change. Must have been a lot of no-shows (stands looked empty). A bit of a shame- the Reds aren’t the disaster they were last year. Maybe the fans are still mad at the organization about the team President’s ill-advised comments made last year.

Rangers pitcher Jacob DeGrom is having surgery to repair a UCL. Season over. Sad.

 

[MartinP.]

Three games postponed this week for bad air quality.

Wed.: White Sox/Yankees in New York
...........Tigers/Phillies in Philadelphia
Thurs.: Diamondbacks/Nationals in D.C.

 

[TonyD]

I wouldn’t be surprised if the postpone today game in Philly too

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Yeah, it got quite bad over here in NYC metro yesterday afternoon -- actually reminded me of 9/11 a bit (maybe combined w/ a solar eclipse or something) as I've never seen-and-smell it quite like this otherwise in the 4 decades I've lived here...

_Man_

 

[Jeffrey D]

The Mets blew a 3 run lead in every game in Atlanta to get swept. Not good, to say the least.

How about that Reds rookie- De La Cruz? Sure looks like an every tool player.

 

[MartinP.]

^^^

I wish he'd waited a couple days before he debuted.

 

[David Norman]

I guess they got far enough into the season to game the FA Service Time system. It's not like the Reds had any better
options that him coming out of Spring Training. The extra 60 days in the minors certainly weren't necessary for any other reason. EDIT: I guess rechecking he did have a hamstring injury out of Spring and missed the frist 3 wks of the AAA season so maybe it's less nefarious than some

Looks like the Bases and particularly Pitcher pickoff rules are having their desired effect.
SB and SB% are up. Ronald Acuna is about to match his total from 2022 (29 in 120 G coming off ACL repair) after 60 games and is on pace for 75 and could surpass the 2022 SB MLB Season leader by the ASG (assuming he stays healthy). His career high was 37 in 2019 which was his only full season of play then came Covid, partial due to ACL injury, partial due to ACL post surgery season.

Also he could join a rather Elite Club as the 3rd member of 30Hr/50SB with Eric Davis (37/50 in 1987) and Barry Bonds (33/52 in 1990). If he keeps going he's could likely establish his own one of a kind season at 30/60 or 30/70

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

^Agreed... although I'm not quite that crazy about the ridiculous combo of advantages given to base-stealing -- it certainly spiced up the game, but maybe a bit too much so. But yeah, looks like Acuna (and maybe a few other rising young stars going forward, probably including that De La Cruz kid) will be cranking out such power-speed lines to lead a new era of this, if all these changes are kept...

Meanwhile, old man Father Time may finally be catching up to Verlander lately... although hard to fault him too much for getting blasted by dem powerful, young Braves, by Coors (despite dem otherwise awful Rockies) and by dem surprisingly powerful, 2023 Edition Rays...

FWIW, Cincy should also have more promising youngsters coming to follow De La Cruz (and McLain) before too long... although probably not much (more) on the pitching side -- should be interesting to see how they balance their roster over the next few years as they start looking toward more realistic potential for contention...

_Man_

 

[Jeffrey D]

^Agreed... although I'm not quite that crazy about the ridiculous combo of advantages given to base-stealing -- it certainly spiced up the game, but maybe a bit too much so. But yeah, looks like Acuna (and maybe a few other rising young stars going forward, probably including that De La Cruz kid) will be cranking out such power-speed lines to lead a new era of this, if all these changes are kept...

Meanwhile, old man Father Time may finally be catching up to Verlander lately... although hard to fault him too much for getting blasted by dem powerful, young Braves, by Coors (despite dem otherwise awful Rockies) and by dem surprisingly powerful, 2023 Edition Rays...

FWIW, Cincy should also have more promising youngsters coming to follow De La Cruz (and McLain) before too long... although probably not much (more) on the pitching side -- should be interesting to see how they balance their roster over the next few years as they start looking toward more realistic potential for contention...

_Man_

The looming question with the Reds (and other financially limited teams) is how many of their good young players will they be able to retain. I assume Votto’s contract expires soon, so that will help.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

The looming question with the Reds (and other financially limited teams) is how many of their good young players will they be able to retain. I assume Votto’s contract expires soon, so that will help.

Looks like they only have an option year (albeit w/ fairly expensive $7M buyout) left for Votto after this year. Wonder what exactly they'll do w/ him since they might not wanna just take that buyout and part ways w/ him given the fan love he's accrued (and they could certainly use the positive PR help)... Maybe some kinda service deal (perhaps somehow renegotiated from that buyout?) to keep his presence around somehow, but maybe not eating up a roster spot perhaps? OR maybe he'll just simply retire and let them off the hook on that buyout $... although seems like they'll at least wanna do some kinda Votto farewell/retirement tour or the like that other recent, beloved, HoF candidates have gotten...

_Man_

 

[Jeffrey D]

Looks like they only have an option year (albeit w/ fairly expensive $7M buyout) left for Votto after this year. Wonder what exactly they'll do w/ him since they might not wanna just take that buyout and part ways w/ him given the fan love he's accrued (and they could certainly use the positive PR help)... Maybe some kinda service deal (perhaps somehow renegotiated from that buyout?) to keep his presence around somehow, but maybe not eating up a roster spot perhaps? OR maybe he'll just simply retire and let them off the hook on that buyout $... although seems like they'll at least wanna do some kinda Votto farewell/retirement tour or the like that other recent, beloved, HoF candidates have gotten...

_Man_

I looked up Votto’s stats-
16 seasons (has not played yet this year)
.297 batting average
2093 hits
342 HR
1106 RBI
These are not hall of fame worthy. A couple other things-
Hit over .300 8 seasons
.412 OBP (led league in this category 7 times)
Led league in walks 5 times
These stats might put him in a conversation, but I don’t think he gets in-
certainly not in the first few years of eligibility.

 

[Jeffrey D]

The Reds rookie Elly De La Cruz is still on fire- he scored the winning run in St. Louis yesterday with a terrific slide to beat a throw from a drawn-in infield. He’s an exciting player to watch.

 

[MartinP.]

It's mid-June and who would've picked these six teams to be the division leaders so far?

AL: E-Tampa Bay | C-Minnesota | W-Texas
NL: E-Atlanta | C-Pittsburgh | W-Arizona

The Dodgers pitching situation is getting worse: 12 () pitchers are now on the IL and 5 of those are starters and the earliest ANY of them will return is the end of this month. Lost 6.5 games in the standings in the last three weeks. In front by 3.5 to behind 3 and in second place as of today.

 

[Jeffrey D]

It's mid-June and who would've picked these six teams to be the division leaders so far?

AL: E-Tampa Bay | C-Minnesota | W-Texas
NL: E-Atlanta | C-Pittsburgh | W-Arizona

The Dodgers pitching situation is getting worse: 12 () pitchers are now on the IL and 5 of those are starters and the earliest ANY of them will return is the end of this month. Lost 6.5 games in the standings in the last three weeks. In front by 3.5 to behind 3 and in second place as of today.

To me, the best bet of those 6 leaders to be on top at the end of the season is Atlanta. Tampa Bay is next. The other teams- wouldn’t count on any of them.

 

[Malcolm R]

NL Central is sad when a team barely struggling around .500 can lead the division. Though I guess the AL Central isn't much better.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

The Reds rookie Elly De La Cruz is still on fire- he scored the winning run in St. Louis yesterday with a terrific slide to beat a throw from a drawn-in infield. He’s an exciting player to watch.

He's definitely exciting... but I do wonder if the strikeouts will catch up w/ him before long (as they had w/ many others before him)...

_Man_

 

[MartinP.]

The Dodgers starting rotation is in a shambles. Noah Syndergaard isn't getting any better, MIchaell Grove's still untested, Julio Urias is out, Dustin May is out, Tony Gonsolin is out, but I believe is returning tomorrow. Clayton Kershaw had some rough outings until Friday. So the Dodgers had to call up a pitcher on 5/23 to pitch against the Braves in Atlanta. It was 24 year old Bobby Miller and he allowed 1 run in 5 innings pitched; 6-1. His 2nd outing in Washington he allowed 1 run in 6 innings; 8-1. Pitching still being a problem he got slated to pitch against the Yankees yesterday, his first start in LA. You don't see a rookie starting pitcher playing teams like the Braves and Yankees in their first three starts unless it's out of necessity! So what happened? He pitched 6 scoreless innings against the Yanks, struck out 7 of them, on Sunday! Then our relievers let us down afterwords. And Aaron Judge owes us for the fence he busted on Saturday. This kid, so far, has felt akin to Joe Hardy appearing out of nowhere.

I've been thinking of going to the Dodgers game on Friday because it's scheduled to be Bobby Miller's turn in the rotation and I'd like to see him pitch. But for some reason they have not announced this as a fact yet and the game's tomorrow.
I'm not able to go on the weekend. So...wassup I'm wondering? Maybe they don't want him pitching on Pride Night.

They can't be scheduling another bullpen game already. The last one was a disaster.

 

[MartinP.]

Bobby Miller is pitching today, but yesterday the Dodgers played the GIants and both teams said it was to be a bullpen game. But the guy the Dodgers rookie called up to pitch an inning or two did this:

The score was 0-0 after the 6th inning, so of course Dave Roberts took him out and disaster
followed with the Giants winning 7-5 in 11 innings.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Bobby Miller is pitching today, but yesterday the Dodgers played the GIants and both teams said it was to be a bullpen game. But the guy the Dodgers rookie called up to pitch an inning or two did this:

The score was 0-0 after the 6th inning, so of course Dave Roberts took him out and disaster
followed with the Giants winning 7-5 in 11 innings.

The reason I hate it when a manager has a script, and disregards what he’s watching on the field.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

The reason I hate it when a manager has a script, and disregards what he’s watching on the field.

Well, I had no idea they intended a bullpen game, but if Martin's correct, then Roberts did actually improvise and not stick w/ his "bullpen game" script big time, LOL -- I doubt that's really the case of course, but rather, they probably planned on a plan B contingency of needing it to turn into a bullpen game (and it didn't at all).

But yeah, I started paying closer attention to that game during the final inning before young Sheehan left it and watched much of the rest (on and off)... and really, the Dodgers lost that game for a host of reasons far beyond that one decision, which while questionable, isn't remotely what cost them the game.

Also, you have to remember Sheehan's still a rather young arm they called up from AA (w/ not quite that much experience), not AAA, pretty much for emergency start (and possibly more, if it goes extremely well) or the like. AFAIK, they originally had Bobby Miller going, but I guess decided to give him some extra rest... probably for similar reasons they also chose to take it easier on Sheehan... as they are all promising young arms that still need plenty of build-up and seasoning, not to be pushed like weathered veterans (particularly ones who might not stick around quite that long).

In Sheehan's case, 6IP is the most he's ever even gone before this, and only 2x in his 2-plus seasons in the minors -- once this year and once last year. He usually only went 4-5IPs per game down in the minors where he had it much easier than facing MLB opponents (and basically slicing thru minor leaguers like w/ a hot knife on butter, LOL)... again, not even in AAA yet. So he already far exceeded what they expected and gave them the utmost they could realistically hope for... and yet, he clearly wasn't quite as dominant as fans might want to think since he really only K-ed 3 in 6IPs -- he's actually more used to K-ing 3x(!) as many opponents down in the minors.

Remember, w/ a youngster like him, they have to be concerned about more than just getting an extra out or three in this one game... and that's just how the sport has evolved today (w/ concerns about young arms and injuries, etc) probably for the best even if there might be some wrinkles to improve, etc...

Also, the Dodgers have become so successful because of the process they've developed and (largely) stick to. They're not just gonna ditch the process for just a moment in one game that's not even in the postseason (nor in a tight race in late-Sept). Fans should trust their process in general -- and maybe learn to understand it better, if need be...

_Man_