Trumpdictment 3! And once again, millions of Americans will call it a political ploy and so on. I have no words.
Part of me is like "the Mets have talented players! Surely they can find some free agents this winter and rebuild around them." Part of me is all "well, this is how it is with the Mets, and always will be." And part is "this is a logical approach that has worked for other teams before." I suppose the end result will be what I have been doing most of August and September for most of my time rooting for the Mets: appreciating the things that are good (Alvarez, Alonso, Quintana) in between the things that are bad. But man, there are almost definitely going to be a lot of games like yesterday's.
All those trades, but I don't see any teams on the fringes getting substantially better. Though maybe someone sneaks in to the third wild card because of one key player. About the most exciting thing I can hope for between now and the playoffs is a Verlander-Scherzer matchup in the next Astros-Rangers series.
Are the Mets going to try to reset their competitive balance tax by being under the threshold in 2024? Is that even plausible? They still have some rather big contracts..
I feel like the chances of signing Alonso to an extension before he hits free agency just went way down, with them punting on 2024 and probably 2025 too. Painful as the idea is, maybe they should have traded him too if they aren't going to be competitive in the final year they control him. I've got to believe he would have had substantial trade value, particularly since he'd be more than a half season rental.
No way they can get under the threshold for 2024. But I don't think this is something Cohen really cares about, outside of maybe getting a better draft pick.
Apparently, the team was listening to offers for Alonso this week, but a) he is the face of the franchise now and trading him at the moment could have pushed the fan base into a much deeper revolt; and b) not a single position player of that caliber changed teams. I am loathe to see them trade him, but I suspect Eppler is seeing what sinking a fortune into one slugger is doing across town. Come the off season, I figure they will sit down with his people and get the lay of the land.
I suspect they shopped Alonso around and found the offers underwhelming given he’s had a down year. Might actually be smart to hope he finishes strong or starts 2024 well and move him then.
OR they could extend him. Plenty of free agents sign with clubs who are bad short term and given Cohen’s pocketbook the Mets are unlikely to be down for long even if punting 2024.
Agreed. Even the Angels, who some described as all in, are only marginally better than they were a week ago. They may be limited by their farm system but surprised they didn’t get one more player. Hoping for luck and health, I guess.
I hope Enemy of the Nats People Brad Hand gets shelled in Atlanta and is Chopped to bits by the angry locals.
PS Josiah Gray looked really good against Milwaukee last night … until he suddenly didn’t, walking the yard and surrendering 4 runs in a 40-pitch inning. Today’s rubber match will decide if Nato or I will be picking up the tab for Cambodian delicacies to be named later.
PPS Last night’s loss was the 63rd for the Nats, meaning that a 100-win season is out of reach. Dreams die hard, friends.
You caught me before I fixed the “100 loss” typo ... I’m just hoping they don’t extend Davey Martinez again so that he can earn his 500th regular season loss as manager of the Nats. Last night was 450.
Looking forward to the Davey-staring-blankly-into-space 500 losses bobblehead giveaway in May or June of next year! It will also talk but not really say anything.
From a midwesterner's POV, nothing could be stranger than the Yankees and Mets both sucking with the Red Sox right behind them. It's hotter than (usual) here, but I'm happy.
Why do you hate the Mets? I am always curious why a team that is bad more often than not gets the same level of hate as the "Evil Empire." Is just because you don't like my city? Or is it my fellow Mets fans that drive you nuts (as they do me)?
Hate is a strong word, but I deeply dislike the Mets because the fans of the 7 Line Army often come to DC and act like drunken belligerent jackasses while the Mets are in town.
To be clear - I don't dislike Mets fans; I dislike the 7 Line Army. For that reason, I root against the Mets (again, don't "hate" them) because I want the 7LA to suffer ;)
This is remarkably similar to how us Milwaukee Brewers fans feel about the Cubs respective to the Cardinals. We root against both teams, yes, because of the division. But it's just kind of hard to hate the actual Cubs teams themselves. No, rather we, especially those of us who attend games at Miller Park at least somewhat regularly (or have done so in the past), absolutely hate the entitled Cub fan pricks from the northern suburbs of Chicago who come up to the ballpark and louse it up with entitlement. The ones who've probably been to maximum of two games at Wrigley in their entire lives (perhaps because it's too "urban" a location? Hmmm???). Meanwhile, Cardinals fans - and yes, I know the cliche about how they're the "best" - generally are pretty cool when they're up at Miller Park. Their team, on the other hand, is the Midwestern Yankees and I don't know a single Brewers fan who is not deriving gallons of schadenfreude from the current NL Central standings and in particular who is at the bottom thereof.
Yeah, but fans of other teams' fans have hated the Mets long before the 7 Line Army became a thing. Which, as Simon points out, seems strange because they've been futile far more often than competitive.
(Though I don't think they are hated as much as the Yankees)
Roger Angell loved the Mets, which means I could never truly hate them. His piece The "Go!" Shouters is one of the best things I've ever read about rooting for a comically bad team. [Plus it craps on the Yankees.]
My first exposure to the "7 Line Army" was Labor Day 2019. They paraded out of Nats Park after a victory as if they were on an unstoppable roll to the World Series, despite their losing record. I serenaded them with a chant of "Fourth-place team! Fourth-place team!" I got the expected responses, but I knew that I was asking for it. One guy, who seemed more reasonable than his "7 Line Army" T-shirt would have led me to believe, tried to engage me in reasonable talk about the Mets' chances and the Nats' history of not advancing in the playoffs. I told him that I grew up a Mets fan, so I knew what the rest of those jackwagons were all about. The next night, Suzuki hit the home run to cap the seven-run comeback in the ninth, and two months later the Nats had won it all.
I have no idea what the 7Line Army is. Out of context the name would seem to be some kind of Trumpie whacked-out conspiracy theory group of some flavor.
S - as DMCj noted, 'hate' is a pretty strong word - I'm just smugly satisfied that they're underperforming. Why include the Mets? Simply because my innate sense of fairness clashes with MLB's financial system where teams like the Mets can make $150 million of of mistakes every year and mid and small market teams have to have everything work out just right.
Not sure you are remembering the Wilpon years which are not that long ago.
The crime here is that Steve Cohen is not in jail. He profited from his illegal actions with little more than a slap on the wrist. They should have hung up him up by his ankles and shaken him until every penny came loose and then thrown his corrupt ass in jail. Instead he can “afford” to toss around millions of dollars for his play thing. The rule of law is a little different if you have money and power...
Not sure I’d lump the Red Sox in with the Mets or Yankees in the context of under performing. They were slated to be a .500 or just above team for this season, if anything they are currently slightly over performing. I figured at the start of the season they’d be a 84-86 win team and miss the last Wild Card slot by a few games, seem that’s what they are so far.
Mets fans are annoying but they suffer so much and so publicly when the team fails to achieve the success that they somehow feel is deserved. Schadenfreude overcomes hate. And I only have so much bile - not a lot left over after I use it on Phillies fans.
I dislike the Mets bc I am a Phillies fan and it is part of the package deal along with putting up with the Phanatic and knowing the lyrics to High Hopes.
So yesterday I complained that the O’s would stand pat and that’s basically what they did. They needed pitching and got the kind of pitcher you get when you part with minor leaguers no one is tracking. Sorry, Cesar Prieto (who I’d not heard of before yesterday).
I have one beef (slightly askew beef, new band name) with Craig’s hope for Mike Elias. I mean if the O’s make a deep run I’ll enjoy it, but I think he’ll get way more withering criticism if they stumble down the stretch.
I think Flaherty is a fine pickup. The Orioles' pitching lab can probably keep him on the right track (he's pitched well for a couple months now).
Supposedly, CHW wanted Holliday for Cease, and while I think there were better SPs available than Flaherty, you can't trade a guy like Holliday to make it happen.
The Orioles still have an absurd number of hitting prospects, and my guess is a couple of them depart in a trade for a SP this offseason.
I wanted the team to get a reliever, too. The bullpen is running on fumes. I think they're figuring the cavalry is in the form of Givens, Tate, DL Hall, and John Means. The issue is those gentlemen have pitched a total of 4 MLB innings this year--all by Givens--and those innings were less than effective. Still, some warm bodies will help.
Im not sure I agree that you can’t part with Holliday for Cease, and I don’t mean to knock the Orioles pitching lab (hey, they actually have one as opposed to the “grow the arms” days). I don’t want them to fail. I want them to win it all.
Which brings me to my next recently-acquired view as a fan: I was having a discussion with a friend who’s a Nats fan, and his view was “I got my championship,” so he’s fine with the subsequent tear down. But I’m starting to view baseball and is relationship to cities as a civic good. (I hold no illusion that MLB owners view it that way, at all) and if a club can compete year after year, then the fans will turn out, have enjoyable summers at the park, and have a good feeling about something that brings the city together. I feel like that’s more aligned with America’s pastime than any season where you don’t win it all is a failure. Meaningful games in August and September are awesome, but after that there is too much chaos in the playing of a baseball game (thinking of post-season series here) to have the must win it all view be everything.
Hmmm, Holliday is right now is probably the #1 prospect on most teams' lists. Cease pitched well last year, but his peripherals this year are of a league average starter because he walks so many. I wouldn't do that if I were the O's. There's no way Atlanta parts for Strider, but that's what I would shoot for with Holliday headlining, were I the O's.
Flaherty seems like a good dude and a solid pickup. I hated rooting against him in his Cardinals laundry - now he plays for a team I kinda like! I dig the trade.
Brad Hand is your new Immaculate Grid cheat code (once he actually pitches for Atlanta), as he is now the first MLB player to play for every NL East team.
No reference; I just hate his guts. I and many Nats fans hold him personally responsible for blowing a series of saves right before the 2020 trade deadline that led to the massive selloff, setting in place a rapid 4-year decline from World Champions to "we should be able to beat these guys." I hope he sucks ass and gets booed off the field. At least fans of opposing teams might get to see their boys hit lots of HRs in Atlanta with him on the mound.
Let’s be a bit more fair about this. Hand wasn’t any good as a Closer back in 2020 for sure, but there were other underperformers besides him who caused the Nats crash and burn. Many other.
You can have my scapegoat when you pry it from my cold, dead hands ;)
[Of course you're right; Schwarber's injury was brutal, and the COVID stop-start literally broke poor Strasburg. But the Nats were showing signs of life when Hand coughed up a bunch of leads in Baltimore - and the collapse began posthaste. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, I always say.]
So you are not like my buddy who views the Nats as “baseball came back to DC and I got my championship, so I’m good” with the subsequent sell off and rebuild. (I have a different - admittedly quirky - view of baseball as civic good, and thus dislike the we won it all so now it’s okay to suffer ethos)
I understand that you can't win every year - and I can see why they thought they needed to retool - but if the team is going to go that route I'd like to see them draft well and develop the players they do have. There has been zero evidence of that, even before 2019.
Also, can we talk about how a 4.54 ERA gets you a 111 ERA+ if you pitch at Coors Field? I did a doubletake when I saw that part of the newsletter, but checked it and yep, those are the numbers.
No one wants to hear about fantasy teams, but what the heck. I'm in an OTP league that has, with a hiatus, been running since 2000. We just imported a new draft class made up of randomly selected players. One was Goose Gossage. Goose's rookie year saw him pitch, superficially, like Hand this year: 4.54 ERA vs. 4.28. But Gossage's ERA+ was 74 while Hand's is 111. Old Commisky, which was a real pitcher's park, vs. Coors. Dead ball just before the introduction of the DH vs. rabbit ball and DH in both leagues.
Congrats Eugene. But why am I not surprised that the pitch tailed to the left?
...
ATL sure does have a lot of fungible bullpen arms, many of whom were really good around 2017.
I was pretty surprised they didn’t look for a LF / DH solution but I guess that a ~100 OPS+ from the slots isn’t the worst thing.
Oh well. I should have faith in AA.
...
Michael Harris will never walk enough to be a *great* hitter but it’s looking like he will be a good one. Add that to plus defense in CF and ... well let’s just say, despite my winter misgivings and obvious scouting qualifications that I am a happy fan.
“Nick Castellanos’ two-run homer was the big shot. He’s always around to hit a dinger when controversy is afoot.” Lololol. I just wanted to acknowledge this line for the proper low key probably Twitter-insiders-only joke that it is.
I checked out Twitter yesterday and I lol’d so hard at Craig’s tweet about the Tigers and Dombrowski. And the replies! As a Tigers fan it was all so spot on. The ire directed at E-Rod really gets to me; lots of it on mastodon so I’m sure it was running rampant elsewhere. But the person who managed to link it to the long ago John Smoltz / Doyle Alexander trade gets the prize. I knew someone could do it within three sentences. No, it didn’t make sense, and yes, it was tortuous.
Detroit, both the team and fanbase, all still have collective ptsd from the Smoltz/Alexander trade.
Was hoping the Tigers could move E-Rod but I'm not going to hate on a guy for exercising a no-trade clause. Honestly, as bad as the Tigers are with a little luck they could win the Central next year. Not because they'd be good, but because by rule someone has to win it.
I so agree. And maybe we can agree to a revamped contract with him. If he’s happy here, it CAN be done. Collective PTSD re: the Smoltz trade is perfectly put. It’s just amazing how it’s lingered. And I’m optimistic about next year. I’m always optimistic though not as much these days about the world. But winning the Central? Sure.
I got to watch the Rays and Yanks on TV for a change. I was glad the TBS team gave a shout out to Dave Wills, RIP. I think the broadcast team summed it up when they said the Rays have more depth than the Yankees. I seems that there is a lack of direction for the Yankees. I mean German was scratched Monday but then came in to pitch with the game already over. They don't know if they are adding or subtracting. They have lost their pinstripe passion. As much as I am a Yankee hater, It is hard to hate when they suck. Locally, this was a big series for the Rays but if Mcclanahan and crew can sweep tonight, i think it is much bigger series of failure for the Bronx non-bombers.
The only conclusion I can reach about the Yankees is that they have a plan to maximize profits and minimize risk with some vague notion that The Yankee Way will overcome all. but I am thinking about how Verlander wanted to go back to Houston because he was friends with Jim Crane. I don't know if anyone on the Yankees has that sort of connection with Hal Steinbrenner except maybe Judge. The team is not a passion for him, it's an investment. And that makes a difference.
I agree with you about Hal. The Old Man was much more hands on and more in the public eye. George had a vision of what the Yankees were and what they needed to be. Hal along with the other next-gen owners have just become operators and just want to squeeze every cent they can into profit.
Ironically, Jimmy Dolan, who is a turd and at the front of the line for reasons the Knicks stank for so long and who is also as greedy as they come, also cares passionately about the Knicks. "Wasting your money on bad contracts and firing your front office staff all the time" is a bad plan, and yet it's more appealing than "not spending and not making any changes at all."
Think the Yankees got caught in limbo. Unwilling to tear down a 500 club, recognizing they don’t have a good chance at the playoffs. So hold tight, hope players rebound, and roll the dice.
The Yankees are 6-10 since the All Star break, and three of those wins were against KC. I would say that at the moment, they suck. And I can easily see them falling below .500 soon. They do, however, suck less than the Mets.
Trumpdictment 3! And once again, millions of Americans will call it a political ploy and so on. I have no words.
Part of me is like "the Mets have talented players! Surely they can find some free agents this winter and rebuild around them." Part of me is all "well, this is how it is with the Mets, and always will be." And part is "this is a logical approach that has worked for other teams before." I suppose the end result will be what I have been doing most of August and September for most of my time rooting for the Mets: appreciating the things that are good (Alvarez, Alonso, Quintana) in between the things that are bad. But man, there are almost definitely going to be a lot of games like yesterday's.
All those trades, but I don't see any teams on the fringes getting substantially better. Though maybe someone sneaks in to the third wild card because of one key player. About the most exciting thing I can hope for between now and the playoffs is a Verlander-Scherzer matchup in the next Astros-Rangers series.
Are the Mets going to try to reset their competitive balance tax by being under the threshold in 2024? Is that even plausible? They still have some rather big contracts..
I feel like the chances of signing Alonso to an extension before he hits free agency just went way down, with them punting on 2024 and probably 2025 too. Painful as the idea is, maybe they should have traded him too if they aren't going to be competitive in the final year they control him. I've got to believe he would have had substantial trade value, particularly since he'd be more than a half season rental.
No way they can get under the threshold for 2024. But I don't think this is something Cohen really cares about, outside of maybe getting a better draft pick.
Apparently, the team was listening to offers for Alonso this week, but a) he is the face of the franchise now and trading him at the moment could have pushed the fan base into a much deeper revolt; and b) not a single position player of that caliber changed teams. I am loathe to see them trade him, but I suspect Eppler is seeing what sinking a fortune into one slugger is doing across town. Come the off season, I figure they will sit down with his people and get the lay of the land.
I suspect they shopped Alonso around and found the offers underwhelming given he’s had a down year. Might actually be smart to hope he finishes strong or starts 2024 well and move him then.
OR they could extend him. Plenty of free agents sign with clubs who are bad short term and given Cohen’s pocketbook the Mets are unlikely to be down for long even if punting 2024.
Agreed. Even the Angels, who some described as all in, are only marginally better than they were a week ago. They may be limited by their farm system but surprised they didn’t get one more player. Hoping for luck and health, I guess.
I hope Enemy of the Nats People Brad Hand gets shelled in Atlanta and is Chopped to bits by the angry locals.
PS Josiah Gray looked really good against Milwaukee last night … until he suddenly didn’t, walking the yard and surrendering 4 runs in a 40-pitch inning. Today’s rubber match will decide if Nato or I will be picking up the tab for Cambodian delicacies to be named later.
PPS Last night’s loss was the 63rd for the Nats, meaning that a 100-win season is out of reach. Dreams die hard, friends.
You doubt the capacity of the Nats to lose 37 games in two months?
You caught me before I fixed the “100 loss” typo ... I’m just hoping they don’t extend Davey Martinez again so that he can earn his 500th regular season loss as manager of the Nats. Last night was 450.
The body language of the situation seems to be that Davey is safe until the team gets sold. After that very few people with the team are safe.
Looking forward to the Davey-staring-blankly-into-space 500 losses bobblehead giveaway in May or June of next year! It will also talk but not really say anything.
Cheng Heng, baby! As you said... no matter who wins, we both win.
From a midwesterner's POV, nothing could be stranger than the Yankees and Mets both sucking with the Red Sox right behind them. It's hotter than (usual) here, but I'm happy.
Why do you hate the Mets? I am always curious why a team that is bad more often than not gets the same level of hate as the "Evil Empire." Is just because you don't like my city? Or is it my fellow Mets fans that drive you nuts (as they do me)?
I feel ya. There is no comparison between the Yankees and the Mets.
Hate is a strong word, but I deeply dislike the Mets because the fans of the 7 Line Army often come to DC and act like drunken belligerent jackasses while the Mets are in town.
Such buffoons do not speak for me.
To be clear - I don't dislike Mets fans; I dislike the 7 Line Army. For that reason, I root against the Mets (again, don't "hate" them) because I want the 7LA to suffer ;)
This is remarkably similar to how us Milwaukee Brewers fans feel about the Cubs respective to the Cardinals. We root against both teams, yes, because of the division. But it's just kind of hard to hate the actual Cubs teams themselves. No, rather we, especially those of us who attend games at Miller Park at least somewhat regularly (or have done so in the past), absolutely hate the entitled Cub fan pricks from the northern suburbs of Chicago who come up to the ballpark and louse it up with entitlement. The ones who've probably been to maximum of two games at Wrigley in their entire lives (perhaps because it's too "urban" a location? Hmmm???). Meanwhile, Cardinals fans - and yes, I know the cliche about how they're the "best" - generally are pretty cool when they're up at Miller Park. Their team, on the other hand, is the Midwestern Yankees and I don't know a single Brewers fan who is not deriving gallons of schadenfreude from the current NL Central standings and in particular who is at the bottom thereof.
I don’t dislike you 😎
Yeah, but fans of other teams' fans have hated the Mets long before the 7 Line Army became a thing. Which, as Simon points out, seems strange because they've been futile far more often than competitive.
(Though I don't think they are hated as much as the Yankees)
Roger Angell loved the Mets, which means I could never truly hate them. His piece The "Go!" Shouters is one of the best things I've ever read about rooting for a comically bad team. [Plus it craps on the Yankees.]
My first exposure to the "7 Line Army" was Labor Day 2019. They paraded out of Nats Park after a victory as if they were on an unstoppable roll to the World Series, despite their losing record. I serenaded them with a chant of "Fourth-place team! Fourth-place team!" I got the expected responses, but I knew that I was asking for it. One guy, who seemed more reasonable than his "7 Line Army" T-shirt would have led me to believe, tried to engage me in reasonable talk about the Mets' chances and the Nats' history of not advancing in the playoffs. I told him that I grew up a Mets fan, so I knew what the rest of those jackwagons were all about. The next night, Suzuki hit the home run to cap the seven-run comeback in the ninth, and two months later the Nats had won it all.
My favorite shot from that night is the Mets fan who's halfway up the LF aisle before the Suzuki HR even lands ;)
Like the Dodgers fans running for the exit after Howie's grand slam. "Oh, well, let's at least try to beat the traffic."
I have no idea what the 7Line Army is. Out of context the name would seem to be some kind of Trumpie whacked-out conspiracy theory group of some flavor.
It's a Mets "ultra" fan club that takes its name from the 7 Line from Manhattan out to Queens. But your description is also apt. ;)
Makes me think of the White Stripes.
Jack White is thinking about fighting you for associating him with any team other than the Tigers.
Jack, posturing: "HOLD ME BACK, BRUH!"
7 Nation Army: "Um"
S - as DMCj noted, 'hate' is a pretty strong word - I'm just smugly satisfied that they're underperforming. Why include the Mets? Simply because my innate sense of fairness clashes with MLB's financial system where teams like the Mets can make $150 million of of mistakes every year and mid and small market teams have to have everything work out just right.
Not sure you are remembering the Wilpon years which are not that long ago.
The crime here is that Steve Cohen is not in jail. He profited from his illegal actions with little more than a slap on the wrist. They should have hung up him up by his ankles and shaken him until every penny came loose and then thrown his corrupt ass in jail. Instead he can “afford” to toss around millions of dollars for his play thing. The rule of law is a little different if you have money and power...
Not sure I’d lump the Red Sox in with the Mets or Yankees in the context of under performing. They were slated to be a .500 or just above team for this season, if anything they are currently slightly over performing. I figured at the start of the season they’d be a 84-86 win team and miss the last Wild Card slot by a few games, seem that’s what they are so far.
I don't hate anything/anyone. That aside, I'm guessing the answers are yes...and yes.
Mets fans are annoying but they suffer so much and so publicly when the team fails to achieve the success that they somehow feel is deserved. Schadenfreude overcomes hate. And I only have so much bile - not a lot left over after I use it on Phillies fans.
I dislike the Mets bc I am a Phillies fan and it is part of the package deal along with putting up with the Phanatic and knowing the lyrics to High Hopes.
So yesterday I complained that the O’s would stand pat and that’s basically what they did. They needed pitching and got the kind of pitcher you get when you part with minor leaguers no one is tracking. Sorry, Cesar Prieto (who I’d not heard of before yesterday).
I have one beef (slightly askew beef, new band name) with Craig’s hope for Mike Elias. I mean if the O’s make a deep run I’ll enjoy it, but I think he’ll get way more withering criticism if they stumble down the stretch.
I think Flaherty is a fine pickup. The Orioles' pitching lab can probably keep him on the right track (he's pitched well for a couple months now).
Supposedly, CHW wanted Holliday for Cease, and while I think there were better SPs available than Flaherty, you can't trade a guy like Holliday to make it happen.
The Orioles still have an absurd number of hitting prospects, and my guess is a couple of them depart in a trade for a SP this offseason.
I wanted the team to get a reliever, too. The bullpen is running on fumes. I think they're figuring the cavalry is in the form of Givens, Tate, DL Hall, and John Means. The issue is those gentlemen have pitched a total of 4 MLB innings this year--all by Givens--and those innings were less than effective. Still, some warm bodies will help.
Im not sure I agree that you can’t part with Holliday for Cease, and I don’t mean to knock the Orioles pitching lab (hey, they actually have one as opposed to the “grow the arms” days). I don’t want them to fail. I want them to win it all.
Which brings me to my next recently-acquired view as a fan: I was having a discussion with a friend who’s a Nats fan, and his view was “I got my championship,” so he’s fine with the subsequent tear down. But I’m starting to view baseball and is relationship to cities as a civic good. (I hold no illusion that MLB owners view it that way, at all) and if a club can compete year after year, then the fans will turn out, have enjoyable summers at the park, and have a good feeling about something that brings the city together. I feel like that’s more aligned with America’s pastime than any season where you don’t win it all is a failure. Meaningful games in August and September are awesome, but after that there is too much chaos in the playing of a baseball game (thinking of post-season series here) to have the must win it all view be everything.
Hmmm, Holliday is right now is probably the #1 prospect on most teams' lists. Cease pitched well last year, but his peripherals this year are of a league average starter because he walks so many. I wouldn't do that if I were the O's. There's no way Atlanta parts for Strider, but that's what I would shoot for with Holliday headlining, were I the O's.
Flaherty seems like a good dude and a solid pickup. I hated rooting against him in his Cardinals laundry - now he plays for a team I kinda like! I dig the trade.
I hope he’s great!
Brad Hand is your new Immaculate Grid cheat code (once he actually pitches for Atlanta), as he is now the first MLB player to play for every NL East team.
“Play” is doing a lot of work in this sentence. More like “get lit up for”.
?
He’s been good since moving to the pen nearly 10 years ago and has a nice 111 ERA+ this year.
Unless you are making a Spicoli reference to Mr Hand.
No reference; I just hate his guts. I and many Nats fans hold him personally responsible for blowing a series of saves right before the 2020 trade deadline that led to the massive selloff, setting in place a rapid 4-year decline from World Champions to "we should be able to beat these guys." I hope he sucks ass and gets booed off the field. At least fans of opposing teams might get to see their boys hit lots of HRs in Atlanta with him on the mound.
Hate is a strong word. ;)
It is - but sadly, it's accurate here. Owning it.
I get it though, as long as people stick to sports-hate and not hate-hate.
To paraphrase Dave Barry, it's not the same level as hating, say Hitler, but more often.
Let’s be a bit more fair about this. Hand wasn’t any good as a Closer back in 2020 for sure, but there were other underperformers besides him who caused the Nats crash and burn. Many other.
You can have my scapegoat when you pry it from my cold, dead hands ;)
[Of course you're right; Schwarber's injury was brutal, and the COVID stop-start literally broke poor Strasburg. But the Nats were showing signs of life when Hand coughed up a bunch of leads in Baltimore - and the collapse began posthaste. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, I always say.]
Gotta have a good sports enemy. I have had several
So you are not like my buddy who views the Nats as “baseball came back to DC and I got my championship, so I’m good” with the subsequent sell off and rebuild. (I have a different - admittedly quirky - view of baseball as civic good, and thus dislike the we won it all so now it’s okay to suffer ethos)
I understand that you can't win every year - and I can see why they thought they needed to retool - but if the team is going to go that route I'd like to see them draft well and develop the players they do have. There has been zero evidence of that, even before 2019.
Also, can we talk about how a 4.54 ERA gets you a 111 ERA+ if you pitch at Coors Field? I did a doubletake when I saw that part of the newsletter, but checked it and yep, those are the numbers.
Context is everything!
No one wants to hear about fantasy teams, but what the heck. I'm in an OTP league that has, with a hiatus, been running since 2000. We just imported a new draft class made up of randomly selected players. One was Goose Gossage. Goose's rookie year saw him pitch, superficially, like Hand this year: 4.54 ERA vs. 4.28. But Gossage's ERA+ was 74 while Hand's is 111. Old Commisky, which was a real pitcher's park, vs. Coors. Dead ball just before the introduction of the DH vs. rabbit ball and DH in both leagues.
TBH, my favorite thing about "Virginia is for Lovers" is/was a neighboring state's riff: "Maryland is for Crabs."
“Welcome to Maryland. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
Congrats Eugene. But why am I not surprised that the pitch tailed to the left?
...
ATL sure does have a lot of fungible bullpen arms, many of whom were really good around 2017.
I was pretty surprised they didn’t look for a LF / DH solution but I guess that a ~100 OPS+ from the slots isn’t the worst thing.
Oh well. I should have faith in AA.
...
Michael Harris will never walk enough to be a *great* hitter but it’s looking like he will be a good one. Add that to plus defense in CF and ... well let’s just say, despite my winter misgivings and obvious scouting qualifications that I am a happy fan.
"But why am I not surprised that the pitch tailed to the left?"
Glad someone made that joke! I was going to but I had already typed a long enough comment already.
“Nick Castellanos’ two-run homer was the big shot. He’s always around to hit a dinger when controversy is afoot.” Lololol. I just wanted to acknowledge this line for the proper low key probably Twitter-insiders-only joke that it is.
Are we sure that picture is Andrew Chaffin? I could have sworn it was Rod Beck.
EXACTLY my thought.
All I know is that we've got our Clue Heywood for the Major League reboot.
Who is this Cub "Jacob" Amaya of whom you speak, Craig?
RIP Thurm
Yankees did well at the deadline, they picked up Stu Gotz. He's a lefty, right? What did they give up for him?
I hear it was a bag of balls.
(I mean I tee'd it up and waited 3 hours, soooo ...)
I checked out Twitter yesterday and I lol’d so hard at Craig’s tweet about the Tigers and Dombrowski. And the replies! As a Tigers fan it was all so spot on. The ire directed at E-Rod really gets to me; lots of it on mastodon so I’m sure it was running rampant elsewhere. But the person who managed to link it to the long ago John Smoltz / Doyle Alexander trade gets the prize. I knew someone could do it within three sentences. No, it didn’t make sense, and yes, it was tortuous.
Detroit, both the team and fanbase, all still have collective ptsd from the Smoltz/Alexander trade.
Was hoping the Tigers could move E-Rod but I'm not going to hate on a guy for exercising a no-trade clause. Honestly, as bad as the Tigers are with a little luck they could win the Central next year. Not because they'd be good, but because by rule someone has to win it.
I so agree. And maybe we can agree to a revamped contract with him. If he’s happy here, it CAN be done. Collective PTSD re: the Smoltz trade is perfectly put. It’s just amazing how it’s lingered. And I’m optimistic about next year. I’m always optimistic though not as much these days about the world. But winning the Central? Sure.
Makes me think of Bagwell/Red Sox. Michael Schur, for one, brings it up a lot to this day.
Incidentally, the Yankees are a fully-owned subsidiary of the RAMJAC Corporation.
Come and knock on our door... (Come and knock on our door)
We've been waiting for you.... (We've been waiting for you)
When you think the votes should be his and only his,
Third indictment for coup.
A+, no notes
Personally, I hope there's no knock when they finally come for him.
I got to watch the Rays and Yanks on TV for a change. I was glad the TBS team gave a shout out to Dave Wills, RIP. I think the broadcast team summed it up when they said the Rays have more depth than the Yankees. I seems that there is a lack of direction for the Yankees. I mean German was scratched Monday but then came in to pitch with the game already over. They don't know if they are adding or subtracting. They have lost their pinstripe passion. As much as I am a Yankee hater, It is hard to hate when they suck. Locally, this was a big series for the Rays but if Mcclanahan and crew can sweep tonight, i think it is much bigger series of failure for the Bronx non-bombers.
The only conclusion I can reach about the Yankees is that they have a plan to maximize profits and minimize risk with some vague notion that The Yankee Way will overcome all. but I am thinking about how Verlander wanted to go back to Houston because he was friends with Jim Crane. I don't know if anyone on the Yankees has that sort of connection with Hal Steinbrenner except maybe Judge. The team is not a passion for him, it's an investment. And that makes a difference.
I agree with you about Hal. The Old Man was much more hands on and more in the public eye. George had a vision of what the Yankees were and what they needed to be. Hal along with the other next-gen owners have just become operators and just want to squeeze every cent they can into profit.
Ironically, Jimmy Dolan, who is a turd and at the front of the line for reasons the Knicks stank for so long and who is also as greedy as they come, also cares passionately about the Knicks. "Wasting your money on bad contracts and firing your front office staff all the time" is a bad plan, and yet it's more appealing than "not spending and not making any changes at all."
Think the Yankees got caught in limbo. Unwilling to tear down a 500 club, recognizing they don’t have a good chance at the playoffs. So hold tight, hope players rebound, and roll the dice.
Since they are over .500, I don't think you can accurately say the Yankees suck. Even if they are far from their usual standards.
The Yankees are 6-10 since the All Star break, and three of those wins were against KC. I would say that at the moment, they suck. And I can easily see them falling below .500 soon. They do, however, suck less than the Mets.