2022 MLB General Season Chatter: Ghost Runners On The Half-Billion Dollar Infield

fangraphs still giving the reds 0.1% to win the division

i’d like to see the details of that scenario

Fangraphs also still has the Orioles finishing with a worse record than the Reds, that's just mean

3-22 now, division starting to look out of reach

*suddenly, hundreds of 400-foot worms appeared and began attacking major US cities*

four at home against the pirates this weekend

this is where the greatest comeback in mlb history begins

The Jays announcers tonight said it's time to start the bring-Joey-home campaign. They're evidently under the impression he's playing well in the midst of all this.

More Mets magic as they score 7 runs in the 9th inning to beat the Phillies 8-7! What a rush.

That's crazy

Win probability was at 99.8% for the Phillies at the end of eight innings, so there is hope for the Reds.

speaking of which: https://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/comeback-wins.shtml

Good lord, I had never heard about this game

https://tht.fangraphs.com/tht-live/60th-anniversary-all-time-great-ninth-inning-comeback/

I'm surprised this game (which I was at) wasn't on the comeback list:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200006300.shtml

First series at Shea after Rocker's 7 Train comments. They had to put netting over the Braves bullpen. Met's scored 10 in the 8th to come back from down 8-1. Place went bananas when Piazza hit the homer.

@Joelsherman1
Pirate starters enter today 0-10, 5.55 ERA, yet will have the far superior rotation in this series to the Reds (99 ERs/100 IP = 8.91 ERA). Worst rotation ERA ever: 6.64 by the '96 Tigers managed by Buddy Bell, father of current Reds mgr David Bell.

erstwhile top-20 prospect mitch keller has not quite panned out

boston’s starting rotation has a 1.81 era over the last 14 games. they have conspired to go 4-10 over that span

What?

Six games were rained out today, that is a lot and must be a huge storm out there

It’s mostly just pissing but it’s been pissing all day

pirates had to use an emergency catcher in the eighth inning today -- josh vanmeter thinks he last caught when he was 14 -- gave up seven runs, and lost to the mighty reds in the first game of a doubleheader

starting catcher pulled a hammy on the bases and the backup had already been ejected for chirping from the dugout. just as well pirates-reds games don't matter because that is dumb as hell

Telling measure of how much offense is down this year: when I looked at Vladdy's line, his OPS+ this year (161) is almost equal to last year's (167), even though his basic slash stats are down quite a bit.

I don't know if i've ever seen anything quite like the futility evinced by this year's Red Sox offense. every game is lost 3-1, 3-2, 1-0. It's really something.

in the last 4 games they've scored 5 runs total

yeah, this is a 101 wRC+ (almost exactly league average) line right now:

.239/.317/.348

I don't know if i've ever seen anything quite like the futility evinced by this year's Red Sox offense. every game is lost 3-1, 3-2, 1-0. It's really something.

i imagine that might be like watching the brewers last year

Lifetime OPS
.682 - Deivi Cruz
.679 - Dee Strange-Gordon
.676 - MLB teams in 2022
.675 - Miguel Cairo
.673 - Yuniesky Betancourt
.672 - Neifi Perez

— Matthew Pouliot (@matthewpouliot) May 5, 2022

heady stuff

look the yankees and dodgers are both in first place so all's right in manfred's world

yikes, we have entered the deivi/neifi bermuda triangle

“teams are going through juiced ball withdrawal, home runs are a hell of a drug, etc”

An interesting fact about former #Angels 1B Ji-Man Choi … pic.twitter.com/hmRRUuE3mm

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) May 10, 2022

Vin Scully for NBC Sunday Baseball intro;

His voice IS baseball.

Let the incredible @thevinscully welcome you back to @mlb on @nbc and @peacocktv. #MLBSundayLeadoff pic.twitter.com/br3dq9ZYy7

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 8, 2022

lol

The Pirates finally got their first win from a starter in their 28th game, a major league record to begin a season. The old mark was set by the Baltimore Orioles in 1988 when they started 0-21.

also snapped a 16-game losing streak vs the dodgers

Guardians score 6 in top of the ninth to tie game. End up winning.

^^8 RBI for Toronto's (Mississauga's, technically) Josh Naylor--if I read it right, all in the last two innings without a HR?

he hit two homers

I swear I looked at the boxscore and missed that...really didn't make sense, though. Anyway, his minor-league career kind of paralleled Darren Shred's, the guy I coach in middle school who was drafted by the Reds, so I follow him. Darren got hurt (Reds could probably use him now), Naylor kept going.

("coached"--many years ago)

God, the Dodgers starting pitching right now...Six different guys have started games; one has an ERA of around 2.75, the other five have dead-ball-era ERAs.

Stanton and Judge look like an excellent bet for 100+ HR (and 50+ each) if healthy--22 in 32 games. There must have been some 50+ teammates during the PED era.

None--surprised. Still only Maris/Mantle.

really? i'm surprised as well. but yeah, guess there haven't been any.

"if healthy" is the key. stanton has had a very strange career

Looks like the two closest are Ruth (60)/Gehrig (47) in 1927, and A-Rod (52)/Palmeiro (47) in 2001.

It’s wild he doesn’t hurt himself more tbh. His swing is bonkers

"Judge and Stanton join Babe Ruth (14) and Lou Gehrig (10) from 1930 and Mickey Mantle (16) and Yogi Berra (12) from 1956 as the only pair of teammates in franchise history to have 10-plus homers in 32 games."

https://www.mlb.com/news/giancarlo-stanton-aaron-judge-homer-yankees-vs-white-sox

players with 0 walks so far in 2022, sorted by PAs (all stats from before today's games)

68 PAs: Yadier Molina
63: Cole Tucker
38: Francisco Mejia
29: Edmundo Sosa
25: Royce Lewis
23: Jose Rojas
22: Dee don't make a joke about me being Strange-Gordon

i'll give yadi a pass; he's not-quite-a-hall-of-famer (but will obviously get in at some point)

cole tucker has an 11 wRC+ this year and a career -2.1 bWAR. happily he's been sent down

didn't we used to do polls to see who would go the longest without walking? i can't remember how "good"/bad 68 PAs without a walk is.

what's funny was that in yadi's last appearance today, with a full count, he chased an obvious ball four and struck out :P

"obvious" to me as a pro baseball watcher

these guys suck!

*trips over rug on way to kitchen, again*

we did, and iirc 68 PA is a great deal

i'm kind of proud of him. i hope he never walks again!

i don't think he deserves to be a first-ballot hall of famer but i think he will come close and will quite possibly get it anyway. i've enjoyed watching him sweat his ass off for the last 18 or so years

If he gets in and the VC hasn't yet put Munson in, I will complain.