general 2021 MLB discussion thread

Totally inappropriate.

Of the five guys who got there first (2,000 games), three are in the HOF (I-Rod, Fisk, Carter), two aren't (Bob Boone, Jason Kendall). I thought that might be in and of itself decisive, but no. He's almost dead-even with Kendall in bWAR, so who knows.

kendall's HOF case suffers from playing for small market teams, and not having a HOF-level standout skill. his defense was always good, but i'm not sure he was ever regarded as elite like the current hall of famer yadier molina(i could be wrong)

One thing that Molina might have going for him is that he's the first to do it with one team; probably my own bias speaking, but I think at the margins HOF voters are a little less enthusiastic about itinerant careers.

Speaking of which I just learned Jed Lowrie is on his 4th separate stint with Oakland

the Rolaids "Fourth Time Around" award

yankees are gonna come in fourth, but at least they'll be under the luxury tax

Baseball should install a Lux Interior tax on the oldest and least cool teams.

cubs are sucking it up pretty bad to start the season too. not surprising, though i expected the pitching to be the main problem, not the offense

i’m calling it - 7 inning games are better

Out with you

Please someone stop the Red Sox

Paging Carlos Rodon

kris bryant, willson contreras, and jake marisnick are the only cubs batting above the mendoza line so far this season

Please someone stop the Red Sox

― Van Horn Street, Wednesday, April 14, 2021 10:44 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Only one team can beat them and they are called the mighty Baltimore Orioles

strange days my friends

cubs are 7-for-85 with RISP as a team

that means they're due

Mets are overdue to....play a game

that means they're due

noted yankee-killer michael wacha

So I'm watching a lot of Angels game (blame Trout and Ohtani) and one thing Girardi has done often is have Ohtani batting 2nd, Trout 3rd, someone with a terrible OPS at 4th and Walsh (1.063 OPS) at fifth.

Forgetting dealing with the psychology of players: is having a gap like this some sort of sabermetrics thing I missed? Would my instinct to have Walsh batting 4th straight after Trout and Ohtani be right?

I think you always want to have your best hitters in a row regardless of any other factor

that said your "someone with a terrible OPS" is Justin Upton is it not??

I also saw Pujols in a that spot a week ago vs the Royals, which was strange.

fwiw joe girardi manages the phillies and joe maddon manages the angels

and i guess before i'd criticize maddon's batting order i'd criticize having prince albert in the lineup at all, let alone above ninth

Woops yeah, two old dudes in red uniforms.

Upton is having a good game, so it's probably just psychology.

I don’t think it’s a sabermetrics thing. I think he just has a bunch of old guys with big contracts on his team.

So they’re saying he isn’t the cause but Andrelton Simmons, an anti-vaxer, has caused a covid outbreak in the Twins clubhouse.

giolito gave up 8 runs in the first inning vs. the red sox. i blame it on it being a 10 a.m. CT game for some reason.

sending him back out in the second was an intriguing decision

they moved the marathon to october couldn't they do the same with this stupid tradition? boston is the worst city in america

We’re #1!

In normal times I would always take this day off from work to watch the marathon.

More on this cool new feature on https://t.co/9BlYThnWuF:

The leaderboard pages AND player pages now have some underlined stats when you hover over a season line

Click, and you get videos of that player & event type on @MLB Film Room!

It's THIS simple ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/4aLBM3jsVs

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 19, 2021

Arihara has been pretty good so far!

Corbin Burnes has 36 strikeouts to start the season without allowing a walk, the most since 1893

Burnes means testes in vulgar french and I always giggle.

Man I wish they taught us vulgar French in school!!

Wouldn’t work in Quebec tho!

has anyone else gone to a game in person this season, or are you planning to? i just bought a ticket for a cubs game in a few weeks. i'll be fully vaxxed, and the article in fangraphs this week about going to a cubs game showed me they've made more changes at wrigley than i realized to prevent crowds gathering in the concourse for extended times. so i'm not really too worried about the COVID aspects.

i'd rather go to a white sox game and not give the ricketts my money, but i can get to wrigley without taking public transportation, which i feel less comfortable about still, especially a potentially crowded train to the south side.

cubs seem to be waking up

i have no plans to go to games but it's mostly due to the expense

I could imagine going later this summer when hopefully they've approved Pfizer for 12-15 and my kid is vaxxed, but I'm putting off deciding. Have credit from the tickets I bought to a game last April...

tyler glasnow just had a 4 strikeout 4 ER first inning

Vlad has gotten on base every game so far this season.

deGrom w/ 12K thru 6 on 78 pitches

0.35 ERA lol

He has an RBI tonight, so into his fifth start this year, he's given up one earned run and knocked in two.

15 thru 7

Degrom is somehow even more otherworldly than usual.

ERA: 0.32. Batting average: .545.