general 2021 MLB discussion thread

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.

If they leave deGrom in now, well, I know someone who'll be cursing somewhere.

game score: 98

damn

the kid is good

Jacob Degrom needs his own thread
A Thread For Jacob Degrom Who Is Doing Really Well
Stay Healthy, Please: The Jacob Degrom Thread
Jacob Degrom is Bringing Joy Back to Baseball
JACOB DEGROM seems like a big deal
How Many Home Runs Will Jacob Degrom Hit in 2021? POLL results

Who's the Best-Looking Current Degrom?

I have a (dumb) question but are these K totals less impressive in an era (npi) where batters are striking out way more? or is that not a significant factor?

Ks for pitchers I mean

It's less impressive given that batters are swinging for the fences more than they used to, but more impressive because modern pitchers throw faster and with more movement.

a little. but it's still amazing, especially the efficiency of it. i mean he only threw 109 pitches to get 15 strikeouts, and he got more swinging strikes (29) than balls (25)!

Or to put it another way: he's struck out 50 of the 101 batters he's faced this year.

twitter.com/SteveGelbs/status/1385971218415767552

As a comparison: the year Ryan struck out 383, he faced 1355 batters. Which I realize is far more impressive in terms of value, but just as a percentage, Ryan was at 28%. Aroldis Chapman is at 922/2222 for his career, 41%.

was just thinking it feels like yesterday we were all gawking at kimbrel/chapman putting up similar K-rates in one-inning appearances

but yeah it's definitely a little watered down in this era and i hope something changes to address the super high K-rates but it's not like gibson/koufax's best years have an asterisk on them just because they happened before the mound was lowered

aroldis really should have been a starter

ASSHAT achieved

https://i.imgur.com/jauf45K.png

A's SHAT

nationals rotation is a disaster apart from scherzer

i assume he has a no-trade clause, but this is the last season of his deal and i imagine he'd accept a trade to a winner (nats are currently at 13% to make the playoffs) -- could be v. interesting

MLB piece from the other day comparing Scherzer right now to Verlander in 2017:

https://www.mlb.com/news/max-scherzer-possible-trade-deadline-deal

clearly i should work for mlb dot com

Rockies General Manager Jeff Bridich steps down and Greg Feasel has been named Club President. pic.twitter.com/nk3HyHYBu8

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 26, 2021

For Jacob deGrom Needs His Own Thread:

http://www.billjamesonline.com/jacob_degrom_deserves_better/

There's a chart in there that shows "Most Starts with Chance To Win When Leaving Game Since 2014," and how unlucky deGrom's been compared to the others. So above and beyond the lack of run support, his bullpen makes the situation that much worse.

cubs seem to be waking up

or not

at least we can always count on degrom's lack of support in this crazy world

insane

sometimes nick pivetta is just the better pitcher

lmao

i'm not *mad* because lol yankees, but this was the bottom of the 10th today in baltimore with the game tied 3-3

Jonathan Loaisiga pitching.
Ramon Urias placed on second.
- Pat Valaika batting
  Pitch 1: bunted foul
  Pitch 2: sac bunt 2-4 at 1B; Urias moves to third
- Cedric Mullins batting
  Pitch 1: called strike
  Pitch 2: sac fly to center; Urias scores, BAL wins 4-3

so the guy threw four pitches, all for strikes, did not allow a hit, and took the loss. at least the run is unearned, but jfc

Let’s not pretend that pitchers wins and loses made any sense to begin with.

wins and losses for relievers in particular makes so little sense that it kinda warms my heart to know they still do it

xp lol true -- and i'm not actually worried about loiasiga's record as much as that a team can do everything right and still lose because there's a magic runner on second. two sacrifices should not score a run

(and yeah, they should have scored in the top of the inning, but nevertheless)

it’s really bad

Only 5 teams in the AL have a positive runs differential.

Dodgers are on their ninth pitcher tonight. (Truthfully, I'm not even sure if that's extremely rare or not really all that rare today.)

i wouldn’t say it’s extremely rare, but in this case it’s because their starter left with elbow pain in the second

btw i guess we can pump the brakes on those ‘will the dodgers win 120 games’ stories