general 2021 MLB discussion thread

Amazing. They all deserve errors. Correa actually just... flips to Bregman for some reason as Gleybz races home.

yeah, i was watching that animation, trying to figure out who was at fault. didn't even notice the pitcher dot not moving , even when it was clear that there was a footrace to home. although, tbh i think he was probably just like me, looking at the plays at second and third and going ...wtf?

i know it's just anecdotal, but even factoring in normal early-season weirdness, players getting into mid-season form, etc, it seems like this year has been _exceptionally_ sloppy in the field. way more "little league" plays than i'm used to, at least for cardinal games, and it's on all sides

i also missed about the last 3 weeks of games but i did dutifully look through a lot of box scores to review

Would it be crazy to go to a game in June?

I went to the A's game on Monday

You felt ok?

I'm vaxxed and so are my friends. Wore a mask. Huge gaps between different groups. Seemed fine to me.

Sounds awesome. Would love to get a game in soon, but my wife's a little reluctant.

Ohtani home runs leader.

i bought a ticket to a cubs game in a couple of weeks after reading this article: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/take-me-out-to-the-socially-distanced-ballgame/ which details all the measures they're taking at wrigley (and also i am vaxxed up)

i looked at going to a white sox game but they aren't selling single tickets at all right now as far as i could tell

looking forward to smokies-chattanooga in july. very airy environs.

lol i didn't know todd frazier was now a pirate. he's 1-for-24 in 11 games

He's in mid-season form I see.

seems like the cubs and pirates can be forgiven for giving up on kyle schwarber and josh bell, respectively

btw how about the giants? odd that bee ok hasn't shown up yet

barely posted last year too, come back bee

this LAA/LAD game is getting silly, mookie/seager/turner and trout/upton were all taken out because of the blowout but LAA scored 11 runs over the 6th and 7th and now they're only 3 back

seems like the cubs and pirates can be forgiven for giving up on kyle schwarber and josh bell, respectively

― mookieproof, Saturday, May 8, 2021 9:58 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

i guess except the cubs replaced schwarber with joc pederson, who is doing only marginally better than schwarber so far

excited to read this mlb.com article

https://i.imgur.com/iBn1LcI.png

Writer’s dad pumped for son’s first headline

but not SUPER PUMPED?

lol

founder of Hillside Elementary Writing Contest super pumped for former winner's son's first headline

Headline writer not actually allowed to write the article they are titling, and here’s why.

corbin burnes finally walked a dude after 58 strikeouts to open the season

and even that one was a good pitch

Yasmani Grandal is hitting .143/.581/.571 (1.152 OPS) with a .000 BABIP in May.

2-for-14, 2 home runs, 16 walks

— Jeremy Frank (@MLBRandomStats) May 14, 2021

why don't pitchers throw strikes to Grandal? is his plate coverage so good?

yeah, he has the 8th lowest zone% in the majors, which is weird because he isn't particularly amazing at making contact when swinging at strikes. he's above average but not by much

he just doesn't swing at pitches. lowest swing% in the majors by a good margin (25.5% to max muncy's 31.2%), lowest z-swing% (swings on pitches inside the zone) by a mile (39.6% to david fletcher's 48.6%), second lowest o-swing% (swings on pitches outside the zone) after muncy

so pitchers avoid the zone even though he barely ever swings when they put it in there (second highest called strike rate) and he barely ever swings on balls.

it honestly doesn't make sense, he'll basically give you an 0-2 count if you want it but no one challenges him

weird! we should be pitching coaches. i'm ready to go talk to the guy on the mound facing him late in the game. "Rookie, you've gotta calm down. Let me squeeze your shoulder. Yes, there. Relent to me. Attack the zone. Throw strikes. If he hits a HR I'll buy you a beer. But he's not gonna hit it. Because I put a curse on him. I'll tell you about it after the strikeout. Throw strikes."

If things don't pan out for me, I would like to be America's Silliest Pitching Coach for some local team

maybe he's just very short

why the camo hats today? is this some militaristic holiday that i've overlooked?

armed forces day

Kelenic's first HR is beautiful.

Did Bogaerts get hurt today, or was he just removed because of the big lead?

Huascar Ynoa out a few months after breaking his hand punching the dugout lmao

Pujols is starting and batting cleanup for the Dodgers tonight, as anyone could have predicted.

I don't think it's likely but how angry would Angels fans be about a LAD Pujols renaissance?

Liking the new red alternate jerseys for the Marlins.

(xpost) Stranger things have happened. Frogs fell from the sky in Magnolia.

so the twins were projected to win 88 games and their division this year

Pujols signing already paid off

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-dodgers-addition-of-albert-pujols-didnt-make-sense-until/

tldr; the dodgers have a lot of injuries

I've seen a lot of people mention his expected numbers based on statcast suggest he's getting unlucky or something, but the combination of his pull-everything-into-the-shift approach and his slowness suggest to me this is just who he is

Tony LaRussa fucking sucks

you hear it more and more

larussa sucks but the white sox are good. impressively good considering jimenez and robert are injured and giolito has been mediocre