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

mookieproof I didn't know you worked for the league!!!

2022 non-MLB update:

Roki Sasaki delivered arguably the greatest pitching performance in Japanese baseball history last night. The 20-year-old Lotte Marines phenom not only threw a perfect game — NPB’s first since 1994 — he tied an NPB record with 19 strikeouts. Sasaki also set a record. After retiring the first two hitters he faced on ground balls, the right-hander fanned 13 consecutive Orix Buffaloes batters. Pitch counts weren’t a problem. Sasaki reportedly completed his perfecto having thrown just 105 pitches.

(xpost) Also intrigued--tell us more.

meant to make a joke yesterday about how the pirates were 0-2 but having been outscored 15-2 meant their pythagorean was like 0-5. then they ruined it by scoring runs today

so yeah i started working for m1bam in 2007. my group ran the m1nor league baseba11 website, so we were way (too much) into prospects. like it was a huge deal for us when matt wieters made his big league debut. and also when harper tore through the minors but seemed to do most of his damage in parks where there was no TV.

worked nights for a while, where you instantly developed a hatred for the california league (and the pacific coast league only slightly less). west coast games start at 10 eastern, where i live, except for bakersfield, where the field was built facing into the sun, so it started at 10:30 in high summer. also the entire cal league, apart from san jose, is a fucking launching pad, so those games would stretch into the late morning for us.

the main thing that's weird is that m1nor 1eague games mean absolutely nothing. (which is why the extra-inning ghost runner is awesome. unless you want to call it a tie, which is even better.) i mean it's more fun winning than losing, but the guys on each m1nor league team are competing *against each other* to be promoted.

when someone had a big day, we did a phone interview. these guys are so inculcated with 'just trying to help the team' that's it's always an exercise to get anything interesting -- you had to come out of nowhere with, like, 'you just got promoted from huntsville, alabama to rochester, ny in april -- do you even have any appropriate clothes to wear?'

i wasn't very good at interviewing, tbh. i hate phones.

brad e1dred was an enormous power-hitting quad-a guy who at one point played in colorado springs (which is in itself a joke). so one day he hit four homers or something, and i was the only person monitoring all the games, and i missed it, so i ended up calling his cell phone like two hours later. he was at home with his wife, and i could hear kids in the background, and he was so fucking nice. to this day i love him.

anyway the whole m1nor league structure was indeed half-assed. so it wasn't *entirely* unreasonable for MLB to just . . . subsume it. and if you look at it in portions -- attendance at appy league or pioneer league games was negligable -- it makes financial sense. but the finances required to support those teams is basically a rounding error for MLB teams, and now MLB has a significantly smaller footprint throughout north america. they are in the process of financially incentivizing themselves out of existence.

at one 'town hall' meeting (hate that term) years ago, manfred opened by saying what an 'honor' it was to represent 'these 30 owners'. and that's exactly what the commissioner's office is. they may have stopped literally awarding a title belt for teams who best stifle arbitration salaries, but that is absolutely who they are -- and it's a much more meaningful trophy to manfred than the 'piece of metal' world series trophy.

Fwiw i watched g4ri bettm4n forge his wife’s signature on the back of a check

Both these men are monsters

i do appreciate that g4ri bettm4n gets booed at all his public appearances

Ill see manfred in 6 months

what are you going to do

Boo

that sounds about right

The Orioles are so bad that the Rays sweeping them, but with two of the games close, worsened the Fangraphs projection for the Rays by 3 wins

— Jordan Ellenberg (@JSEllenberg) April 11, 2022

ha ha wow, that is amazing.

That just... didn't happen? The rays started the series with 83.5 and ended with 84.7.

Facts don’t matter when you are making a witty tweet

aw. that's much less hilarious.

the rays were projected to win ~84 games? Pretty sure they'll outpace that

I thought they were projected to be in a 4-way tie with every other non-BAL team in the AL East

wait a second, are we talkin more than one projection here

their projected win total went down 0.3 games, not 3.0 games

even so

wait a second, are we talkin more than one projection here

― Karl Malone, Monday, April 11, 2022 6:33 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

is ratemyprofessor.com still a thing? i'm going to leave a terrible review and then not give him the "hot" pepper

Anyway, I knew the Brewers couldn't hit, but I didn't know they can't-hit-the-Orioles-staff couldn't hit

they're getting all the bad luck with RISP out of the way in the first week

Alec Bohm on @NBCSPhilly Phillies postgame on saying

“I f***** hate this place” during game

“I said it. Emotions got the best of me. Do I mean it? No. It’s a frustrating night for me. These fans, they just want to win. They’re great. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that” pic.twitter.com/YxjO2gqTIJ

— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) April 12, 2022

Huge chorus of boos as Machado comes to the plate in San Francisco. Is he hated particularly by Giants fans or has he just become the heel of the league or what?

I didn't realize Robinson Cano was back playing.

"Well, where are you going to go?" Cincinnati Reds president Phil Castellini told Scott Sloan and Mo Egger on 700-WLW when asked why fans should remain loyal. "Sell the team to who? That's the other thing: You want to have this debate? .... What would you do with this team to have it more profitable, make more money, compete more in the current economic system that this game exist? It would be to pick it up and move it somewhere else.

"Be careful what you ask for."

unexpectedly, i will be attending the cardinals/royals game tonight! ah yes, the stories "I-70" rivalry! those hated royals! /sarcasm voice
Pujols is starting tonight, and i am very excited about seeing him. also, he's totally due for a hit

hope he crushes one for ya

It really is kind of nuts that there are two major league baseball teams in the state of Missouri

Looks like he crushed one for ya!

i was within 500 feet and heard it! from outside the stadium. :(

i can't complain, i didn't expect to go the game and got free tickets at the last moment. but we were in a large group and were standing outside in line during the first inning, so i heard the PA announce his appearance, heard the crowd roar and the fireworks and all that (and same for Arenado just before him), but didn't see it! still, i was there, sorta

he had a great game overall, too, 3 hits!

Maybe he’ll get one of those “last season” summer-long adrenaline boost and ends on a high note.

maybe. i hope so. i want to believe. but it did strike me, earlier today, that pujols pretty much can't be released or cut or whatever from the team. no matter how bad it gets, we're all going down in flames together. :-o

#STLCardenales: El retorno de "La Máquina". 🤖 pic.twitter.com/wEhxnEdqey

— Cardenales (@cardenales) April 13, 2022

Guys

Chloe Grimes, an 8-year-old @raysbaseball fan who is currently battling cancer, was on the call when her favorite player, Brett Phillips, hit a homer. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/5HGc8lfqSs

— Cut4 (@Cut4) April 13, 2022

"𝘾𝙝𝙡𝙤𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣!"

Brett Phillips finds out about the magical moment that happened when Chloe was being interviewed while he hit a home run! @RaysBaseball #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/qyVy2ccumb

— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) April 13, 2022

<3

man i love that guy

it's opening day in milwaukee!

is it worth tuning in early? do the old hall of famers come out and wave?

i'll say this - there were some boos for willie mcgee in milwaukee (i guess in reference to 1982) and that is just the wooooooorst. you do not do that to willie, there has never once been an excuse.

otm

i understand the fans in milwaukee had been tailgating in extreme wind for over 7 hours at that point. but you can do that to anyone except willie mcgee, he does not deserve that

Willie McGee would have left Kershaw in. Willie McGee gets it.

willie mcgee will have no comment on the kershaw situation

cup safety reminder

😳 (Escobar is okay) pic.twitter.com/10ofpoRfsf

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 14, 2022

god knows i love willie mcgee -- i actually have a baseball purportedly signed by him. (my only signed baseball.) but tbh it's pretty cool that any brewers fans remember shit from 40 years ago

see also (and i hate both teams) new york rangers fans still shouting 'potvin sucks'

Potvin, stance aside, does suck though

True (can't remember why, though).

Byron Buxton is hurt.

I was at the home opener in Milwaukee. Fucking hilarious watching everyone trying to tailgate in the 30 MPH winds. Shit was flying everywhere. Our table flipped twice. Game itself was fun too. I got to meet Tim Dillard. Also got to watch Pujols attempt one of the worst stolen bases of all time