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2023 MLB Season Thread


Gary

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13 minutes ago, Gary said:

Who beat another postseason randomness the 2006 Detroit Tigers

Not necessarily. The Tigers were a 95-win Wild Card team, back when there was only one Wild Card team per league. The Cardinals were an 83-win Division Champion, more akin to the current AL Central.

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1 hour ago, McCall said:

Not necessarily. The Tigers were a 95-win Wild Card team, back when there was only one Wild Card team per league. The Cardinals were an 83-win Division Champion, more akin to the current AL Central.

More like season randomness, this is the same team 3years back that lost 119 games and had a nearly had a 100 game turnaround from 2005. No one was expecting this team to even make the World Series. 

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The Red Sox finally fired Chaim Bloom as GM, or whatever inflated title he had we call GMs now. Seems weird because it sure seemed like he was doing the job that they hired him to do, e.g. save John Henry money. Will be interesting if this represents a shift in teambuilding philosophy from the owner's box; wishful thinking, probably, but hopefully they're feeling the heat of a drop-off in relevance I wasn't sure this team in this city would ever have.

   

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6 hours ago, Digby said:

The Red Sox finally fired Chaim Bloom as GM, or whatever inflated title he had we call GMs now. Seems weird because it sure seemed like he was doing the job that they hired him to do, e.g. save John Henry money. Will be interesting if this represents a shift in teambuilding philosophy from the owner's box; wishful thinking, probably, but hopefully they're feeling the heat of a drop-off in relevance I wasn't sure this team in this city would ever have.

 

The Sox don't hire GMs as much as they hire guys to execute specific directives (rebuild the farm system, Go For It, reduce player spending), and then immediately remove and replace them once ownership decides that directive is out of date. Like Microsoft contractors or something.

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Adam Wainwright finally got his 200th win last night. Even though it took him three months to get the last two wins, it has a bright spot in an otherwise lost season. It has been bittersweet to see him come back for one last go-round and struggle so much. I don’t think Wainwright is a Hall of Famer but he’s a Cardinals legend and an absolute bulldog on the mound. I’ve love watching him compete with his whole heart for almost 20 years. He’ll be the last of the Cardinals I truly grew up with to retire. I’m bald and have plenty of gray hairs in my beard. I’m officially getting old.

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Phillies called a guy up that wasn't even on their 40-man.  He's making his major-league debut right now on September 24th, and is likely to be put on the playoff roster.  That's insane.  I didn't even know that was legal.

 

Guy played at 5 levels of minor-league baseball this year (A, high A,, AA, AAA - his only year of MiLB), and starts off his major-league career with 6 straight sliders.

 

Had never even heard of this guy (Orion Kerkering) until the other day, but he's surpassed all of their other top prospects in less than a year.  1-2-3 inning for his debut.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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11 hours ago, BBTV said:

Phillies called a guy up that wasn't even on their 40-man.  He's making his major-league debut right now on September 24th, and is likely to be put on the playoff roster.  That's insane.  I didn't even know that was legal.

 

Guy played at 5 levels of minor-league baseball this year (A, high A,, AA, AAA - his only year of MiLB), and starts off his major-league career with 6 straight sliders.

 

Had never even heard of this guy (Orion Kerkering) until the other day, but he's surpassed all of their other top prospects in less than a year.  1-2-3 inning for his debut.

Kerkering played college ball at South Florida and  I also saw him in Clearwater.  He's good.  

 

As for calling up guys, Rays called up Shane McClanahan for his MLB debut in the 2020 ALDS.

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22 minutes ago, TBGKon said:

Rays called up Shane McClanahan for his MLB debut in the 2020 ALDS.

 

I can't even imagine that. 

 

Baseball is funny.  Speaking for the Phillies (and I assume it's the same everywhere), you've got your top "blue chip" prospects that every fan has heard of and are the first people fans say should be brought up when some scrub retread on the active roster is sucking. 

 

But they tend to get called up (if even at all) way later than other guys, even though they're doing well in the minors.  The Phillies have three good pitching prospects that have been talked about being called up for 2 seasons now - and while one was slated to start with the big club (at 19, before needing TJ surgery) the others stayed in the minors all year.  Then during the year, a few other guys that were on nobody's radar get called up, including Johan Rojas, who's earned a regular starting job on a playoff team, and Kerkering - who despite his silly minor-league stats, was unknown to 90% of fans who don't follow Clearwater or Jersey Shore (and even most fans of Reading and Lehigh didn't have him on their short list of callups).

 

It's just weird how teams call up guys that are legitimately surprised to get the call over guys who appear more ready and are obvious choices.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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I think part of it is that bringing up someone with little MLB experience makes them unpredictable to teams in the playoffs. K-Rod was borderline dominant in the 2002 playoffs because teams really hadn't seen him before (plus he had an absolutely filthy slider).

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2 minutes ago, Shumway said:

I think part of it is that bringing up someone with little MLB experience makes them unpredictable to teams in the playoffs. K-Rod was borderline dominant in the 2002 playoffs because teams really hadn't seen him before (plus he had an absolutely filthy slider).

 

That's valid,   On the other hand, I'd imagine that's a ton of pressure for even the most mature of young kids.  Debuting against a joke team like the Mets is one thing.  Next they play Pittsburgh, then the joke Mets again.  The playoffs will be a different story.  We'll see how it goes!

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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