2023 MLB Season Thread

[BBTV]

Bryce Harper is officially converting to 1B in an effort to return before the all-star break.  He supposedly pitched the idea to Dave Dombrowski since their 1B (and apparently, team captain) tore his ACL and is out for the year, and then his backup promptly tore a thumb ligament and is out for half the year.  They've been moving guys from 3rd to 1st, platooning losers that shouldn't even be on the team, and have generally been a mess.

 

They made it sound like he went to Dombrowski with a PPT and a team of doctors and attorneys, swearing that if they let him play 1B, he won't throw hard, and won't slide on his elbow or face-first.   He's way ahead of schedule when it comes to hitting, but that wasn't the biggest concern.  He could potentially be cleared to DH by mid May, then take over 1B sometime in June.  Apparently he was a catcher when he was drafted, so it shouldn't be too hard to learn 1B.

 

EDIT:

Since Rhys Hoskins (starting 1B) was in the last year of his deal and now has an ACL, it's possible he won't be back at all.  Harper also said that while he wants Hoskins back, if he can't, then he'll move to 1B permanently if it allows them to spend tons on a FA outfielder or DH in the offseason.

[Dilbert]

Last night Rays-Reds game in Cincinnati brought out the smallest attendance in Great American Ball Park history. The 7,375 who did show up saw the punching bag of MLB, the Reds, beat the top team in baseball 8-1, giving the Rays there first loss on US soil this season. Yes it was a chilly night, and a school night, but when the ownership has alienated fans this much, somethings gotta give.

[Sport]

19 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Last night Rays-Reds game in Cincinnati brought out the smallest attendance in Great American Ball Park history. The 7,375 who did show up saw the punching bag of MLB, the Reds, beat the top team in baseball 8-1, giving the Rays there first loss on US soil this season. Yes it was a chilly night, and a school night, but when the ownership has alienated fans this much, somethings gotta give.

 

I thought about going for about 11 seconds because Hunter Greene was pitching and I feel bad that I still haven't seen him pitch, but then looked at the weather and decided against it. I've been in attendance for the two coldest games in GABP history so I think I've done my time. At this point I'm literally a fair-weather fan. 

 

On the field the Reds are bipolar. These are their last 6 games:

W Phillies 6-2

L Phillies 8-3

W Phillies 13-0

L Phillies 14-3

W Rays 8-1

L Rays 10-0

 

So going by that pattern today they will win 27-1.

 

Also they extended Hunter Greene for six years at 53 million so that's cool. 

[Gary]

Madison Bumgardner was Designated for Assignment by the Diamondbacks. All I can say is about time. They have a strong squad this year and don’t need him stinking up the team. We have a couple pitchers that could take his place like Drey Jameson who could be a good 5th option and MadBum is just there and sucking. Great HOF player, but time to move on

[McCall]

22 minutes ago, Gary said:

Madison Bumgardner was Designated for Assignment by the Diamondbacks. All I can say is about time. They have a strong squad this year and don’t need him stinking up the team. We have a couple pitchers that could take his place like Drey Jameson who could be a good 5th option and MadBum is just there and sucking. Great HOF player, but time to move on

Thanks for waiting until after yesterday's game. Much obliged.

[WestCoastBias]

2 hours ago, Gary said:

Madison Bumgardner was Designated for Assignment by the Diamondbacks. All I can say is about time. They have a strong squad this year and don’t need him stinking up the team. We have a couple pitchers that could take his place like Drey Jameson who could be a good 5th option and MadBum is just there and sucking. Great HOF player, but time to move on

 

I don't know if he'll get into the HOF, he doesn't really have the regular season stats. 

 

He'll definitely get his number retired by the Giants though. 

[TrueYankee26]

Cruel way to lose a perfect game. Cruelty 

 

 

[MiK]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/36257506/brewers-rookie-garrett-mitchell-miss-rest-season

 

Sad beer noises.

[FiddySicks]

On 4/20/2023 at 9:34 AM, Gary said:

Madison Bumgardner was Designated for Assignment by the Diamondbacks. All I can say is about time. They have a strong squad this year and don’t need him stinking up the team. We have a couple pitchers that could take his place like Drey Jameson who could be a good 5th option and MadBum is just there and sucking. Great HOF player, but time to move on

Lol, no. Madison Bumgarner was single handedly responsible for some of my very favorite moments as a Giants fan, and he did something in 2014 that may never be replicated by straight up carrying the Giants to that third title (not to mention how lock down he was for the first two titles), but even with that said, the idea that he’s a hall of famer is absurd. He doesn’t have anywhere near the numbers for consideration, and basically lost that chance when he decided to get on a quad midseason, crashed it, and really hasn’t been the same since. 
 

I’ll always love Bum for what he did for the Giants. But I’m also SO incredibly tired of his entire act. He’s a jerk, and has been routinely one of the worst pitchers in baseball over the last five seasons. At this point, he’s Hunter Strickland with a better resume. Thank you, but good riddance. 

[Kramerica Industries]

1 hour ago, FiddySicks said:

He’s a jerk, and has been routinely one of the worst pitchers in baseball over the last five seasons. At this point, he’s Hunter Strickland with a better resume. Thank you, but good riddance. 

 

And if you're a fan of any of the other 29 teams, and especially the Rangers, Tigers, or Royals (or Dbacks I guess), it's understood if you have zero love for him at all for precisely those two reasons. But he also has one of the very best World Series statistical profiles in the history of the game. Not just in terms of run prevention, but also how he accomplished it at times; five shutout innings in relief on very short rest in Game 7 in a game where he only had a 1-run lead to work with the entire time. I dunno if you were stretching things for the sake of making a point, but using his name and Hunter Strickland's in the same sentence is a massive insult. 

 

Seeing a Giants fan write that is hard to imagine. Even if you didn't care for his on-field persona (which is very understandable), you live with it for the results he brought. Best of all, you got out before he fell off the metaphorical dirt bike.

[FiddySicks]

Yeah that’s what I’m saying, though. I may be coming across as more harsh than I mean to, because I certainly have a lot of affection for Bumgarner and all he did for us. He’s still probably top ten for me personally as a Giants fan.  I’ll never lose appreciation for that.
 

But everything about him has been a net negative since becoming a D Back. He’s been AWFUL, and has kept the same really cringey macho nonsense attitude we put up with for the results/history, that just doesn’t work anymore once the results fall off a cliff. Yes the Strickland comparison was meant as more of an exaggeration, but if you look at Bumgarner’s numbers over the past three seasons, you may find that it’s not that out of pocket. He’s been legitimately that bad. Like, the worst statistical starter in baseball kinda bad. 
 

Also, it’s funny you mention that about the Rangers, because they may be the one single team that may still be willing to take a flier on the guy. Bruce Bochy is their manager, which I still forget about and still kinda blows me away. 

[Sport]

Bumgarner's always been one of the game's biggest reddest asses. I hope he's not replaced by another dork constantly distracted by opposing players violating unwritten rules and whatnot. 

 

Speaking of the Rangers, they've blown leads of 4 and 6 runs to the Reds the last two nights. They had one of baseball's best performing bullpens coming into this season, but gave up 6 runs in the 8th last night. The Reds and Cardinals now have the same record. Do I need to take the Pirates seriously or is this hot streak a mirage? 

[Unocal]

On 4/25/2023 at 7:56 PM, Kramerica Industries said:

 

And if you're a fan of any of the other 29 teams, and especially the Rangers, Tigers, or Royals (or Dbacks I guess), it's understood if you have zero love for him at all for precisely those two reasons. But he also has one of the very best World Series statistical profiles in the history of the game. Not just in terms of run prevention, but also how he accomplished it at times; five shutout innings in relief on very short rest in Game 7 in a game where he only had a 1-run lead to work with the entire time.

 

Seeing a Giants fan write that is hard to imagine. Even if you didn't care for his on-field persona (which is very understandable), you live with it for the results he brought. Best of all, you got out before he fell off the metaphorical dirt bike.

 

To put perspective on his godly performance in that 2014 WS: Giants starters not named Bumgarner had an ERA of 9.35

[BBTV]

Games on streaming simply suck.  Flipping from SmackDown to the Phillies v Astros involved 7 clicks to get to the game (8 if you click opening Apple TV.)  Now I'm hostage, because if I flip back to cable, it'll take another 7 (8) clicks and however many seconds of silence to get back to the live game... which has a much longer delay than cable, meaning it's extremely difficult to sync to my radio (which has a variable delay feature.)

 

I get that streaming is the future, but it's simply not ready yet.  Not until switching between live content to other content and back (without reloading) is perfected.  Many people have the bandwith to keep multiple streams running in the background (or just the live stream running if they're flipping back to cable) but it just doesn't work that way now.  

 

And I feel for the people who can't afford high-speed internet - which is way more than many people think - and are on assistance plans for cable and lower-speed internet.  They're likely going to eventually lose the ability to watch sports.

 

If you're out-of-market and the apps are your option, then that's one thing - that's a luxury.  But local sports shouldn't be considered a luxury.

[BBTV]

He's finally starting to look like a major-league baseball player for the first time in his career.

 

 

[Red Comet]

40th anniversary of one of the best manager tirades of all time.

[BBTV]

[The_Admiral]

Does NBC Sports revert to a PHI/PIT setup when they play the Pirates?

[BBTV]

10 hours ago, the admiral said:

Does NBC Sports revert to a PHI/PIT setup when they play the Pirates?

 

 

 

Until there's a score, they should just display a  and let the audience figure it out.

 

[TBGKon]

11 hours ago, the admiral said:

Does NBC Sports revert to a PHI/PIT setup when they play the Pirates?

Nope...