2020-2021 Hot Stove League (4 Viewers)

[lancer]

For whatever reason I cheer for Harvey.

I hope he continues to put up those numbers.

So do the O's.:tongue: Good Harvey is a lot more fun to watch than Bad Harvey, and miles more effective. -- Al

 

[Panzer ace]

The Giants continue to win yet even the Mets have better odds to win the World Series.

 

[lancer]

The Giants continue to win yet even the Mets have better odds to win the World Series.

Jason, it's the non-believers because it's an odd numbered year. I've watched a lot of baseball this season and I haven't seen anyone any better than the Giants. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

The Giants continue to win yet even the Mets have better odds to win the World Series.

At the rate the Mets are going, no one will have to worry about the odds.

 

[lancer]

At the rate the Mets are going, no one will have to worry about the odds.

Think the loss of DeGrom about guarantees this division battle goes to the wire. If the Mets can keep ahead until he returns, DeGrom gives them the edge down the stretch, but he's got to come back healthy and give the Mets some innings in September. No one in the NL East seems able to separate, or step up and take control, so DeGrom would be the difference, IMO. I know that it might be obvious, but that one arm will make or break the race. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Think the loss of DeGrom about guarantees this division battle goes to the wire. If the Mets can keep ahead until he returns, DeGrom gives them the edge down the stretch, but he's got to come back healthy and give the Mets some innings in September. No one in the NL East seems able to separate, or step up and take control, so DeGrom would be the difference, IMO. I know that it might be obvious, but that one arm will make or break the race. -- Al

It’s not the pitching, which isn’t that great either, but they can’t hit for you-know-what. The biggest culprit is Conforto, hitting .196 with 6 HRs. They’ve benched or given him a break at times but it hasn’t helped. They’re a terrible offensive team.

 

[Panzer ace]

It’s not the pitching, which isn’t that great either, but they can’t hit for you-know-what. The biggest culprit is Conforto, hitting .196 with 6 HRs. They’ve benched or given him a break at times but it hasn’t helped. They’re a terrible offensive team.

The Mets team batting average is .235 which ranks 19th in MLB.

Interestingly the Nats are batting .258 which ranks 3rd.

 

[mikemiller1955]

Dodger's fan went crazy last night...
fought each other...
fought security...
pretty wild crowd...

https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/dodgers-astros-fans-fight-brawl-security-guards-video-01fc7xpy7w1y

 

[lancer]

The Mets team batting average is .235 which ranks 19th in MLB.

Interestingly the Nats are batting .258 which ranks 3rd.

Interesting stat, which once again proves numbers in baseball can be deceiving. Nats have been near the top in team batting all season, yet are bad at scoring, having scored 3 or fewer runs in half their games (13-39 in those games). Go figure. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Interesting stat, which once again proves numbers in baseball can be deceiving. Nats have been near the top in team batting all season, yet are bad at scoring, having scored 3 or fewer runs in half their games (13-39 in those games). Go figure. -- Al

Nats are only 6 back in the loss column. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if they came back and won.

 

[lancer]

Nats are only 6 back in the loss column. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if they came back and won.

Nice dream, certainly, but they haven't got much of a team left, and no real starting rotation or bullpen. Good possibility of a 90 loss season at this point. The rest of this season is going to be a test for the up and coming youngsters and a real test for Martinez. -- Al

 

[Panzer ace]

Nice dream, certainly, but they haven't got much of a team left, and no real starting rotation or bullpen. Good possibility of a 90 loss season at this point. The rest of this season is going to be a test for the up and coming youngsters and a real test for Martinez. -- Al

The Nats did a great job in dodging Rendon as he is done in LA for the rest of the season. 2 years into his $245 contract he has played in 110 games while hitting .263 with 15 home runs. He will be 33 years old before he plays another game.

Then again there is the Strasburg contract that is also for $245 mil……

 

[lancer]

The Nats did a great job in dodging Rendon as he is done in LA for the rest of the season. 2 years into his $245 contract he has played in 110 games while hitting .263 with 15 home runs. He will be 33 years old before he plays another game.

Then again there is the Strasburg contract that is also for $245 mil……

Yep, a classic case of the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Long term contracts rarely work out. The exception being the Scherzer signing, which many consider the best FA signing ever (especially the DC fans:wink2. I was sorry to see Rendon being done for 2021, but the truth is he wasn't going to resign in DC as he wanted the west coast for personal reasons, so, adios and thank you for the WS title. Nats have been 'lucky' concerning the re-signing of FAs. We lost out on Jordan Zimmermann and Harper, as well as Rendon. Harper is a good solid player but Zimm fell off a cliff when he left DC for Detroit. He wasn't going to resign in DC either, wanting to be closer to his home in Wisconsin. He left DC with a 70-50 record and an ERA of 3.32 after 7 years of great pitching. He went 25-41, with a 5.63 ERA in 5 seasons with Detroit. His years in Detroit were injury plagued and just a terrible signing for Detroit. He retired after the 2021 season, another long term contract (5 years, $110 million) that went bad. Hopefully Rendon can come back and LA can get some value out of his contract. I like him and would like to see him do well. As for the Strasburg signing, that was an extension, and would seem to be another mistake, but he is not done yet, hopefully, so the Nats are holding their breath for 2022. -- Al

 

[Combat]

J.R. Richard has passed away. Man could he throw the old speedball back in the day. He even looked good in those old rainbowy Astros' unis.

 

[Panzer ace]

Yep, a classic case of the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Long term contracts rarely work out. The exception being the Scherzer signing, which many consider the best FA signing ever (especially the DC fans:wink2. I was sorry to see Rendon being done for 2021, but the truth is he wasn't going to resign in DC as he wanted the west coast for personal reasons, so, adios and thank you for the WS title. Nats have been 'lucky' concerning the re-signing of FAs. We lost out on Jordan Zimmermann and Harper, as well as Rendon. Harper is a good solid player but Zimm fell off a cliff when he left DC for Detroit. He wasn't going to resign in DC either, wanting to be closer to his home in Wisconsin. He left DC with a 70-50 record and an ERA of 3.32 after 7 years of great pitching. He went 25-41, with a 5.63 ERA in 5 seasons with Detroit. His years in Detroit were injury plagued and just a terrible signing for Detroit. He retired after the 2021 season, another long term contract (5 years, $110 million) that went bad. Hopefully Rendon can come back and LA can get some value out of his contract. I like him and would like to see him do well. As for the Strasburg signing, that was an extension, and would seem to be another mistake, but he is not done yet, hopefully, so the Nats are holding their breath for 2022. -- Al

Al:

Great post.

You are right about Strasburg, it is too soon to tell how that contract plays out.

-Jason

 

[Panzer ace]

Amazing stat that I heard today, Tony Gwynn finished his career with a .302 average whenever he had 2 strikes.

 

[lancer]

Got to hand it to the Angels, missing such super stars as Trout, Walsh, and Rendon, and with little in the way of SP, they are actually 2 games over .500. May not sound impressive, but I think it is. -- Al

 

[lancer]

Indicative of the type of years they are having, and the current phase that the pitching game is going through, my two teams, the Nats and the O's, are going through pitchers like there is no tomorrow. The O's have used 34 different pitchers and the Nats 27. And there are still 50-55 games to go.{sm2} -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Got to hand it to the Angels, missing such super stars as Trout, Walsh, and Rendon, and with little in the way of SP, they are actually 2 games over .500. May not sound impressive, but I think it is. -- Al

They’ve actually played very well and are better without Trout as all the players realize they need to make up for him. Max Stassi has emerged as a good hitting catcher, Jared Walsh is showing why they let go of Pujols, Fletcher is solid at 2B and Jack Mayfield (Captain Jack) has filled in decently for Rendón. They are trying to establish Brandon Marsh in CF and Joe Adell is on his second attempt there. They have a good closer in Iglesias and the beginnings of a decent pitching staff with Ohtani and Patrick Sandoval; Chris Rodriguez and Jose Suarez may have potential.

They are sort of in the WC race but their chances of winning the second WC are not realistic. They have flirted with .500 for a couple of months so if they could finish .500 or better that would be a successful season and give hope for the future.

 

[Warrior]

The Red Sox are in free fall, going from 4.5 up on the Rays to 4.0 behind in the blink of an eye, the 9 game lead they had on the Yankees on the second wild card spot is down to one.

Fans are complaining that they did next to nothing at the deadline while the gashouse gorillas added two first ballot lock hall of famers, Gallo and Rizzo.

Has that ballbag Sterling come up with a catchy nickname for these two, asking for a friend.

None of us Red Sox fans will ever know what deals Bloom actually tried to make, only to get blocked by the Yankees or whoever else had better minor league talent to trade away,

The Red Sox aren't like the Gashouse Gorillas with an absolutely stacked farm system (well at least that's what other teams who deal with them have been conned into thinking) and then they end up trading away hot garbage from said farm system for proven MLB talent to fill whatever holes they have in their quarter of a billion dollar death star of a roster.

Imagine adding Rizzo AND Gallo to that team and for what, a package of tomato cans who will be asking people if they want fries with that in two years.

Every MLB GM must literally soil themselves when Snidely Whiplash Cashman calls them on the phone.

They've managed to swindle more teams than carpet baggers did to southerners after the Civil War..............."Well I can be prince of a guy and give you .05 cents an acre, but you'd better take that deal as no one else is going to come along and offer you $3.00 for your entire plantation."

I have zero doubt Rizzo the pending free agent is going to sign a multi year deal with the Yankees and end up with a plaque in monument park because "My whole life I dreamed of playing for the Yankees."

I mean, isn't that the dream for every kid?