2022 MLB Non-Phillies News/Notes

[zambonir]

Well, I lived in Texas for 20 years and have a lot of Astros fan friends, and they always viewed the team under Drayton the same way we viewed the Phillies under Giles, and definitely viewed him as cheap (the Randy Johnson trade excepted). Of course, the two front offices were also joined at the hip.

Wasn't really even Wade's fault - again, much like the Phillies, ownership wasn't ready to cut the cord on aging legends. And in both cases many of Wade's players panned out for the team that fired him.

I'm sure fans of any number of other teams would look at the Phillies' success over the last 50 years and think we've had it pretty good. Two near-dynastic eras, two fun outlier runs (if you don't consider '83 to be part of the previous era), five trips to the World Series, two rings. A lot of downs in that period too but it's not a track record that screams bad owner or bad culture.

I don't think this Luhnow/Click era maintained any culture from the previous eras. It was a total knockdown to the studs. It was also an import of both Cardinals culture and analytics culture. And of course, it also involved cheating (but then they said that about the Phillies and Charlie too).

[Philsmania]

I guess the grass is always greener someplace else. I think Astro fans are nuts to complain about the last fifty years and, as much as the Phillies madden us, we probably haven't had it all that bad compared to a number of other places. In fact, take away the franchise's thirty-one year dark ages (1918-48) when Baker and Nugent were either too cheap or too broke to make the Phillies even competitive, the Phillies have been pretty run-of-the-mill.

[Lucky_Beagle]

Question...Do the Blue Jays have an advantage when playing at home based upon the number of players who are not able to play on other teams? Have there been any real reports put out showing how the "missing" players have helped Toronto increase the odds of winning home games.

What do other teams in the AL who are battling them for playoff spots feel about these games?
What about any playoff games, will there be a number of players getting vaccinated in Sept if there is a chance they may have to play in Toronto a few games?

[zambonir]

People kind of stopped talking about it (in America) after the Yankees players got vaccinated. And it just hasn't been that many teams/players. The Reds and Twins each had four. Jays won the Reds series (2-1), lost the Twins series (2-1). Their home/road record is basically normal for a contending team (.581 at home .487 road).

But yes: The Red Sox blew a big game when they were without their closer and one other player and lost the series 1-2.

Cora: Sox's vaccination status 'going to change' by September

[David_Criss]

Maybe Canada will drop the restriction.

[zambonir]

certainly not before the Phillies series, and given the way things are going, probably not at all. If anything they might start requiring boosters (which they should, if you're going to require anything) or the new Omicron-specific vaccine (though that's not likely to be ready before the playoffs).

But that's a different (if dormant) thread.

[BostonRoss]

Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera have been named All-Stars. I think that's great. The fans want to see them.

In 2001, MLB failed to do the same for the retiring greats Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn. The fans voted Ripken in anyway, but while they invited Gwynn, they honored him in street clothes and didn't put him on the team. I thought that was poor. Ripken homered in the game.

[LoneStarPhan]

Cannot argue against these two.

[BostonRoss]

I remember reading someone arguing against including Ripken in 2001 because Scott Brosius had better numbers!

[Philsmania]

Every now and then MLB creates special extra roster spots for retiring greats. I know they did it in 1983 for Bench and Yastrezmski. They should have done that for Ripken and Gwynn in 2001.

[zambonir]

Good read if you have ESPN+

'It's a dying breed. And it sucks': The decline of the starting pitcher -- and...

[gmwannabe]

That was a great trade the Braves just made. Waters was blocked and they picked up the 35th pick, in which $2.2 million of slotting goes with it. Nice thinking.
gm

[andyb]

Agree. The consensus also seems that it is unlikely Waters will hit enough to be a regular, so this is a trade of a defensive CF at a position where the Braves have depth and some minor pieces for a very high compensation pick (35 overall).

The Phillies may not have the upper minors depth to pull this type of trade off, but one wonders since they never seem to try (especially in years where they start out down a draft pick).

Brief Athletic analysis of the deal:

Braves trade prospects to Royals for draft pick

[Philsmania]

So, are teams allowed to trade draft picks now?

[zambonir]

Only the revenue-sharing picks. Has always been thus.

[bkeich]

It really is a shame we don't try to snooker the poorer teams like this.

Here are 3 players that we have very little use for us, give us your draft pick that was going to force you to spend money.

[bkeich]

Does anyone else still struggle with looking at stats this year.

Literally my entire life my brain has been trained to slightly discount AL stats and slightly inflate NL stats because of the designated hitter. Of course the league leader in XXX is in the AL, they dont have to account for the pitcher batting. Of course the team leader in runs scored is in the AL, they get one more hitter.

Funny to me how I still have that as a first thought when I look at stats. Hopefully before I die of old age I get over it

[andyb]

This is the stupidest attempt at changing rules yet:

Explaining baseball's next experiment to limit shifts: The 'pie-slice rule'

So infielders need to be on the dirt and not just on one side of 2B but outside of the pie. Just deaden the ball and make home runs less important and force batters to use the whole field. This stuff is not rocket science and now they want to change the game fundamentally while also making the field look silly.

[bkox]

They have already deadened the ball and most fans and players are complaining

[andyb]

They have already deadened the ball and most fans and players are complaining

Not really. They have put them in humidors which hurt early in the season and may be helping now. Also, batters that hit home runs are complaining. Not sure I hear that from pitchers and singles hitters.

The ball still carries much further than it did 20 years ago and this has changed the game by incentivizing players to hit over shifts. That gives you boring 3-outcome baseball. Hitters would adapt to survive in any change to the ball. There may be casualties. Castellanos for one may have become a hitter with doubles power which was what he was when he came up. One could argue that he needs to adapt.