2025 MLB Thread

[casimir]

20 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Should OF picked the Tigers!  No position conflict at all.  

Come on, Lee, you gotta apostrophize that.

[IdahoBert]

Mike Trout may be back because he’s hit a home run in three straight games. 

[chasfh]

19 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

Mike Trout may be back because he’s hit a home run in three straight games. 

I would love to see him put up an eight-win season this year. He's 33 going on 34, so it's kind of unlikely, although if he's gonna do it again, it's more likely now than later.

[IdahoBert]

Just now, chasfh said:

I would love to see him put up an eight-win season this year. He's 33 going on 34, so it's kind of unlikely, although if he's gonna do it again, it's more likely now than later.

Yeah, I wish him the best. 

[monkeytargets39]

  Vlad Jr gets a 14 year, $500 million extension.

 

Yikes.  Torontos ineptitude will never cease to amaze me

Edited April 7 by monkeytargets39

[chasfh]

Fun with Pythagoras, SSS edition:

The Reds have scored more runs than they have given up. They are 3-7.

The Rangers have scored fewer runs than they have given up. They are 8-2.

[papalawrence]

10 hours ago, monkeytargets39 said:

  Vlad Jr gets a 14 year, $500 million extension.

 

Yikes.  Torontos ineptitude will never cease to amaze me

Given his body type I think that's nuts. That contract will be an albatross for several years. 

[Tiger337]

I like him for his all around talent which I still think is under appreciated.  I like that he is not a show off and I respect him for staying with his original organization even though they have been a bad team for a long time. Some fans may see that as a shortcoming, but I see it as loyalty to his organization, teammates and perhaps family stability.  I would enjoy seeing him have one more big season.    

21 hours ago, chasfh said:

I would love to see him put up an eight-win season this year. He's 33 going on 34, so it's kind of unlikely, although if he's gonna do it again, it's more likely now than later.

 

[monkeytargets39]

1 hour ago, papalawrence said:

Given his body type I think that's nuts. That contract will be an albatross for several years. 

He’s already an F-Tier defender and baserunner before the extension.  If he suffers any sort of hip/back/leg injury that saps his power a bit, he will become unplayable in the entire back half of that contract.

[monkeytargets39]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

I like him for his all around talent which I still think is under appreciated.  I like that he is not a show off and I respect him for staying with his original organization even though they have been a bad team for a long time. Some fans may see that as a shortcoming, but I see it as loyalty to his organization, teammates and perhaps family stability.  I would enjoy seeing him have one more big season.    

 

It boggles my mind that they haven’t been able to build a team around him.  

[Tiger337]

1 minute ago, monkeytargets39 said:

It boggles my mind that they haven’t been able to build a team around him.  

They couldn't even build a team around him and Ohtani.  

[papalawrence]

9 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

It boggles my mind that they haven’t been able to build a team around him.  

He might be a first ballot HOF without a single playoff victory.

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I like him for his all around talent which I still think is under appreciated.  I like that he is not a show off and I respect him for staying with his original organization even though they have been a bad team for a long time. Some fans may see that as a shortcoming, but I see it as loyalty to his organization, teammates and perhaps family stability.  I would enjoy seeing him have one more big season.    

 

I have no insight into anything along these lines, but I have also wondered whether he is just far more comfortable toiling in anonymity—that is, relative to his otherworldly talent which alone would have made anyone else a global superstar—in a market that reflects his conservative values, which may be why Anaheim is such a good fit for him. He is a quiet guy who nerds out over weather facts, and that's not the kind of thing that naturally attracts millions of TikTok followers. Assuming this is true, I also wonder whether avoiding the bright lights that fame would bring is ever more important than winning at all costs, because if winning were his one and only objective, as it is for so many other players, he'd've pushed for a trade to a contender years ago. 

Again, I freely admit this is baseless speculation, but I do find it interesting that in this clip, he doesn't mention winning as his goal, as you might expect when someone asks, "what are your expectations for the season?"

 

Edited April 7 by chasfh

[Tiger337]

16 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I have no insight into anything along these lines, but I have also wondered whether he is just far more comfortable toiling in anonymity—that is, relative to his otherworldly talent which alone would have made anyone else a global superstar—in a market that reflects his conservative values, which may be why Anaheim is such a good fit for him. He is a quiet guy who nerds out over weather facts, and that's not the kind of thing that naturally attracts millions of TikTok followers. Assuming this is true, I also wonder whether avoiding the bright lights that fame would bring is ever more important than winning at all costs, because if winning were his one and only objective, as it is for so many other players, he'd've pushed for a trade to a contender years ago. 

Again, I freely admit this is baseless speculation, but I do find it interesting that in this clip, he doesn't mention winning as his goal, as you might expect when someone asks, "what are your expectations for the season?"

 

I don't know either.  I just get annoyed when players wanting to go to a winning team is viewed as admirable.  It is understandable why a player would want to go play for a winner, but it seems like a short cut to me.  If the team is already a winner without you, then you are not really accomplishing a lot by winning with that team.  If you stay with a team which is bad and help them become a winner, that seems like a bigger acomplishment to me. Of course, it's not something you can do yourself as evidenced by Trout.  

[gehringer_2]

4 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I don't know either.  I just get annoyed when players wanting to go to a winning team is viewed as admirable.  It is understandable why a player would want to go play for a winner, but it seems like a short cut to me.  If the team is already a winner without you, then you are not really accomplishing a lot by winning with that team.  If you stay with a team which is bad and help them become a winner, that seems like a bigger acomplishment to me. Of course, it's not something you can do yourself as evidenced by Trout.  

True - but there is another way of looking at it, which is that if I'm good at what I do and bust my ass always being the best I can be, why do I want to keep serving the profits of an incompetent FO/ownership that can't or won't perform at the level I hold myself to? That may be just a little Ayn Rand-ish, but even as an everyday working stiff I've been in jobs where I resented the incompetence of the people I was working for. I can only imagine how much worse it could have been if I was as dedicated to my performance level as a pro athlete has to be.

Edited April 7 by gehringer_2

[RandyMarsh]

6 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I don't know either.  I just get annoyed when players wanting to go to a winning team is viewed as admirable.  It is understandable why a player would want to go play for a winner, but it seems like a short cut to me.  If the team is already a winner without you, then you are not really accomplishing a lot by winning with that team.  If you stay with a team which is bad and help them become a winner, that seems like a bigger acomplishment to me. Of course, it's not something you can do yourself as evidenced by Trout.  

It bugs me in a sport like basketball where if the player is as great as he thinks he is he could carry a team to at the very least being a contender and with a little help could be a real title threat. OTOH in baseball no matter how great you are you just can't carry a team to the playoffs let alone being a serious contender with out several other good pieces.

In that regards I could see going to an established team if you want to win cause no matter what you do your team isn't going to win without getting you help and not just 1 or 2 better pieces like in basketball. 

Edited April 7 by RandyMarsh

[monkeytargets39]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

They couldn't even build a team around him and Ohtani.  

Which is amazing since they weren’t even making the playoffs most years- so you’d think they’d at least have a decade of decently high draft picks to supplement their system.  Instead their roster outside of those two has just been a wasteland of overpaid free agent boat anchor contracts and replacement level filler.

[gehringer_2]

14 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

Which is amazing since they weren’t even making the playoffs most years- so you’d think they’d at least have a decade of decently high draft picks to supplement their system.  Instead their roster outside of those two has just been a wasteland of overpaid free agent boat anchor contracts and replacement level filler.

Moreno's Angels are a lot like WCF's Lions. Give the fans a really big star or two and everything else should take of itself.

[chasfh]

45 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

It bugs me in a sport like basketball where if the player is as great as he thinks he is he could carry a team to at the very least being a contender and with a little help could be a real title threat. OTOH in baseball no matter how great you are you just can't carry a team to the playoffs let alone being a serious contender with out several other good pieces.

In that regards I could see going to an established team if you want to win cause no matter what you do your team isn't going to win without getting you help and not just 1 or 2 better pieces like in basketball. 

This post has me considering something I really hadn’t before: perhaps a key reason football and basketball have become so much more popular than baseball during the past half century is that watching these posts on TV has shown people how much superstars leads to winning in those sports, while in baseball, there’s the Ernie Banks problem: Hall of Fame career wasted on a perpetual loser. Had Ernie played on the Yankees, he’d certainly be celebrated today as one of the historically all-time great personalities in baseball history, to a far greater degree than he is today. “Let’s Play Two” would practically have been a Yankees trademark phrase.

[chasfh]

57 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I don't know either.  I just get annoyed when players wanting to go to a winning team is viewed as admirable.  It is understandable why a player would want to go play for a winner, but it seems like a short cut to me.  If the team is already a winner without you, then you are not really accomplishing a lot by winning with that team.  If you stay with a team which is bad and help them become a winner, that seems like a bigger acomplishment to me. Of course, it's not something you can do yourself as evidenced by Trout.  

I know you’re not that guy at all, but this post is stopping just short of complaining that players simply aren’t loyal to their teams and their fan bases. I know you and i are aligned on the nature of one-way loyalties between teams and players.

I believe most players today, unlike Trout, are explicitly concerned about their so-called “personal brand”, and everyone wants their personal brand to be associated with winning. That’s good for the Business of You and your wealth and fame profiles both in the sort and long terms. It’s a basic form of selfishness that, honestly, I can’t fairly criticize, since a selfish player’s goal of making himself a winner generally dovetails very neatly into the goals of the team he’s on and their fans to become a winner as well. The only time it doesn’t comport is when a player loudly toots his own while his team is losing, or he makes decisions on the field that is wrong for the game situation but potentially better for his stats and his brand.

[Tiger337]

12 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I know you’re not that guy at all, but this post is stopping just short of complaining that players simply aren’t loyal to their teams and their fan bases. I know you and i are aligned on the nature of one-way loyalties between teams and players.

I believe most players today, unlike Trout, are explicitly concerned about their so-called “personal brand”, and everyone wants their personal brand to be associated with winning. That’s good for the Business of You and your wealth and fame profiles both in the sort and long terms. It’s a basic form of selfishness that, honestly, I can’t fairly criticize, since a selfish player’s goal of making himself a winner generally dovetails very neatly into the goals of the team he’s on and their fans to become a winner as well. The only time it doesn’t comport is when a player loudly toots his own while his team is losing, or he makes decisions on the field that is wrong for the game situation but potentially better for his stats and his brand.

I am saying it's OK to be loyal and it can be admirable in the right circumstances.  I love it when players stick with one team their entire career.  Wanting to go to a winning team does not make someone a "winning player" and being loyal does not make someone soft. 

On the other hand, it's not necessary to be loyal if you don't like your situation. 

I am not criticizing the players for wanting to be associated with a winner.  I might be criticizing fans who think that is an inherently admirable quality.  

Edited April 7 by Tiger337

[Sports_Freak]

Gametime temperature for Texas at Cubs today was 34⁰ with 17 MPH winds. Brrrrr....

[chasfh]

Hunter Greene Logan Webb tonight is 🔥

[RatkoVarda]

because of a wave of injuries, Brewers have Tyler Alexander and Elvin Rodriguez as their #2 and #3 starters. Yikes!

[Sports_Freak]

He pitched in Detroit during our World Series season in 2012;

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/octavio-dotel-dies-in-roof-collapse-tragedy.html