2021 MLB Season / 21-22 Offseason Thread

[The Buscher]

And because they're the Angels, they're still 3 games under .500 and Mike Trout got moved to the 60-day IL.

Man if only Trout didn't sign that lifetime extension.

[gunnar hendershow]

Fortunately it sounds like Trout should be back by the end of July.

The Angels pitching is a disaster for the most part, just a bad team overall with two absolute superstar players.

[Toe]

The Angels are a crazy team. They've gone out and signed free agents to put around Trout, and they've just found a way to sign the worst possible free agent in those moments. 

At least they have Trout, Otani, and Rendon (who's having a bad year, but was pretty good in 2020 so I think can bounce back). They just need to find SOMEONE who can pitch. I bet they could have signed Ryu for the same deal Toronto gave him.

[gunnar hendershow]

They're the only team that has taken pitchers off the Orioles' hands and managed to make them even worse.

[The Buscher]

In late August last year, Mets fans started daydreaming about JT Realmuto as soon as it was announced Cohen had the winning bid for ownership.  Imagine that times a million had Trout not taken his extension and was set to hit the market after 2020 as originally planned.  Would've been a meltdown of epic proportions if/when he signed elsewhere.

[The Buscher]

Futures Game Rosters announced:

National League

Pitchers

Cade Cavalli, RHP, Nationals 
Roansy Contreras, RHP, Pirates
Andre Jackson, RHP, Dodgers 
Matthew Liberatore, LHP, Cardinals 
Nick Lodolo, LHP, Reds 
Max Meyer, RHP, Marlins 
Quinn Priester, RHP, Pirates 
Manuel Rodriguez, RHP, Cubs 
Ethan Small, LHP Brewers

Position players

Francisco Alvarez, C, Mets 
Luis Campusano, C, Padres 
Willie MacIver, C, Rockies 
CJ Abrams, INF, Padres 
Brett Baty, INF, Mets 
Michael Busch, INF, Dodgers 
Nolan Gorman, INF, Cardinals 
Marco Luciano, INF, Giants 
Bryson Stott, INF, Phillies 
Michael Toglia, INF, Rockies
Brennen Davis, OF, Cubs 
Michael Harris, OF, Braves 
Heliot Ramos, OF, Giants 
Alek Thomas, OF, Diamondbacks 
Ryan Vilade, OF, Rockies 
Drew Waters, OF, Braves

American League

Pitchers

Shane Baz, RHP, Rays 
Reid Detmers, LHP, Angels 
Marcos Diplan, RHP, Orioles 
Emerson Hancock, RHP, Mariners 
Luis Medina, RHP, Yankees 
Cole Ragans, LHP, Rangers 
Josh Winder, RHP, Twins 
Cole Winn, RHP, Rangers 
Hector Yan, LHP, Angels

Position players

Bo Naylor, C, Indians
Adley Rutschman, C, Orioles
Tyler Soderstrom, C, Athletics
Vidal Brujan, INF, Rays 
Jake Burger, INF, White Sox 
Jeter Downs, INF, Red Sox 
Austin Martin, INF, Blue Jays 
Nick Pratto, INF, Royals 
Spencer Torkelson, INF, Tigers 
Bobby Witt Jr., INF, Royals 
Yoelqui Cespedes, OF, White Sox 
Jasson Dominguez, OF, Yankees 
Riley Greene, OF, Tigers 
Jarred Kelenic, OF, Mariners 
Pedro Leon, OF, Astros 
Julio Rodriguez, OF, Mariners

[The Buscher]

Mets are teasing some sort of announcement for Bobby Bonilla Day tomorrow. I’d say it’s either:

A) they embrace it, invite Bobby Bonilla to Citi Field and make it a big celebration every year
B) Cohen flexes and buys out the contract

Either way would be hilarious, might as well have fun with it. Especially since Cohen can find the Bonilla money underneath his couch cushions.

[DMN in the House]

So Trevor Bauer is a piece of shit.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I'm not at all surprised, given who we're talking about.

[The Buscher]

Meanwhile the Mets have lost 20-2 and have seen their division lead drop from seven games down to two in the span of a week.  Their record only what it was due to the pitching, which was bound to wear down as they play a stretch of 33 games in 32 days.  And their division lead was a product of the rest of the division being terrible - always felt like it would just take one division rival getting hot to turn things on its head and that's been the Nationals now.

Just about everyone had them as a top-5 lineup going into the season and instead we enter July with them ranked 27th in home runs and dead last in runs scored.  Strangely enough despite dealing with a ton of injuries last year, the offense has looked its most futile in April and the last week and a half when they were largely fielding a full lineup.  The book is out on this team that none of them can hit offspeed pitches.  And special shout out to Lindor hitting .215 at nearly the All Star Break.  Keith Hernandez is generally optimistic when it comes to good players eventually figuring it out and even he is expressing concern that Lindor just doesn't seem to be able to string more than one or two good games together before his next prolonged offensive slump.  His $341 million contract hasn't even started yet and it already looks like it could go down as an all-time blunder.  Can't kill the team for paying him when all the fans wanted the extension done, but of course a generational superstar talent in his prime forgetting how to hit would happen to this team.

[DMN in the House]

4 hours ago, CLDY said:

I'm not at all surprised, given who we're talking about.

I'm surprised by the severity, but I think I'd feel that way about anyone without a prior history.

[gunnar hendershow]

The story was less surprising that it came out (never fully surprised because you never really know everything about a public figure) and more shocking in how brutal and severe it was.

Bauer's initial denial and defense is, as a friend put it, not something that makes you confident this is a one-time-only incident.

[KJE]

17 hours ago, Buschie Kay said:

Mets are teasing some sort of announcement for Bobby Bonilla Day tomorrow. I’d say it’s either:

A) they embrace it, invite Bobby Bonilla to Citi Field and make it a big celebration every year
B) Cohen flexes and buys out the contract

Either way would be hilarious, might as well have fun with it. Especially since Cohen can find the Bonilla money underneath his couch cushions.

Not sure if this was the announcement or completely unrelated, but I enjoyed this.

[Your Mom]

Here is the announcement. Very cool of Cohen and the Mets

 

 

[Your Mom]

Oh fuck off. Just admit you don't care

 

 

[The Buscher]

 

[The Buscher]

The Yankees opened the gates for yesterday’s Subway Series game even though the forecast made it pretty obvious they weren’t going to get the game in.  Get the big crowd in there for parking money and concessions and then cancel the game after a two hour delay.

Now the game is being made up as part of a day-night doubleheader tomorrow.  On a holiday.  And everyone who still wants to go has to pay parking etc again for a 7-inning game they already paid full price for, and paid a premium for because the Subway Series is always among the most expensive games on the schedule.

A big rip-off.

[The Buscher]

Preliminary All Star rosters announced

American League

Starters
C Salvador Perez, Royals
1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
2B Marcus Semien, Blue Jays
SS Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox
3B Rafael Devers, Red Sox
OF Teoscar Hernandez, Blue Jays
OF Aaron Judge, Yankees
OF Mike Trout, Angels
DH Shohei Ohtani, Angels*

Pitchers
Matt Barnes, Red Sox
Shane Bieber, Indians
Aroldis Chapman, Yankees
Gerrit Cole, Yankees
Nathan Eovaldi, Red Sox
Kyle Gibson, Rangers
Liam Hendriks, White Sox
Yusei Kikuchi, Mariners
Lance Lynn, White Sox
Shohei Ohtani, Angels*
Ryan Pressly, Astros
Carlos Rodon, White Sox
Gregory Soto, Tigers

*Voted in as a DH by fans and as a pitcher by the player vote, Ohtani does not count toward the 12 pitcher roster limit

Reserves
C Mike Zunino, Rays
1B Matt Olson, Athletics
1B Jared Walsh, Angels
2B Jose Altuve, Astros
SS Bo Bichette, Blue Jays
SS Carlos Correa, Astros
OF Michael Brantley, Astros
OF Joey Gallo, Rangers
OF Adolis Garcia, Rangers
OF Cedric Mullins, Orioles
DH Nelson Cruz, Twins
DH J.D. Martinez, Red Sox

National League

Starters
C Buster Posey, Giants
1B Freddie Freeman, Braves
2B Adam Frazier, Pirates
SS Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres
3B Nolan Arenado, Cardinals
OF Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves
OF Nick Castellanos, Reds
OF Jesse Winker, Reds

Pitchers
Corbin Burnes, Brewers
Yu Darvish, Padres
Jacob deGrom, Mets
Kevin Gausman, Giants
Josh Hader, Brewers
Craig Kimbrel, Cubs
German Marquez, Rockies
Mark Melancon, Padres
Alex Reyes, Cardinals
Trevor Rogers, Marlins
Zack Wheeler, Phillies
Brandon Woodruff, Brewers

Reserves
C J.T. Realmuto, Phillies
1B Max Muncy, Dodgers
2B Ozzie Albies, Braves
2B Jake Cronenworth, Padres
SS Brandon Crawford, Giants
SS Trea Turner, Nationals
3B Eduardo Escobar, Diamondbacks
OF Mookie Betts, Dodgers
OF Bryan Reynolds, Pirates
OF Kyle Schwarber, Nationals
UTIL Kris Bryant, Cubs
UTIL Chris Taylor, Dodgers

[gunnar hendershow]

Highly deserved for Cedric Mullins. He's been fantastic for the O's this year and if the team around him was only slightly better would garner some MVP votes.

[The Buscher]

Yeah Mullins has been one of the more unexpected stories in baseball.  Well earned honor.

I’m not too surprised that deGrom was the only Met.  All of their deserving players are pitchers and NL pitching is both loaded and they need to get each team a rep.  But he’s already said he won’t participate - MLB doesn’t need the replacement to be a Met but I hope Taijuan Walker gets the nod.

You can tell the player balloting happened a few weeks ago because Chapman’s ERA went from 0.39 to 4.71 in the span of two weeks.