August MLB News thread

moondog80

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20 year old rookie and put up a 131 OPS+ with elite D in CF, hit FA at 25 coming of a 6+ WAR season…and then sucked. What happened?
 

DeadlySplitter

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The Orioles just keep chugging along as a sneaky contender. It should fall apart without Lopez... unless... ???
 

jon abbey

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Very odd timing as people are saying on Twitter, you let him handle the draft and the trading deadline and then fire him?
 

Kliq

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Detroit looked to be making some positive steps last season, stumbling into some good hitters and a lot of entertaining young arms on the come-up. This year they've been awful, all of their hitters have stunk (nobody on the team with an OPS+ over 100 except Harold Castro) and those young arms have all gotten hurt and/or shelled. Only Tarik Skubal was any good for them this year. I don't know if he has failed the rebuild because the rotation still has a lot of potential and they have some intriguing minor league hitters, but this year was a huge step back when I think they would have liked to have been in contention for a wild card spot.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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Detroit looked to be making some positive steps last season, stumbling into some good hitters and a lot of entertaining young arms on the come-up. This year they've been awful, all of their hitters have stunk (nobody on the team with an OPS+ over 100 except Harold Castro) and those young arms have all gotten hurt and/or shelled. Only Tarik Skubal was any good for them this year. I don't know if he has failed the rebuild because the rotation still has a lot of potential and they have some intriguing minor league hitters, but this year was a huge step back when I think they would have liked to have been in contention for a wild card spot.
Plus the two “go for it” moves they made in the off-season, Baez and ERod, have not worked out, though I’m not sure the latter is Avila’s fault.
 

Kliq

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Yeah, the Baez deal being bad you could see coming from a mile away.
 

Scoops Bolling

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Very odd timing as people are saying on Twitter, you let him handle the draft and the trading deadline and then fire him?
The lack of moves at the deadline may be what did him in. Here's hoping the Tigers finally promote Kerry Carpenter to the MLB squad now...the lineup is godawful and they're keeping a guy with a 1.100 OPS in AAA for no clear reason.

Edit: looks like they did so earlier today!
 

DeadlySplitter

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The postseason schedule is out. There's a lack of travel days off in a couple spots (all LDS games 4-5, both LCS games 5-6) to fit it all in.

https://www.mlb.com/news/2022-mlb-playoff-and-world-series-schedule

Of particular dumbness to me is ALDS has days off surrounding game 2. A game 1 starter could come back on 3 days' rest in game 3. The issue though is they had to start all the LDSs on the same day since the WC rounds start on the same day, or a WC team could bring back a game 1 starter for ALDS game 1 on regular rest.

Things should be better next year when the regular season ends on first Sunday of October roughly, as usual. Thanks lockout!
 

joe dokes

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The postseason schedule is out. There's a lack of travel days off in a couple spots (all LDS games 4-5, both LCS games 5-6) to fit it all in.

https://www.mlb.com/news/2022-mlb-playoff-and-world-series-schedule

Of particular dumbness to me is ALDS has days off surrounding game 2. A game 1 starter could come back on 3 days' rest in game 3. The issue though is they had to start all the LDSs on the same day since the WC rounds start on the same day, or a WC team could bring back a game 1 starter for ALDS game 1 on regular rest.

Things should be better next year when the regular season ends on first Sunday of October roughly, as usual. Thanks lockout!
IIRC, the leagues' playoff schedules were different last year for offdays as well.

The lack of travel days always reminds me of ALCS 2004, where the rainout resulted in games on 5 straight days, which ultimately inured to the Sox' benefit.
 

jon abbey

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The postseason schedule is out. There's a lack of travel days off in a couple spots (all LDS games 4-5, both LCS games 5-6) to fit it all in.

https://www.mlb.com/news/2022-mlb-playoff-and-world-series-schedule

Of particular dumbness to me is ALDS has days off surrounding game 2. A game 1 starter could come back on 3 days' rest in game 3. The issue though is they had to start all the LDSs on the same day since the WC rounds start on the same day, or a WC team could bring back a game 1 starter for ALDS game 1 on regular rest.

Things should be better next year when the regular season ends on first Sunday of October roughly, as usual. Thanks lockout!
Basically no one is good pitching on 3 days rest in today’s game, so if anyone tries that, it will be surprising if it is successful.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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Rangers fire manager Chris Woodward ... which answers the question, "Who was managing the Texas Rangers, anyway?"

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34403943/sources-texas-rangers-fire-manager-chris-woodward-amid-season-dissatisfactory-progress
Strange move...Woodward started in 2019 with the team finishing 78-84, an improvement from 67-95 in 2018. Rangers clean house between 2019 through the pandemic-shortened season and roster is absolutely pathetic in 2021, and they finish 60-102. Then Passan's article says how disappointing it is he's sitting 51-63 (72-90 pace) with the 3 signings they made in the offseason: Seager, Semien and Gray. IDK, the combined WAR of these guys is on pace for ~10 which is around the difference in records from '21 to '22 and what else have the Rangers really done to upgrade the roster? Despite those 3 moves, the Rangers are squarely in the middle of the pack as far as payroll so it is not like ownership is going the "extra mile". (Payroll includes dead money of $12+ million for Rougned Odor and $7+ million for Elvis Andrus.)

Jon Daniels appears to be Rangers GM for life but perhaps he is hearing footsteps and this is a panic move to keep his own job safe.
 

LogansDad

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Michael Harris II signed an 8 year/$72M deal with the Braves with team options for 2031/32.

Does Anthopoulos drug these guys' agents or something? How does he keep pulling this off?
 

Apisith

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Michael Harris II signed an 8 year/$72M deal with the Braves with team options for 2031/32.

Does Anthopoulos drug these guys' agents or something? How does he keep pulling this off?
It’s amazing and it’s exactly what Chaim needs to do with players who graduate. Hopefully we get a Casas deal by the end of next year.
 

Gdiguy

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It's the new market inefficiency - don't be a cheapass with arbitration (and then be negotiating a contract in later arb years when your players have already made $20M+ and are more comfortable taking a risk to hit free agency). I mean Harris got ~$500k as a signing bonus, a guaranteed $72M is incredibly hard to turn down no matter how 'below market value' it might seem on paper

I do respect that the Braves have gone all-in with this strategy, which I think is the key - if you sign one player like this then it's just a coin flip whether it works out or not, but if you do 3 or 4 of these deals in 5 years the odds are pretty solid that at least half of them will be great deals and you smooth out the risk
 

Marciano490

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There’s probably a bit of peer pressure involved in the clubhouse too after a bit.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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What a massive opportunity for someone willing to spend.
Is it? The team has always been second fiddle to the Dodgers and its not like Moreno hasn't spent, he just hasn't spent well, mostly. Seems like Moreno was also willing to spend on redeveloping the stadium and that area around it, but couldn't come to an agreement with the city on doing it.

I'm not an expert, but the location is not great either, right? All that traffic and a fan base that is widely dispersed and has to deal with the traffic.
 

Hoya81

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Is it? The team has always been second fiddle to the Dodgers and its not like Moreno hasn't spent, he just hasn't spent well, mostly. Seems like Moreno was also willing to spend on redeveloping the stadium and that area around it, but couldn't come to an agreement with the city on doing it.

I'm not an expert, but the location is not great either, right? All that traffic and a fan base that is widely dispersed and has to deal with the traffic.
The stadium issue is a bit more complicated than that. There's an ongoing FBI corruption probe into Moreno's attempt to buy the stadium from the city that's already caused the mayor of Anaheim to resign. Could be that Moreno's trying to get out on his own before it gets worse for him or he's being pushed out by the other owners.
 

nattysez

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Is it? The team has always been second fiddle to the Dodgers and its not like Moreno hasn't spent, he just hasn't spent well, mostly. Seems like Moreno was also willing to spend on redeveloping the stadium and that area around it, but couldn't come to an agreement with the city on doing it.

I'm not an expert, but the location is not great either, right? All that traffic and a fan base that is widely dispersed and has to deal with the traffic.
The Angels have never had a payroll over $183m, according to Passan. So even if he wanted to avoid the tax, they've been at least $47m under the tax threshhold year after year. He doesn't surround the stars he pays big $ for with much help.
 

ColdSoxPack

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Jul 14, 2005
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Is it? The team has always been second fiddle to the Dodgers and its not like Moreno hasn't spent, he just hasn't spent well, mostly. Seems like Moreno was also willing to spend on redeveloping the stadium and that area around it, but couldn't come to an agreement with the city on doing it.

I'm not an expert, but the location is not great either, right? All that traffic and a fan base that is widely dispersed and has to deal with the traffic.
It is easier to get to and park at Angels stadium than Dodger Stadium by a lot. And the park is nice. He won't pay the luxury tax and his deal to steal the land from the city of Anaheim is dead.
 
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Sad Sam Jones

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I'm not sure what an appropriate payroll is for the Angels, but most of the teams in MLB have never spent $183M on payroll. That seems like a strange criticism of Moreno. He certainly hasn't been afraid to hand out large contracts. The problem is most of those quickly went south and became huge burdens on the team. You could say he hasn't spent a lot of money beyond the highest paid 3-4 players on the roster, but if those contracts are dead weight, I'm not sure trying to outspend the mistakes is a good way to build a team. A market like Anaheim's should be able to eat bad contracts and win with enough cost controlled talent, but that's their larger problem – any good players they've developed are few and far between.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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It is easier to get to and park at Angels stadium that Dodger Stadium by a lot. And the park is nice. He won't pay the luxury tax and his deal to steal the land from the city of Anaheim is dead.
Not only that, but from my last experience there the area surrounding the park is a sea of asphalt. If a new owner could actually make an honest deal to buy the land, they could consolidate the parking into garages and develop the hell out of that area while still reducing the environmental impacts from ALL that impervious area. Frankly it would be malpractice on the city's part to not do one or the other: either vet a new offer for the land, or pay for reduction of the parking area footprint to make some green space.
 

dynomite

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I'm not sure what an appropriate payroll is for the Angels, but most of the teams in MLB have never spent $183M on payroll. That seems like a strange criticism of Moreno. He certainly hasn't been afraid to hand out large contracts. The problem is most of those quickly went south and became huge burdens on the team. You could say he hasn't spent a lot of money beyond the highest paid 3-4 players on the roster, but if those contracts are dead weight, I'm not sure trying to outspend the mistakes is a good way to build a team. A market like Anaheim's should be able to eat bad contracts and win with enough cost controlled talent, but that's their larger problem – any good players they've developed are few and far between.
Good point about Most Teams. But if you only pick teams in Top 5 media markets does that ratio change?
These are both good points. Just in terms of total payroll as a blunt measure, the Angels have been Top 11 (as high as 4th, often 6th or 7th) every year since 2003.

I also think "Top 5 Media Markets" is a little deceptive. The Angels are the Clippers of the two LA baseball franchises. Like the Mets and White Sox, they're the second banana in a Top 5 market. Looking at payrolls in recent years, the White Sox have a number of years where they were in the 20s in team payroll (29th in MLB in 2018, only ahead of the A's, somehow). And from 2014-16 the troubled Wilpon Mets were also ~20th in team payroll.

So, relatively speaking, the Angels have spent more than the teams I consider their "peers" in recent years.

As for how they've spent, @cannonball 1729 could probably summarize better than I, but of course the franchise has been sort of cursed. A top pitching prospect was killed by a drunk driver on the way home from the stadium, another one died of an opioid overdose amid a team training staff scandal, and the well documented failures of their big contract free agents, from Pujols to Josh Hamilton. All of this despite employing perhaps the league's two standout generational superstars in recent years.

Don't have an opinion about Arte Moreno himself, although (at the risk of some light V&N posting) I find his Trump political endorsements hideous.
 

bosox188

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Looks like Walker Buehler did in fact need his second TJ surgery:


@JeffPassan

Los Angeles Dodgers star right-hander Walker Buehler underwent Tommy John surgery today, he said on Instagram. He'll miss the rest of the year and almost certainly all of the 2023 season, too. This will be his second Tommy John surgery, and recovery typically takes longer.
 

ColdSoxPack

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Not only that, but from my last experience there the area surrounding the park is a sea of asphalt. If a new owner could actually make an honest deal to buy the land, they could consolidate the parking into garages and develop the hell out of that area while still reducing the environmental impacts from ALL that impervious area. Frankly it would be malpractice on the city's part to not do one or the other: either vet a new offer for the land, or pay for reduction of the parking area footprint to make some green space.
You are right there is lots of room for development there. Things went south when there was a requirement to build low cost housing on the site. Whoever buys the team will have to deal with a crooked city hall.