The Cards are playing the Padres this weekend but the Padres starters are the corpses of Vince Velasquez, Yu Darvish and Jake Arietta. Velasquez was released by the Phillies on Tuesday and the Padres picked him up.
September MLB Thread
- Thread starter DeadlySplitter
- Start date
I don’t know if it was Jim Palmer but whoever said “Sanchez not the greatest defensive catcher…” right before the tying run scored had great timing.
I guess they've decided that even if Perez hits them while serving as a DH, they'll count it as being hit as a catcher
The Yankees did not play well in that series. Arguably a Brett Gardner bloop hit in the pouring rain is what stands between them and losing 2 out of 3 to the ZerO's.
Bench played different positions himself. But almost all were when he was catching.
In 1970, when Bench hit 45, 38 were as a catcher
30 of Perez's have come as a catcher
Both were/are great seasons
I hate that Bench will have his record broken that way. But Perez has, as you said, been great.
Javy Lopez is the guy getting screwed over. He holds the actual record for home runs by a catcher with 42 in 2003. Todd Hundley is second with his 41 homer season in 1996, then Roy Campanella and Mike Piazza (twice) are the only other catchers with 40 home run seasons.
Longoria deserves to win a WS. Hopefully he has adjusted and can be a productive player for a few more seasons, he is so close to a HoF career. A WS win with the Giants and two to three more 2-3 WAR seasons gets him there, I think.
Totally understand that @cannonball 1729 owes me nothing, but every day I come to the forum looking for his Elimination Thread. It's honestly one of the best reads of the year for me. Hope we get it, understand if we don't.
To remember, by mid-September 2019 he was in the midst of his second breakout season in a row. After going off for .326, 36 HR, and 22 SBs in 2018 and winning NL MVP, he went even further -- in 130 games (!) he was at .329 with 44 HR and 30 SBs. But then on September 10, 2019, he broke his kneecap. And when he came back last season he was not the same guy. Dude hit ~.200 and his OPS+ plummeted from 179 to 110. Came back this year and has been on and off the IL with a mysterious back injury and then COVID, hitting .245 with only 8 HR.
He's STILL only 29. I worry it's a Nomar situation (even more dramatic than his decline, in fact) where an accumulation of injuries can overwhelm even an outstanding young player.
The bad: They still owe Miggy Cabrera $30M in 2022 & 2023. They still can't really hit (22nd OPS in MLB) or pitch (19th in ERA). And I don't think the AL Central is quite as awful as you're implying. They have to contend with the White Sox, who are likely making a World Series run this year and looking like a juggernaut for the next few seasons (that Eloy/Robert/Anderson/Abreu/Giolito/Lynn core is pretty scary), the Guardians, who were decimated by injuries this season (not just to players but to Tito as well) but in 2022 will still feature one of the deepest rotations in MLB, led by a Cy Young favorite (Bieber/Civale/Plesac/McKenzie/Quantrill is nothing to scoff at, especially given the late season emergence of Sticks McKenzie, no matter who is in the lineup), and I wouldn't be surprised if they're moderate buyers this offseason in the CJ Cron tier.
The good: As you say, with Mize/Skubal/Boyd atop the rotation and a lot of competent hitters in their lineup, they seem to have transcended the Baltimore/Arizona tier of terrible, with more help on the way from AAA in 2022.
Overall: I think the Tigers have to be careful not to turn into the Angels of the AL Central, where they spend just enough money to be in the unhappy middle -- too good to draft upper tier prospects, but not good enough to seriously contend. I think their next actual contention window opens in 2023/24, so if they do sign a big free agent this winter it will be like the Padres signing Machado in 2019: a signal that they plan to be better in the years to come and an advertisement to the 2023 free agent class (someone like Jose Ramirez could be a target?).
It's a sort of sad, confusing story from what I understand. I would expect a long-form ESPN or Athletic profile about his during the offseason.
To remember, by mid-September 2019 he was in the midst of his second breakout season in a row. After going off for .326, 36 HR, and 22 SBs in 2018 and winning NL MVP, he went even further -- in 130 games (!) he was at .329 with 44 HR and 30 SBs. But then on September 10, 2019, he broke his kneecap. And when he came back last season he was not the same guy. Dude hit ~.200 and his OPS+ plummeted from 179 to 110. Came back this year and has been on and off the IL with a mysterious back injury and then COVID, hitting .245 with only 8 HR.
He's STILL only 29. I worry it's a Nomar situation (even more dramatic than his decline, in fact) where an accumulation of injuries can overwhelm even an outstanding young player.
The Tigers are at an interesting crossroads.
The bad: They still owe Miggy Cabrera $30M in 2022 & 2023. They still can't really hit (22nd OPS in MLB) or pitch (19th in ERA). And I don't think the AL Central is quite as awful as you're implying. They have to contend with the White Sox, who are likely making a World Series run this year and looking like a juggernaut for the next few seasons (that Eloy/Robert/Anderson/Abreu/Giolito/Lynn core is pretty scary), the Guardians, who were decimated by injuries this season (not just to players but to Tito as well) but in 2022 will still feature one of the deepest rotations in MLB, led by a Cy Young favorite (Bieber/Civale/Plesac/McKenzie/Quantrill is nothing to scoff at, especially given the late season emergence of Sticks McKenzie, no matter who is in the lineup), and I wouldn't be surprised if they're moderate buyers this offseason in the CJ Cron tier.
The good: As you say, with Mize/Skubal/Boyd atop the rotation and a lot of competent hitters in their lineup, they seem to have transcended the Baltimore/Arizona tier of terrible, with more help on the way from AAA in 2022.
Overall: I think the Tigers have to be careful not to turn into the Angels of the AL Central, where they spend just enough money to be in the unhappy middle -- too good to draft upper tier prospects, but not good enough to seriously contend. I think their next actual contention window opens in 2023/24, so if they do sign a big free agent this winter it will be like the Padres signing Machado in 2019: a signal that they plan to be better in the years to come and an advertisement to the 2023 free agent class (someone like Jose Ramirez could be a target?).
Well, you're in luck. Firing it up this weekend. Apparently everything in my life was due on 9/15, so I'm just now getting caught up on the world.
Gotcha. Thank you!
I hope he's not another Nomar and can come back and have a productive 5+ years.
I’ll be shocked if the Indians score a run all series. They’ve got the “get first two guys on and do something useless afterwards” down pat.
Rays score 3 in bottom 9th to tie it up against DET and then win it on Phillips 3 run walkoff HR in bottom 10. Magic number at 6.
Hinch is their manager, they might be the favorites for Correa this winter at something like 10/280.
The poor, poor Padres. The Cardinals hit a grand slam in the 8th, they take the first game of this pivotal weekend series in St. Louis 8-2. Blake Snell was supposed to start this one, but after his injury street FA Vince Velasquez took the bump. He wasn't good.
Padres now 1.5 games behind the Cards for the 2nd Wild Card and a half game behind the Reds, with the Phillies somehow lurking only 1 game behind the Padres.
Talk about a 2nd half collapse:
- After beating the Marlins on Friday, July 23rd, the Padres were 58-42 (.580, obviously), just 4.5 games behind the Giants and on pace to win 94 games.
- After losing tonight, the Padres are now 76-71, having gone 18-29 (.382!!), now 19 (!) games behind the Giants. This streak featured two series sweeps by the Dodgers, plus dropping 6 of 7 in back-to-back series in Colorado and Arizona.
Sons of Benito Santiago must be losing their minds.
Padres now 1.5 games behind the Cards for the 2nd Wild Card and a half game behind the Reds, with the Phillies somehow lurking only 1 game behind the Padres.
Talk about a 2nd half collapse:
- After beating the Marlins on Friday, July 23rd, the Padres were 58-42 (.580, obviously), just 4.5 games behind the Giants and on pace to win 94 games.
- After losing tonight, the Padres are now 76-71, having gone 18-29 (.382!!), now 19 (!) games behind the Giants. This streak featured two series sweeps by the Dodgers, plus dropping 6 of 7 in back-to-back series in Colorado and Arizona.
Sons of Benito Santiago must be losing their minds.
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I don’t believe Jayce Tingler is signed beyond this season. He is probably managing for his job in these final 14 games.
Low key PPD on Thursday between Braves and Rockies. Won't be made up unless it has to but the Braves lead is down to 2. Decent chaos potential since the game would have to be made up on Oct 4th and then possibly a division/WC2 tiebreaker. Brewers got to be loving it that they can just cruise to the Central Title while the Braves sweat it out.
Good call. They seem like a sure bet to grab one of the FA SS’s this off-season. I would expect them to be really active the next few offseasons.
It's a good point. I also just sort of wonder what the Tigers' small market "thing" will be, if that makes sense? This is a massive oversimplification that maybe isn’t even based in reality, but within the last 10 years I feel like:
- The Rays "thing" is sort of mixing and matching spare parts with elite young pitchers and ignoring "roles."
- The Royals decided to invest in defense, speed, and bullpen, to pretty spectacular results for a while.
- The Cardinals are the special case, but generally seem to feature aging stars alongside a few talented youngsters to be competent everywhere.
- The Guardians assembled fearsome rotations, then built around 1-2 star hitters (frankly, much like the early 2010s Tigers)
Is any of this fair?
With that enormous ballpark in Detroit I'd be tempted to copy the Royals and Guardians, focusing on the pitching and OF defense and yes, hope a Correa or two drive in enough runs to make you competitive.
Yeah honestly unless they win out and win the Wild Card game I can’t see him returning. They already fired the pitching coach. The manager is next.
Given the success the Astros and White Sox have had bringing in old friends Baker and LaRussa this season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Padres being in someone like Buck Showalter or Ron Washington.
I wonder where the A’s and Blue Jays would be in the Wild Card standings if Oakland had brought back Marcus Semien.
Tingler ejected for arguing balls and strikes. A questionable decision to use Pagan in the 8th. I think we saw the Padres season die tonight. Frustration boiling over.
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If Manny Machado went golfing October 4th and someone crushingly took a driver to one of his knees, I wouldn’t be too upset.