#trevor bauer throw

[sayheykid]

I want to know more about your baseball guys and friends and my questions:

Who has the most drip? The least?

What are they all studying in college?

When it comes to baseball, who’s the most traditional and who’s the most radical?

What pitches do the pitchers throw?

i'm so glad you like them! they're my best friends and i love answering questions about them.

this is about to be 80000000 words sorry

Who has the most drip? The least?

Ramón definitely has the most drip on and off the field. hallmarks of his style are bright colors, jewelry (earrings and a gold chain at the very least) and shirts that are unbuttoned so low it would honestly just be better to take it off altogether. it's a little unclear whether his style is actually good or whether his confidence is just so unreal that he can pull off anything. uni wise, it mostly comes down to wearing his pants as tight as possible. he's also a dirty mids believer

jake and ellie are always pretty put together but in a more understated way than ramón. charlie can dress up but usually he's just a guy i hate to break it to you. sam and tyler have likely never worn anything that wasn't team-issued or given away for free at other events.

What are they all studying in college?

tyler - mechanical engineering!

ellie - journalism

sam - business bro in some capacity. not finance or accounting but probably management

jake - doing the whole "what do you want to do with your sociology degree" "hit bombs, probably" routine

charlie - some kind of liberal arts because my soul dies every time i see some player say that they majored in something that's definitely not real like "american studies" or “science, technology & society” what do those words MEAN. in all honesty, i don't know how to classify exactly what charlie does, so if you have any suggestions, i'm all ears

ramón - media studies. he's absolutely becoming an analyst once he's done playing because he has the perfect personality for it. he and jake actually have a locker room show (like 96 questions) where they just dick around and try to corner their teammates it's delightful

When it comes to baseball, who’s the most traditional and who’s the most radical?

Charlie is definitely the most traditional. He knows the game has changed over the years, but he's so steeped in the tradition and the history and the heritage of the game and doesn't want to get too far removed from that. he's an absolute workhorse, and wants to throw a complete game every time. he's also good enough and stubborn enough that he could bring back the era of 30 complete games and 200+ innings a year (and he's trying to). his actual motion isn't that complicated either, it's a pretty simple rock step motion kind of like noah syndergaard? he doesn't mess with funky arm slots or deliveries because his pitches are just that dependable, and if you layer his different pitch deliveries on top of each other, they're pretty indistinguishable

on the other end, ramón doesn't mind messing around in the pitching lab working on the next new thing. if there's a new drill/tool/program he's willing to give it a shot, no matter how far out it is. their approaches make them butt heads sometimes but they really balance each other out. ramón does not have a uniform arm slot - he's a sidearm pitcher but just kind of flings the ball out there and hopes his catcher finds it. because of this, he's a little wilder but it's worked for him so far.

whenever i think of them, strictly in a baseball approach sense, i think of this article about gerrit cole and trevor bauer, except for. you know. charlie and ramón actually like each other and ramón is a much better person than bauer.

What pitches do the pitchers throw?

Again, charlie is really really traditional. He probably has a four or five pitch mix, and relies mostly on his blistering four seam fastball and slider, followed by his changeup and splitfinger. maybe a stomach-dropping hammer curve if he wants to mix it up. he throws very hard and very accurately, so he's never really had to learn to fool hitters. he doesn't tip pitches but you basically know what you're getting and it still doesn't help.

ramón does not nearly have the velo charlie does. it's not his style of pitching anyway — he relies mostly on offspeed stuff, lots of motion and getting hitters to chase out of the zone, because let's be real he's not throwing in the zone anyway. i also think he has a bigger arsenal, but it's not that consistent, he'll just mix in and out depending on what's working. he likes a cutter and slurve, and was early on the sweeper bandwagon. he does have a fastball (he prefers two seam) but it's nothing groundbreaking. he's also actively working on a circle changeup

[strawberryblondebutch]

Trevor Bauer has played himself entirely out of MLB by acting like a child (and the crimes against women, but the league has welcomed back others of his ilk, he just happens to throw more tantrums about it) so this isn’t a serious argument.

However.

Yankees fans banging down the doors for this guy are a particular breed of stupid. Have you ever heard of keeping your talent happy? The Bucks employ Giannis’s brothers because their star has threatened to leave otherwise. Gerrit Cole would explode Bauer with his mind if he could. You’re not pissing off your $300 million ace to get a washed-up loser.

[tallglasofwater]

Why is he shitty? Because he bit back at you when you were harassing him? You’re legit weird af

Oh, you think I'm weird? Should we throw a party? Should we call Bella Hadid? If you're trying to hurt my feelings, you should hit harder.

Tyler Glasnow is shitty because he's one of the few players who still follows Trevor Bauer on Instagram, implying support, implying friendship, implying that he doesn't care Trevor Bauer beats women.

[amandachristine92]

Two Doubleheaders Equal a Series Win

NYY @ BOS

First Doubleheader

Series Game 1

RHP Randy Vásquez for the New York Yankees pitched against RHP Nick Pivetta for the Boston Red Sox.

3B Rafael Devers got the scoring started for the Red Sox in the bottom of the fourth inning by hitting a solo homerun off Vásquez. The score was 1-0 Red Sox.

In the same inning, Vásquez threw a wild pitch, causing 1B Triston Casas to score from third base. The Red Sox extended their lead to 2-0.

In the top of the sixth inning, 1B DJ LeMahieu hit an RBI double off Pivetta, scoring LF Everson Pereira. The Yankees were on the scoreboard, making it 2-1 Red Sox.

Later in that inning, 2B Gleyber Torres hit a two-run RBI single off Pivetta, scoring C Kyle Higashioka and LeMahieu. The Yankees took the lead by 3-2.

This score would hold up toward the end of the game, causing the Yankees to win a close game.

Series Game 2

LHP Carlos Rodón for the Yankees went up against RHP Kutter Crawford for the Red Sox.

In the bottom of the first inning, rookie CF Ceddanne Rafaela hit a solo homerun off Rodón. The Red Sox took the early lead at 1-0.

In the top of the fifth inning, CF Estevan Florial hit an RBI single off Crawford, causing Pereira to score. The game was tied at 1-1.

In the top of the sixth inning, 1B Jake Bauers hit into a force-out, causing Torres to score. The Yankees led by 2-1.

In the top of the ninth inning, Torres hit an RBI single, scoring RF Oswaldo Cabrera. The Yankees extended their lead to 3-1.

In the same inning, C Austin Wells reached on catcher interference via C Connor Wong with the bases loaded. Pereira scored and the Yankees now led by 4-1.

Not much else happened after these at-bats, causing the Yankees to sweep this first doubleheader.

Second Doubleheader

Series Game 3

RHP Michael King got the start for the Yankees versus RHP Tanner Houck for the Red Sox.

In the bottom of the first inning, LF Wilyer Abreu hit an RBI single off King, scoring Devers. The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead against the Yankees.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Rafaela hit a solo homerun off RHP Greg Weissert. The Red Sox extended their lead to 2-0.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, SS Trevor Story hit a three-run homerun off RHP Matt Bowman, scoring Abreu, RF Adam Duvall, and Story himself. 

The Red Sox added more insurance runs, extending their lead to 5-0, which was the score they would win in this game.

Series Game 4

RHP Clarke Schmidt got the nod for the Yankees against RHP/opener Nick Robertson.

In the bottom of the first inning, RF Alex Verdugo grounded into a force-out, causing Rafaela to score. The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead.

Later in that inning, Abreu hit an RBI single off Schmidt, scoring Verdugo. The Red Sox extended their lead to 2-0.

In the top of the second inning, LeMahieu hit an RBI single off LHP Brennan Bernadino, scoring Florial. The Yankees now trailed the Red Sox by 2-1.

In the same inning, DH Aaron Judge hit a grand slam off Bernadino, scoring 3B Oswald Peraza, Cabrera, LeMahieu, and Judge himself. The Yankees took the lead by 5-2.

In the bottom of the third inning, Devers hit a solo homerun off Schmidt, making the score 5-3 Yankees.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Casas reached base on a throwing error by SS Anthony Volpe, causing 3B Luis Urias to score. The Red Sox trailed by 5-4.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Casas grounded out softly to Peraza at third base, who threw to LeMahieu at first. Rafaela scored and the score was tied 5-5.

In the top of the eighth inning, LeMahieu hit an RBI double off RHP Mauricio Llovera, scoring Volpe. The Yankees took the lead at 6-5.

In the top of the ninth inning, Peraza hit a two-run homerun off RHP John Schreiber, scoring Florial and Peraza himself. The Yankees extended their lead to 8-5 and won by this score.

The Yankees split this second doubleheader and won this series overall against the Red Sox with three out of four victorious games.

[danhalen]

I never want to see Trevor Bauer throw a pitch for us again. I thought he was a shitty human, but this is way worse than I thought.

jesus christ. this is.... like. IDK, i don't have words. i don't want to ever see him pitch for ANYONE. i hope he has to work on the back of a fucking garbage truck for the rest of his life. i hope he gets run over by a garbage truck while working his shitty garbage man job. like, sincerely, trevor, eat shit.

[twins2994]

Twins Blank Tribe 10-0!

Twins 10 Indians 0 W-Dobnak (1-3) L-McKenzie (1-3) 

The Minnesota Twins made the long trip from Anaheim to Cleveland after the doubleheader yesterday. The plane landed at five in the morning and the Twins tried to get some sleep and get back to work tonight. The Twins struck first in the third inning when Rob Refsnyder crushed a Triston McKenzie fastball out to left for a solo blast. This put Minnesota up 1-0 after three innings of play. The Twins got back to work in the fourth as Max Kepler drew a one-out walk. Alex Kirilloff lined a single to right and Miguel Sano walked to load up the bases. Trevor Larnach hit a groundball to first and Jake Bauers got the out at second base. Amed Rosario made a wild return throw, which scored an extra run and the Twins had a 3-0 lead. Mitch Garver and Rob Refsnyder reloaded the bases with walks and Triston McKenzie was out of the game. Andrelton Simmons delivered a run-scoring single to right to extend the Twins lead to four. With two outs, Josh Donaldson drew a bases loaded walk to keep the inning alive. The next batter, Max Kepler plated a pair with a double to right. Alex Kirilloff drove in two more with a long single to left. Miguel Sano followed with a double to left-center, which scored Kirilloff and the rout was on. This capped off a nine-run fourth for the Twins, where they took a ten-run lead. Meanwhile, Randy Dobnak ran with the big lead and threw six shutout innings. Jorge Alcala had a perfect seventh and Luke Farrell tossed two scoreless innings as the Twins picked up the shutout win tonight in Cleveland. 

-Final Thoughts- Randy Dobnak is a much better starter than a reliever and he showed that tonight. He threw six shutout innings and allowed three hits with two walks and five strikeouts on 93 pitches. Jorge Alcala had a 1-2-3 seventh on ten pitches and Luke Farrell fanned two in two scoreless frames. Alex Kirilloff, Miguel Sano, and Andrelton Simmons led the way with two hits each. The Twins hit 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Nelson Cruz was scratched from tonight’s game with a sore wrist after getting hit by a pitch yesterday. The Twins pick up their second straight win and a good pitching match-up ensues tomorrow. Kenta Maeda faces Shane Bieber in Game 2. 

-Chris Kreibich-

[laminy]

Hey, hope you’re doing fine!

I‘m just curious: what do you think of the Dodgers trade of Kiké Hernández to the Red Sox and the fact that Trevor Bauer came to the Dodgers?

Im new to baseball, but your fanfic got me interested now. I’m just curious about your opinion as a fan :)

Apart from that: stay safe :)

I’m 1000 percent here for this, ha. When they announced Kiké’s trade I was sad! I don’t like losing players, and he’d been with the Dodgers for a few years. He is a really versatile player, which has its pros and cons, but I liked him on the team and his personality.

Trevor Bauer as a player, I am excited for. He is a fantastic pitcher, and had a great 2020. But also, 2020 was a very different year for baseball so I don’t think he’s the best, but definitely has the potential to improve and bring a lot to the Dodgers. He really cares about the science of baseball and pitching and having a wide variety of pitches to throw hitters off, which I think is cool. Personality-wise...I wouldn’t want to spend any time with him or be his friend. We definitely disagree on politics, to put it politely.

Which is the trouble with team sports! My favourite sport is tennis, and though team tennis and doubles exist, I prefer watching singles and I can really feel comfortable with rooting for just one person. If their personality or politics isn’t for me, I will shift to someone else. But with the Dodgers, I love the Dodgers. They are my team. But I have to acknowledge that not everybody working for them is a good person.

Thank you for asking! I’m having a joy with the spring training games thus far. I hope you’re well too! 💖

[insidethegiftbasket]

Gleyber Torres

The Basics

Gleyber Torres is entering his age 24 season (they grow up so fast!) from Caracas, Venezuela. He just went through his first year of arbitration, where he and the Yankees agreed to a $4m deal for the 2021 season. Gleyber is under team control through the 2024 season. He’s a two time All Star, finished third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2018, and received MVP votes in 2019.

What Did Gleyber Do This Offseason?

He went home to Caracas for a little while.

He and Mrs. Gleyber went to Aspen.

He sold underwear.

He did advertisements for some pain reliever where he drove around in an Audi.

Some Fun Gleyber Highlights

Gleyber playing with Rookie and Derby in Trenton

Gleyber Torres vs Gary Thorne

Gleyber ALDS Game 4 Moon Shot

Gleyber Walk Off Against Cleveland

Gleyber’s 2020

So I think the general consensus during the season was that Gleyber had a disappointing season last year and wasn’t very good, but that is absolutely not the case, at least offensively.

During the regular season alone Gleyber put up a 106 WRC+, which is worse than his normal seasons but still better than league average. He was the 15th best shortstop in WRC+ last season (min 150 PA) and that’s with having a huge slump and a complete loss of power for a month last year while dealing with an injury. He started to heat back up and look better in September, and then he was back to perennial All Star Gleyber Torres in October.

So normally you wouldn’t take a whole lot from a postseason run, because in a normal season you’re talking about seven games vs 162 games, but this past season you’re talking about over 15% of his total plate appearances for the year. If you combine his regular season numbers with his October numbers, then all of a sudden that 106 WRC+ jumps all the way up to 128 WRC+, which would have been a career high for him.

So then, why was it a “disappointing” season at the plate for him? Ironically, I think part of the reason why he struggled was because of something he made huge strides in.

Gleyber almost doubled his BB% year over year (7.9% to 13.8%). He took a lot more pitches, and was a lot more selective about what he swung at.

His zone swing% went down nearly 9%, his meatball swing% went down 15%, his first pitch swing% dropped 12%. He mentioned this spring that he felt uncomfortable last year with everything, and while the decrease in his chase% and increase to his BB% was nice, part of what made Gleyber who he is was his ability to go out and there and be aggressive at the plate and crush the ball.

He also dropped from the 82nd percentile in barrels to the 11th percentile, so he stopped crushing the ball as often as he was. Now, the good thing is, he didn’t lose his power or anything- his grounder/line drive/fly ball percentages where basically the same, he didn’t change his approach to being a pull only guy or something like that as those splits stayed roughly the same, his exit velocity and launch angle were similar to previous years — it essentially comes down to Gleyber not getting the barrels and being a little too selective, which is honestly a good problem to have.

If Gleyber can marry his new control over the strike zone with his ability to crush pitches, then you’re not just looking at an All Star level player, you’re looking at a legitimate MVP candidate. Do I expect Gleyber to be hitting nearly 40 bombs again like he did in 2019? No, but he’s a 24 year old who was focusing on making an improvement and by the end of the season he was even better than who he was before, and that’s ignoring how bad his start of the season was.

Defensively he was bad. I don’t think Gleyber will ever be a good defensive player, let alone a good defensive shortstop, but I do think he has it in him to be an acceptable defensive shortstop.

He struggled on balls hit to his right, which as a shortstop is a pretty difficult play to make. He’s a year older now, he’s in better shape, he’s not dealing with a leg injury, I’d expect him to be closer to the 20th best defensive shortstop than the worst in the league going forward. Yankees may want to consider having him start a little more back defensively to give him some extra room to make the play, and Gleyber needs to focus a bit more when throwing to first.

Gleyber is also kinda slow for a shortstop, even before he had to deal with a leg injury this year, but unlike having the ability to improve defensively or at the plate, this is more or less what you’re going to get baserunning wise.

Gleyber was also surprisingly below average against four seam fastballs last year after murdering them in 2019, and really struggled to slug any sliders or curveballs like he had in the past. To me this seems like more of a flukey thing than a cause for concern.

Lastly, I’d be sad if I forgot to mention this: the dude is straight up clutch. The bigger the moment, the better Gleyber plays.

Optimistic Projection for 2021

Gleyber is dominant and puts up a monster season. He combines the power and slugging from his previous seasons with a great command of the strike zone and is an obvious All Star and wins the AL MVP. He’s only at a -1 OAA for the season at shortstop but puts up a 175 WRC+ and takes the mantle of being the best Yankee and the number three hitter in the lineup. Torres plays 150 games, hits 35 homers, and has huge moments throughout the season and pitchers are so afraid of DJ in the one spot and Torres in the three spot that Judge gets to feast on pitches in the zone. Gleyber then wins World Series MVP by hitting over .450 in a sweep over the Dodgers and pimps a bat flip on Trevor Bauer after bombing one into the upper deck in Yankee Stadium. The Yankees and Gleyber agree to a 10 year extension for over $250m as Torres becomes the face of baseball.

Pessimistic Projection for 2021

Gleyber is still good, but not elite and struggles at points through the season with a couple big slumps. He still ends up with a 108 WRC+ and 18 homers, but his defensive struggles end up affecting him at the plate as a lot of people wonder what the Yankees will do with him. Gleyber does well in the postseason, but an error blows a game wide open in the ALDS as they get eliminated early on. Torres ends up moving off shortstop to second base in the offseason as the Yankees have to trade Gio Urshela to have DJ play third base.

Sam’s Official Gift Basket Projection for 2021

I am all in on Gleyber for 2021. I think of all the guys on the team last year, his poor season was the flukiest and I think that he’s right back to being at least an All Star player and ends the season as the Yankees best position player. The issues he had at the plate are all super fixable assuming he can get back to barreling the ball like he had in the past, and having a full season and being ready to go right off the bat will make it even easier for him as well. My guess is he ends up around a .300/.400/.550 slash line and makes people realize they forgot about Gley.

Join us tomorrow when Evan takes you Inside the Gift Basket of a literal hitting machine, DJ LeMahieu.

[thesportssoundoff]

Playoff Droughts And Who Can Break Theirs

Joey

Baseball season is approaching and in the interest of breaking up the monotony of what figures to be a LONG and painful spring training, I wanted to take a peek whimsically while looking backwards. There's no more enjoyable story than when a team that's been excluded from the postseason dance for quite some time gets their invite. Sometimes it's years of hard work and team building and other years its due to ownership just throwing money around and sometimes? It's just a fluke luck circumstance not to be repeated for quite some time. For the sake of doing something of a bit of a project, I decided to take a brief look at teams that have not made the playoffs in over five years. I chose five years arbitrarily I suppose because to me five years or more without a playoff run is a genuine drought whereas four or less just feels like a lull regardless of expectations. Yankees fans may consider three years without the playoffs to be a drought whereas that's if anything a lull or a break in tradition. Teams that have been out of it for five years or more are teams that are either mired in long term BAD baseball or embracing mediocrity at best and so five years just felt right. Also I wanted to do it since the invent of the two game wild card but then it would be literally just three teams and nobody wants that.

Of the eight teams who have missed the playoffs for five years straight or longer, who are most likely to break that streak and join the dance? Well...

1- Philadelphia Phillies Last Playoff Appearance: 2011

Last year's darling picks, the Phillies have been out of the playoffs since 2011. For fun facts, 2011 was also the first year of the Chromebook, snapchat and the release of Elder Scrolls: Skryim. If you read this space for MMA? 2011 was the year Jon Jones beat Shogun for the LHW title, the Strikeforce HW Grand Prix started and Alistair Overeem's UFC debut. It's been a while and to the credit of Philadelphia, they've tried a multitude of ways from riding out the final years of aging veterans to rehauling their farm system to spending and spending big. It's not for a lack of trying they haven't made it back to the playoffs! Last year they seemed armed to roll through a perceived weak NL East with big names and big money across the board. Of course little did we know the Nationals would be better without Bryce Harper and the Phillies wouldn't even crack the top two of the division. Out goes Gabe Kapler and in comes Joe Girardi who will be tasked with VETERAN MANAGING his way through this ultra talented and underachieving roster that has added the likes of Zach Wheeler, Didi Gregorious as well as Andrew McCutchen who was lost early into 2019 with a torn ACL. The Phillies boast an insane line up as if Didi and Cutch are healthy and productive then you've got a core of Jean Segura, JT Realmuto, Didi, McCutchen, Rhys Hoskins and Bryce Harper. The rotation is pretty damn spiffy (health permitting) with Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Zach Eflin and Jake Arrieta plus flostam as a fifth if need be. The Phillies are always going to be a team that has slumps magnified and streaks glorified (such is life with Bryce Harper) but I can't see them not cracking the playoffs in some form or fashion this year. If they don't make the playoffs, we may need to try and discuss if there's some kind of a curse out there on the Phanatic.

2- Cincinnati Reds Last Playoff Appearance: 2013

Gotta admit I had no idea the Reds had a playoff cameo back in 2013. Guess that's just one of those years lost to time. Fun facts of 2013? Grand Theft Auto 5 came out that year, Yahoo purchased this hell site and the UFC brought women into the organization for the first time ever. The Reds spoke openly about wanting to spend a bit in the offseason and so they did, flexing some financial muscle with deals for Mike Moustakas, Shogo Akiyama and Nick Castellanos to help out a lineup featuring the likes of Joey Votto, Nick Senzel and Eugenio Suarez. If the Reds are going to make a serious run of things, it'll likely be on the arms of a rejuvenated Sonny Gray, mercurial Trevor Bauer and the league's best kept secret to casual fans Luis Castillo. There's obviously going to be concerns about a team that hits a lot of dingers but strikes out a bunch and a somewhat unheralded bullpen but the Reds have power, they've gotten better and they've got a cadre of arms to flex at any time. Also? The NL Central figures to be up in the air as the Cubs seem to coast with the core they have until the rebuild comes around, the Cardinals and Brewers underwent massive changes and the Pirates figure to be flat out bad. There's never been a more clear path for the Reds to make some October noise.

3- Los Angeles Angels Last Playoff Appearance: 2014

The year is 2014. In the real world,  Colorado legalizes the purchase of wacky tobacky, selfies became "a thing" in need of forever going away and the occulus rift creates a youtube grift genre. Sports wise? The MLB struggles through record rating woes, the Cowboys finally break through in the Jason Garrett tenure with a 12-4 record, the UFC is undergoing massive upheaval as stars retire or are suspended for PEDs, Bellator hosts its first PPV which in turn leads to the ousting of Bjorn Rebney for Scott Coker and LeBron James leaves Miami to go back where it all began in Cleveland. That's the last time the Angels saw a playoff game and it's been beaten to death at this point. "WHY DON'T THE ANGELS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS DURING MIKE TROUT'S PRIME?!" is tired and done to death but for those of you who feel the same way, 2020 marks the BEST chance for that to become a fad question (or perhaps just morph into "WHY CAN'T THE BEST PLAYER IN BASEBALL WIN THE WORLD SERIES ON HIS OWN?!") since the Angels are pretty damn loaded for bare. With the Astros about to endure a pretty weird season and the A's always lurking, the Angels will roll into the year with three bonafide superstars in Anthony Rendon, Shohei Otani and Mike Trout. The pieces around them aren't bad shakes either as Andrelton Simmons is a defensive whiz, David Fletcher is one of those solid under the radar types and the rotation isn't flashy but it should be competent with minor league depth to make moves if they see a big fish out there. The Angels would've been higher up had they gotten Ross Stripling and Joc Pedersen in a deal but since that fell off, I feel like 3rd behind the Reds and Phillies is a fine spot to put them in.

4- Chicago White Sox Last Playoff Appearance: 2008

2008 will probably best be known as the year of change headlined by the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. It was the year Fidel Castro stepped down in Cuba. China got the olympics in Beijing and people were TOTALLY cool about that with nary any controversy whatsoever. Beyond that? 2008 was the year I got into MMA and that was a special time, dudes. It was also the year where the White Sox saw their last real sustained succeed with its last postseason appearance. The White Sox feel like they've been in a rebuild since pretty much the end of the Ozzie Guillen tenure and despite multiple managers, multiple attempts to figure it out, rebuilds aplenty and some damn good talent coming through the organization, it's been a rough go of it for the majority of 2010 to 2019. Put it this way, the LAST time the White Sox made the playoffs, Chris Sale was a 22 year old rookie and Paul Konerko was still an active player. They've got a chance to kick off this next decade as a bit of a sleeper team in the Central. This team can hit and one can assume that another year of development for phenom talents like Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jiminez can only help. Tim Anderson for better or worse has a style and swagger that generates attention but it is fair to remember that for at least one half a season, he was a phenomenal player worthy of the acclaim. The White Sox have tried hard to secure elite free agents (Manny Machado and Zack Wheeler) but it's been a bust so at this point it's going to be up to them to draft, develop and trade for it. It would not surprise me if the White Sox are good enough in June and July to make a big deal to try and push them over the hump and chase for the second wild card.

5- San Diego Padres Last Playoff Appearance: 2006

The Padres last made the playoffs in the year of the Nintendo Wii. Floyd Mayweather hadn't even come up with his Money Mayweather gimmick yet! Lost to baseball obscurity, the Padres had at the very least an interesting team out west. The likes of Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr, arguably the worst defensive outfield in the history of the universe and freakishly good young arms like Chris Paddack and Joey Luchessi at least made them fun to watch. They weren't "good" but this is a team that was still struggling to balance expensive veterans with clout (Machado, Eric Hosmer, Will Meyers) with really good young talent trying to figure things out. The Padres figure to be better with a full season of Tatis Jr, more production from guys like Hosmer and Machado plus improvements in the outfield with Tommy Pham and Trent Grisham (hold your jokes, Nats fans) figure to give this team a chance. There's a pretty good bullpen (Emilio Pagan is a sneaky nice pick up) and plenty of talent in their 26 man roster. The NL West has so much legit top talent with the D-Backs and Dodgers figuring to be really good that it's hard to make an argument for the Padres to be a playoff contender but they figure to try and trying is truly half the battle.

6- Miami Marlins Last Playoff Appearance: 2003

It's kind of a bummer that we didn't get our decennial Marlins "The fuck?" World Series win but they made up for it by giving us Jeffrey Loria and David Samson fucking things up for most of the decade leading to Derek FUCKING Jeter opting to get into the management game much to the chagrin of most folks on all sides. The Marlins are in the midst of rebuilding....again. Don't expect them to compete but they've got some good talent to at least want to see play. Brian Anderson, Caleb Smith, Jorge Alfaro and a bundle of veteran signings that will at the very least make the Marlins a fun trade partner in July will keep this team relevant. Wouldn't surprise me if the Marlins flirt with a 20 win swing from where they were last year.

7- Seattle Mariners Last Playoff Appearance: 2001

My god man. The Mariners were SO close in 2018, winning 89 games and finishing a few spots out of a Wild Card spot. As if they decided that this core couldn't do it, the Mariners went to work tearing their team apart and were rewarded with a pretty blegh squad that was once again picked apart at the deadline. To their credit they have some spiffy talent worth watching, namely the infield duo of JP Crawford and Shed Long. They’ve also got some fun young arms who might take the next step. Just don't expect them to win many games.

8- Detroit Tigers Last Playoff Appearance: 2014

The Tigers are aways away from being contenders. They're not trying to be contenders. They're in the midst of what could best be described as a multiple year rebuild after riding out the end days of the core from the start of the 2010's. They will be bad but god bless 'em for embracing it.

[conlasbasesllenas]

La impresionante salida de Trevor Bauer (Video)

La impresionante salida de Trevor Bauer (Video)

Trevor Bauer estuvo impresionante en la lomita en un juego interescuadras de Rojos de Cincinnati. (more…)

[baseballsisco]

Cleveland Indians starter Trevor Bauer made history today. In his first two starts of the 2019 season, Bauer becomes the first pitcher ever in MLB history to throw 5+ innings in his first two season starts and only give up one hit in BOTH games. ⁣ ⁣ Bauer gave up a hit in 7 innings pitched in his first game against the Minnesota Twins in March 30th. Today he pitched 8 no-hit innings against the Toronto Blue Jay's before being taken out after 117 pitches. ⁣ ⁣ #TrevorBauer #ClevelandIndians #2019MLBSeason #TorontoBlueJays #MinnesotaTwins #Baseball #Beisbol #BaseballSisco https://www.instagram.com/baseballsisco/p/Bv23paMA108/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1fqaz7pu7g6ke

[detroittigermania]

4/10/19: Detroit chases Bauer, wins 4-1

Apparently the Detroit Tigers did not get the memo that Cleveland Indian starting pitcher Trevor Bauer had been nearly untouchable coming into his start at Comerica Park. Whichever intern is in charge of delivering the memos should just go on vacation. After allowing just 1 run and 1 base hit over the first 14 innings of the season, the Tigers touched Bauer up for 4 runs on 10 hits over 5.2 innings before being pulled from the game. It was the first time Bauer had given up 4 or more runs in a start since July 20th, 2018, against the Texas Rangers. It was also the first time he allowed 2 home runs in a game since September 15th 2017, against the Kansas City Royals. Bauer previously had a no-hitter through 7 innings against Toronto, but was pulled after issuing 6 walks with an elevated pitch count. In the first inning, Miguel Cabrera smacked a single to right field with two outs. Niko Goodrum cashed in with a two-run home run to right field, his first of the season. John Hicks chipped in with a couple of base hits, including his very own home run--a solo shot--in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 3-1. Josh Harrison drove in his first RBI of the season when he singled up the middle and sent Gordon Beckham home to score the game’s final run. Only Nicholas Castellanos did not record a base hit for Detroit, going 0-for-5 with 2 strikeouts. Matthew Boyd (1-1) walks away with his first win of the season after another strong start, throwing 6 innings and allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6. His lone run allowed came in the sixth inning when Hanley Ramirez doubled to center field and drove former Tiger Leonys Martin home from second. Through his first three starts, Boyd is sporting a 2.60 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP, and 29 strikeouts through 17.1 innings. Detroit was sweating bullets in the 8th inning, after Joe Jimenez managed to record the first two outs and then proceeded to walk the next three batters to load the bases. Jimenez was pulled, and Buck Farmer came in to induce a ground ball to get the force out and leave them loaded. Detroit moves to 8-4 and swaps places with Cleveland to take the lead in the American League Central Division. With a Minnesota Twins (6-3) loss today, Detroit would have sole possession of the division lead. Even with another win and leading their division, Detroit is still tied for scoring the least amount of runs in the entire league: Miami and Detroit have both totaled 33 runs so far. The bats have looked more alive as of late, and scoring 4 runs off of one of the premier pitchers in the American League is nothing to shake a stick at either. When all is said and done, Detroit won’t be averaging less than 3 runs a game at the season’s close. Tomorrow, Detroit sends out Spencer Turnbull (0-1, 4.09) against Cleveland’s Shane Bieber (0-0, 3.38) in an attempt to win the first series of the season against their division rivals. Both pitchers are coming off strong starts that resulted in no-decisions.

[tvfavorites]

Trevor Bauer Says He Has Video Proving Assault Accuser Lied About Injuries

Trevor Bauer Says He Has Video Proving Assault Accuser Lied About Injuries

Trevor Bauer is asking a judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by the woman who accused him of sexual assault … claiming he has video proof, taken from bed after their second sexual encounter, which proves she lied about her injuries. TMZ Sports obtained a motion filed by 31-year-old Bauer’s legal team in southern California, which includes a video that was allegedly recorded by accuser Lindsey…

[twins2994]

Cleveland Indians-Minnesota Twins Series Preview

8.8.19-Mike Clevinger RHP (6-2) 3.07 ERA Vs. Kyle Gibson RHP (11-4) 4.02 ERA

8.9.19-Shane Bieber RHP (11-4) 3.31 ERA Vs. Devin Smeltzer LHP (1-1) 2.28 ERA

8.10.19-Adam Plutko RHP (4-2) 4.55 ERA Vs. Jake Odorizzi RHP (12-5) 3.61 ERA

8.11.19-Aaron Civale RHP (1-1) 0.75 ERA Vs. Jose Berrios RHP (10-6) 3.24 ERA

The Indians At A Glance- The last time the Twins saw the Indians was on July 14th when they took two out of three games from the Tribe and had a 6.5 game lead in the American League Central. Since then, the Indians have gone (17-6) and are within two games of the Twins. The Indians have acquired Hunter Wood, Christian Arroyo, Franmil Reyes, Yasiel Puig, and Logan Allen. They gave up Trevor Bauer to get Reyes and Puig. Corey Kluber is on a rehab assignment as he tries to get back. Franmil Reyes is hitting .083 with two RBI’s in seven games for the Indians. Yasiel Puig is hitting .292 with three RBI’s in seven games for the Tribe. Carlos Santana is continuing his solid year. He is hitting .282 with 24 homers and 64 RBI’s on the year. Francisco Lindor has a .301 average to lead the team. Shane Bieber has been a god send with a 3.79 ERA in 149 1/3 innings. Zach Plesac has put together some nice starst as well. Mike Clevinger has a 3.07 ERA in 55 2/3 innings. The bullpen has been solid for the Indians. Brad Hand has 28 saves. Nick Wittgren owns a 2.62 ERA in 39 games. Hunter Wood has been good with his new team. Nick Goody has a 1.35 ERA in 26 2/3 innings. 

The Twins At A Glance- The Twins returned home for a ten-game road trip and swept the Kansas City Royals. The Braves took two out of three from the Twins this week and now the Cleveland Indians come to town for a huge four-game series. The Twins offense amassed 19 runs in the three games against the Braves. Nelson Cruz has been red hot with 16 homers since July 12th. He has six homers and fourteen RBI’s already in August. Miguel Sano hit 4-for-8 with two homers and six RBI’s in the Braves series. Jake Odorizzi gave them a good start on Monday, but Jose Berrios and Martin Perez were knocked around in the last two games. All three starters did go at-least 5 2/3 innings, which helped the bullpen out. Kohl Stewart saved the bullpen with three innings on Wednesday then was optioned to Rochester after the game. The team is calling up Randy Dobnak from Rochester. He had a 2.38 ERA in 124 innings this year at three levels. He give the Twins another look out of the bullpen. Dobnak has a mid-90′s fastball and that;s all I’ve seen after doing lengthy research. I’m not sure what else he throws besides his sinker. Everyone in the Twins bullpen should be available for Thursday’s game. 

What To Watch For- The Twins are (5-4) against the Indians in nine games this season. The two teams face off ten times between now and September 15th. Mike Clevinger is (2-2) with a 2.91 ERA in eleven games against the Twins. Kyle Gibson is (3-9) with a 5.34 ERA in nineteen career starts against the Indians. Carlos Santana has four career homers off him. Shane Bieber is (2-0) with a 4.09 ERA in six games versus the Twins. Devin Smeltzer threw 6 1/3 innings and allowed five runs on June 4th. Adam Plutko has a 3.68 ERA in 7 1/3 innings against the Twins. Jake Odorizzi is (2-4) with a 4.89 ERA in 11 starts against the Tribe. Jose Ramirez has three homers and Francisco Lindor has two homers off Odorizzi. Jose Berrios is (5-2) with a 3.86 ERA in ten starts against the Twins. This weekend will be one of the most important series in Target Field history. I remember the last series of 2015 against the Royals being a huge one. There wasn’t any big series in 2017 because the Twins were on a roll and clinched the American League Wild-Card spot early. There was a big series in early-September of 2010 against the Tigers. I would say this one is up there with key games at Target Field.  

-Chris Kreibich-

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

You Are Back In It, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates, 

And the streak continues. I didn’t know if you would be able to keep the winning going against a Reds’ team that has played much better lately. I should’ve known better. You beat the crap out of them outscoring them 27-5 in a three-game series and you’ve increased your winning streak to nine games. Yes, you averaged nine runs per game in this series. You’ve climbed the ladder but you’re still a fairly insurmountable eight games back in the division. The interesting part is the Wildcard chase where you are only 4 ½ games back of the Brewers and the Phillies, the two Wildcard teams as of now. The Brewers got smoked again today so you are in it. There are still two teams between you and the final Wildcard spot, but you’re coming on strong just at the right time so that if you’re a seller at the trade deadline it will look terrible and if you don’t it will look stupid. This winning steak might be the most Pirates’ thing you have ever done. The offense has been absolutely electric albeit against some mediocre pitching. If you keep winning at this rate, is it possible you become buyers at the deadline? It’s not out of the question. I would have never imagined you would be in this position but I also never imagined you would win nine in a row. This next week will determine a lot. If somehow this winning continues and you’re within a couple games of a Wildcard spot, then maybe the thinking does need to change. I’m not there yet, but the tide is turning.

Marte and Polanco have remained on absolute fire after the All Star break. Both have raised their OPS’s to .827 and .829 respectively with 15 and 17 home runs now on the season. This offense centers around them. Marte is a known commodity already having a full season in which he had an OPS over .900. Polanco might finally be breaking out and I almost hesitate to say that. His last month he’s been one of the best hitters in baseball with an OPS over 1.000 during that stretch. Anyone arguing we should trade them while their value is high is crazy. Polanco is only making 3.5 million this year. You have him under contract through 2023 and the last two years of the contract are option years where the most he will make is 13.5 million. Marte is making 7.5 million this year and he’s technically under contract until 2021 and he’ll make 12.5 million in that final year. Because of those team friendly contracts, their value is very high and you could get high-end prospects in return for them. The problem is that even if you got a few of the better prospects in baseball, you still don’t know how they will turn out. Even with Polanco’s inconsistencies, both him and Marte are proven commodities. When the Padres traded their closer, Brad Hand, and reliever Adam Cimber, who is having an awesome season, earlier this week and got one of the top prospects in baseball in return, people discussed trading Felipe Vasquez. First off, to get that kind of return, we would need to trade Vasquez and Crick. You only do that if you don’t think you can compete in the next couple years and given this run and how the NL really only seems to have two elite teams (Cubs and Dodgers especially after they traded for Manny Machado), it’s reasonable to believe you could compete sooner. You still might end up trading players who will be free agents this year or next year, but I don’t think doing a full rebuild is the right move because you don’t know what you will get in return and I honestly don’t trust this front office to make moves of that magnitude.

Who has the best OPS on your team right now? That would be Corey Dickerson after his 4 for 5 performance which included a double and two home runs, his 10th and 11th. He’s homered in four straight games. His OPS is up to .856 and he will be the biggest debate whether to trade him or not at the deadline. Obviously this nine-game winning streak throws a minor curveball into that thought process. He has another year of arbitration next year so he’s under your control for another season. He’s making 5.95 million this season so it’s fair to guess that he would make around 8 or 9 million next year. That’s still very reasonable for a guy with his current statistics. He’s been a streaky hitter throughout his career and his BABIP is .330 right now so he’s due for a regression. He is right around top five in the NL in batting average, which I know isn’t that important to most people, but it makes him fit very well at the top of the lineup. This week will probably determine if you are buyers or sellers but Dickerson could net you a very nice return. If you have a rough week and still don’t trade him, then that will tell me a lot about your opinion on Austin Meadows. I know Meadows started off strong but his last month before being demoted was well below average. The drop off from a .856 OPS to a .617 OPS (Meadows’ last month) is obviously drastic. I really like Dickerson as a ball player particularly his approach with two strikes on him. I don’t know why more players don’t choke up in that situation. He’s also cut down on his swing and misses on fastballs in the zone considerably after being the worst in baseball at that last year. That makes me think this could be sustainable.  By this time next week, Dickerson could be on another team. If he’s still here, that’s great. You could always trade him this offseason too. Or maybe you should extend him and trade Meadows. Again, it’s a proven commodity versus potential that might never come to fruition. Meadows has been very average at almost every level in the minors. One way or another, trading for Dickerson seemed like a no-brainer at the time and it has proved to be a brilliant move. Even if he ends up being traded, that mean you got a damn good prospect for him which is a win too.

I’ve been all about trading JHay and Mercer, bringing up Kevin Kramer and Kevin Newman, and starting them for the rest of the season. I’m starting to backtrack on that. Obviously things could change depending on what happens this week, but maybe you need to stay the course for now. I know JHay has had a terrible offensive season (.639 OPS) and Mercer is having a typical season which means his OPS is right around .700. Those aren’t two guys you want starting. I’m sticking with the theme of the week here which is you don’t know what prospects will actually do in the majors. People will say that there’s no way Kramer and Newman could be worse than those two but the reality is they could be. It’s very possible they could come up, bat under .200, and have an OPS of .500. That would be significantly worse. It’s also important to keep in mind that given their offensive numbers you are going to get next to nothing in return for Mercer or JHay. They both play stellar defense and are smart ball players, but that’s it. If this week ends up being a disaster and you fall well out of contention, I’d trade them in a second. I would just be sure that everyone is realistic on the lack of return you are sure to get and the possibility that what you are left with could even be worse than what you had. It’s a similar situation with Ivan Nova. I’m all for trading him too but, with the Kuhl injury, that means you are probably putting Glasnow or Holmes in the rotation and neither of those are a very desirable circumstances. My overall point is be careful what you wish for because things could always get worse.

I’m not overstating it when I say that this is the most important week of the season. For the millionth time, it will basically determine if you will be buyers or sellers at the deadline. The week starts with a tall task and finishes with a fairly easy one. Tomorrow you travel to Cleveland to take on the first place Indians and the pitching matchups don’t favor you at all. You start off by facing the defending Cy Young winner Corey Kluber and his 12-5 record with a 2.76 ERA. He will face basically your #5 starter Trevor Williams and his 4.36 ERA. That doesn’t bode well for you. Game 2 will see Joe Musgrove facing off against one of the top 100 prospects in baseball and the Indians #3 prospect, Shane Beiber. He’s 5-1 with a 3.53 ERA since being promoted after he threw a no-hitter in Triple-A. Game 3 will be your ace, Jameson Taillon, facing off against former top three pick Trevor Bauer and his 2.44 ERA. It’s the biggest series of the season and you are facing two Cy Young candidates and an elite prospect. After that, you go home to face the Mets and their lowly offense for a four-game series. You will have to go against Jacob DeGrom, but the other three games are very winnable. If this week goes well, you could be buyers at the deadline. If it goes south, you will be sellers. No pressure. It’s been a hell of a ride over this nine-game winning streak so thank you for that. Just keeping playing the way you have been and we will see what happens. Love you bunches!

                                                                                           Enjoying The Ride,

                                                                                                      Brad

P.S. stands for Pathetic Shit (pardon the language) and that’s in reference to the Brewers’ All Star reliever Josh Hader. During the All Star game, it was discovered that he had tweeted out some very racist and very homophobic things a few years ago when he was 17 years old. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior. He apologized for it and maybe he’s grown up a lot since then. We all did some stupid things when we were that age. I do think it’s a little ridiculous that his only punishment is sensitivity training rather than being suspended. A five-game suspension is still a fairly light punishment. Putting that aside, it was even more crazy when on his return to the mound at Miller Park that he was greeted with a standing ovation. I can understand forgiving the guy to a certain extent and maybe even not booing him (though I might have), but a standing ovation? Really? Poor form, Milwaukee…