MLB Season Discussion Thread: 2022

[QUOTE=Patrick Chewing;14722006]Then that goes to my point of this voting being a farce. This is a popularity contest with no standards at all. So Sheffield and Kent were *****, but the Hall of Fame isn't about your personality, it's about your statistics.[/QUOTE]

Well Sheffield was linked to steroids, as I've said. They're been pretty consistent with that one.

Your personality contributes to how effective you are as a teammate and baseball player. It's [I]absolutely[/I] a factor. If everything else is equal, the team with the leader will be more successful.

There are plenty of people with better numbers than Dansby Swanson that won't see the type of contract he got.

[QUOTE=ShawkFactory;14722032]Well Sheffield was linked to steroids, as I've said. They're been pretty consistent with that one.

Your personality contributes to how effective you are as a teammate and baseball player. It's [I]absolutely[/I] a factor. If everything else is equal, the team with the leader will be more successful.

There are plenty of people with better numbers than Dansby Swanson that won't see the type of contract he got.[/QUOTE]

I see what you're trying to say, but there are so many players who are poor clubhouse guys that have great numbers. And there are so many players who are great clubhouse guys who absolutely have no idea how to make contact. To disqualify those problematic players from the Hall is petty. I think you can agree that a standard should be created for the Hall. Across all sports too. To leave it to biased writers seems rather counterproductive.

[QUOTE=Patrick Chewing;14722051]I see what you're trying to say, [B]but there are so many players who are poor clubhouse guys that have great numbers. And there are so many players who are great clubhouse guys who absolutely have no idea how to make contact[/B]. To disqualify those problematic players from the Hall is petty. I think you can agree that a standard should be created for the Hall. Across all sports too. To leave it to biased writers seems rather counterproductive.[/QUOTE]

I definitely agree with this, which is why I think you have to consider the whole package. In the early to mid 2000s if you were to poll 100 coaches, players, and fans who they'd rather have it'd be Rolen overwhelmingly I'd bet. Kent's offensive production wasn't drastic enough to make up for everything else IMO.

The Houston Astros have named Dana Brown as their new general manager Thursday. This after parting ways with former GM James Click.

[QUOTE=Street Hunger;14722618]The Houston Astros have named Dana Brown as their new general manager Thursday. This after parting ways with former GM James Click.[/QUOTE]

Big loss for Braves.

[video=youtube;Svnby66Uick]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svnby66Uick[/video]

Who will get him in 2025?

Anyone here interested in World Baseball Classic?

2023 Team USA:

[QUOTE]C J.T. Realmuto, [URL="https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/phillies"]Philadelphia Phillies[/URL]
C Will Smith, [URL="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/tag/los-angeles-dodgers"]Los Angeles Dodgers[/URL]
Kyle Higashioka, [URL="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/tag/new-york-yankees/"]New York Yankees[/URL]
1B Pete Alonso, [URL="https://nbcnewyork.com/tag/new-york-mets"]New York Mets[/URL]
1B Paul Goldschmidt, St. Louis Cardinals
2B Jeff McNeil, New York Mets
3B Nolan Arenado, St. Louis Cardinals
3B Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals
SS Tim Anderson, [URL="https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox"]Chicago White Sox[/URL]
SS Trea Turner, Philadelphia Phillies
OF Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers
OF Cedric Mullins, Baltimore Orioles
OF Mike Trout, [URL="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/tag/los-angeles-angels/"]Los Angeles Angels[/URL]
OF Kyle Tucker, Houston Astros
OF Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies
RP Jason Adam, Tampa Bay Rays
RP Daniel Bard, Colorado Rockies
RP David Bednar, Pittsburgh Pirates
RP Kendall Graveman, Chicago White Sox
RP Ryan Pressly, Houston Astros
RP Devin Williams, Milwaukee Brewers
RP Adam Ottavino, New York Mets
RP Brooks Raley, New York Mets
SP Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
SP Kyle Freeland, Colorado Rockies
SP Lance Lynn, Chicago White Sox
SP Brady Singer, Kansas City Royals
SP Merrill Kelly, Arizona Diamondbacks
SP Nick Martinez, San Diego Padres
SP Miles Mikolas, St. Louis Cardinals

[/QUOTE]

The batting rotation looks nasty. The pitching team looks meh. It supposed to have Clayton Kershaw but he pulled out.

Team Dominican Republic will have Soto, Machado, Devers, Julio Rodriguez, etc. Even Robinson Cano is in the team. No Vlad Jr. NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara is in the team too.

Team Japan will have Shohei, Yu Darvish and mentioned-above Murakami along with a bunch of NPB players.

DR are the favorites, with the US 2nd best odds and Japan at third.

Japan easily beats China in Tokyo Dome.

First big match is coming tomorrow, Japan vs South Korea.

A lot more interesting matchups will be on Saturday including first matches of USA and DR.

I thought Mexico had a nice team but didn't expect them to beat the loaded US team, rather easily too.

[QUOTE=TheMan;14744351]I thought Mexico had a nice team but didn't expect them to beat the loaded US team, rather easily too.[/QUOTE]

Pitching is such a big factor in this tournament since many are neither in their best shape yet nor just lower-tier pitchers. As we have seen in Canada vs UK that ended in 18-8 mercy rule win for Team Canada, runs can come in large amount even from worse teams.

1st inning so far, USA 9-0 Canada :ohwell:

Canada starter is a 19-years-old Single-A pitcher.

1/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, [B]162 ERA[/B]

Israel just got thumped by the DR, 10-0 mercy rule. It has the same the same pattern to USA vs Canada yesterday; Sending a 19-years-old pitcher to face some of the best baseball players in the world.