I Believe in the Church of Baseball: The 2018 Season

[facts]

Guessing that Rickey Henderson doesn't like someone coppin his name

[Deleted]

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[andrewvb]

that's good

[Xamnam]

I'm kind of amazed he was the first to do it.

[dij22]

My favorite one so far is Josh Phegley going with "PTBNL"

[Xamnam]

That's the one I'm idly considering to round out my baseball playing fantasies.

[teekoh]

Cubs are getting no-hit, but Rizzo took a walk from Hellickson after 14 pitches and dude followed it up with 4-pitch walks to Baez and Zobrist and got himself pulled after 5 2/3 in the middle of a no-hitter.

[Xamnam]

Came into the 6th with 60 pitches too.

[teekoh]

Solis then gave up a 2-run single to Heyward. Pretty epic collapse.

[Xamnam]

5 2/3 IP, 0H, 2R

[Deleted]

I remember when I was a little kid the White Sox won a game against the Yankees in which they were no-hit.

[teekoh]

Was it Alex Fernandez that had a no hitter where he walked and hit a bunch of batters when he was with the Marlins? I can't remember if that was him or not.

[facts]

Aug 10, 2018 14:25:34 GMT -6 scoots said:

I remember when I was a little kid the White Sox won a game against the Yankees in which they were no-hit.

Andy Hawkins. That was when the NYY were at their most dire and he was their ace. It was v bad all around

[dij22]

[Deleted]

Yeah he's good. I've only been on Twitter to follow White Sox news and it's kind of remarkable how many fans have been floating a Rodon trade. Also the amount of fans giving up on Moncada already is pretty hysterical.

[Deleted]

Palka is fun. He's basically Happy Gilmore as a baseball player.

[dij22]

Aug 10, 2018 21:01:24 GMT -6 scoots said:

Yeah he's good. I've only been on Twitter to follow White Sox news and it's kind of remarkable how many fans have been floating a Rodon trade. Also the amount of fans giving up on Moncada already is pretty hysterical.

I think the most frustrating part of the Moncada criticism  is that he's being labeled as a boom or bust player, when really he has an incredibly high floor due to his walks and power.

He's basically played one full season with the White Sox over the course of his age 22 and 23 seasons (161 games), and he's hit 22 homers with 79 walks.  He's either been a 2 WAR or 3 WAR player in those 161 games according to Fangraphs or baseball-reference.

In 2017, there were only 17 players to have at least 22 HR/79 BB.  In 2016 , there were only 12.  In 2015, there were 11.  These guys are all almost exclusively 1B/corner OF types, so to have a 23 year old kid who can play an adequate 2B is super valuable.

The strikeouts are definitely a concern, but it's not like they're preventing him from being an above average regular at 23 years old. They are preventing him from being a superstar though, and somehow Sox fans think that's a big enough concern to send him down to the minors

[Pale Hose]

Aug 10, 2018 20:48:18 GMT -6 dij22 said:

Rodon's development has been the biggest positive to come out of this season IMO.

[facts]

There was an interesting article on Fangraphs yesterday about Baez about how he's having more success this year by ambushing the first pitch and not waiting until he's behind in the count. Moncada is like the anti-Baez, because he always is trying to work the count and sees a ton of pitches. So it leads to a lot of walks and a lot of strikeouts. I wonder if he'd be better off hunting for pitches earlier in the AB.

They are similar players with totally different approaches.

[Pale Hose]

164 Ks in 474 PAs is just awful. He's got a lot of positives but he's got a long way to go to justify being the headliner in the Sale trade.

[facts]

I think the Sale is safely an L at this point, but those guys can still be competent major leaguers. But the Sale trade led to the Quintana trade, and that looks to be a resounding W.

[Pale Hose]

I think it's too early to really grade either trade. I'm not sure about Diaz and Basabe, but Kopech is certainly going to be on the big league club at some point. If he pans out the trade could still be a wash or maybe even a win.

[dij22]

Aug 11, 2018 11:40:38 GMT -6 Pale Hose said:

I think it's too early to really grade either trade. I'm not sure about Diaz and Basabe, but Kopech is certainly going to be on the big league club at some point. If he pans out the trade could still be a wash or maybe even a win.

Agreed, it's way too early.  Kopech is still one of - if not the - best pitching prospects in baseball, and Moncada is already a valuable contributor at the major league level, with five more years of team control.

[dij22]

Also teams were unwilling to part with established young talent in a Sale trade, so it's not like Hahn could have gotten an immediate star in return. Astros wouldn't include Bregman, Red Sox wouldn't include Benintendi, Nationals wouldn't include Trea Turner, Dodgers wouldn't include Bellinger, Braves wouldn't even include Dansby Swanson, etc.

Basically the only other reported offers were Robles/Giolito/Lopez from the Nats, and something with Frazier/Sheffield from the Yankees.

[Pale Hose]

Wheels have come off on Lester. I wonder if he's hurt.

[andrewvb]

oh my god david bote's walkoff grand slam just fucking OWNED

[teekoh]

I had my rally cap on on Ashley’s parents couch. Yr welcome.

[andrewvb]

i got home from the whitney show to see the bottom of the 9th and it was a trip.

[thebosma]

I’m not much of a baseball fella but that clip has been all over my Facebook today from various friends and it’s pretty incredible to watch

[Pale Hose]

That was some good baseballin'.