MLB Thread - 2023
- Thread starter SLAB
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Don't forget they also traded away both starting catchers in this year's All Star game -- one of them (Jonah Heim) to a division rival and the other one (Sean Murphy) who has already won a Gold Glove and has a .900+ OPS this season making him arguably the best player at his position in the entire league.
The "what could have been" season the A's should be having right now with Gelof at 2nd and the rest of these guys still in Green and Gold is marvelous. The actual season is it's own kind of marvelous I suppose.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
If anything, this Gelof/Butler/Soderstrom stretch of games where the A's are still losing most of their games but at least resembling an actual MLB team most of the time at leasts gives me hope for the next couple of seasons when/if the front office finally is freed from John Fisher's tight wallet.
If this (guy who's currently hitting like post-HGH Barry Bonds while running the bases like pre-HGH Barry) is truly what Gelof is as a player, the A's probably just need to fill out their pitching staff with guys who don't suck (they're honestly probably missing the entire rotation worth of starting pitchers they traded away for nothing more than the several MVP-level infielders they moved.) in order to be competitive (or at least watchable) next season. Just getting Mason Miller for a full healthy season would probably be a full 5 or so game difference on its own.
I was pretty much out on the A's given the whole Las Vegas saga and Fisher gutting what would probably be the best team in the entire AL in order to save money thing but the last month plus of the team finally bringing up some prospects who aren't just AAAA-ers has rekindled a tiny bit of that spark I had for baseball beyond seeing Ohtani do absolutely ridiculous things on a nightly basis.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Seriously, Billy Beane and David Forst have pretty much proven themselves to be some of the best talent evaluators baseball has seen but they have to keep punting on the elite guys they find because their owner is too cheap to keep a single one of them. I've never asked for Fisher to keep EVERYBODY but a normal cost-conscious ownership group would have probably kept at least one of Chapman or Olson or even just Semien and found cost effective guys to put around them (Same goes for the Cespedes/Josh Donaldson/Brandon Moss/Steven Vogt teams that got gutted before the Chapman squads). Unfortunately, Captain Cheapskate won't even do that. Lew Wolfe at least let Beane extend Eric Chavez (just don't mention what happened immediately after that).
Yeah, I think as A's fans we're conditioned to root for young guys by this point so it still feels good watching the call-ups succeed. Even before the Vegas thing, this group of prospects (Gelof, Butler, Soderstrom) have been on the radar for a few years as the next core so they've given me a reason to watch again too. At one point I was a little miffed that Ohtani picked Anaheim over Oakland when the A's were a playoff contender and the Angels are perennial underperformers but in retrospect, his agent was right to steer him away from this front office. He'd have been traded for 5 cents on the dollar too. I just hope he's on a playoff team next year and not toiling away again for the inexcusably bad Angels.
I think we all knew Chapman, Olson, and Semien were gone when it became clear the Howard Terminal stadium was being delayed beyond their free agency windows. The Sean Murphy trade stings a little more because he still had years of arbitration left. But the most frustrating part of that whole situation is that this front office couldn't get a single top prospect out of trading away the young core of a 97 win team with multiple All Stars and Gold Glove winners. All the top players in the farm system right now were either drafted or signed by the A's. That just speaks to how tired this "trade everyone - no exceptions" strategy has become when every GM in the league knows the A's have to take whatever you offer them because ownership won't pay a single dime to re-sign top tier talent. Even Jason Giambi's recent pro-Vegas comments are somewhat understandable when you consider that he was booed mercilessly by the Oakland fans for selling out and taking the Yankees money but Oakland never even made him an offer to stay. We're now three decades and multiple owners removed from Oakland operating like an actual MLB team.
I'll enjoy watching Gelof, Soderstrom, Ruiz and Butler as long as the A's still play in Oakland. Denzel Clark (OF) and Darell Hernaiz (SS) should be coming up soon too. The pitching staff could be decent soon with Mason Miller and Luis Medina showing some ace level stuff in spurts. JP Sears has struggled this year but could be a pretty good 4th or 5th starter with better defense behind him. And there's that Cuban kid Luis Morales that they just signed who's in Stockton now and looking pretty sharp on the mound. I don't think I'll be able to watch them if they end up in Vegas but there's enough up and coming talent to make this group watchable again until that happens.
The Eric Chavez contract has been cited a couple times as the biggest under Wolff and Fisher ownership group but I think that's in error. The Eric Chavez contract (6 years and $66 million) was signed in March of 2004 and Steve Schott sold the team in March of 2005 for the astonishingly low price of $180 million. The team is worth at least a billion dollars now which is a pretty tidy profit even accounting for inflation. The biggest contract signed under Wolff and Fisher's ownership group I believe was Khris "Khrush" Davis getting a 2 year / $33.5 million extension in 2019 (covering the 2020 and 2021 seasons) but the A's ended up paying almost none of that since the 2020 season was shortened to only 60 games and then he was traded to Texas before the 2021 season.
EDIT: Actually, speaking of Khrush, I think he ended up injuring himself colliding with a wall in the outfield just days after signing that extension and then completely losing his mojo and never recovering. A superstitious person might surmise that the A's are cursed somehow but an alternative theory is that re-signing more than 2 players in 20 years would give you better odds of success.
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Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Few things give me more joy than seeing the Yankees paying Aaron Judge/Stanton/Cole/Rodon something a combined 700 million dollars over the next five years to barely have a better record than the Cleveland Guardians. I know its the Yankees so they'll find a way to sign Ohtani and completely turn their fortunes around but still...
Might be time to send Meckler back down. Up to 27 PA now:
.160/.222/.160
51.9% K rate
7.3% BB rate
.364 BABIP
For some reference, Matos has 21 SO in 183 PA. Meckler has 14 in 27 PA
So while he projects to be a super high BABIP guy, this is still suggesting he's getting pretty lucky with the balls he is getting in play when not striking out. I get we need an offensive punch, but I think you're just hurting his development by leaving him up here. Dude has already been in 4 leagues this season, let him stick in a spot and just develop. Also, we're still trying to win games and sneak in the playoffs and Meckler is uhhh... not helping that cause right now.
Ramos is the guy we should get a look at here down the stretch.
.160/.222/.160
51.9% K rate
7.3% BB rate
.364 BABIP
For some reference, Matos has 21 SO in 183 PA. Meckler has 14 in 27 PA
So while he projects to be a super high BABIP guy, this is still suggesting he's getting pretty lucky with the balls he is getting in play when not striking out. I get we need an offensive punch, but I think you're just hurting his development by leaving him up here. Dude has already been in 4 leagues this season, let him stick in a spot and just develop. Also, we're still trying to win games and sneak in the playoffs and Meckler is uhhh... not helping that cause right now.
Ramos is the guy we should get a look at here down the stretch.
QWERTYLICIOUS
Starter
SLAB
Hall of Famer
I have a shockingly long leash with closers. I never once fell off the Santiago Casilla wagon.
Also, DEJONG THE GOAT.
Apparently it has more lives than 12 cats
yeah, I'll capitulate. Said he was washed and literally won us a game already lol.
Also, HUGE breakout game for Meckler. Perfect example of what he can do at the MLB level and just put immense pressure on the defense with his speed:
Can't remember the last time the Giants have had a player like that. Maybe Andres Torres?
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LoungeLizard
Starter
He’s making these guys look silly with that breaking ball. 9 Ks through 4
He’s making these guys look silly with that breaking ball. 9 Ks through 4
Pumping strikes with the fastball and just eating them up with the Slurve. I love it.
SLAB
Hall of Famer
Electric stuff. Slurve nasty, and that fastball is no joke. Can’t wait to see more of this kid!
Like LL said, that Slurve is slurving tonight. It really wasn't in Philly. But I've actually been fairly impressed with his command, almost all his misses are basically right near the zone. Very few "overthrows". and that's been basically his major weakness in the minors is his location. But it's been mostly awesome so far through 2 starts.
Fairly certain we're gonna see him in the 7th here too. Next 2 outs in 3 pitches.
This crap is so fun. I love Webb, but there's nothing like an electric strikeout pitcher when he's dealing like this.
He's been great the last week. Exactly what he was doing in the minors; taking a ton of pitches, being a pest with bat control, drawing BB's, speed on the basepaths. Giants are going to have some potentially great options with him and Matos to lead-off in the future.
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