Running 2015 MLB Regular-Season Thread

It looks like the problem is that back then you just voted for first place. So, for example, Gibson and McLain were unanimous selections in 1968, with no one else receiving any votes whatsoever.

 

More bizarre Papelbon news on the radio this morning. He and his wife just bought a house in Alexandria, VA, apparently yesterday. $2.9 million.

 

Must have wanted to be near a Wawa.

/addicted

 

Then he moved to the wrong place. Much to my chagrin, there is not a Wawa within a half-hour of Alexandria.

Pretty swanky neighborhood, otherwise. There's a really good Chinese place right down the road.

 

"Get off my lawn. Get off my lawn. GET OFF MY FUCKING LAWN!"

 

About a month ago, I (and others) wrote off the Angels as dead team walking - others chastised (us) for it. I was wrong.

 

To each their own but then you must dislike 95% of ball players then.

The Blue Jays scoff at your balanced offense. Homeruns are never a bad thing. Poor signings are.

 

There's still plenty o' time for SuperManagerMike(tm) to fuck it up.

 

I wonder what it does to the MVP debate -- probably nothing because Donaldson was considered so far ahead, but really the only thing he leads in is RBIs (opportunity etc. yada yada). Meanwhile Trout is better in OBP, SLG and significantly better in OPS+ (174-158).

 

But Donaldson is significantly ahead of him in runs, for whatever it's worth. Isn't Donaldson also universally considered one of the best fielding third basemen in the league, too?

By the way, it's hard to believe that Trout hasn't won a Gold Glove yet.

 

I haven't even seen much of him live, but what I have seen has been pretty amazing. He had two excellent catches against the Yankees earlier this year.

 

On defense, Donaldson doesn't rate there this year except by reputation. His RF is good but not great (second in the league but considerably behind Machado and not much ahead of Seager). Errors are high and fielding percentage is low. His dWAR is 1.0 this year (I don't put much stock in that but I know it is used).

I've always thought the crazy numbers he was putting up in Oakland, especially last year, were due to the A's being ahead of the curve on shifts and their overabundance of lefty pitchers. His fielding stats certainly seem to have normalized since the trade.

Donaldson probably still wins and it's fine. But the decision is a hell of a lot closer than it was a month ago. Trout does have a 1.016 OPS in September, after all.