MLB 2018 regular season thread

I have said one hundred times - BOTH TAKES ARE SPECTACULARLY WRONG - ALL OF IT. Bloom's is a joke, and Passan's argument that Ohtani's bat is "not good" is wrong, wrong, wrong. Could not be more wrong. His bat is not just not good, it is way better than not good.

Now you do Bloom. You say you don't know yet if both were bad takes. That means this whopper "He’s not going to be ready as either a pitcher or hitter when the season starts." is still up in the air to you. Puh-leeze.

 

You do not know that, definitively, after 19 plate appearances.

Also, for accuracy's sake, this was not "Passan's argument." Passan sought the opinions of scouts, then relayed them via his column.

 

Only here are eight major league scouts, seven of whom have seen Ohtani this spring, and the reports they shared with Yahoo Sports sound almost identical. They acknowledge his raw power and uncommon speed. They also believe major league pitchers are going to punish him with inside fastballs, that his swing contains flaws in balance and mechanics, and that he needs at least 500 plate appearances of seasoning in the minor leagues to give him a chance at becoming a productive major league hitter.

Not only are Passan and the eight scouts wrong, they used faulty logic to get there. Forget the number of spring training at bats they saw. They made their conclusions based on watching practice. "We talkin' practice!" It is obvious that Ohtani was using spring training to warm up. Yet Passan and the eight major league scouts drew definitive conclusions from his warm-ups. Stupid!

As a pitcher all spring Ohtani pitched in the low 90s. Not impressive at all. Now let's go to the first inning of his first major league start. Here were his first five fastballs:
96
98
99
98
98

He played possum all spring training. And people fell for it.

 

Passan's own words:
I realized I needed to explain how I came to the flawed conclusion.

He owned it.

 

He doesn't get to decide whether his initial piece was wrong or not.

 

He has 23 plate appearances.

Matt Davidson hit three home runs on Opening Day.

Baseball Prospectus projected Matt Davidson to hit .215 this year with a .681 OPS.

Has Baseball Prospectus been "proven . . . spectacularly wrong" with regard to Matt Davidson?

 

1. I said that Passan was wrong.
2. You try to correct me, 'for accuracy's sake' and mansplain to me that Passan didn't make an argument, that he was just relaying the opinion of scouts.
3. I refute that by quoting his mea culpa column, where we wrote about his "flawed conclusion". By writing that, it is CLEAR that he made an argument. Not just relaying the opinion of others.

I just want us to be accurate here.

 

For accuracy's sake, I don't give a shit about anything in baseball except Ohtani, Passan and Bloom.

 

There are a few catchers and middle infielders who couldn't hit in the minors who became relievers. Can't name one, but they are out there.

 

Yeah. He's wrong. He didn't make an argument in the initial column.

I just want us to be accurate here.

 

Of course he does. It was his opinion, so he's entitled to change it whenever he wants. Write your own fucking piece and send it to yahoo. BTW, I bet it'd be a good read.

 

No, he doesn't! (Stipulating here for the sake of argument that Passan indeed had an opinion, initially. He didn't.) Jeff Passan writes a column - Shohei Ohtani is going to suck! Then Jeff Passan writes another column after 19 plate appearances - I was wrong. Shohei Ohtani is going to be good!

He's changed his opinion. But that doesn't mean his initial opinion is going to be turn out to be wrong. It might turn out to be right. He doesn't get to decide. He's opining now just like he was then (except, of course, he wasn't. But, you know).

And, also - thanks!