MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

Man, if you would have told me 55 games in Miguel Cabrera would not only be the only Tiger hitting better than .300, but the only one above .255.....

 

Can someone give me the Cliffs Notes version to how the Angel’s promising season went tits up so quickly?

 

Castro is batting .286, though he is 0-for-10 in the last three games. It doesn't help to have Meadows injured. Candelario has been a big disappointment, but otherwise, they just don't have much in the way of proven hitters. There is a lot of hype around Torkelson, but he probably should be in AAA. Riley Greene should be up soon, so that's something that could be positive. Torkelson and Greene are great prospects, among the best in the game, but it couldn't have been a good sign that the Tigers were planning to open the season with both in the lineup. Greene is only in the minors now because he injured his foot late in Spring Training.

 

Were any of them the 20 they drafted a year or two ago?

That'll be a good story for someone to write.

"Who'd you draft in 2019?"

"Pitchers."

"Oh yeah, how many, 4 or 5?"

"Pitchers."

"You drafted ONLY pitchers in 2019? No catchers? No shortstops? No David Ecksteins?"

"Yep, only pitchers. 20 of 'em. 20 pitchers."

"Did any of them turn out?"

--20err30--

 

Are the Biloxi Suckers managed by Mike Blowers?

 

Congrats on getting the team back from Montreal, Tampa.

 

So angry about Donovan's tweets when he was 13. He should be suspended. This is pride month.

 

When your superstar is in an 0-for-22, and your superstar No. 2 is in a 2-for-22 AND suddenly can't miss bats, and the rest of your rotation is throwing crap ... it's pretty inevitable.

 

You should be.

 

Another new pitching coach, seems they change every year. You get guys out and those guys adjust. If you don't adjust, too, you don't get them out anymore. The one "new baseball theory" that I believe is that if you use 3 or 4 relievers every game, eventually you get to the guy who doesn't have it that day and the other team tees off on him.
Rendon is awful, then gets hurt, then gets hurt again, then gets hurt again. He appears to be getting hot, so Maddon gives him two days off and he comes back with a sore wrist.
The analysts came up with stats that proved Fletcher wasn't any good because he tailed off last season. All he did was lead the league in hits for most of the season and make every defensive play required. So they replaced him with Velazquez, a guy who can't hit and is on his fourth team. He makes a flashy defensive play, then strikes out three times in a row with the bases loaded. The Angels are not smarter than those other three teams.
They keep touting Rengifo, but he didn't make the team out of spring training for a reason. He is so erratic, and his rare offensive contributions are over-hyped.
They decide Adele is ready, then he isn't. They send him down. They have only 3 outfielders. Ward gets hurt, they have two outfielders, but it's OK because they have versatile infielders. Wade drops a routine fly in left field. Then they call up Lagares, touting him as a Gold Glove outfielder. He promptly makes 2 errors that cost the team games. (Gubicza blames the way the grass is cut.) Lagares can't hit either. Then they bring Adele back, two days after Maddon is quoted saying that he still has some things to work on in the minors.
When they had Velazquez, Rengifo and Lagares in there, that is three minor-leaguers in the regular lineup. For the period when Stassi was hurt, the brought up Wallach. That gave them a backup (Suzuki) or a minor-leaguer (Wallach) in the lineup.
Trout is hotter than hell and Maddon gives him a day off. Trout says all the right things about being thankful for having a day off, but it's bullshit. His work load has been lessened (he hasn't attempted to steal a base).
Maddon analyzes the team during spring training and decides the lineup is Shohei, Trout, Walsh, Rendon ...... After two weeks, it is all jumbled. Utility man Duffy is hitting cleanup.

Better stop, the Cliff Notes people will not approve if it is any longer.

 

I got thru the Cliffs Notes for Moby Dick faster than Chris' Cliffs Notes! The Angels are a disaster and it's pretty timely they were the ones to get the Phillies going right, b/c those are mirror images of each other: Teams built around generational superstars and absolutely nothing else. I wonder if this year might be it for Joe Maddon as a manager. You can make a fair case the last five teams he's managed have been poorly constructed, but he's not getting anything more out of them, a la Buck with the Mets. And even with Buck's success, teams aren't looking to hire big personalities as manager (I'd argue Buck's success makes them LESS likely to want to hire big personalties, b/c no one can ever doubt it's the front office's masterpiece out there on the field)

 

How many more in a row will the Angels lose? They are at 11 and have four with Boston, three with the Mets and two with the Dodgers in the next 10 days.

The team has no depth. Even when everyone is healthy, they have Trout, Ohtani, Rendon, Ward and Walsh and not much else. As Chris Long wrote, they often have Duffy in the cleanup spot and guys like Rengifo and Stassi in the middle of the order. With Trout and Ohtani struggling, there's no one to fear in that lineup.