MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

I know, it’s Deadspin, but nice takedown of Yadi and Cardinals fans

Good riddance, Yadi

 

Aroldis Chapman skipped a workout, and as a result was fined and left off the Yankees' ALDS roster.

Yankees' Aroldis Chapman left off ALDS roster, fined by team after missing workout



As a contrast, Stephen Vogt did blocking drills before a game he wasn't catching the day before he retired.

 

Ted Simmons (2021) is the last player signed and developed by the Cardinals to make the HOF. Before that, you have to go back to Ozzie Smith (2002) to find a Cardinal HOFer, but he was originally a Padre. My research might not be perfect but you might have to go back to Steve Carlton (1994), who actually made his bones with the Phillies after the Cardinals dumped him, to find the last product of the Cardinal farm system to make the HOF. Suter became great with the Cubs.

OTOH, in this century six players either signed and developed, or developed, by the Expos made the HOF: Walker, Dawson, Vlad, Raines, Pedro Martinez and Gary Carter. Montreal had some outstanding evaluators of talent.

 

Not clicking that link. What is their asinine reason for keeping Yadi out of the HoF?

 

This might be a dumb question. I can get why they put all of the wild card series games in one ballpark, but what was the logic for making the host the home team for all three games? Was it just to make homefield advantage a little more important?
Seems like they should have made the hosts the home team for Games 1 and 3, and then the visitors the home team for Game 2.

 

He might think Rajai Davis still plays for Cleveland.

 

Yes. You have a 162 games to finish ahead of the other team.

 

He hasn’t been good enough. That’s not an asinine reason. He had a wRC below 100 in 11 of 19 seasons. He doesn’t make it by counting numbers or advanced metrics. By WAR, he had two great seasons and 4-5 good ones. And that’s with his defensive numbers boosting that WAR.

He shouldn’t get in. But he will.

 

Of course he's in. No fucking brainer.

16,000+ chances and only 83 errors, .995 percentage, and only 96 passed balls, led MLB in CS% 4 times.

Of any catcher ever with 15+ seasons, he's the best defensive catcher fielding percentage wise. Johnny Bench ranks 101st all time, Yogi Berra 156th, Thurman Munson 260th.

Not every elite defensive catcher can be Mike Piazza at the bat; Piazza who was a shitty defensive catcher.

Cursory look shows STL led MLB in ERA 3 times on Yadi's watch and were top 5 four other seasons. On average STL had MLB's 8th-best ERA in Yadi's 19 years.

We can masturbate over numbers and sabercum 7 ways till Sunday. But it's malarky to say Yadi Molina isn't a Hall of Fame catcher.

 

If he's in, it's going to be a romantic choice rather than a fact-based choice. But I think that about quite a few Hall of Famers.

I'm pretty sure they wanted to get it in a condensed window, which a travel-free series certainly accomplished.

And you know, I'm pretty OK with your 162-game result meaning something when it comes to a playoff advantage.

 

The World Series is already guaranteed to go into November this year, well into it if it's not a sweep. They needed to add a round to the postseason, short as it may be, without pushing the start of the season even further back and without adding many days on to the end. Despite climate change, the weather in places like Minneapolis and Detroit has often gone decisively to shit by the third or fourth week of October. As almost any Minnesotan can remind you, Minnesota received a huge blizzard that paralyzed the state the day after the Twins' 1991 World Series parade. Under this year's schedule, that blizzard would have happened on the night of Game 3 of the World Series if, you know, the Twins ever did that sort of thing anymore.

Further, I think they wanted to underline the fact that just getting into the postseason by the skin of your teeth should put you at a disadvantage. In the Japanese and Korean leagues, the higher-seeded teams receive a "ghost game" of advantage, which could have been a decent idea to achieve everything I just said except for the fact that everyone hated it.

 

It's arguable that Posada was a more complete player than Molina and he's not in either.