The 2023 Running Baseball Thread

Keller is the type of ascending talent the Pirates should be looking to lock up but will instead trade so that he can have his Jason Schmidt/Gerrit Cole peak somewhere else. He's two years out from free agency and he's been across-the-board better in each of the last two seasons. The peripherals (his FIP was almost half a run higher than his ERA) suggest he's got another level. If you're the Orioles, you gotta try to get him and hope he likes his first six months and is amenable to signing long-term before his walk year.

 

It was. Hate that it shut down for whatever reason about 10 years ago. The link I posted is an archived form of it.

 

When Pete Rose was chasing Ty Cobb's hit record, David Letterman did a Buddy Biancalana Hit Counter. I am told that Buddy was not amused.

 

Tongue-in-cheek snark aside, this really has become a helluva "whose career would you rather have?" question. Trout's first 10 years are as good as any 10 years anyone ever had and he's extraordinarily low-maintenance for a superstar. But he's done as a superstar and stuck in (a very lucrative) purgatory, b/c he's either going to ride it out with a very bad organization or get shipped off for pennies on the dollar to an organization where every at-bat will be a referendum on whether or not the team should have acquired him. Harper's probably not going to catch up to Trout in terms of WAR and he's a pain in the ass, but he still seems to be trending upward and the Phillies will do what it takes to remain in the October mix for the duration of his prime. The answer is probably now Harper.

 

I don’t know if he’s done as a superstar. He hit 40 home runs last year in 119 games and had an OPS plus of 176


He was on pace for a six war season that would have tied him for 8th in mlb with hitter ohtani and lindor

 

I would love to be wrong, but once the aches and pains start piling up, they usually don't disappear. He'll always be really good when he's on the field, but he's played 140 games once in the last six full seasons.

 

The guy juggles six pitches and his velocity is all over the place. Maybe pitching for a better organization and throwing to an outstanding catcher would help him stabilize a bit, but I'm not sold on him getting any better than he was in 2023.

 

Any reason the Dodgers are pitching the lead singer from Los Lobos?

 

Okay this is fucking insane