2016 MLB Regular-Season Thread

Chris Carter is finally getting everyday at-bats? He played in 85 games through June last year; had 306 plate appearances. And sucked.

In 2014 he started 138 games. And mostly sucked. (Though he hit like he is hitting now in July and August.)

There's PLENTY of reason to think the slugger might not continue doing what he's doing.

 

Pretty much. He'll hit 25-30 home runs and strike out 150-plus times. He is what he is.

His BABIP this year is .333, 60 or so points above his career average. It's highly unlikely he sustains .295, or even .250, the rest of the year.

 

Funny. I've seen some reports that his velocity is unchanged and others have it down. I wonder how much of the problem is in his head, between the hitter's park and having to be the ace rather than the No. 2. Los Angeles isn't exactly known for low-pressure, but he had Kershaw ahead of him, so I wonder if that is a factor as well.

 

Then there's Jordan Zimmerman, the Bizarro Greinke, who's tearing it up after signing a huge deal with Detroit (just slightly more of a pitcher's park than Arizona).

I'm trying to think of the best free agent pitcher signings: Randy Johnson, Greg Maddox, and...anyone?

 

Or Greg Maddux.

 

Roger Clemens with the Blue Jays (and later with the Astros) and David Cone with the Yankees worked out OK.

 

Jack Morris signed for one year with the Twins, then two years with the Blue Jays. All three seasons ended with world championships.

 

Opportunist.

 

Couple of days old, but a cool story here about a couple of old, old ballplayers:

Oldest living Yankee and Yankee great talk baseball's Golden Era

 

Suzyn Waldman seemed to think it was a big deal when Clemens signed with the Yankees, too.

 

Haha yeah, but that was a re-sign. He was traded there initially, so I don't really count that.

(And he wasn't that great with the Yankees after he re-signed as a free agent).

 

Not quite as good as those two, but there are a few more:
1) Mike Mussina to the Yankees. Had a great eight or nine years with them.
2) Andy Pettitte to the Astros and then back to the Yankees. Helped the Astros get over the hump to the World Series and then had a couple more good years when he returned to New York.
3) Nolan Ryan to the Astros and then the Rangers. Again, never won a Cy Young or a World Series but was pretty damn good for both teams for a long time.
4) Tom Glavine to the Mets. Certainly a fading superstar, but he didn't suck and helped them get to the NLCS one year.