2025 MLB Season Thread
The Tokyo series is March 18-19th, will air on FOX, and is between The Cubs and The Dodgers.
The Regular Season starts Ma
Since 1956, two players have had more HRs than Ks in a single season with at least 500 plate appearances. Who are they?
One has to be Bonds, zero clue on the other
Got it on about my 7th guy looking up.
Bonds was the given.
Spoiler
Gwynn had a 16/18 season fwiw.
I feel like we've played this game before.
Brett (515) and Gwynn (505) barely registered enough PA while Bonds had 617, making his feat uber legit.
OK. Here is a much tougher one. In the post-WWII era, relatively few players with at least 5000 career ABs have ended their careers with more HBPs than GIDPs. And I am aware of only one player who ended his career with twice as many HBPs as GIDPs. Who is he?
fairly easy
Hint:
Spoiler
Part of a Father/Son duo
Incorrect. Biggio is a good guess, but he ended his career with 285 HBP and 150 GiDP.
Crazy out of leftfield guess, but Fernando Vina.
Has to be Utley.
Vina is an exceptionally good guess. He did it, but he didn't meet the 5000 career AB threshhold.
Oddly enough, the elite base stealers of the modern era--guys like Vince Coleman, Otis Nixon, Raines, etc.--are not good guesses. Those guys must have been very good at getting out of the way. For example, Otis Nixon was only hit five times in more than 5000 ABs, which is an absurdly low ratio.
Utley didn't even try to get out of the way.
If I put more thought into it, then I would have probably guessed a leadoff hitter.
Utley didn't even try to get out of the way.
If I put more thought into it, then I would have probably guessed a leadoff hitter.
Utley also stood as close to the plate as he possibly could because he was virtually impossible to beat on the inner half. Duster Baker got hit a ton, and he also stood on the top of the plate.
This is complete speculation, but I am going to guess that guys who played a lot of college baseball (like Utley) tend to get hit more often than guys who came straight from high school. That "only candy asses get out of the way" attitude seems to be encouraged a lot at the college level.
it's also team related due to coaching pressure
the moneyball a's were strongly encouraged to not get out of the way
remember vividly watching a red sox a's game and being super frustrated that they kept repeatedly making zero effort to get out of the way and the local announcers losing it that the umps weren't declaring that the guys made no effort to move
can't find the video but it's pretty outrageous
and as you can see, once he switched teams he miraculously stopped getting hit so much
this is olmedo saenz
Probably, but as a coach, if you are encouraging an essential offensive player to not get out of the way, you are a moron. The risk of injury, especially on HBPs from the elbow to the hand (also the head, but no one stands in for head shots), is way too high for the OBP tradeoff to be worth it.
yes but remember, this is also the moneyball a's
i can't find 1999 because that's when baseball prospectus just gives out salaries by position instead of by player and nothing else on google
but saenz made league min in 2000, slightly more in 2001 and a whopping 800k in 2002 (two year deal that was backloaded) and the a's chose not to take their million dollar option on him and he found himself not signed by anyone in 2003
dodgers picked him up as a pinch hitter in 2004, don't have his salary there either but he made 600k with them in 2005
don't think guys like tejada were asked to take the pitches and that shows with flat lines - but once you get into the bottom of the barrel type the a's were rostering for close to the min, the amount goes way up
would have really liked in moneyball instead of beane talking to justice about being a leader - one of many things invented for the film, they instead had him talking to saenz, telling him he was lucky to be in the league at all and to not be a bish and take the pitch
yes but remember, this is also the moneyball a'si can't find 1999 because that's when baseball prospectus just gives out salaries by position instead of by player and nothing else on googlebut saenz made league min in 2000, slightly more in 2001 and a whopping 800k in 2002 (two year deal that was backloaded) and the a's chose not to take their million dollar option on him and h
That's why I distinguished between essential players and replacement level guys. Purely from a baseball pespective, it's probably correct for the Pirates to encourage Jared Triolo to take every HBP he can get.
Valdez to Detroit. 3 years, $115M. Rumor is they lost the arbitration case with Skubal and are going to trade him.
He'll be tarred 'n feathered or worse if he crosses up Dillon Dingler on purpose.
I've been a Dodger fan since I was in little league a looong time ago. I don't know if I really want them to go after Skubal if the impact of Valdez combined with the looming arbitration decision is in fact Detroit deciding to trade Skubal now.
I'd guess the Dodgers would go after him but I think they have plenty of young pitching combined with the current rotation. If they do get Skubal the howls for a salary cap will be intolerable and may result in an extended lockout.
And the same result would be likely if the Mets get him now.
Mets will offer him 10 years $1 billion and Dodgers will counter with 5 years $60 billion and win easily
