Click here to read the transcript of tonight’s live baseball chat
By Mark Polishuk | at
Click here to read the transcript of tonight’s live baseball chat
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truthlemonade
Even though he debuted at age 19, Mike Trout seems unlikely to reach 3000 hits and will probably finish with “only” 550 home runs or so.
Sabermetrics really sucked the fun out of the game. An all time great hitter should have gaudier numbers.
Jean Matrac
I don’t understand how the analysis of stats somehow prevented Trout from having more hits and HRs.
truthlemonade
Emphasizing walks and OB% means fewer hits.
Fever Pitch Guy
truth – That’s not the result of analytics, that’s just common sense.
Wade Boggs had more than 100 walks 4 times, that was 16 years before Moneyball.
truthlemonade
Isn’t it just ridiculous that a supposed “top 10 hitter ever” probably won’t reach 3000 hits even if he plays from this teens to his forties?
Jean Matrac
I don’t think the Angels are telling Trout to try and get more walks. No team would tell a hitter like Trout to try to get walked more. He gets walked plenty because teams will pitch around him. Sabermetrics hasn’t changed anything in that the Angels want the players around Trout to have better OB% so that Trout can do damage.
Fever Pitch Guy
truth – He’s played no more than 140 games since 2017, that’s a huge amount of games to lose.
I’ll even do the math for you. Trout has missed 420 games since the start of 2017, That’s 476 hits lost because of injury and Covid. That would have left him less than 900 away from 3,000 hits. He would have easily reached it in less than 6 years, at age 37.
Gwynning
He’s got some work to do… and he has never really been known as a “hits” guy. He is a ridiculous player, there’s no denying, but he hasn’t had 150+ hits in a season since 2016. 150 hits x 20 seasons = 3,000 hits
baseball-reference.com/players/t/troutmi01.shtml
He can do it, but he absolutely needs to stay healthy (enough) to endure.
Squeeze32
Ted Williams debuted at 20 and played into his 40s. He only recorded more than 130 hits in a season 6 times and his season high was 150. Williams walked more than 110 times in a season 8 times.
It’s truely a tragedy that sabermetrics took away the chance at 3000 hits from a “top 10 hitter ever” like Ted Williams.
Fever Pitch Guy
Squeeze – Thank you, Ted was an even better reference than Boggs!
Gwynning
Squeeze- *THEE* Ted Williams? He had 10 seasons of 150+ hits, a season high of 194 and only missed 3K because of his years of service.
baseball-reference.com/players/w/willite01.shtml
Squeeze32
yeah, i sorted by runs instead of hits by mistake. regardless, the point stands that saying a guy walking too much is preventing him from reaching 3000 hits is just silly.
DarkSide830
Trout has fewer hits because he’s never healthy, not because he takes walks.
Jean Matrac
“Webb, Hicks, and Harrison are the only pitchers who seem like rotation locks.”
What’s Mark saying about Snell?
atuck_sfg
Was just thinking the same thing…
Gwynning
I thought the same whilst chatting… then I imagined he just forgot about Snell since he hasn’t pitched yet.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I would assume the hot-hand in the moment stays in the rotation as the 5.
Jean Matrac
That’s what I assumed. Still thought it worth mentioning.
Gwynning
Hicks/Harrison is a nice 3/4, almost as nice as Cease/King! Haha, good luck fellas, until we play again. We only have 2 more meetings and they’re both in September! Seems odd, but that’s the new schedule for ya. Cheerio
Jean Matrac
Good luck back atcha. King was tough yesterday, and so was Waldron today. SD and SF seem to be fairly equally matched. If the Giants can’t win it, the Padres are my next hope.
Gwynning
Once “we” are eliminated (every year not ending in ’84 or ’98… *sigh*) I end up rooting for the NL West to keep the Piece of Metal in our Divi.
foppert2
Hopefully tomorrow is a nice loud reminder.
Hicks is one exciting little pitcher. Easy to see why the man wanted to start.
Mark Polishuk
Whoops, total brainlock on my part. Yeah, Snell is going to be staying in the rotation!
Fever Pitch Guy
If I was hosting one of these chats, zero chance I’d answer a question from a “faithful Royals fan” if the person doesn’t even know what division the Royals play in.
Gwynning
Maybe the faithful one just woke up from 1993?
Mi Casas es tu Casas
Gwynn – Blast From The Past was a great movie!
Gwynning
Better than Encino Man?!?
Fever Pitch Guy
Gwynning – The Weasel is still doing standup, but that movie was probably the peak of his career.
Fever Pitch Guy
Gwynning – Could be! Maybe he decided to hibernate right when George Brett retired.
RunDMC
With a balanced schedule and interleague play, can you blame someone for not knowing easily one of the worst divisions? I wouldn’t claim the AL Central if it had a paternity test with my name on it.
Gwynning
I suppose this could go 2 ways, Run… but are you a Guards fan clinging onto an old pic or a Braves fan?
RunDMC
The longest continuously-run franchise in MLB.
Go Red Stockings, Red Caps, Beaneaters, Dovers, Rustlers, Bees, Braves!
Gwynning
That makes your first comment make more sense! And funnier!
Fever Pitch Guy
Run – Boston should be a 2-team city again. It’s a big enough high income market with a lot of passionate baseball fans who would embrace an expansion team, especially after the past several years. But I know it will never happen.
RunDMC
@FeverPitchGuy — you never know. This is pure unadulterated speculation, but it could be more of a possibility with more pushback having publicly-funded stadiums in OAK & KC (where they just voted against it). Not that I’m saying KC would leave, but MLB loves nostalgia, and minimizing risk, which is what they would be doing by putting more teams in their largest markets. I’m a proponent of seeing a team in Brooklyn, but you gotta consider the blowback from heavyweights: NYY, NYM, BOS would give to cutting into their market. I’d love to see 3 teams back in NYC and 2 teams in BOS, but you might see more support (and less resistance) in other less populated cities. It’s a little tiring seeing how franchises have become toys of the elite, but it’s always been like that and we’re just more aware. Corporate ownership or aging billionaire going through their last-life crisis. Pick your poison.
Simm
Jackson Merrill looks like a decent mlb player.
If you are just going to give an opinion based on looks then Merrill looks far better than decent.
His slash line is .324/.395/.471 with an ops of .865 140wrc+.
He has also played well in center. Given the fact that he had never played center and very little outfield at all in his life this is saying a lot.
Kid looks like a stud.
Gwynning
Whilst I agree, I think the counterpoint is “small sample size.”
That being said, sometimes the hardest part is your initiation week(s), and the kid really does look like a stud with All Star potential. Seems like just a couple weeks ago some posters here we so adamant about how the Padres are making such a huge mistake… haven’t heard a peep from them since Korea.
Manfred’s playing with the balls
I wish Darragh did more chats. The older writers have repeated their opinions so many times it’s not as interesting as hearing fresh takes.
Fever Pitch Guy
Manfred – Not that age should matter, but Darragh is older than Nick, Tony and Steve.
Steve’s chats are fantastic, as well as Tim’s although he doesn’t do that many.
Gwynning
I like dating younger women. I call my girlfriend “Babe” and one day she asked me why I nicknamed her after a talking pig. I knew what she meant, but I said “don’t ever disrespect George Herman Ruth like that” and she didn’t get it. I thought it was funny.
vtadave
Not too much younger I hope
Gwynning
I’m not a Wander-ing, 21 and up. 😉
Fever Pitch Guy
IM – Oil Can is one of the best, but I would have to go with Big Unit, since that was also my nickname.