Baseball ‘20 vs COVID-19

[El Unicornio, mang]

If the Astros do win, I think most people would be fine with putting an asterisk next to it since it wasn't a proper season. But only for them.

[Ferris]

I think the Yankees/rays will crush the astros to be honest, before losing to the dodgers in 5.

[Famous Mortimer]

Tommy Pham, former Cardinal and excellent player, was stabbed earlier on while trying to break up a fight happening near his car. Looks like he's alright, he wasn't seriously injured, but it's still a strange bit of news.

[Dex Sawash]

Joe Morgan dead

[El Unicornio, mang]

Two bits of awful news :-(

I loved Joe Morgan's commentaries with Jon Miller.

https://www.mlb.com/video/jon-miller-on-joe-morgan

In good news, Astros down 0-2

[Famous Mortimer]

World Series is 1-1 after two games. Gotta be for the Dodgers - at least their billionaire owner spends money.

[Ferris]

Would love the Rays to win it. It's always more fun to support the underdog.

[Attila]

Joe Morgan dead

Awww....he was all right, but Jon Miller is ace (was so damned lucky to have Miller as our radio play by play man for the Orioles for years. Fuck Peter Angelos).

[Ferris]

I think the Yankees/rays will crush the astros to be honest, before losing to the dodgers in 5.

This preddo is still on!

[El Unicornio, mang]

I like the Dodgers but feel like a glory seeker rooting for them, and I too like the underdog to win. But, LA would certainly deserve it more. Mookie Betts and Corey Seager have been particularly impressive both with the bat and glove.

[Ferris]

I like the Dodgers but feel like a glory seeker rooting for them, and I too like the underdog to win. But, LA would certainly deserve it more. Mookie Betts and Corey Seager have been particularly impressive both with the bat and glove.

And the saga of poor old Clayton Kershaw finally getting its Hollywood resolution.

That said, the Dodgers are in the post season every year and the rays are not at all, so I'm happy either way really.

[Ferris]

Must admit, I didn't watch it live but just caught up the game 4 score.

Just a routine

Spoiler alert

bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and Rays down by one, Dodgers 2 error play allowing 2 runs (including the walkoff) to score from 1B and 2B,

[close]

NBD. That will be a huge moment if

Spoiler alert

the Rays win it all. Poor old Kenley.

[close]

https://streamable.com/cluvmu

[El Unicornio, mang]

Must admit, I didn't watch it live but just caught up the game 4 score.

Just a routine

Spoiler alert

bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and Rays down by one, Dodgers 2 error play allowing 2 runs (including the walkoff) to score from 1B and 2B,

[close]

NBD. That will be a huge moment if

Spoiler alert

the Rays win it all. Poor old Kenley.

[close]

https://streamable.com/cluvmu

Just watched this. Crazy ending. Can't be doing with staying up til past 4am to watch the games so I usually load up the stream, pause it and watch it the next day. Thought the Dodgers might dominate the series but looks like it could easily go to a thrilling game 7!

[Famous Mortimer]

If the Dodgers lose, that game will go down in infamy, like Buckner x10.

[Famous Mortimer]

Luckily, that crazy ending is just a footnote rather than anything else, as the Dodgers close out the World Series and are champs for the first time since 1988. Deserved, I'd say.

Justin Turner tested positive for COVID-19 and was pulled from the game in the 7th inning (!). The official statement from MLB said he was isolated immediately, but unfortunately for them there are one or two cameras operating at the World Series and there were lots of shots of Turner celebrating with his team afterwards.

[Ferris]

^i didn't realize turner's contract has finished and he's a free agent now so it's really a shit time to get pulled and stuck in isolation for 2 weeks. Also didn't realize he was 35.

[Famous Mortimer]

I think MLB are just relying on the majority of their fans being MAGA-adjacent and not giving a shit about Turner doing what he did; the sites I read are calling it catastrophically stupid, but his team and the commissioner are going "ah well, what are you going to do?"

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2020/10/29/21541082/tony-la-russa-chicago-white-sox-manager

Here's a great article about Tony La Russa. He managed the Cardinals when I was getting into baseball and while I admired what the team did, I never cared for him. I think the Cards retiring his number, even though the other teams he managed for didn't, and him not even wearing a Cardinals cap on his plaque, just makes the team look sort of pathetic...anyway, this isn't about the Cardinals. La Russa is an old racist and he represents the past, in several ways.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I seem to remember the video games he put his name on were pretty good



Quite enjoyed the world series. Los Angeles was consistently good and deserved it. I'm looking forward to (hopefully) getting back to a full regular season next year. Always enjoyed the more relaxed feel of regular season day games a lot more than the playoffs. Plus I don't have to stay up late to watch them. Hoping travel to the US opens up so I can maybe see a live game.

[Ferris]

That was a great read, thanks FM!

[Famous Mortimer]

Hoping travel to the US opens up so I can maybe see a live game.

Should you, for some unfortunate reason, find yourself in St Louis, I've got a spare room and would take you to a game.

FWB - The Ringer is a great site, even if they do tend to focus on basketball a little too much. Their general baseball podcast is almost always excellent, too.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Should you, for some unfortunate reason, find yourself in St Louis, I've got a spare room and would take you to a game.

I'd certainly be happy to take you up on that offer if I got there! Busch Stadium looks nice from what I've seen.

[Famous Mortimer]

Anyone had anything interesting happen to their team yet?

I was just watching an episode of "Becker", the Ted Danson turn of the millennium sitcom that's aged pretty well (although I'm a little afraid of what'll happen post 9/11). Anyway, there's an episode where Becker has tickets to a Mets / Cardinals game, and he mentions that McGwire hit three home runs, so it allowed me to do one of my favourite things, figuring out if the game referred to on a fictional show actually happened.

Well, I don't think so? McGwire hit three homers in a game several times, but never against the Mets. We baseball fans must find our entertainment where we can in the off-season.

[Ferris]

Jays are making noise about several free agents (including former Card Kolten Wong though fuck knows why we're looking at infielders unless he's secretly a terrific middle reliever or something).

Bauer, Tanaka, Springer, Simmons are the other names I've seen floated, plus a couple of players from NPB that I know nothing about though Dolis has proved a canny pickup so who knows? Could be a lot of value there. The farm teams have a lot of talent which will help grease the wheels for trades, the Red Sox are nowhere and the rays/Yankees can't keep this pace up so it might be time for the Jays to go big and make some acquisitions.

Need a backup catcher, a starter or two, maybe some INF/outfield depth and a couple of relievers in my estimation to be competitive next season.

Grichuk would be a good trade piece to a who gives a shit team (looking at you, Pittsburg), he's not bad and he's cheap with a lot of team control. I'd also give up some borderline position pieces (and maybe Roark) if it helped bolster the Jays where needed.

Quietly hopeful for the future, but this is the time to make some moves.

[Ferris]

FM how about your Cards? Surely that playoff run has got the owners dreaming?

[Famous Mortimer]

FM how about your Cards? Surely that playoff run has got the owners dreaming?

Dreaming of spending less money, it seems.

A lot of people are trying to convince themselves that turning down Wong's option was the smart move, and now that Yadier Molina is a free agent, the same people are saying we're better rid of him (that may be so, but the backups have been pretty bad and there's zero indication they're going to spend money on a free agent).

The players they'd rather be rid of - 3B Matt Carpenter and OF Dexter Fowler - have a year left on their contracts and the Cardinals have almost no chance of moving them. Neither are very good any more and both are due a decent wedge in 2021 (Fowler $16.5m, Carpenter $19m). Their prospect pool is largely exhausted - 18th ranked by MLB - with a maybe decent catcher a few years away (Herrera) and a pitcher who will probably start the year with the major league side (Liberatore) being about the limit of it.

At this point, they aren't really good enough to compete, with only one guy I'd really call a star - Paul Goldschmidt, and he's in the decline phase of his career. Jack Flaherty (also a strong supporter of Black Lives Matter, which warms my heart) is great, and although he had a pretty rough 2020 I'm prepared to think he'll bounce back. No-one who'd come close to getting MVP votes, though.

I get the feeling the Cardinals are hampered by a number of things. Having a high payroll where all the guys being paid the most aren't performing; being more reliant than most on gate receipts (they're usually second or third in attendance every year); having no players that they'd be willing to trade that other teams would want; and scraping into the playoffs every year, thus guaranteeing the chorus of "the post-season is a crapshoot, get there and anything can happen" never quiets down and the team stays largely the same.

Oh, and being screwed, or allowing themselves to be screwed, by trades. One gets the feeling that Tommy Pham and Randy Arozarena were traded because the front office didn't like them - Pham wanted better exercise equipment for the team gym, and Arozarena secretly filmed coach Mike Shildt swearing like a sailor in a team pep-talk. Given how they've performed relative to the players the Cardinals kept, it feels like someone just wanted them gone, and aside from the Goldschmidt trade, where both guys they sent to Arizona have sucked out loud, there haven't been many wins on that front recently.

Bloody hell, I've banged on about this a bit. In summary: I'm expecting next year to be dull, with largely the same team being a game or two either side of .500 all season, and little likelihood of finding a future Hall of Famer under a rock (like they did, essentially, with Albert Pujols).

[Ferris]

I remember the Pham trade, he went to the rays for a bag of baseballs if memory serves.

Let's see what the off season brings I guess. I wonder if anyone will bother signing stroman (assuming he declines his QO).

[Famous Mortimer]

I remember the Pham trade, he went to the rays for a bag of baseballs if memory serves.

Let's see what the off season brings I guess. I wonder if anyone will bother signing stroman (assuming he declines his QO).

Giving up a pick for a player like Stroman, given the sort of options that are being declined, might leave him without a home until the point next season where the draft pick compensation stops.

[Ferris]

Giving up a pick for a player like Stroman, given the sort of options that are being declined, might leave him without a home until the point next season where the draft pick compensation stops.

He fucking loves himself though, so I reckon he'll hold out for a monster payday (like 6/$150m or something) and end up getting fuck all. Result!

[Famous Mortimer]

Last big news of 2020, I assume, is that Cleveland are changing their name. I assume there'll be a tiny minority of idiots who will make a point of wearing Chief Wahoo gear to every game, but it's a positive thing at least.

[Ferris]

It's about time, they'd been laying the groundwork for a while with the new logo etc.