The 2024 MLB Season Thread (cards, playoffs, wildcard, game)

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by RMESMH

I had the TV on in the background on a non sports channel and they broke in to announce it, and I posted right after to this thread, and the Dodgers thread. I forgot there was an Ohtani thread ().


Later I read somewhere that some of it is deferred (in order to be able to work in more now to sign others0, and that the deferral was Ohtani's idea......but that article didn't dive any other info at all about that.


I agree. It seems too much.

How much can you defer? They going to be paying his grandkids $5 million a year?

While money deferral gets a bad rap (See Bobby Bonilla day).. it's actually rather smart. But.. The more money you defer for person A, the less you have available in the future.. And SOMEONE is going to wind up having a payroll that's like the friggin' government. Spending money well into the future and half their cap will be made up of deferred monies.

Anyway.. As I said.. Best of luck to Ohtani and the Dodgers.. But.. I'm glad it isn't my team.

[case44]

Can you believe it's almost time? Only four weeks to go before pitchers and catchers report to their respective locations.

[Mike from back east]

Cactus League tix here in the Phoenix area have been on sale for a few months now. Tis to the two Savannah Banana exhibition games were sold as a lottery drawing.

[Mike from back east]

The Athletic has published its list of the Top 100 MLB Prospect for 2024, and Holliday is at the top of the list.

Their top 10 are:
Jackson Holliday, Orioles
Jackson Chourio, Brewers
Ethan Salas, Padres
Jordan Lawlar, Diamondbacks
Junior Caminero, Rays
Wyatt Langford, Rangers
Dylan Crews, Nationals
Marcelo Mayer, Red Sox
Evan Carter, Rangers
Paul Skenes, Pirates


Looking forward to seeing how these players pan out this year; of course I'm hopeful for the Orioles to beat the Yankess.

[Mike from back east]

The Athletic is out with its MLB 2024 Farm System Ratings for all 30 teams.

Top 10 teams are:
1. Orioles
2. Brewers
3. Dodgers
4. Diamondbacks
5. Cubs
6. Tigers
7. Yankees
8. Red Sox
9. Pirates
10. White Sox


The author, Keith Law, gives a full paragraph of each team and states:

As part of my annual prospect rankings, I’ve also ranked all 30 major-league teams’ farm systems here, with a brief explanation of why they’re in this order — although I think you’ll get an even clearer picture on any individual team by reading the team reports that will begin to roll out on Monday. Bear in mind that these rankings only consider players currently in the system and eligible for the rankings, meaning players who have not yet lost rookie status.

[case44]

Spring Training.................


.........................is underway!

And life is good.

[sluggermatt15]

Baseball is back! :-)

[Mike from back east]

Pitching injuries in the news today....

Per the NY Times

One of the game’s leading orthopedic surgeons is sounding an alarm on pitching injuries — and citing the advent of the sweeper and power changeup as significant reasons for the spike.

Dr. Keith Meister, the Texas Rangers’ head team physician, said teams are exacerbating the problem by emphasizing pitchers’ performance over their availability.

“These front offices, unfortunately, are living more in the moment than taking a longer, broader-term view,” Meister said. “There is a way to manage this. What if a guy doesn’t have a WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) of 0.8. What if he has a WHIP of 1.1 but he’s able to play 162?”

Meister, who pioneered the hybrid elbow procedure that combines a traditional ligament reconstruction with the addition of an internal brace, said surgical techniques changed markedly over the past decade in response to how pitching evolved.

As teams increased their emphasis on velocity and stuff, injury-list placements for pitchers rose from 241 in 2010 to 552 in 2021....

....

Meister, 62, said he repaired approximately 230 elbow ligaments last year and is “way ahead of that pace” this year. Shohei Ohtani threw more sweepers than anyone in baseball from 2021 to 2023 before undergoing his second major elbow procedure. Of course, pitchers who do not throw sweepers or power changeups also are getting hurt, as evidenced by the mounting injuries this spring.

The Boston Red Sox’s Lucas Giolito might require a second elbow reconstruction. The Houston Astros’ Justin Verlander, New York Mets’ Kodai Senga and Toronto Blue Jays’ Kevin Gausman and Alek Manoah are among those dealing with shoulder issues. The San Francisco Giants’ Sean Hjelle is out with an elbow problem, and Tristan Beck had surgery to remove an aneurysm in his arm.

And that is only a partial list.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by sluggermatt15

Baseball is back! :-)

"The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field-this game-it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good about the game, and it could be again. People will come Ray, people will most definitely come."

Regular season will be here before we know it!

[Mike from back east]

One writer at the NY Times things the O's will win the World Series this year, per this article.

Such predictions aren't worth the paper they're printed on but it is fun reading. The O's do have the best record so far in Spring Training, but we've seen that happen before then fade in the regular season.

Excerpts:

Orioles are young, fun and World Series-bound

ZiPS projected record: 90-72
2023 record: 101-61

OK, I’ll just say it: I think the Baltimore Orioles are going to the World Series in 2024.

They already have perhaps the best collection of young talent in the game, with last year’s Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson (and 2022’s runner-up Adley Rutschman) heading up the group. Jackson Holliday could make a lot of history by keeping the award in Baltimore this year. Throw in an outfield of veterans who remember the Bad Old Days, and it’s a very good squad.

They probably out-punched their weight class last year, finishing with an eye-popping 101 wins before losing in the ALDS. But not content to just make the postseason for the first time since 2016, they brought back Craig Kimbrel to bolster the bullpen, then traded for top-of-the-rotation starter Corbin Burnes from the Brewers.

Burnes is key in a rotation that is also pretty green. Out of the foursome of Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer and Tyler Wells, only Kremer has pitched more than 300 innings in the big leagues (and Bradish will start the season on the IL with a UCL sprain). They should also benefit from an April return by lefty John Means (elbow).

Meanwhile, the bullpen was worth 7.5 fWAR last year — second only to the Dodgers (7.6).

But the real monster is the lineup, which overcame a newly distant left field wall at Camden Yards last year to finish seventh in the league in runs scored. Now they’ll add Holliday (and probably Heston Kjerstad, and maybe even Colton Cowser and Colby Mayo) to the battering ram.

They’re young, they’re fun and I don’t think there’s a better team in the AL this year.

Key departures: RHP Jack Flaherty, 2B Adam Frazier, RHP Kyle Gibson, LHP DL Hall, OF Aaron Hicks, RHP Shintaro Fujinami

Key arrivals: RHP Corbin Burnes, RHP Craig Kimbrel

Prospect corner: Oh, more young stars are coming. Here’s Keith Law’s list of the top 20 Orioles prospects — five of whom made his overall top 100 list.