then coronavirus happened, 2020 baseball

it sure does seem like the padres make more giant trades per capita than most

five trades involving 24 players in the last 48 hours

also their fifth trade with the indians in the last 25 months

16 playoff teams this season and the only deal the pirates could make was unloading jarrod dyson for (the right to spend) international signing bonus money

toddfather back to the mets tho

impeach the pirates ownership team

The Marlins ramped up their efforts to make the postseason on Monday by swinging two separate trades while the club faced the Mets at Citi Field.

The Marlins made a big move to upgrade their offense by acquiring D-backs outfielder Starling Marte in exchange for left-hander Caleb Smith, righty Humberto Mejía and a player to be named later, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.

After the fifth inning, second baseman Jonathan Villar was lifted for a pinch-hitter and spoke briefly with manager Don Mattingly. MLB.com confirmed the 29-year-old has been traded to the Blue Jays as part of a separate deal. According to MLB Network insider Jon Heyman, Griffin Conine is part of the return in that deal. Conine is the son of “Mr. Marlin” Jeff Conine. A second-round Draft pick in 2018, Conine hit .283/.371/.576 with 22 home runs in Low-A last season for the Blue Jays.

Neither trade has been confirmed by the club.

PROPOSED MIAMI-ARIZONA TRADE DEAL
Marlins would get: OF Starling Marte
D-backs would get: LHP Caleb Smith, RHP Humberto Mejía, PTBNL

PROPOSED MIAMI-TORONTO TRADE DEAL
Marlins would get: OF Grffin Conine
Blue Jays would get: IF Jonathan Villar

I’m glad to have him in Toronto, but why would the marlins ship him out if they’re trying to contend?!

i'm not sure how seriously they're trying to contend -- they're not very good and their current playoff chances are around 30%. anyway villar's a pending free agent, hasn't been that great, and the money they'll save helps offset getting marte, who is better and has a team option for 2021

I’m surprised they were willing to part with Smith if that’s the case.

lol the jays already dfa'd vogelbach

2 G, 0-for-4, 2 K, 1 BB, -0.1 bWAR. rip

Maybe the ptbnl the jays game up for him, will wind up being him.

the rockies have allowed 49 runs in the last 30 innings

nick madrigal has been exactly the player that was promised: 39 PAs, 16 singles, 0 doubles, 0 triples, 0 home runs, 1 walk

<3

Ian Happ fouled a ball off his own face.

nick madrigal has been exactly the player that was promised: 39 PAs, 16 singles, 0 doubles, 0 triples, 0 home runs, 1 walk

― ℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Friday, September 4, 2020 9:28 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

and then there's DJ Stewart

32 PAs, 0 singles, 0 doubles, 0 triples, 3 home runs, 9 walks

.150/.433/.600

this is pretty decent: https://www.mlb.com/video

𝚂𝚊𝚗 𝙳𝚒𝚎𝚐𝚘: There’s a party deck full of mannequins. It is ... something. pic.twitter.com/Bax294MfyH

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) September 8, 2020

https://i.redd.it/ojfcusngj0m51.jpg

The bases were loaded, too, and the batter before had walked a run in. Intense!

this is why the games are all 3+ hours. one can only imagine what manfred's solution will be

Oakland Alameda Coliseum September 9, 2020 10:54am @Athletics #nofilter pic.twitter.com/4TlFspPTGT

— Dave Kaval (@DaveKaval) September 9, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/09/world/asia/japan-coronavirus-jleague-soccer.html

Call me an idiot but this approach seems sensible to me. Every other row is vacant and there are two seats between each fan.

Just wow.#SFGiants ⁦@OracleParkSF⁩ pic.twitter.com/y2bSzgjVI1

— Darren Chan (@415dc) September 9, 2020

gonna need a color gauge so people know whether to flee because of fire or head to the basement because of tornados

christ mattingly let jordan yamamoto wear it

Ouch

2.2 IP
11 H
13 R
12 ER

Dude actually had a really impressive stretch last year.

rooting for the braves to score 30. it could happen!

xp yeah, yamamoto isn't necessarily terrible/still has promise

but it's like, not only are you being made to look like an asshole, you're also gonna be optioned and lose money because you threw 90 pitches and are useless to the team for four days

29

Not doing much this season but checking in on the standings and from there the Dodgers looking pretty tough. That +99 run differential in 43 games is pretty impressive. They had a couple of months last year when they were just about unbeatable too.

These playoffs are bound to be strange, so you never know. I'm fine with the Dodgers keeping on being goats, but it is just a matter of time until they win it all again. Can't win it all if you don't make the playoffs.

i think the dodgers should run an experiment this postseason and maybe not pitch kershaw

astros under .500

the 2 teams that have most underperformed their Pythag records are Angels and Mets

fuckin Gnats

feel like i've seen more 10 run innings over the past week than i saw in the last five years combined

SF Giants have a positive test, their weekend series vs. SD has been PPD

maybe the orioles will show up tomorrow

the dream is over :( (specifically the dream of playing spoiler against the yankees, the orioles were never going to make the playoffs)

I’d like to nominate cardboard humans watching baseball in a dystopian hell scape for photo of the year, thanks. pic.twitter.com/DeQmFjuM45

— 🇨🇦 Marshall Ferguson 🏈 (@TSN_Marsh) September 10, 2020

Scherzer chased in 6th

oh sure *now* the orioles are all tough

With Goldschmidt having taken half a step back and Freeman half a step forward, they've done what they always looked like they'd do eventually, merge into the same player.

PG - 249 HR, .293/.393/.524, 142 OPS+, 44.8 WAR
FF - 237 HR, .294/.382/.508, 138 OPS+, 37.8 WAR

Goldschmidt still has the edge, but Freeman has two years on him. Their birthdays are two days apart, and they're number-one on each other's similarity scores.

without knowing much about freeman, he must have the edge on personality. goldschmidt is that guy in high school who is nice and excels but no one knows a goddamn thing about

also, very small sample size but it's been a real pleasure to watch him be his old goldschmidty self on the field this year. Last year's model was a little fidgety, this seems to be the real deal, for the moment

he must have the edge on personality

Because he's a Freeman in Atlanta; he feels unfettered and alive.

Huh that was a take I wasn't expecting. PG has been a decent player the last couple seasons while FF is one of the best hitters in the game, and certainly the best 1B in baseball. While FF benefits from being in a much better lineup, seems like PG has been figured out for the most part... just by looking at the trends in their ISO over the last few seasons.

at the same time, PG is running the best OBP of his career right now (.439). watching him, fwiw, he seems to be on fire all year - he either walks or makes solid contact on just about everything, is always on base.

but yeah, i'd take FF in a heartbeat over PG, moving forward. i think clemenza was comparing the two in terms of their career stats, saying that they're very similar right now

Major League Baseball today announced the schedule for the 2020 Postseason, which is set to open with the American League’s inaugural Wild Card Series on Tuesday, September 29th and the National League’s first Wild Card Series openers on Wednesday, September 30th. In the first neutral site Fall Classic in modern history, Game One of the 2020 World Series on FOX is set for Tuesday, October 20th at the new home of the Texas Rangers, Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. A potential Game Seven of the World Series is scheduled for Wednesday, October 28th.

All best-of-three Wild Card Series, which are presented by Hankook, will be played at the regular season home ballparks of each league’s top four seeds and be televised exclusively by ESPN and TBS. Then, beginning with the Division Series, Clubs will shift to neutral site locations for the duration of the 2020 Postseason due to health, safety and competitive considerations. American League games from the Division Series forward will be held in Los Angeles and San Diego, and National League games from the Division Series forward will be played in Arlington and Houston.