2022 MLB General Season Chatter: Ghost Runners On The Half-Billion Dollar Infield

pirates had to use an emergency catcher in the eighth inning today -- josh vanmeter thinks he last caught when he was 14 -- gave up seven runs, and lost to the mighty reds in the first game of a doubleheader

starting catcher pulled a hammy on the bases and the backup had already been ejected for chirping from the dugout. just as well pirates-reds games don't matter because that is dumb as hell

Telling measure of how much offense is down this year: when I looked at Vladdy's line, his OPS+ this year (161) is almost equal to last year's (167), even though his basic slash stats are down quite a bit.

I don't know if i've ever seen anything quite like the futility evinced by this year's Red Sox offense. every game is lost 3-1, 3-2, 1-0. It's really something.

in the last 4 games they've scored 5 runs total

yeah, this is a 101 wRC+ (almost exactly league average) line right now:

.239/.317/.348

I don't know if i've ever seen anything quite like the futility evinced by this year's Red Sox offense. every game is lost 3-1, 3-2, 1-0. It's really something.

i imagine that might be like watching the brewers last year

Lifetime OPS
.682 - Deivi Cruz
.679 - Dee Strange-Gordon
.676 - MLB teams in 2022
.675 - Miguel Cairo
.673 - Yuniesky Betancourt
.672 - Neifi Perez

— Matthew Pouliot (@matthewpouliot) May 5, 2022

heady stuff

look the yankees and dodgers are both in first place so all's right in manfred's world

yikes, we have entered the deivi/neifi bermuda triangle

“teams are going through juiced ball withdrawal, home runs are a hell of a drug, etc”

An interesting fact about former #Angels 1B Ji-Man Choi … pic.twitter.com/hmRRUuE3mm

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) May 10, 2022

Vin Scully for NBC Sunday Baseball intro;

His voice IS baseball.

Let the incredible @thevinscully welcome you back to @mlb on @nbc and @peacocktv. #MLBSundayLeadoff pic.twitter.com/br3dq9ZYy7

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 8, 2022

lol

The Pirates finally got their first win from a starter in their 28th game, a major league record to begin a season. The old mark was set by the Baltimore Orioles in 1988 when they started 0-21.

also snapped a 16-game losing streak vs the dodgers

Guardians score 6 in top of the ninth to tie game. End up winning.

^^8 RBI for Toronto's (Mississauga's, technically) Josh Naylor--if I read it right, all in the last two innings without a HR?

he hit two homers

I swear I looked at the boxscore and missed that...really didn't make sense, though. Anyway, his minor-league career kind of paralleled Darren Shred's, the guy I coach in middle school who was drafted by the Reds, so I follow him. Darren got hurt (Reds could probably use him now), Naylor kept going.

("coached"--many years ago)

God, the Dodgers starting pitching right now...Six different guys have started games; one has an ERA of around 2.75, the other five have dead-ball-era ERAs.

Stanton and Judge look like an excellent bet for 100+ HR (and 50+ each) if healthy--22 in 32 games. There must have been some 50+ teammates during the PED era.

None--surprised. Still only Maris/Mantle.

really? i'm surprised as well. but yeah, guess there haven't been any.

"if healthy" is the key. stanton has had a very strange career

Looks like the two closest are Ruth (60)/Gehrig (47) in 1927, and A-Rod (52)/Palmeiro (47) in 2001.

It’s wild he doesn’t hurt himself more tbh. His swing is bonkers

"Judge and Stanton join Babe Ruth (14) and Lou Gehrig (10) from 1930 and Mickey Mantle (16) and Yogi Berra (12) from 1956 as the only pair of teammates in franchise history to have 10-plus homers in 32 games."

https://www.mlb.com/news/giancarlo-stanton-aaron-judge-homer-yankees-vs-white-sox

players with 0 walks so far in 2022, sorted by PAs (all stats from before today's games)

68 PAs: Yadier Molina
63: Cole Tucker
38: Francisco Mejia
29: Edmundo Sosa
25: Royce Lewis
23: Jose Rojas
22: Dee don't make a joke about me being Strange-Gordon

i'll give yadi a pass; he's not-quite-a-hall-of-famer (but will obviously get in at some point)

cole tucker has an 11 wRC+ this year and a career -2.1 bWAR. happily he's been sent down

didn't we used to do polls to see who would go the longest without walking? i can't remember how "good"/bad 68 PAs without a walk is.

what's funny was that in yadi's last appearance today, with a full count, he chased an obvious ball four and struck out :P

"obvious" to me as a pro baseball watcher

these guys suck!

*trips over rug on way to kitchen, again*

we did, and iirc 68 PA is a great deal

i'm kind of proud of him. i hope he never walks again!

i don't think he deserves to be a first-ballot hall of famer but i think he will come close and will quite possibly get it anyway. i've enjoyed watching him sweat his ass off for the last 18 or so years

If he gets in and the VC hasn't yet put Munson in, I will complain.

pirates are three outs away from winning a game in which they’ve been no-hit

wow

did it. sixth time ever

So I did read the box score correctly, that's nuts.

Only 24 outs though

Per the Elias Sports Bureau, a no-hitter needs to be at least nine innings in order to be official.

Or what x said

That’s insane. I should probably watch more highlights or something because I would never have know if not for this thread

Of course it’s the reds.

Heard a funny radio call of the last out: "The Pirates have just been no-hit, and THEY'VE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER!"

Fuck Michele Tafoya.

Your eyes are not deceiving you. pic.twitter.com/cAv8yhHjr2

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 16, 2022

the final pitch of the game was a 46.6 mph curveball

should have posted on that all on the He Reigneth thread

this is gonna be the thing that keeps him below 100 rWAR

my brain is fried today so sorry if this is a dumb question, but why didn't ke bryan hayes' RBI count as a hit (in the reds' no-hitter loss)?

Ruled as a fielders choice I believe.