2025 Major League Baseball Thread

[fatediesel]

Everything I've read is that once Strasburg reaches his innings limit (likely in August) he's done for the year no matter what. They don't want to be like the Cubs with Wood and Prior and blow out their young stars arm by pitching him too much.

[wilky61]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Everything I've read is that once Strasburg reaches his innings limit (likely in August) he's done for the year no matter what. They don't want to be like the Cubs with Wood and Prior and blow out their young stars arm by pitching him too much.

I kinda hope they play it safe. These fireballers like Strasburg (also Lincecum, Aroldis Chapman, etc.) can only keep up the arm strength and the velocity for so long, I think...

The interesting thing, though, is that the Nationals/Expos (founded in 1969) have NEVER won their division*

*except for the strike-affected 1981 season when they were crowned division champs despite finishing 2 games behind STL... this doesn't even count.

**of course, there is the separate story of the strike-affected 1994 season in which they were in first place by a good lead

[Clark Kent]

I think it's a horrible decision by the Nats if they pull Strasburg early in the season. He is their #1 pitcher and one of the most feared pitchers on the planet. Taking him away basically eliminates them as serious playoff contenders. I have noticed his top velocity is a little down from his peak before the injury.

[Hatter]

Now I understand why LaRussa retired after last season.

He looked like he was ready to collapse on the field at any moment.

[wilky61]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

I think it's a horrible decision by the Nats if they pull Strasburg early in the season. He is their #1 pitcher and one of the most feared pitchers on the planet. Taking him away basically eliminates them as serious playoff contenders. I have noticed his top velocity is a little down from his peak before the injury.

I heard them say during the All-Star game (I think) that his average fastball velocity of 95.9mph is still the fastest in the big leagues, though.


On an unrelated note (well I did namedrop Lincecum a couple posts ago), GOOD LORD. I knew Lincecum had been having a bad season, but I didn't realize it was THIS BAD.

- Last year he had an ERA of 2.74, this year 6.42.
- Last year WHIP of 1.21, this year 1.58.
- Win % has gone from 78% to 68% to 61.5% to 48% to 23% this year (3-10)
- In half of this season, he has given up more ER than he did in each of the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011 seasons.

The good news is that his offseason contract was only for two years (~40m). But, uh, is Tim Lincecum done? Or is he just having an Adam Dunn offyear?

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Everything I've read is that once Strasburg reaches his innings limit (likely in August) he's done for the year no matter what. They don't want to be like the Cubs with Wood and Prior and blow out their young stars arm by pitching him too much.

These artificial innings/pitch counts are a complete joke and starting to ruin the game. Wood and Prior were made of paper. Wood started 30 or more games only one season and Prior two seasons of his career. Dusty Baker didn't wreck their careers, bad health did.

[Navster]

Originally Posted by wilky61

I heard them say during the All-Star game (I think) that his average fastball velocity of 95.9mph is still the fastest in the big leagues, though.


On an unrelated note (well I did namedrop Lincecum a couple posts ago), GOOD LORD. I knew Lincecum had been having a bad season, but I didn't realize it was THIS BAD.

- Last year he had an ERA of 2.74, this year 6.42.
- Last year WHIP of 1.21, this year 1.58.
- Win % has gone from 78% to 68% to 61.5% to 48% to 23% this year (3-10)
- In half of this season, he has given up more ER than he did in each of the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011 seasons.

The good news is that his offseason contract was only for two years (~40m). But, uh, is Tim Lincecum done? Or is he just having an Adam Dunn offyear?

Its really frustrating, he's just not himself, and I dont see it getting any better anytime soon, imo put him in the bullpen, or bring him in as a closer until he can figure his shit out

[wilky61]

Originally Posted by Navster

Its really frustrating, he's just not himself, and I dont see it getting any better anytime soon, imo put him in the bullpen, or bring him in as a closer until he can figure his shit out

Having watched him, do you have any insight as to WHY he's having so much trouble? Is his velocity down? Is his location suffering? Besides the numbers, what is up?

[Moviefan1203]

Originally Posted by Navster

Its really frustrating, he's just not himself, and I dont see it getting any better anytime soon, imo put him in the bullpen, or bring him in as a closer until he can figure his shit out

Hell, that would be an improvement over Casilla.

[wilky61]

Did a google-search on "Tim Lincecum season" and came up with this; here is a relevant snippet:

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Lincecum will be the team's No. 2 starter coming out of the All-Star break. Lincecum supporters will point to the fact that he's averaging 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings as evidence his stuff is still there and his .333 average on balls in play is one of the highest in the majors. However, it's more than just "bad luck" that is plaguing Lincecum: It's mostly bad pitching. He has little command of his fastball and hitters are taking a lot of pitches, leading to walks and high pitch counts. His offspeed stuff can still produce strikeouts -- in part, because he's getting to a lot of two-strike counts as hitters work deep into the count. However, Lincecum's inability to make good pitches can be seen in what happens when the batter gets ahead in the count: They're hitting .345/.538/.605 in those situations; a year ago they hit .269/.457/.446.

Full article: http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/po...cums-struggles

[Terjyn]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

These artificial innings/pitch counts are a complete joke and starting to ruin the game. Wood and Prior were made of paper. Wood started 30 or more games only one season and Prior two seasons of his career. Dusty Baker didn't wreck their careers, bad health did.

And you don't think that him throwing a Verlander-esque number of pitches his rookie season had _anything_ to do with him having bad health?

Kerry Wood, that season, was treated like he was Justin Verlander. He wasn't. Very few pitchers are.

An absolute pitch count is silly. Pitch Count should be based on the pitcher, not some arbitrary number. But you flat can't assume that every pitcher is capable of 120 pitches every 5 days because most aren't. And assuming they are Verlander and then roping them back in only after they get hurt is a terrible way to go about business.

*EDIT* I don't mention Prior because of two reasons. He had that weird-ass throwing motion that was going to get him hurt eventually anyway, and because I put more blame on Prior's situation to his coaches at USC who WAAAAAAY overused him before he even got to the majors. (Some) College Coaches really don't care about their player's pro careers as long as they win now.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Terjyn

And you don't think that him throwing a Verlander-esque number of pitches his rookie season had _anything_ to do with him having bad health?

Kerry Wood, that season, was treated like he was Justin Verlander. He wasn't. Very few pitchers are.

An absolute pitch count is silly. Pitch Count should be based on the pitcher, not some arbitrary number. But you flat can't assume that every pitcher is capable of 120 pitches every 5 days because most aren't. And assuming they are Verlander and then roping them back in only after they get hurt is a terrible way to go about business.

*EDIT* I don't mention Prior because of two reasons. He had that weird-ass throwing motion that was going to get him hurt eventually anyway, and because I put more blame on Prior's situation to his coaches at USC who WAAAAAAY overused him before he even got to the majors. (Some) College Coaches really don't care about their player's pro careers as long as they win now.

Plus the arbitrary innings number is misleading and silly. You have to consider how many pitches are thrown. Strasburg is very efficient with his pitches. He only throws an average of 16 pitches per inning pitched.

If you think coaches can overuse pitchers in the U.S. look at what they do in Japan. Matsuzaka was throwing 200+ pitches in a game even in High School. This is what typically concerns me with Japanese League pitchers. They rarely hold up long in MLB.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by Terjyn

And you don't think that him throwing a Verlander-esque number of pitches his rookie season had _anything_ to do with him having bad health?

Kerry Wood, that season, was treated like he was Justin Verlander. He wasn't. Very few pitchers are.

*EDIT* I don't mention Prior because of two reasons. He had that weird-ass throwing motion that was going to get him hurt eventually anyway, and because I put more blame on Prior's situation to his coaches at USC who WAAAAAAY overused him before he even got to the majors. (Some) College Coaches really don't care about their player's pro careers as long as they win now.

I believe Wood was also abused by his college and HS teams. I believe espn ran an article on it, but that might have been Prior... Eitherway Cubbies compounded bad situations.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by wilky61

Did a google-search on "Tim Lincecum season" and came up with this; here is a relevant snippet:

Lincecum is probably permanently done as a Cy Young candidate. His peak velocity is down about 5 MPH, but he still got away with that last year as he has one of the nastiest changeups in the game. Now he has little control of his fastball and can't automatically throw it for a strike in certain situations, which is what has killed him this year. There are times when he can't find the strike zone to save his life, which is why he's had a number of blow-up innings in games.

His mechanics have changed as he's gotten older and less flexible. Some think he might be hiding an injury, but the Giants swear he's not. Many scouts never believed his small frame could handle pitching his style for a long time, and it appears they were correct.

He could still be a solid 2 or 3 in a rotation if gets his fastball command back.

[sycro]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

I think it's a horrible decision by the Nats if they pull Strasburg early in the season. He is their #1 pitcher and one of the most feared pitchers on the planet. Taking him away basically eliminates them as serious playoff contenders. I have noticed his top velocity is a little down from his peak before the injury.

Except for the other 4 pitchers they have that have been playing well. Hell, Strasburg isn't the top starting pitcher on his own team this year (I'd argue he's currently their 3rd best pitcher).

[wilky61]

Washington is probably gonna win the division anyway unless NYM stays hot. ATL always surges in July/August and then falls in September, so I'm not really expecting ATL to catch WAS. ATL has a bad pitching staff anyway.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by wilky61

ATL has a bad pitching staff anyway.

Except there are rumors they are going after Greinke on the trade market and want to sign him long-term.

[sycro]

Originally Posted by wilky61

ATL always surges in July/August and then falls in September

In 3 of their last 5 years, September has been one of their top 2 months. And since 1991, they've had a September record under .500 3 times... 1996, last year, and the year before when they went 13-14. It's also usually been as good or better than their July record.

Now, let's look at Washington's September records.... 3 .500 or better since 2005.

[fatediesel]

Today is the deadline for unsigned draft picks to sign their contracts. Previously the deadline had been August 15. There are currently 4 unsigned first round picks, #5 pick pitcher Kevin Gausman for the Orioles, #8 pick pitcher Mark Appel for the Pirates, #16 pick pitcher Lucas Giolito for the Nationals, and #21 pick 3B Richie Shaffer for the Rays.

It's highly unlikely Appel is not going to sign. Appel was projected to be the #1 pick but fell to #8 due to signability concerns, with rumors that he turned down a $6 million offer from the Astros prior to the draft. The Pirates have offered Appel $3.8 million, which is the maximum they can pay without losing draft picks under the new CBA. Appel now wants $4.8 million, which is what the Astros paid the #1 pick, and if the Pirates gave that to Appel they would lose their 2013 and 2014 first round picks, so Appel will likely end up returning to Stanford for his senior season. The other 3 unsigned picks are expected to get a deal done.

[Glassroots]

Really hoping AA will make a deal for some starting pitching help for the Jays.