You can’t spell ‘no big contracts’ without RSN: 2024 regular MLB season thread!

Wow that surprises me from what I know of him.

Oneil Cruz just sent a missile into the Allegheny at 114mph right after Connor Joe hit a three run bomb. Justin Steele…washed?

xp one of the Red Sox commenters is always talking about the “slutter” (slider/cutter) but I think that’s something different now. Isn’t a sweeper like a slider with more horizontal break?

Not seeing a future for the "slutter" as a popular term...I think so, but to me, it just looks like a big curve that goes sideways instead of down; I think both types have always been around, so I don't know if the pitch itself is new.

I’ve seen some players say the same as you and others think it’s a variation or a whole new pitch. I’ve also seen it called a frisbee slider, which makes me think of Giants legend and Immaculate Grid hero Sergio Romo.

They'll probably give him a chance at the win, but they're getting into a dicey pitch count here...I honestly don't know. I wish I were better at remembering stuff like that--how Blyleven's curve broke might be instructive--but I'm not.

I think Koufax threw a drastic 12-6 curveball.

Too bad--one just inside the line and an infield hit. Good debut, though.

Yeah I mean honestly great debut, no matter how good the pitcher is they need practice at getting out of jams and that’s hard enough for veterans who aren’t on a pitch count. He’ll have plenty of wins in his career

Actually didn't care about the win, I more wanted to see him finish with a third out (as opposed to mid-inning). But they had no choice.

Storm delay and a tie game in PNC Park. There’s audible thunder. Dramatic!

I think Koufax threw a drastic 12-6 curveball.

69 Seconds of Barry Zito Curveballs. 😍 pic.twitter.com/Uth8lJeHaz

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) December 28, 2021

With Bo - two years ago he got off to a terrible start. Like, just brutal for two months. then he turned into an unrelenting pitcher destroying machine for the rest of the season. His august- September, iirc, was one for the books.
I’m hoping he can turn it around again in similar fashion. last three games he’s 4/13 with a home run.

MLB app indicating ongoing no hitter mets/barves. hope the app jinxes it!

I hate how they flag up no hitters after like the fourth inning. At least leave it till the sixth you cowards!

With Bo - two years ago he got off to a terrible start. Like, just brutal for two months. then he turned into an unrelenting pitcher destroying machine for the rest of the season. His august- September, iirc, was one for the books.
I’m hoping he can turn it around again in similar fashion. last three games he’s 4/13 with a home run.

MLB app indicating ongoing no hitter mets/barves. hope the app jinxes it!

vintage degrom game for sure

today a pirates reliever threw 12 straight balls with the bases loaded

i suspect that hasn't happened (or been allowed to happen) too often

(his replacement then walked the next guy on five pitches)

xp one of my favourite baseball follows has this as their pinned, the pain and ecstasy of those years

when the Mets broadcast tells you that Jacob deGrom is not coming back out for the 4th inning and they’ll have more info later pic.twitter.com/tzfLhnLghw

— M Y A S S I N J A C K P O T (@vodkasnowflake) March 8, 2022

Jim Rice is the grumpiest (not pejorative) postgame broadcaster

watching the Dominican rapper El Alfa laughing before the game with David Ortíz and Brayan Bello

Look at all that jewellery. I’d get tired carrying that around.

Tom Caron: maybe one piece? Maybe you could borrow one to see? Do you speak Spanish?

JR: (sternly) No.

today a pirates reliever threw 12 straight balls with the bases loaded

i suspect that hasn't happened (or been allowed to happen) too often

(his replacement then walked the next guy on five pitches)

Watching Skenes reminds me of facing Strasburg after his call-up. I took a fastball in my first at-bat, looked up, and saw ‘100’ on the board. I thought, ‘Uh oh.’ The next pitch? The best curveball I’d ever seen—gulp. Same could be said about the changeup later. I was like, 😕.…

— Joey Votto (@JoeyVotto) May 11, 2024

His reply to the first comment is interesting too.

I was talking to my friend about Goldy & his history against Tim Lincecum (which she didn’t know about). Ended up linking her this legendary supercut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1uozyrIMaQ

What I hadn’t realised was that very first hr of his career was off Lincecum - and it was his last fully good season too. Really impressive how well he saw him. I wonder if this will be his last season.

braves catcher chadwick tromp is wearing #45 💀

There was an article in The Athletic about this recently where he was like, I wanted to change my number, I didn’t make the connection till I realised people kept cheering me

Up to now I've been pretty sanguine about Ronald Acuña's slow start at the plate, thinking at least when he does get on, he's turning that walk or single into a double via the steal. But now he's been picked off at 1B three times in 10 innings, yesterday and today. He just doesn't seem to have any focus.

His career splits by month are a real on/off switch: April/June/August excellent, May/July so-so (September's more of a mixed bag).

big papi continues to own New York:

Today in Albany, the New York State Senate will honor a man who can only be described as an Empire State folk hero:

...
...
...

David Ortiz pic.twitter.com/LWAjtKDaAF

— Jon Campbell (@JonCampbellNY) May 13, 2024

This walk off photo ruled:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNljLR4WwAE0f67?format=jpg&name=large

The truth behind the photo wasn’t so elegant:

With the Red Sox luck, genuinely surprised Kutter Crawford’s leg didn’t snap in half here pic.twitter.com/tbWiFjgGBW

— Garrett Mashburn (@G_Mashburn) May 15, 2024

that is a pretty nice outing from paul skenes

6 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 11 K, 100 pitches, 22 swings-and-misses, 7 balls in play, 1 of them in the air, game score 82

Beauty to watch

🥵

...so the pirates could have had cole and glasnow on this squad in addition to skenes and jones?

Wasn’t Glasnow bad in Pittsburgh and didn’t the Rays sort him out when he went there?

He was awesome as a Pirates minor leaguer. I think he just needed more time and a better situation.

Yeah, same as Zack Wheeler not taking off with the Mets I guess

Should have put my Cy Young bet down on Detroit's Scooby-Doo.

...so the pirates could have had cole and glasnow on this squad in addition to skenes and jones?

the pirates were never gonna pay cole and glasnow what they could earn in free agency, so not really

(this does not excuse the pirates trading him *and* austin meadows *and* shane baz for chris archer in 2018. among the worst trades of this century, even if meadows and baz haven't exactly worked out)

also while i really like glasnow, and hope he does well, he is nowhere near cole

After 9 starts, Imanaga has an ERA of 0.84

!

Thing is, Ranger Suárez of the Phillies--whose name I don't recognize at all, even though I apparently watched him pitch in the World Series two years ago--is right there with him:

Suárez - 59 IP, 8-0, 1.37 ERA, 0.763 WHIP, 2.5 WAR
Imanaga - 53.2 IP, 5-0, 0.84 ERA, 0.913 WHIP, 3.0 WAR

It's really close.

i haven’t seen suarez pitch this year but i have seen imanaga and he is very, very impressive

i think you have to also factor in that the Cubs are being carried by their starting rotation so far this season - their bullpen has been bad, their offense and defense have been subpar, and they're still contenders. Javier Assad has a 1.49 ERA and somehow Jameson Taillon has a 2.20 ERA. Justin Steele's numbers aren't great but he hasn't been off the IL long.

In 1998, my first classroom ever, a grade 3 kid named Ranger Goyette told me that kids needed to feel the "flow of freedom." So I'm already a big Ranger Suárez fan.

if your team is in the NL East, ranger Suarez has been a constant fixture for the Phils for 5-6 years.

Ranger went undrafted in the ILB fantasy league which is a relatively deep league imho.

(xpost) I saw that when I checked his career log--even had a great swing year in 2021. Whenever I say I haven't heard of such-and-such, it always has more to do with my tunnel vision than the player in question.