Play ball!

We finally have a baseball season after much bickering and brawling between the MLBPA and the MLB. They’ve finally agreed to a season. And the patient fans finally have baseball again.

It’s definitely not ideal, actually, far from it. Rob “Bozo” Manfred proposed a 60-game season. 60 games!?!? It’s really not like they could’ve done better, there’s not much time. But after Czech Table Tennis was the most exciting “sport” on television, or, would you like to indulge in the 2007 Week 7 Game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Miami Dolphins (Dolphins and Steelers fans, that was rhetorical, but even you wouldn’t want to watch that), huh?

I mean, the Nationals were horrible at 60 games, but look where they ended up. In a little less than a week, Spring Training will start, but where does that leave the minor league players? Do they play in Spring Training; do they play at all? Do they play their season? I can imagine crazed people going to major league baseball games, but minor league games, no way! Minor league games are fun, but nobody is going there to endanger their lives.

My point is that minor leagues are going down the drain and will probably never get out of this major hole. There is one rule that is interesting but clearly points out that there are no minor leagues. There will be three taxi squad players that can tag along with the team, much like calling people up from the minors. This rule I don’t really understand but I see both sides of the argument: the Injured List – IL will be 10 days for pitchers and hitter and the 60-day IL will be now 45 days. So, are the players supposed to turn into Super Men and rehabilitate faster?

I don’t think that’s how nature intended injuries and coming back to happen. But the powers that be did do this because the 60-day IL is literally the length of the season. The trade deadline will be August 31 so only about a month to play with the new players. And finally, probably my favorite rule, is that there will be universal DHs. Finally the NL will have something do with all the no defense and all offense players, like JD Martinez. I love this idea. I think it’s the best deal possible given the circumstances but the only thing I don’t like is that all this had to have been done earlier.  

Pitcher: For this series of baseball pitchers I’m doing the number one starter, I’ll do relievers next and so on and so forth around the diamond.

Arizona Diamondbacks: Robbie Ray is a good pitcher, he made the All Star Team last year and he finished with a 12-8 record last season but with an over 4 ERA, that’s the troubling part of this. Ray has a good arsenal and he’s a solid starter to hold your team’s lead but he just hasn’t proved himself yet and I don’t think he will. Ray is good and will probably solid or good in his career.

Atlanta Braves: Mike Soroka, the Braves have a great starting rotation but Soroka stands out to me because I watch him a lot when the Braves are playing the Mets, and I see that he’s young and he has potential. Mike went 13-4 last season and finished with a sub 2.50 ERA, elite numbers for a man in his first full season. He was an All Star and he finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, second, behind Pete Alonso, which wasn’t really all that much of a competition, but still, second? With a tall frame and weighing 225 lb. he could throw the ball well and hard. Mike is good now and will be elite in the future.

Baltimore Orioles: Yeesh, their starting rotation is saaaaaaaaaaaad. Alex Cobb is their best starter? Alex Cobb? Alexander Miller Cobb went 0-2 and had a 10.95 ERA in three games, people are going to say, three games, oh, that’s nothing. Ah, but as Phil Jackson said on the Last Dance, “You’re only as good as your last season,” even if your “season” is three games long. Cobb is near the end of his career and now the pitching staff of the Orioles is going to be atrocious, they’re going to be bad for at least the next three years because then Adley Rutsctman will come and “save” them. Cobb is bad and will be bad for the rest of his career.

White Sox: Lucas Giolito is great. He should definitely be one of the guys that they should build around looking into the future. Giolito is a fiery pitcher who is really consistent, he went 14-9 with a 3.41 ERA, he had 3 complete games and two shutouts, both league leaders. Lucas is at the beginning of his career with a really bright future and the Sox have a really bright future as well.

Chicago Cubs: Jose Quintana is the starter I’m choosing. It’s weird because most rotations have one outlier that’s great and the rest are average, on the Cubs, every single one starter is average or solid, not better, not worse, completely average. Quintana had a 13-9 record and a 4.68 ERA, he has a great pitch combo. He’s someone I would trust with taking Game one of the World Series if I’m the Cubs. Quintana is solid and will probably stay there or be good.