Friday, July 24, 2020

The Stupidity of Baseball


July 24, 2020

After much bickering the owners and players agreed to a 60 game schedule. Although I was not overjoyed, I figured 60 is better than no games. In a short season this would have made each game more important than one in 162 game regular season.

Leave it to the stupidity of the MLB to render the 60 game season meaningless. The playoffs have been expanded from 10 to 16 teams. What differentiated baseball from other pro leagues is not over half of the teams make the playoffs. In this new scenario, you can play less than .500 and make the post season.

 I am pretty sure that TV playoff money had something to do with this decision. Let us hope this format is gone in a non-pandemic year.

 I heard there was concern regarding three men in close quarters during an at bat. With all the rule changes and safety being a priority, why didn’t baseball try out a robotic umpire to call balls and strikes?

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Play Ball


July 19, 2020


It will be like playing in a post season atmosphere from the start. The young White Sox only have three players with this experience. Nevertheless, the talent is good enough for them to compete. What they need is a good start, to instill some confidence. For the first time in years, the Sox should play meaningful games in September.

The best news in recent days was Yoan Moncada returning after testing positive for the coronavirus.He was asymptomatic so he shouldn’t miss a lot of time. Although overshadowed by the major league batting leader, shortstop Tim Anderson, and A.L. RBI leader, first baseman Jose Abreu, he is probably their best offensive player. Moncada finished third in the batting title race and led the Sox in on-base and slugging percentage.

Eloy Jimenez was on fire when the season ended and is poised for an MVP type season. Another player to watch is five-tool rookie centerfielder Luis Robert. The Sox also added Edwin Encarnacion to DH and  catcher Yasmani Grandal. He is not only good offensively, but will help young pitchers with his framing of pitches and defense.  The Sox should have plenty of offensive firepower, even more when Moncada returns.

The Sox also look good on the pitching front. All-Star Lucas Giolito leads the staff. The number two starter is consistent and former Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel. With a year under his belt, Dylan Cease could have a break-out season. In his last four starts, he gave up only 7 runs. Reynaldo Lopez has tremendous stuff and at times was unhittable. Other times he was awful. Gio Gonzalez is an above average number five starter. Former ace Carlos Rodon may replace Lopez if he can’t get it together. Rodon and top prospects Dane Dunning and Jimmy Lambert can be significant contributors if the starters don’t go six innings at the start of the season. When the starters go six innings, they can hand off the lead to Steve Cishek for the seventh, Aaron Bummer in the eighth and close it out with Alex Colome in the ninth. A good bullpen will be needed for success in a short season.

The Sox may win 35 games however, with tough competition not make it to the post season. But this will be a great springboard for 2021.

In contrast to the White Sox, the Cubs have an experienced core group when it comes to playing important games August and September. This might be the last hurrah for this group. With many question marks, the one thing the Cubs need is to avoid injuries. In past years injuries to Kris Bryant and Javier Baez have debilitated this team.

One of the first moves Manager David Ross did was inserting Kris Bryant to lead off. Bryant has a great on base percentage and should provide many RBI opportunities for Anthony Rizzo and Baez. With the designated hitter and not the pitcher hitting ahead of him, Bryant should have better success driving in runs. The problem I have with Ross is he wants to go righty followed by lefty and has Jason Heyward hitting fourth. Heyward has never hit like the Cubs expected when they signed him to a long term contract. With .264 batting average he could be a rally killer. However, he doesn’t have many other options if he wants to construct his batting order this way.

In Bryant and Baez, the Cubs have one of the best left sides of the infield in the game. Anthony Rizzo is in the upper echelon of first basemen.  They seem to be leaning toward Jason Kipnis at second base. In his past three years his averages have been .232, .230 and.245. The Cubs would be better served with Nico Hoerner or David Bote.

Even with Heyward batting fourth, the top of the line-up is loaded and will produce a lot of runs. Kyle Schwarber keeps getting better and better. In 2017 his average was .211.  Last year it was up to .250. He had his best home run output with 38. If he continues to improve, he could be very dangerous. Right now he would probably be a better option at number four in the line-up. His defense has also improved. However, it seems he will mostly be the designated hitter. If so the outfield leaves a lot to be desired.  According to my Cub consultant, Ian Happ will be in left field. He has to hit better than .264. He hit 24 homers in 2017. Last year he hit only 11. In centerfield you have Albert Almora Jr. His average in 2017 was .298. In 2018 it dipped to .286. Last year was a disaster at .236 with no power. With Heyward in right, the outfield defense is fine but you need more offensive production. I know hindsight is 20/20, but if you knew the National League was going to adopt the designated hitter, resigning Nick Castellanos would have been  a good idea.

In past years the strength of this team was the pitching.  They do have one of the best pitchers in Yu Darvish. He is a joy to watch as batters flail at his assortment of pitches. If he opts out, the Cubs are in deep doo-doo. Opening day starter, Kyle Hendricks, has been pretty good since being acquired in 2015. I don’t think he is an elite pitcher. Jon Lester over the course of a full season is just mediocre, as attested to his 13 wins and 4.48 ERA. The hope for the Cubs is that in a short season he can amp it up and give them quality starts. With Jose Quintana sidelined the rest of the rotation is a crapshoot. Tyler Chatwood, who has never lived up to expectations is your number 4 starter. Because he is out of options, Alec Mills is your number five. From what I know he doesn’t get me excited. Eventually you may see Cub Colin Rea or Adbert Alzolay crack the rotation.

 What may hinder the Cubs most is a suspect bullpen. The primary set-up men are Kyle Ryan and Rowan Wick. Neither has pitched a full major league season. To assist these two, the Cubs acquired former Milwaukee reliever Jeremy Jeffress who will try to bounce back from a 5.02 ERA. Even if the set-up men do their jobs, the closer remains Craig Kimbrel who once was an elite closer. Kimbrel has fallen on hard times in the past couple of years. There must have been a reason he was available until June when the Cubs were desperate for a closer. He saved thirteen games but will be remembered for blown saves. In a pivotal series in the second to last weekend, he took two loses to the Cardinals practically ending any Cubs hopes for post season play. I don’t think I can live with a closer who comes in for one inning and has 6.58 ERA. He also gave up 9 homers in 20 innings.

Since the Dodgers are going to run away with their division, the wild card will come from the other two. If the Cubs can grind their way to 32 wins they should be a wild card.    


Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Are You Ready for Pandemic Baseball


July 14, 2020

With the coronavirus wreaking havoc on the country, Major League Baseball will attempt to play a 60 game schedule with playoffs starting in October. When baseball shut down in early March, the plan was to start the season at the end of May. They may have thought the virus would be somewhat under control and they could have a season before the second wave. The problem is, the first wave is still here with no end in sight. After much bickering, the owners imposed the 60 game season, starting July 23.

In order to have a season they prepared a safety protocol plan that includes constant player testing. The major hiccup is that it takes too much time to get the results. Therefore, the possibility exists that while waiting for results you may have an asymptomatic player on the field. But the games have to be played. If there is an uptick of COVID-19 infections, it could derail the season.

When the season starts, you will notice some changes. The National League will adopt the designated hitter. Although some fans don’t like it, this was bound to happen. I don’t believe the league will ever revert back to pitchers batting. To speed up the game, relief pitchers have to face a minimum of three batters. Managers don’t like this because it makes their jobs harder. No longer can they manage the late innings making multiple changes from batter to batter. I’ve seen managers use four pitchers for one inning. Television stations will hate it because of the loss of commercial time each time a pitching change is made. Fans should embrace this new rule. If you like bunts, you’ll love extra innings. With a runner starting on second, managers will call for a bunt more often than not to move the runner to third. Hence, he can score on a sacrifice fly, infield hit, etc. Hopefully, when the game goes back to a full season they will discontinue this awful new change.

The NBA and NHL are ready to start. Why leagues are practicing in Florida with the most coronavirus cases in the country, is beyond me. Both sports have many players have already caught the virus. Being a contact sport, there is no point in returning as more cases are sure to pop up. The NBA plans to resume with 16 teams with best records. The excluded are talking about playing each other. If you love bad basketball this is for you. The NHL is insane, having 24 teams in the playoff. The top four will play for seeding while all the other teams will play best of five series to advance. For Chicago fans, this will give a chance to see all the inadequacies of the Blackhawks playing a vastly superior Edmonton Oilers team on their home ice. I’d be surprised if the Hawks won one game. Football, whose camps open in late July will also battle outbreaks of COVID-19..

On Deck: White Sox and Cub Outlooks