Complicating the West

 

Two weeks into the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers are in third place. While still having a better record than four other division leaders. So for those of you thinking this would be a very inevitable, cut and dry season, fear not. The Giants and Padres are gonna make this a bit more interesting.

The Padres being competitive is less of a shocker. We all saw how good they were last year, and they had a ton of great offseason moves, like locking down Jackson Merrill, signing Nick Pivetta and bringing in Gavin Sheets and Yuli Gurriel. They only perfected a team that was already on the cusp of greatness. But...the Giants are ahead of the Dodgers as well. And it's happened because a lot of things that had been developing and gestating for some time are finally paying off.

First of all, this is Heliot Ramos's first season where he's been given the trust he deserves. It took him a while to make the bigs, he finally stuck around for good last year and became a hard-hitting all-star outfielder. Now he finally get to keep left field, which much be a relief for all the people fearing the position would continue to be a revolving door. Ramos is already having a great season, hitting .279 with 12 hits, 9 RBIs and 3 homers. He's still an above-average outfielder with some insane offensive pop, and with no disrespect to people like Mike Yastrzemski, Patrick Bailey and Wilmer Flores, they really needed a guy like that. 

Then there's Jung Hoo Lee, who's been outstanding to start the year. Last year there was only a small taste of Lee's offensive prowess before an injury ended his season. This season, however, you're getting a full picture of why everybody was so excited about him last year. He's hitting .333 with 10 hits, 6 doubles and 3 steals. This guy is fun as hell, and the Giants fans already love him, in a way not seen since Pence and Sandoval were still here. Obviously the idea was to have Chapman and Adames, as the biggest stars, lead the team, and Chapman's been phenomenal so far, but this is an effort led by the guys everyone counted out. Lee, Ramos, Yaz, Robbie Ray. 

It just feels more genuine than the Dodgers, because yes, this team has some contracts, and have used them to compete, but there's more of an idea of human error than the Dodgers' contracts. There was the chance that JV could be cooked, and so far...he kinda is. There was the risk factor signing Jordan Hicks to start, and he's on the good side at the moment. So much of this team has risk built in, but so did the 2010s teams. Posey knows that. And he knows that it can ebb and flow in a way that can ensure really strong stretches. This, after years of just missing, may be it. 

The idea is figuring out a way to keep the Dodgers on the ropes all year, which will not be easy, and continuing the trend of incredible close victories, which will also not be easy. We'll see how much of this is sustainable, but if this lasts the whole year there might be a new league superpower in the mix.

Coming Tonight: One of MANY Red Sox kicking the crap out of the ball right now.

Logan Lucky

 

So, just to give you an idea, the Philadelphia Phillies have been trying to rearrange their outfield situation lately because, as is, it's not terrific. As I'm writing this, Johan Rojas, who was supposed to be an offensive upgrade, is dropping routine fly balls. We already knew, with Casty, Kepler and Marsh, it'd be an average defensive outfield but it just hasn't been ideal. At this point we're even starting Edmundo Sosa in LF, basically just to keep him in the lineup. Marsh is above average defensively but has struggled both in center and at the plate so far this year. As fun as Marsh can be when he's on, we've also just learned of the limitations he has, which is its own obstacle.

And when you do a 1-for-1 trade like that, it always has the chance of backfiring. Not every one of those can be as balanced as Zac Gallen for Jazz Chisholm. And I still think Brandon Marsh is a valuable, integral member of these Phillies teams. But we gave him up for Logan O'Hoppe. And I'm not saying I wish we had him back, because we have JT and he's still excellent. But right now, as the Angels work on a surprisingly decent April, Logan O'Hoppe is one of the definite standouts of the team. More Angels games this year are gonna come down to O'Hoppe than Phillies games coming down to Marsh, at least in my opinion.

Logan O'Hoppe has never felt uncomfortable in the majors as an Angel. In his 2023 come up he was incredible til his injury. Last year he was one of the highlights of their dire second half. O'Hoppe is very good behind the plate but even better as a hitter, with both contact ability and power perks. So far this season he has a .349 average, with 5 homers, 9 RBIs and a 1.229 OPS. The man knows how to get on base, and he knows how to keep infielders on their toes. The Angels have needed more guys like that for a while, especially post-Ohtani. Mike Trout can only do so much, and so far we're not 100% certain this will even be a peak year from him. 

And having O'Hoppe, Nolan Schanuel, Jose Soriano, Ben Joyce and Karen Paris on this team, and surging, does make me a little more optimistic about the team's future outlook. There's still a lot of replacement level guys haunting the roster, like Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson, and hopefully long term solutions will pop up soon enough [or, more likely, Neto and Rengifo will return from the IL]. It's really just the Trout factor worrying me. He's been fine thus far, but...Mike Trout isn't usually 'fine'. He made a whole thing out of being back from the injury and ready to go and...this is a little anticlimactic. Hopefully something's coming.

The Angels have a hold on 2nd at the moment, meaning Wash-ball finally seems to be working in Anaheim. My personal hope is they keep the others at bay, but you can't exactly count out the Astros or Mariners. The Angels always get stuck whenever they have to be a long term success rather than a flash in the pan, and it'd be nice if they got past that this year with these guys.

Coming Tomorrow- After years of being a top prospect, he finally broke out last year, and has bigger plans for 2025.

Much Ado About Nutting

 

There was a lot of smoke this offseason about John Fisher, about how he was the worst owner because he didn't want to build a new stadium, or how Ross Atkins was the worst GM because he kept striking out at all the big free agents by not offering enough. Both men redeemed themselves. Fisher spent a lot of money on the A's this year, and locked up Rooker and Butler going forward. He's got an early rookie of the year candidate in Jacob Wilson as well. Butler just shut up the haters by signing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a mega-deal, and Bo Bichette may be next.

Fisher and Atkins may not be great at what they do, but at least they remember to spend money on the team every so often. They listen. They hear the fans going on about how much they suck, and they listen. Meanwhile, you could literally spit in Bob Nutting's face and he could still look in the mirror that night and go 'I'm doing everything correctly.'

There was literally a clip from the other day, the opener, of Bob Nutting traversing the PNC Park concourse, and constantly having fans come up to him and going 'hi Bob, sell the team'. One by one by one. And he's just standing there, like a republican on MSNBC, just putting his full shit-eating grin on, like this doesn't affect him in any way. And when you make enough money, it doesn't. 

Now...I'm not a business expert. I went into the arts solely to avoid having to be the one to make business decisions. But the whole thing with buying and owning a baseball team is that you need to put money in every so often to keep the quality of product up, or else the product will deplete and you'll be forced to sell at a loss. Maybe it is an intentional thing, to make the team bad on purpose and get even more money for it. And I know this is a period of American history that rewards that sort of blatant skullduggery rather than pointing out how bad it is. But...you're doing this at the expense of Pittsburgh sports fans. I say this as someone who has a lot of friends and colleagues who are Steelers fans...that is a group of people you do not want to mess with. They're already angry that the team hasn't won a playoff game since Big Ben left, and they're getting so desperate that they're actually considering that Aaron Rodgers could be an upgrade from Russell Wilson. But one thing they will not take is a lack of effort.

And that's how the Pirates look right now. Like there was no effort put in. This team has one of the best pitchers in baseball, the great Paul Skenes, and will get another great season out of him. But the rest of the team looks...AWFUL. Nobody's hitting. Even Bryan Reynolds isn't hitting, and he ALWAYS hits well to start the season. The only great contact piece right now is Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and he's already made some errors in the infield. David Bednar spontaneously combusted. Both Jared Triolo and Nick Gonzales are hurt, joining Spencer Horwitz in the pile of injured outfielders. I feel like if you combined those three you'd make a good infielder but apart they're just a great defender, a great contact guy and a decent utility/bench bat. Andrew Heaney's off to a great start but who knows where he'll end the year. You saw some signs of life yesterday in Oneil Cruz, Ke'Bryan Hayes and Joey Bart, but it's gonna take more than that.

I don't think Bob Nutting sees this as an issue. The necessary tools to compete are here and they still don't have the team. This week he even had the Clemente family at his throat for taking down a monument to Roberto on a stadium wall. Needless to say, he's in hot water right now, and if this continues it could turn to a boil. The Orioles giving out an extension will probably be the last straw, cause if THEY can keep players intact, then the Pirates fans might riot.

Coming Tonight: The Phillies traded him for Brandon Marsh. They got their sturdy outfield favorite. The Angels...may still win the trade somehow. 

The Impossible Dream

 

The 2020s, so far, have rewarded a lot of players who've spent their entire careers performing to the best of the league's ability without much to show for it. In 2020, 30somethings Jose Abreu and Freddie Freeman received their first MVP awards, in 2022 Paul Goldschmidt received his right at the end of his peak period, and in 2024 Chris Sale, after an astonishing comeback year, finally got a Cy Young. Dusty Baker, Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw and Ronald Acuna finally got rings. Just this year, Dick Allen finally got inducted into the Hall of Fame.

It was time for all of those long-suffering greats. So when will Jose Ramirez, rightfully, be rewarded for being one of the best hitters in baseball for the past ten years?

Ramirez has finished in the Top 3 of MVP voting 3 times, and in the top 5 of MVP voting 5 times. He has a career 52.2 WAR, and has finished with a 6.5 or higher four times, including last year. He was inches away from a World Series in his fourth year in the bigs. The closest thing to a down year this man has had since coming up has been 2019, with a measly 3.0 WAR and a .255 average. Everything else has been way above the standard. And already this year, J-Ram has had a 3-homer game. You know, one of those.

The single best thing about J-Ram's continued dominance is that no matter how much the Guardians have changed from 2016, now emphasizing contact over power and bullpen over starters, the fans still absolutely adore him. Again, you look at 2016 and Brantley, Lindor and Kluber are king, and now J-Ram is the Joey Votto type figure. Always hits like hell, always hustles, what's not to love? And you can tell he absolutely loves playing in Cleveland, and he loves that he gets to be the captain of these teams. Even somebody like Votto or Gwynn, the team wouldn't always be competitive, there'd be lulls. The Guardians have pretty much always been in the thick of it, no matter of people leave or not. And now that Vogt is powering this team to a new contact horizon, even without Naylor or Gimenez, stock is still very high on Cleveland baseball, and it's still very much because of J-Ram. 

There are worries, like whatever's been going on with Emmanuel Clase, or the lack of proven options in the rotation, or where Jones and Thomas's production is, but with Ramirez, Kwan and the new, improved, contact/defense favoring Carlos Santana all off to great starts, the Guardians still have a lot going for them, and could still accomplish a lot this year. 

As for whether or not this is J-Ram's MVP year? Well...Aaron Judge still exists, and Bobby Witt Jr. still exists, and Alex Bregman is looking pretty hot in Boston. The AL's always gonna be a crapshoot for the MVP race, and Ramirez could power his way there if enough things go his way. Still, Tony Gwynn never got an MVP, Derek Jeter never got an MVP and Nolan Ryan never got a Cy Young. But that didn't stop them.

Coming Tomorrow- Two years ago he was the only man in New York who wasn't hitting. Now he's the only man in Pittsburgh who is. 

OutSpencered

 

Here's how the Braves' season is going so far: the star outfielder is still hurt, the ace is injured for another few weeks, the biggest offseason signing is out with a PED suspension, a rookie hitting .150 is starting at catcher, two of the biggest marquee hitters aren't hitting either, there's starting depth issues [which wouldn't have happened if they hadn't have traded Ian Anderson for a bag of peanuts a week before the season to a team that won't start him either], and the only win so far, denoted by Michael Harris showboating on social media, has been followed by a shutout loss by Cal Quantrill and a rainout. 

The Braves are currently, without a doubt, the worst team in baseball. The only other team kept at 1 win just won their second yesterday against the A's. The Braves, after being one of the true alphas of the game for a solid 5 years, are now firmly at the bottom. It is ultimately better to hit the bottom in April than it is to hit the bottom in September, but...this still isn't great. 

It's not like there was a mass exodus. The guys that made the playoff teams worthwhile are still here. They're just not doing well. Chris Sale's ERA is around 5. Austin Riley has 14 strikeouts, and Marcell Ozuna has 11, and the only reason Ozuna is still hitting for average is that everyone keeps walking him. They're hitting .193 as a team. Nobody has more than 5 RBIs or 1 home run. It is...bleak. And all this while the Phillies continue to surge, the Mets build back their fanbase, and the Marlins somehow figure things out. 

The one bright spot of this year so far? Spencer Schwellenbach. The second-year came very close to no-hitting the Marlins the other night, and he already has 14 strikeouts while allowing no runs. His spring starts were looking nice, and he's carried that over to some MLB dominance to start things off. The Braves need that right now, because their other Spencer, Spencer Strider, was delayed in getting back to the majors, and their other big innings-eater, Reynaldo Lopez, is out for a bit. If Schwellenbach can be a full season presence for this team, it'll take some of the sting out of the depleted, waterlogged feel of this roster. 

Maybe things will be better when Acuna and Strider come back. Maybe adding Kimbrel back into the fold could inject excitement. Maybe this needs time to even out. But the possibility that none of those things could work and this could be a down, depressing year for the Braves is scaring the fans. We'll see if this coming week is any better, but a lot of people are gonna need to spring to life fairly soon. 

Coming Tonight: Tony Gwynn hit like hell for his whole career, made a ton of All Star teams, never won an MVP or a ring, and everybody regards him as one of the best. The closest we have to this might be a guy who had a 3-homer day recently. 

Damn the Torpedoes!

 

The Yankees are already the talk of the MLB, and I...think it's for a good thing?

The team's been off to a phenomenal start, loss against the Pirates notwithstanding. Beating the Brewers began the year with an exclamation point, but moving on to notch big wins against the Diamondbacks and Pirates, along with very close games for the losses, proved the energy was real. Everyone was hitting, the Cole-less rotation was getting by, Judge was still putting up monster numbers and Williams was acclimating well to New York.

But...the first series, and the amount of balls that went out, sparked immediate attention, especially considering the number of 'torpedo bats' being used by the perpetrators. And while many people sought to find a loophole to say this wasn't allowed, simply shifting the leverage of the bat so that the ball hits a different point isn't cheating. Even Manfred agrees, and...while that may not say much, as he wouldn't know a cheater if it bit him in Joey Gallo's ass, it does imply that the torpedo people have a relatively airtight case. And sure enough, others around the league, including Elly de la Cruz, have taken the company up on their availability and have repeated the success.

I think the guy this has benefitted the most has been Anthony Volpe, whose swing has been connecting more and more since getting the new bat. Right now he's hitting .297 with 11 hits, 12 RBIs and 4 homers. Those are some numbers that could persist if he keeps it up, and this could FINALLY be the season where his plate presence matches up with his defensive stuff. You've also seen more from both Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza, as both fight for custody of 3rd. You're getting a monster season from Trent Grisham, FINALLY coming into his own in the Bronx. You're getting the most confident material from Ben Rice we've ever seen, already with 2 home runs. 

And you're seeing an incredible start from Jazz Chisholm Jr., who's already got 9 hits, 9 RBIs and 4 homers. This spike in offensive prowess has been coupled with a return to his usual position of 2nd base, and thus he's leading the team in WAR [despite Aaron Judge also being here]. I knew Chisholm would be great for us when we traded for him, and hopefully he has a terrific year for us.

You're seeing more flaws come through over time, especially in some of the newer veterans like Goldschmidt and Bellinger, and some of the depth starters like Warren and Stroman. But...Carlos Carrasco can go out there for 5 innings and get the win. That's not something I expected going into this year. There are some very cool depth options, and very cool unsung guys already helping out. I'd love to see how this team progresses, and I'd love if it continues to feel as exciting as this.

Coming Tomorrow- A guy named Spencer for the Braves who strikes out everybody? Likely story. 

Paid in Jacksons

 

So just to recap, Jackson Chourio got his payday before he'd played a game, and Jackson Merrill got his payday a year into his career. All I'm saying is Jackson Holliday has got to be thankful his dad made a little money back in the day or else he'd be getting some serious FOMO.

The Padres had been undefeated before the Cubs came to town, and so much of it had to do with Jackson Merrill and his wild start to the season. So far the OF bat is hitting .375 with 12 hits, 8 RBIs and 2 homers. The realized beauty of seeing Merrill and Tatis, and Machado, surging at the same time has been incredible for Padres fans. Even post-Seidler, Merrill is the kind of sure thing player that has reignited the team's outlook. He's young, he's versatile, he's great defensively, he can hit for power and contact. He's just come along at the exact right time, and it's gotta be exhilarating. 

I do think it's very telling how Merrill factors into this team several years into the Fernando Tatis story. Tatis was also this multi-tool guy, then got caught cheating, struggled with an injury and now is...well-regarded but not as well-regarded as he was. And he's still very good! Dude's hitting .400 so far this season! Not even Luis Arraez is doing that somehow. Tatis is leaning into contact, getting on base and not striking out a lot. At 26, he's still very much in his prime, he's finally got a defensive position he's comfortable in, and can still lead the team like he used to. And I think that if he hadn't gotten into trouble they wouldn't NEED a second guy like Merrill to supplant him. So it's a very complicated case. I think right now there is still room for the both of them to excel in San Diego, but I don't know how much longer that'll be a viable plan. 

The Padres themselves, Cubs series notwithstanding, have remained near the top of the very impressive NL West in a full team effort. The rotation, of Dylan Cease, Michael King, Nick Pivetta, Randy Vazquez and Kyle Hart, has been extremely solid so far. Even if Pivetta gave up runs yesterday he still kept striking people out. Even if Vazquez was credited with a loss his ERA is still 1.69. This is a really nice group of starters, and this is even without Darvish, Musgrove or Waldron. The bullpen has been excellent so far, thanks to dominance from Robert Suarez, Wandy Peralta, Jeremiah Estrada, Yuki Matsui and the unsurprisingly-much-happier-in-2025 Jason Adam. It'll be interesting to see how Adam does in June, but that's a-ways away. 

The Padres, thanks to Jackson Merrill, are back in the thick of things and making the NL West a fun, competitive division this year. The Dodgers and Giants want it just as badly, so from the looks of things this'll be a fun ride all the way through.

Coming Tonight: When we traded for him, I knew he'd do well in New York. I just knew, it was an immediate instinct. And I was right.