The 2020 Major League Baseball Player Chatter, News and Fantasy Thread.

[stevenash]

Hard to believe this guy was an All Star last year. He can't hit water if he fell out of a boat this year. The Giants need to give younger players an extended look anyway so I'm ok with them cutting a veteran loose even though Pence is popular among his teammates and the fans.

5 for 52 this season.

I've always been a huge fan of Pence.
His 14 year numbers speak for themself.

244/942/.279

Not many players had (have) a career of 250 (almost) bombs 1000 (almost) .280 BA

That's rock solid in my book.

[jrgum3]

5 for 52 this season.

I've always been a huge fan of Pence.
His 14 year numbers speak for themself.

244/942/.279

Not many players had (have) a career of 250 (almost) bombs 1000 (almost) .280 BA

That's rock solid in my book.

I love Pence too. I'll never forget his leadership in 2012 when the Giants were down 0-2 in the NLDS to the Reds. He motivated that team to come back and without him they don't win that championship.

[Cross]

Someone will pick up Pence for his leadership and hope he can still platoon against lefties.

[stevenash]

Someone will pick up Pence for his leadership and hope he can still platoon against lefties.

MLB is pretty much all DH now, Pence will be picked up by a team like Philly, or a Houston who has some key injuries now.
He could help the Angels or Seattle who can't hit LHP for shit but they're both our of contention.

Cleveland comes to mind too, generally Lindor and the boys cream LHP, this year, nothing.

[jrgum3]

Well Pence did make it to the All star game as a DH and I think he's not done yet. He just couldn't get it going with the Giants but maybe a change of scenery would do him some good. Perhaps the AL on a contending team like Cleveland that needs its offense to get going if they're going to seriously make a run this year.

[Otters27]

Padres and Dodgers on fire

[EmpireMaker]

After being designated for assignment by the Giants earlier today, Hunter Pence’s second stint with the club has likely come to an end, and the longtime fan favorite wasn’t shocked by the news after hitting only .096/.161/.250 through 56 plate appearances. “I think I’ve been in the game long enough to know that no matter what, what I was producing on the field, you’ve got to bring a little bit more to the table than that. I completely understood,” Pence told Henry Schulman and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Pence said he would “stay open” to the possibility of continuing to play should an opportunity arise, though he acknowledged that retirement might be on the horizon, describing the last “couple of years” as “the bonus rounds” of an outstanding career. If this is indeed it for Pence, he’ll hang up his glove after 14 years of Major League ball that included four All-Star appearances, a league-wide reputation as a clubhouse leader, and a place in the hearts of all San Francisco fans for his contributions to two World Series championships.
More from around the game…

• Tuesday could be a big day for the Braves, as their game with the Yankees could mark both the return of Ronald Acuna Jr. from the injured list and the big league debut of pitching prospect Ian Anderson. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman was among those to report the news that Acuna took batting practice on the field tonight, a day after being cleared to take swings. A wrist injury has sidelined Acuna since August 10, though assuming he is pain-free and feels ready to go come Tuesday, one would imagine the Braves would be eager to get the superstar oufielder back into the lineup as soon as possible.
• As for Anderson’s status, manager Brian Snitker gave a hint to Bowman and other reporters in saying that Tuesday’s starter wouldn’t be impacted by pitching usage in Atlanta’s game tonight against Philadelphia. Pundits rank Anderson within at least the top 45 prospects in all of baseball, with The Athletic’s Keith Law citing Anderson’s “real No. 2 starter upside” as one of the reasons for a 27th place ranking on Law’s preseason prospects list. An early display of this potential would be a huge boost to a Braves team that has been short on consistent starting pitching year apart from Max Fried.
• While Yankees fans consistently speculate that the team could or should trade one of their younger players for a more proven talent, George A. King III of the New York Post pours some cold water on the idea of Miguel Andujar, in particular, being dealt. An injury-plagued 2019 season and a slow start in 2020 has seen Andujar produce only an .118/.141/.118 slash line over his last 71 MLB plate appearances, and King feels the Yankees aren’t going to move such a promising slugger when his trade value is so low. It remains to be seen where Andujar will fit into New York’s future plans given the emergence of Gio Urshela as the everyday third baseman, but that isn’t a decision the team has to make any time soon.
• Could a return to the majors be in the cards for Scott Kazmir? The left-hander is scheduled to pitch Tuesday for the Sugar Land Skeeters, and ESPN’s Buster Olney writes that this outing “will probably be his last start” for the independent club. Kazmir hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2016 or in affiliated ball since 2017, though the 12-year MLB veteran was known to be planning another comeback attempt. It isn’t known how many Major League teams have gotten a first-hand look at Kazmir given how the pandemic has altered normal scouting procedures, but Kazmir would be something of a low-risk flier to see what he could potentially contribute (probably as a reliever) at age 36.

[JMobile]

Padres and Dodgers on fire

I see a Playoffs here

[koz-man]

New York Mets to resume play Tuesday vs. Miami Marlins

The New York Mets will resume play Tuesday after having their past four games postponed because two members of their traveling party tested positive for the coronavirus. The player and staff member who tested positive experienced symptoms but are both feeling better, according to Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen.
Van Wagenen was asked Monday whether the team has an idea how and where the two infected individuals may have picked up the virus.
"We don't," Van Wagenen responded. "What we're all learning is this virus has a lot more questions for us than answers. We do feel comfortable the spread [did] not come from player to player or coach to coach]. Our best guess is it came from some outside spot. But that's all it is, a guess."

[stevenash]

Mike Trout was as shocked as you might expect to learn that his signed rookie card recently sold for nearly $4 million. "Maybe I should've kept that one," he said. "It's pretty incredible that a cardboard picture of me is worth that much. It's pretty humbling."

[jrgum3]

Dodgers vs Giants series starts tomorrow. Time to see if the Giants winning streak is a mirage or if they can hang with the big boys in the NL West. Both teams coming in hot so we'll see who continues to play good ball.

[stevenash]

Here's the situation.
I'm in the daily 3 home run contest at Fan Duel.

Simply put, you select three hitters of your choice from the days slate, if your three hitters combine for 3 HR's or more you win a share of the 1000 dollar pot.

I selected Kyle Schwarber, nothing.
Eugenio Suarez Reds, one homer, game over.
Trevor Story, one homer, so far.

Top of ninth, I need a big fly from Story to win my share.

Here's the rub. Story is due up fourth this inning,
I need one base runner to have a shot at this.

Stay tuned.

[stevenash]

Here's the situation.
I'm in the daily 3 home run contest at Fan Duel.

Simply put, you select three hitters of your choice from the days slate, if your three hitters combine for 3 HR's or more you win a share of the 1000 dollar pot.

I selected Kyle Schwarber, nothing.
Eugenio Suarez Reds, one homer, game over.
Trevor Story, one homer, so far.

Top of ninth, I need a big fly from Story to win my share.

Here's the rub. Story is due up fourth this inning,
I need one base runner to have a shot at this.

Stay tuned.

I got my base runner.
The ninth hitter Wolters the catcher singled, bringing up Tapia with Story on deck.
Stay tunded.

[stevenash]

I got my base runner.
The ninth hitter Wolters the catcher singled, bringing up Tapia with Story on deck.
Stay tunded.

What does Tapia do?
Grounds into a DP.
Leaving Story on deck.
We can hope for extra inning I guess.

That was a giant cocktease.

• CRICHTON PITCHING FOR ARI
  
  COLARI
  
  
• Tapia grounded into double play, shortstop to second to first, Wolters out at second.
  
  32
  
  
  
• Wolters singled to center.
  
  32
  
  
  
• Hampson grounded out to shortstop.
  
  32
  
  

[Cross]

Good luck next time on the homers. Fun contest.

[stevenash]

Good luck next time on the homers. Fun contest.

It really is.
Here's my secret, I look for power hitters that cream left handed pitching, like JD Martinez for instance.

Here's a list of power hitters that cream LHP.
There's others (like kid Riley from Atlanta) that's not on this list due to limiting at bats.
Trust me, if Riley played a whole season he would hit at least 12 off of LHP.
This is from 2019.

Reds, Braves, Indians. NYY, LAD generally hit LHP well.

Season	Name	Tm	G	PA	AB	1B	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	BB	AVG
2019	J.D. Martinez	BOS	80	170	141	28	9	1	19	38	40	25	0.404255
2019	Cody Bellinger	LAD	113	228	193	29	7	0	18	36	44	34	0.279793
2019	Alex Bregman	HOU	84	194	163	26	14	1	16	36	38	28	0.349693
2019	Nelson Cruz	MIN	63	140	115	16	5	0	16	26	29	20	0.321739
2019	Bryce Harper	PHI	99	213	187	27	11	0	15	35	44	22	0.283422
2019	Jordan Luplow	CLE	69	155	128	16	10	1	14	31	30	26	0.320313
2019	Charlie Blackmon	COL	89	234	215	36	15	1	14	42	29	12	0.306977
2019	Ian Desmond	COL	84	198	182	24	14	2	14	27	38	15	0.296703
2019	Pete Alonso	NYM	89	178	150	13	8	1	14	26	35	24	0.24
2019	Renato Nunez	BAL	98	221	200	32	9	0	13	34	38	14	0.27
2019	Nolan Arenado	COL	82	190	162	30	7	1	13	34	30	27	0.314815
2019	Manny Machado	SDP	72	146	127	20	6	1	13	19	27	18	0.314961
2019	Ketel Marte	ARI	79	174	165	31	11	1	12	30	31	7	0.333333
2019	Trey Mancini	BAL	93	219	191	26	15	0	12	40	26	22	0.277487
2019	Justin Turner	LAD	83	179	160	23	11	0	12	27	23	15	0.2875
2019	Christian Yelich	MIL	92	202	173	25	10	1	12	32	24	25	0.277457
2019	Mitch Garver	MIN	59	129	106	15	6	1	12	34	23	19	0.320755
2019	Edwin Encarnacion	2 Tms	55	128	106	11	4	0	11	23	22	21	0.245283
2019	Eduardo Escobar	ARI	93	202	191	32	12	2	11	30	35	8	0.298429
2019	Ozzie Albies	ATL	77	157	149	37	9	1	11	29	33	6	0.389262
2019	Christian Vazquez	BOS	85	173	158	24	10	0	11	30	28	13	0.28481
2019	Eugenio Suarez	CIN	77	156	123	19	4	0	11	24	24	30	0.276423
2019	Carlos Santana	CLE	94	222	185	40	9	0	11	34	40	34	0.324324
2019	Jose Altuve	HOU	59	143	130	21	10	1	11	27	22	9	0.330769
2019	Albert Pujols	LAA	76	181	165	23	9	0	11	20	37	14	0.260606
2019	Max Muncy	LAD	90	181	157	24	6	1	11	30	38	19	0.267516
2019	Mike Moustakas	MIL	94	181	163	25	9	0	11	22	27	13	0.276074
2019	Yasmani Grandal	MIL	100	194	155	21	7	1	11	26	25	37	0.258065
2019	C.J. Cron	MIN	60	143	129	24	7	0	11	23	31	10	0.325581
2019	Miguel Sano	MIN	61	121	109	14	5	1	11	24	24	12	0.284404
2019	Khris Davis	OAK	67	150	130	26	0	0	11	25	25	19	0.284615
2019	Matt Chapman	OAK	79	179	154	16	8	1	11	29	25	23	0.233766
2019	Matt Olson	OAK	74	173	157	17	7	0	11	22	27	9	0.22293
2019	Hunter Renfroe	SDP	70	133	113	12	3	1	11	20	19	17	0.238938
2019	Tom Murphy	SEA	55	130	118	23	6	1	11	18	25	11	0.347458
2019	Kyle Seager	SEA	73	147	130	20	6	0	11	19	25	14	0.284615
2019	Lourdes Gurriel Jr.	TOR	48	115	110	15	7	0	11	24	20	4	0.3
2019	Travis d'Arnaud	3 Tms	68	150	134	20	7	0	10	19	27	13	0.276119
2019	Ronald Acuna Jr.	ATL	68	146	126	21	2	1	10	29	24	15	0.269841
2019	Xander Bogaerts	BOS	87	184	165	25	13	0	10	31	37	18	0.290909
2019	Ryan McMahon	COL	78	162	152	24	5	0	10	20	28	9	0.256579
2019	Mike Trout	LAA	77	184	143	17	10	1	10	27	26	38	0.265734
2019	Kole Calhoun	LAA	95	189	165	20	5	0	10	23	27	23	0.212121
2019	Ryan Braun	MIL	82	176	157	21	13	1	10	22	25	16	0.286624
2019	DJ LeMahieu	NYY	70	177	160	39	11	0	10	32	31	17	0.375
2019	Anthony Rendon	WSN	87	171	136	23	9	1	10	38	26	26	0.316176

[JAKEPEAVY21]

PAdres and Paddack vs Mariners on tap tonight

Time for Paddack to right the ship..he has not been missing many bats lately.

[Chi_archie]

PAdres and Paddack vs Mariners on tap tonight

Time for Paddack to right the ship..he has not been missing many bats lately.

should be a good one

[stevenash]

Padres have trouble vs. Marco lifetime even though 32 AB's are a small sample size
(6 for 32 .178) .192 OBA

My approach tonight would be work Marco, be patient and make him throw pitches.

Padres having trouble this season vs. LHP
.230 overall as a team.

Season	Name	Tm	G	PA	AB	H	HR	R	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	AVG
2020	Wil Myers	SDP	18	30	27	11	4	5	10	3	0	7	0.407407
2020	Jurickson Profar	SDP	19	29	26	7	2	4	4	3	0	4	0.269231
2020	Fernando Tatis Jr.	SDP	15	29	23	6	2	5	3	5	1	7	0.26087
2020	Manny Machado	SDP	14	29	26	6	2	3	3	3	0	5	0.230769
2020	Trent Grisham	SDP	18	28	26	4	0	0	0	2	0	8	0.153846
2020	Tommy Pham	SDP	14	22	19	6	1	4	1	3	0	5	0.315789
2020	Eric Hosmer	SDP	12	22	21	4	1	2	4	1	0	4	0.190476

[JMobile]

Padres have a lot of juice tonight against the Mariners. You don't see that often.

[EmpireMaker]

Slugger Aaron Judge will make his return to the Yankees tonight, as the club announced that Judge has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Lefty Luis Avilan, however, has been placed on the 10-day IL (retroactive to August 22) due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Miguel Andujar and righty Brooks Kriske have been called up from the Yankees’ alternate training site.
Judge returns after a minimum 10-day absence due to a mild calf strain — one so seemingly minor, in fact, that Judge said he’d been lobbying the team to not place him on the IL whatsoever. Still, the Yankees showed some caution with the star right fielder, and he’ll now add his considerable pop to a lineup that is still missing Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, and Gleyber Torres. Judge has been nothing less than spectacular over his 68 plate appearances this season, hitting .290/.343/.758 with nine home runs.
While Judge is returning, Avilan becomes the latest Yankee to hit the IL. The southpaw has a 4.32 ERA, 9.7 K/9, and 1.80 K/BB rate over 8 1/3 relief innings this season, his first in the pinstripes after inking a minor league deal with New York last winter. It stands to reason that Avilan’s shoulder issue might have been the reason for his struggles in his most recent outing, as he allowed three hits and two earned runs over just one-third of an inning against the Rays last Thursday.
This will be the third separate time that Andujar has been up with the Yankees this season, and he has only a .232 OPS over 22 plate appearances. It will be interesting to see how Andujar will be deployed during this stint on the active roster, as while he has been learning first base and the outfield, he could conceivably return to his old position at third base. That would allow the Yankees some flexibility in potentially moving Gio Urshela to the middle infield with Torres and LeMahieu out, as manager Aaron Boone has indicated that he would be open to using Urshela away from third base on a limited basis.
Kriske is back up with the Yankees for the second time this season. The 26-year-old made his Major League debut this year, and has a 6.75 ERA over his first 1 1/3 innings in the Show.

[batt33]

Dodgers vs Giants series starts tomorrow. Time to see if the Giants winning streak is a mirage or if they can hang with the big boys in the NL West. Both teams coming in hot so we'll see who continues to play good ball.

well Ive been away on fires and the Giants win....I'm back home for a few days anyway....

[hotcross]

4 interleague games Tuesday, American League will go 4 for 4 (if the 2 late games in progress hold)

includes Giolito no-hitter for the White Sox

[BigSpoon]

Was wondering if we going to get a no-no this season.

[jrgum3]

Was wondering if we going to get a no-no this season.

Nicely done by Lucas Giolito. I didn't watch the game but he must have been dominant to finish with 13 K's. It figures that we would see a no hitter against the Pirates who probably have the worst offense in baseball even though they just swept the Brewers.

[stevenash]

Was wondering if we going to get a no-no this season.

He's my #2 starter behind Cole.
Helped my in four categories.

[jrgum3]

Giants now the hottest team in baseball with 7 straight wins after walking it off in style against the Bums from LA. This team has heart I'll give them that they were down 3 two different times in the game but kept fighting and eventually won the game in extras.

[Otters27]

Now. Will there be a perfect game or the cycle

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Had a feeling Padres would lose yesterday. Paddack has been a steaming pile of dog shit lately.

[Cross]

Hader hasn’t given up a hit this year. Do they trade him and restock farm???

[EmpireMaker]

The Nationals announced Wednesday that they’ve optioned struggling third baseman Carter Kieboom to their alternate training site in order to open a spot on the roster for lefty Sean Doolittle, who has been reinstated from the injured list.
Though Kieboom has yet to find his groove at the plate in 2020, it’s still a surprise to see the Nats option him out. The organizational hope had been that the 22-year-old, long considered one of MLB’s top overall prospects, could step into the Anthony Rendon-sized void in that lineup. That’s not to say that anyone expected the 2016 first-rounder to single-handedly make up for Rendon’s lost production, but Kieboom has been touted as a potentially plus hitter in his own right.
The future for Kieboom may still be bright, but he’s yet to find success in multiple big league auditions. He’s without an extra-base hit through 64 plate appearances this year, and he’s batted a combined .169/.299/.236 in 107 PAs dating back to last year’s debut. Clearly, that’s a far cry from last year’s .303/.409/.493 slash in 494 trips to the plate with Triple-A Fresno.
With Kieboom now out of the mix at third base and Starlin Castro on the shelf following surgery to repair a fractured wrist, the Nats will need to lean more heavily on the veteran trio of Asdrubal Cabrera, Josh Harrison and Howie Kendrick to carry the freight at second and third base. Kendrick has been limited to first base and DH exclusively in 2020, but he did appear in 23 games at second base and 15 games at third base during the 2019 regular season. Depending on how the Nats approach Monday’s looming trade deadline, we could see them look to add some infield depth — although starting pitching seems like a greater area of focus with Stephen Strasburg lost for the year and 60 percent of the rotation struggling to ERAs north of 5.00.

[koz-man]

Indians' Mike Clevinger to return Wednesday from virus-related demotion, pitch finale vs. Twins

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians are ready to give starter Mike Clevinger another chance -- and the ball.
Cleveland will recall Clevinger to pitch Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins for the first time since he and teammate Zach Plesac broke team rules and Major League Baseball COVID-19 protocol and were demoted for their behavior.
"It's time to start the healing process with those guys," said interim manager Sandy Alomar Jr., who is filling in while Terry Francona attends to health issues. "In order to go places, we're going to need these guys, and also we're going to eventually need Tito back."
Alomar did not speak to Clevinger and Plesac, but was told both showed contrition.

[BigSpoon]

Nicely done by Lucas Giolito. I didn't watch the game but he must have been dominant to finish with 13 K's. It figures that we would see a no hitter against the Pirates who probably have the worst offense in baseball even though they just swept the Brewers.

Angels are 10-22, Mike Trout doesn't deserve this.

[JMobile]

Lots of teams boycotting today

[Stallion]

Boycotting in the NBA.