The 2021 Major League Baseball Player Chatter, News and Fantasy Thread

[JMobile]

Tatis is starting to heat up

Also one of the few times I agree with JMobile, Tommy Pham needs to get benched. Not sure what happened to him since he became a Padre but the guy looks done to me. Padres would be much better off with Profar or anyone else taking his spot.

Pham is slowly coming up. Still has the lowest full time batting average on the team. Pham needs to just make contact.

[Stallion]

Its about time for Springer. The Jays had to overpay to get him.

[jrgum3]

Its about time for Springer. The Jays had to overpay to get him.

I know I've been patiently waiting on Springer to make his much anticipated debut for Toronto and my fantasy teams where I have him on 3 of my teams because I like him and also because I waited to take an outfielder after I got Trout on a few of those teams.

[EmpireMaker]

The Rays made a quartet of roster moves, including the activation of right-hander Diego Castillo from the COVID-related injury list. Catcher Deivy Grullon was designated for assignment in a corresponding move to open up a 40-man roster spot, while right-hander Chris Mazza has been placed on the regular 10-day IL due to shoulder inflammation. Luis Patino has also been added to Tampa Bay’s taxi squad, and is expected to join the active roster tomorrow. (MLB.com’s Adam Berry was among those to report the news.)
Patino is expected to make his Rays debut Sunday, pitching in some type of piggyback capacity along with scheduled starter Josh Fleming, who told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that he isn’t yet sure how the Rays will deploy the combination of Fleming’s relatively soft-tossing arsenal along with Patino’s high-powered fastball.
Patino was the centerpiece of the four-player package sent by the Padres to Tampa Bay last offseason in exchange for Blake Snell. For a controlled and affordable former Cy Young Award winner, San Diego had to pay a hefty price, and this mean parting ways with one of the sport’s top pitching prospects in Patino. The 21-year-old righty has had some issues with his command, though his fastball and slider are already considered plus pitches and his changeup isn’t behind, according to MLB Pipeline’s scouting report. Patino made his Major League debut last season, tossing 17 1/3 innings in the regular season for the Padres (with a 5.19 ERA, 21 strikeouts, and a troubling 14 walks) and then 2 2/3 more frames in the postseason.
Castillo returns after just a one-day stint on the COVID-IL. Castillo has already recorded four saves in his role as Tampa Bay’s top choice at closer, along with a 2.79 ERA and 33.3% strikeout rate over 9 2/3 innings.
Mazza has an ugly 8.49 ERA over six outings this season, mostly generated during two rough appearances against the Rangers and Red Sox that saw him allow a combined 10 runs over 5 2/3 innings. Mazza looked better in last night’s game against the Blue Jays, allowing only a single hit in three shutout innings of relief.
After being claimed off waivers from the Reds in early April, Grullon could find himself on the move again without seeing any big league action in a Rays uniform. Grullon appeared in four games with the Phillies in 2019 and one game with the Red Sox last season, before Cincinnati claimed him away from Boston in December. Grullon has a .253/.305/.405 slash line and 70 home runs over 2387 career minor league plate appearances in Philadelphia’s system.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Rough loss to the Dodgers last night that would have been a nice one to win.

[Otters27]

Rough loss to the Dodgers last night that would have been a nice one to win.

Padres at least came through big for me on the $1.5

[Stallion]

Springer might not play today.

[stevenash]

Once every leap year you'll hear me rave about KC pitching.
The last time we had good pitching was six years ago.
The pitching is getting there, KC's pitching staff on the whole has now been officially upgraded from horrendous to mediocre.

Check out this performance yesterday from opening pitch starter to the closer of the future and the set up man of the future.
(Scott Barlow and Josh Staumont)

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	BF	Pit	Str	GB	FB
Brady Singer, W (1-2)	7	3	1	1	0	8	1	2.95	24	93	65	10	6
Scott Barlow, H (3)	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2.7	3	10	8	1	1
Josh Staumont, S (1)	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.82	3	15	10	0	1
Team Totals	9	3	1	1	0	11	1	1	30	118	83	11	8

Brady Singer pitches seven full, allows three stingy hits, walked none.


Holland and Davis are on the roster as mentors to Barlow and Staumont.
There are certain baseball people that know more than me that I have nothing but respect for think KC could be on to something with Barlow setting up Staumont just like Halland and Herrera set up Wade Davis.
But those are fairy tale relievers, they come by, what? Every 20 years.
Not since the 1990 Nasty Boys.

But man, if you are a KC fan and you witnessed with the futured of the Royals pitching staff did yesterday, how can you not be geeked.

9 inning pitched, 3 hits, no walks, one skinny run allowed.
More ground balls then fly balls, and when Mondesi Jr, gets back the defense goes from good to really good.
I've been waiting for this now for the past six years.

Some baseball insiders think Mathany can be goofy at times, well of course he was a catcher, catchers are nutty by nature, but I love Mathany taking over for Ned Yost (another former catcher by the way)

Here's the low down on Staumont, he's a ground ball artist.
I think the kid has always had the right stuff.

Like Mad-Bum in SF (now Arizona) Davis and Holland are spent.
I've watched the seven games they have appeared in so far this season.
They're spent.


Here's the low down on Josh Staumont if you are unfamiliar.

https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.php?id=13881

[JMobile]

Rough loss to the Dodgers last night that would have been a nice one to win.

Grisham, Hosmer, Myers, Machado all had a hard time at the plate

[batt33]

Madison Bumgarner made some history on Sunday, as the southpaw tossed a no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves in the second leg of a doubleheader.However, due to the game being seven innings as part of MLB's new rules on doubleheaders, it will not be considered an official no-hitter. Bumgarner struck out seven and didn't surrender a walk. The only baserunner of the night came on a fielding error by Nick Ahmed.

[Cross]

What a series,amazing Padres comeback and Dodgers bullpen total breakdown.

[jrgum3]

Madison Bumgarner made some history on Sunday, as the southpaw tossed a no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves in the second leg of a doubleheader.However, due to the game being seven innings as part of MLB's new rules on doubleheaders, it will not be considered an official no-hitter. Bumgarner struck out seven and didn't surrender a walk. The only baserunner of the night came on a fielding error by Nick Ahmed.

It's good to see Madison pitch well. I was beginning to think he lost it and could never get it back but maybe he still has something left in the tank. Pretty embarrassing for the Braves today that they only managed one hit on the day in 2 games and both Zac Gallen and Bumgarner hurled CG shutouts against them with Madbum pitching an unofficial No No against them.

[jrgum3]

What a series,amazing Padres comeback and Dodgers bullpen total breakdown.

Amazing game tonight the Padres exposed the Dodgers bullpen again. Like I said it might be their only weakness but it seems to be pretty glaring.

[mr. leisure]

Amazing game tonight the Padres exposed the Dodgers bullpen again. Like I said it might be their only weakness but it seems to be pretty glaring.

Great game to watch

[Cross]

Padres got some great swag!

[Otters27]

Thank you Tatis and Company

[EmpireMaker]

Tommy Pham came up limping after grounding out in the second inning of tonight’s Padres game in Los Angeles, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (via Twitter). Pham stopped running about halfway down the baseline, clearly uncomfortable. Pham’s reaction, while muted, also suggested that he knew something was off as he reached for his ankle. An Achilles injury is the fear, but the injury appears to be left calf tightness, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (via Twitter). As for tonight, Jorge Mateo took over in left for Pham. Elsewhere…

• Johnny Cueto is likely to miss a third start before returning from the injured list, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). Cueto was placed on the injured list ten days ago with a grade 1 lat strain. The expectation at the time was that he would miss two starts, so it sounds like he’ll miss that target. That said, there was no indication that the injury was any more severe than originally diagnosed. Cueto should still be able to return shortly. In the meantime, Logan Webb will get at least one more turn in the rotation. Complicating matters in a good way for the Giants, Webb went seven scoreless against the Marlins today.
• Also in San Francisco, Wilmer Flores missed today’s ballgame because he was under the weather, but after receiving fluids he’s on the mend. Mike Yastrzemski, meanwhile, was taken out of the game because of left oblique tightness, per the Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly (via Twitter). Because of their short bench, don’t be surprised if Yaz lands on the injured list tomorrow, but the team gave no indication one way or the other.
• Blue Jays fans may finally get the chance to see offseason acquisition George Springer this week. Per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sports.net.ca (via Twitter), manager Charlie Montoyo said, ““I’m optimistic that Springer’s got a good chance on Tuesday.” Springer’s return still hinges on his a final check-up, but the club hopes the 31-year-old will be in the lineup to face Max Scherzer in Dunedin on Tuesday.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

What a comeback for my Padres last night?

Did poster JMobile cry himself to sleep after the game?

[Chi_archie]

Tommy Pham came up limping after grounding out in the second inning of tonight’s Padres game in Los Angeles, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (via Twitter). Pham stopped running about halfway down the baseline, clearly uncomfortable. Pham’s reaction, while muted, also suggested that he knew something was off as he reached for his ankle. An Achilles injury is the fear, but the injury appears to be left calf tightness, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (via Twitter). As for tonight, Jorge Mateo took over in left for Pham. Elsewhere…

• Johnny Cueto is likely to miss a third start before returning from the injured list, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). Cueto was placed on the injured list ten days ago with a grade 1 lat strain. The expectation at the time was that he would miss two starts, so it sounds like he’ll miss that target. That said, there was no indication that the injury was any more severe than originally diagnosed. Cueto should still be able to return shortly. In the meantime, Logan Webb will get at least one more turn in the rotation. Complicating matters in a good way for the Giants, Webb went seven scoreless against the Marlins today.
• Also in San Francisco, Wilmer Flores missed today’s ballgame because he was under the weather, but after receiving fluids he’s on the mend. Mike Yastrzemski, meanwhile, was taken out of the game because of left oblique tightness, per the Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly (via Twitter). Because of their short bench, don’t be surprised if Yaz lands on the injured list tomorrow, but the team gave no indication one way or the other.
• Blue Jays fans may finally get the chance to see offseason acquisition George Springer this week. Per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sports.net.ca (via Twitter), manager Charlie Montoyo said, ““I’m optimistic that Springer’s got a good chance on Tuesday.” Springer’s return still hinges on his a final check-up, but the club hopes the 31-year-old will be in the lineup to face Max Scherzer in Dunedin on Tuesday.

i'm a pham fan

[JAKEPEAVY21]

https://news.yahoo.com/fernando-tatis-jr-first-162-161009689.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma

Nice article about Tatis...

[JMobile]

What a comeback for my Padres last night?

Did poster JMobile cry himself to sleep after the game?

I stopped watching when the Dodgers had 7 runs and called it a win. Just now I find out it lost. Unreal...

[stevenash]

I hate to sound like a fan boy here again, but this news is shocking.

The KC Royals just completed a four game road sweep.

It's shocking because KC did it all with pitching, all the big bats took the weekend off.

KC pitched out of their shoes again,

Royals at 14 and 7 for now, just for now is the American Leagues best.

[batt33]

Giants 8-2 at home.......granted not against the best teams, But hey you still have to win!

[stevenash]

Giants 8-2 at home.......granted not against the best teams, But hey you still have to win!

Funny you bring this up.
Like KC, SF has won 14 games.

I was just analyzing how they are doing it.

SF's front office should get a lot of credit for this.

Good on SF, that's a team I wish good thing for also.

Like the Cards, I am hardly a Cardinal fan boy, but that's another team you don't mind seeing do well.
Out there in the corn belt of this great country, (Omaha, St. Louis, Kansas City, and if you consider Louisville a corn belt city) you will find great, not good, great baseball fans.

[Heltah Skeltah]

Don't look now but Harvey shutting down the Yankees thru 5 only allow 1 hit..lol
Harvey wth that 5 era looking like an ace tonight. Yanks bats are pathetic. Team is strikeout or double play waiting to happen.
This Yanks team doesn't look good at all.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Don't look now but Harvey shutting down the Yankees thru 5 only allow 1 hit..lol
Harvey wth that 5 era looking like an ace tonight. Yanks bats are pathetic. Team is strikeout or double play waiting to happen.
This Yanks team doesn't look good at all.

They are not constructed well. All they have is power, not much speed or athleticism.

[Heltah Skeltah]

They are not constructed well. All they have is power, not much speed or athleticism.

I'm a big Yankees fan and this team is hard watch. Honestly I don't think they make the postseason this year. I almost hope they don't so some major changes come. I'm over this hr or nothing type game they built on.
Getting rid of Didi and Giradi was a major mistake

[stevenash]

Don't look now but Harvey shutting down the Yankees thru 5 only allow 1 hit..lol
Harvey wth that 5 era looking like an ace tonight. Yanks bats are pathetic. Team is strikeout or double play waiting to happen.
This Yanks team doesn't look good at all.

Funny you should bring this up too.

I have no life, MLB has been a lifelong passion of mine, this is what I do with most of my disposal leisure time, I devote most of time to MLB. Like I say, I'm a no life married numbers geek from way back that happens to love his sports.

Anyway, 40 minutes ago I just noticed what our Connecticut home boy was doing.
I don't hate on Matt, he's one of ours, he was hard to like as a 17 year old HS kid here because he had (has) a throwing arm that's blessed by God, but like they say when Matt was a HS athlete he has this million dollar arm but a ten cent brain.

But that was a dozen years ago and by all accounts here in Ct. from people I know who went to HS with Matt's dad or Matt himself, Matt has gotten his head totally together now and has figured out a lot of things.

And that's the most important thing, realizing it, figuring it out, doing the right things going forward, and carry on.

Good on Matt.
I applaud him for that.

Not a hater.
Just like the Dodgers Mobile, I don't root for LA, but I am not a hater.

I hate Hitler, that's pretty much it on my hate list, hate is counter productive, I am not a hater of almost nothing.
I dislike some things, but don't hate,

[Stallion]

How does Bumgarner not get credited with a No Hitter??? The MLB changed the rules for 7 inning doubleheaders, not him. He should get credited with one.

[stevenash]

I'm a big Yankees fan and this team is hard watch. Honestly I don't think they make the postseason this year. I almost hope they don't so some major changes come. I'm over this hr or nothing type game they built on.
Getting rid of Didi and Giradi was a major mistake

I was born into a Yankee family.
My dad's guy was Rizzuto and Whitey Ford, and the Mick.
My granddad's guy was Joe D.

Being from this region Mets, Yanks and Sox are always on the TV.
I'm neither a Yanks, Mets, nor Red Sox fan.

I'm a fan of MLB who's favorite team is KC.

I respect everything Boston and New York has done for baseball.
Not a fan, but don't dislike NY. My dad was a lifelong fan, I married into a Red Sox family here in Ct.
Not a fan of them either but I don't dislike them either.

If you are a fan of MLB you don't rave to root for LA, Boston, or NY, but how can you dislike those franchiese.
Without them there is no MLB.

My point you are wondering?

I said this back in February.
There are no super teams ib baseball, all thirty teams have a flaw or two, most teams more than two flaws.

I always say you aren't winning many trophies with out solid pitching staffs.
NYY have an elite starter, and an elite closer. Granted.
Baseball is a team sports not an individual sport and the Yankees starting rotation after Cole is about a deep as a puddle.
The rotation from the third spot down is not very good, not utter trash, but nowhere close to a championship team.

NYY's best unit is not their starters or their bats, but their bullpen.
The Yanks bullpen, the six regular arms that make up the reliver's unit is on the top four or five units in the game.
It's not worth shit if most of your starters in that unit put the team at a disadvantage if they can't keep the other team from getting on base.
Chapman very well may be the elite closer in the game today, what good is that if you can't use him in the ninth to save something that isn't going to be there to save.

The Yanks have heavy lumber in their lineup.
Massive HR potential for sure.
But that lineup is flawed too.
There are a ton of holes in their bats.
Way too many swings and misses, they K too much.

Home runs don't win ring anyway.
HR's may be sexy, chicks dig the long ball and all that, I get it but the bottom line is HR's from a lineup that doesn't do anything else well is not a good lineup .

The team batting average is .209
That's atrocious. 29th out of 30 teams.

They have no team speed what so ever,
Yanks have four stolen bases all season.
Pretty much rock bottom there too.
But then again what ever base speed that offensive unit has (and it's an offensive unit all right) is useless because they don't get on base,
There are some MLB teams that steal more bases in a weekend series than the Yanks steal in a month.

Their bats do one thing well, hit for power.
And their power is overrated anyway. sure they have power, but it's useless if you hit a homer without anybody on base for you to drive in because the hitters that should be getting on base don't get on base because they are too busy striking out before they get a chance to get on base.

Ask anyone who is a pitcher or teaches pitching or a catcher who calls games for pitchets.
All of them to a person will tell you they want to see their pitcher give a solo HR and give up a run like that one one pitch, rather they give up a run on two walks, an error or a single they tax a pitchers arm by using 40 pitchers and worse than that, leaving runners on base to allow the opposition to score more runs.

Speaking of errors, team defense is much more important then team offense anyway.
At Yanks team defense is mediocre, at best.

I knew in February that team very well may be the most overrated team in recent years.
Outside of Cole, that starting pitching unit is weak.

If the strong point of your team is it's bullpen, it's useless because their starters have put you out of the game before they can be useful to help the starters out and their offense is useless because they don't get on base at all for whatever power they may have to do any damage when they do connect, which isn't very often because they are striking out before connecting.

The rotation is severely flawed, they have pretty much no team speed, at best their defense is barely adequate to save runs for a flawed starting pitching unit, and a team offense that is so overrated it's comical.

Baseball is not complicated.
I'm a simpleton, I figured it out when I was eight years old and I'm an idiot (I'm not an idiot I am using hyperbole to stretch the truth to make my point)

My point is to win a baseball game you have to do this.
Score more baseball runs that the team you are playing against.

To score a run you need to get on base.
The Yanks don't do that.

And much more important, the best way to score more baseball runs than the team you are playing against is to keep that team from getting on base. And their starters don't do that.

And if the other team does get on base a good defense is needed to prevent teams from scoring further runs.
They don't have much of that team defense either.

Overrated team?
One of the most in recent history.

Oh yeah, one last item, that team makes a ton of bone headed baseball mistakes too,

Lastly, letting Torre go was worse than letting Girardi go too,

[jrgum3]

How does Bumgarner not get credited with a No Hitter??? The MLB changed the rules for 7 inning doubleheaders, not him. He should get credited with one.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31334445/why-madison-bumgarner-seven-inning-no-hitter-really-no-hitter

It doesn't make sense to me either but baseball has had what constitutes an official no hitter in place since 1991 when they officially declared that in order for it to be declared a no hitter a pitcher must pitch nine innings.

[jrgum3]

The Rockies are the worst team in the National League and its not even close. Giants should sweep this series and take advantage of the fact that they have the Rockies for 6 of the next 9 games. They can't take the Rockies for granted at home here with the Padres on deck in San Diego but they've been playing good ball so hopefully they keep it up.

[mr. leisure]

The Rockies are the worst team in the National League and its not even close. Giants should sweep this series and take advantage of the fact that they have the Rockies for 6 of the next 9 games. They can't take the Rockies for granted at home here with the Padres on deck in San Diego but they've been playing good ball so hopefully they keep it up.

Yep , a nice 12-0 beatdown tonight .

[jrgum3]

Yep , a nice 12-0 beatdown tonight .

The Rockies haven't won a road game all year. They've always been a team whose bats go cold when they leave the altitude and friendly confines of Coors Field but this year its even more pronounced because their lineup is weak without Arenado in the middle of it anymore.

[EmpireMaker]

Marlins center fielder Starling Marte went on the injured list with a fractured left rib a week ago, and he’s continuing to deal with “discomfort,” Craig Mish of SportsGrid tweets. The Marlins still don’t have a timetable for when Marte will restart baseball activities, according to Mish. Miami has given center field starts to Lewis Brinson, Magneuris Sierra and Adam Duvall in the absence of Marte, who got off to a great start this year with a .310/.414/.483 line and two home runs in 70 plate appearances before he went to the IL. Brinson, Sierra and Duvall haven’t been nearly as successful, as all three have logged production ranging from below average to terrible.
Here’s more from the East Coast…

• Braves right-hander Mike Soroka’s injured pitching shoulder is “structurally sound,” per David O’Brien of The Athletic. However, Soroka still has not returned to throwing almost three weeks since the Braves shut him down with inflammation on April 7, so it remains unclear when he could make his season debut. The last year-plus has been unfortunate on the health front for Soroka, who missed most of 2020 with a torn right Achilles before his current issue cropped up. As a result of his injuries, Soroka hasn’t really gotten a chance to follow up on an All-Star 2019 in which he recorded a 2.68 ERA in 174 2/3 innings.
• The Yankees suffered their 13th loss in 22 games Monday, falling 4-2 in Baltimore, but manager Aaron Boone did issue some positive injury updates beforehand (Twitter links via Marly Rivera of ESPN). First baseman and 2020 major league home run king Luke Voit is ramping up his activities as he works back from knee surgery. Left-handed reliever Zack Britton, who’s recovering from the arthroscopic elbow surgery he underwent in March, is slated to begin throwing from the mound at the end of the week. Based on the three- to four-month timeline the Yankees provided when Britton went under the knife, he won’t rejoin their bullpen until June or July. Meanwhile, righty Clarke Schmidt – who’s also on the mend from elbow trouble – has begun a throwing program, which is “going well,” per Boone.
• Orioles shortstop Freddy Galvis exited their win over New York with left adductor soreness, the O’s announced. Manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com) that Galvis is day-to-day with groin tightness. Galvis, whom the Orioles signed to a one-year, $1.5MM guarantee in free agency, has been quite durable during his career – including this season. He has started all 22 of Baltimore’s games thus far and batted a solid .264/.321/.458 with a pair of home runs in 79 trips to the plate. When Galvis went down Monday, the Orioles moved Ramon Urias from second to short and brought in Rio Ruiz to handle the keystone.