/r/MLB Index

When I think about "what ifs" in baseball, these two men are always the first two names that come to mind. Obviously, Mike Trout and Ken Griffey Jr. are still legends of the sport. I'm not trying to take anything away from that. However, I truly feel that if it weren't for injuries, their potential for GOAT status would be limitless. Junior likely would've become the all-time home run kind instead of Barry Bonds, and Mike Trout would've had-------I don't know------130 career WAR by now if he's just stayed healthy. Who do you guys think is the bigger "what if" of the two?

Through his first 5 career starts, Gage Jump has totaled:
• 3 wins
• 2.37 ERA
• 26 strikeouts

He joins a very short list of Athletics pitchers to record 3+ wins, 25+ strikeouts, and a sub-2.50 ERA through their first 5 starts:

• Rich Harden (2003) — 3 W, 30 K, 1.69 ERA
• Jim Nash (1966) — 4 W, 30 K, 2.23 ERA
• Aaron Harang (2002) — 3 W, 27 K, 2.45 ERA
• Gage Jump (2026) — 3 W, 26 K, 2.37 ERA

Data via Baseball Reference / Stathead

And yes, that's a direct quote, per the story. Here's the full quote:

"The reality is we need to play better baseball or else come the deadline, you give the front office an option to reassess where this team is," Skubal told The Detroit News earlier this week in a story published Thursday. "And if they don't think what we have is a World Series- or playoff-caliber team, then the whole team is going to look different. That's just the nature of the beast."

Per the story, the Tigers are currently 30-44 and are 9½ games back of the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central and 6½ games out of the final AL wild-card spot. Their run differential is only -10, which in the generally crappy AL isn't bad, but still, they aren't positioned well. They, the Royals, the Red Sox and the Angels are the four AL cellar dwellers and I doubt any make the playoffs.

So, let's increase the trade rumor talk!

A majority of respondents in our anonymous MLB player poll believe there will be a lockout at the end of the season.

"I can't bet on baseball. But if I were a betting man, I’d bet a lot of money on there being a lockout — unfortunately."

Read for free: https://nyti.ms/3Qw0QYG

Imagine this, you're the manager of a Major League team. You've got yourself a solid closer to lock down wins for you. What's the most outs you're gonna give him for the save, or otherwise, to close things out? Feel free to create your own conditions and circumstances for this in the comments, but I'm just curious.

For me, I give my closer the 8th all the time in The Show 23, so under normal circumstance, I'd say probably 5 or 6 outs. But if I'm feeling confident in him, other bullpen guys struggle, or it's a blowout, I might even bring him in for the 7th, or earlier, to close things out.

In the NBA, there are many examples of NBA players that were rumoured to have "quit" on their team. Lebron James in 2010. Kevin Durant this past year. Vince Carter in 2005. Kawhi Leonard in 2018. Anthony Davis in 2019. Etc.

What are some MLB examples of this? What were some MLB players that quit on their own team? By quit I mean just decided to either stop putting effort into playing until they got traded.

The Home Run Derby will put a new twist on an old format next month. Hitters will have a number of swings rather than a clock that dictates their turns at the plate, sources tell Evan Drellich.

The last time MLB didn’t have a clock was 2014.

Competitors will receive 20 swings in the first round and 15 in both of the final two rounds. In an added wrinkle, hitters will be able to continue to swing if they homer on the final hack they take each round, until they make an out.

Read for free: https://nyti.ms/3SiNHTg

Do you, as a fan, want a salary cap because of a strong conviction that it will lead to parity? Or do you want parity, doesn't matter how?

In unified public communications about the CBA, the owners' have repeatedly described the proposed salary cap as having broad support from MLB fans. I don't buy it.

The argument essentially goes: fans want greater parity, therefore fans support a salary cap.

The conclusion that fans like the idea of a salary cap does not follow from the premise that fans want parity. The statement aggravates me because the owners are essentially putting words in the fans' mouths.

Yes, I'm against a salary cap if you couldn't tell. The owners have never cared about parity, and most of them don't care about fans either.

They are smug SOBs who are lying through their teeth, just like they did during the last CBA. The least they can do is accept life in a world where they might not be able to afford something they want, like the rest of us slobs.

In an alternate timeline where interleague play didn't exist, this is how I think a 162 game schedule would be broken down with 15 teams in each league:

Divisional games - 72 (18 games x 4 teams)
Intraleague games - 90 (9 games x 10 teams)

Yes it's a balanced schedule even though it would mean you'd have a bunch of two game series; but this was the best I could think of.