I decided to wait until now to do my baseball post. The first round of the draft is happening right now, which is always exciting. I have no clue if GMs are reading my in-depth analysis about drafting…but they should! Before I get to draft stuff, here is my top five/bottom five.
Top Five
1. Yankees (37-17)–The Yankees have so much talent. Gleyber Torres may give Ohtani a run for Rookie of the Year.
2. Red Sox (41-19)–The Red Sox are right there with the Yankees. Those two are pulling away with this division, sucks for the other three teams.
3. Astros (37-24)–Okay, I know the Mariners are actually ahead of them in the standings, but c’mon, that will not last for long. Not with this rotation.
4. Brewers (37-23)–It is scary to think the Brewers knew what they were doing when they traded for Yelich and signed Lorenzo Cain.
5. Mariners (37-22)–Robinson Cano gone and all of a sudden the Mariners get hot…coincidence?
Bottom Five
5. Royals (21-38)–I wish I could say things are going to get better in Kansas City.
4. Reds (21-39)–The Reds have plenty of players to get excited about, but they need to trade Votto and speed up that rebuilding.
3. Marlins (20-39)–1-9 in their last 10. That is bad. They may be pushing for that top bottom spot next month.
2. White Sox (18-38)–Next year they will probably win the wild card. This year though, they will be terrible.
1. Orioles (17-41)–What the hell are Orioles doing? Trade Machado, Adam Jones, and anyone else and try to rebuild. Do they even have anything coming down the pipeline?
2018 MLB Draft
Detroit took Casey Mize out of Auburn for the #1 pick. This kid looks like he is going to be a pretty good pitcher. They definitely need a top of the rotation starter. The first five picks were college players. The last time that happened was 2006. Have teams figured out that hitters (particularly college hitters) in the first round seem to have a higher success rate (or perhaps they are the safer pick, as I discussed in my draft post over the winter)?
The Pirates had the 10th pick and took Travis Swaggerty from South Alabama. They compare him to Brett Gardner, but with more power. I like the pick, if he has that power and can stay at CF, then he could be joining Meadows out there in a few years. Maybe the Pirates need to float Marte or Polanco onto the trade market, see what kinds of offers they receive. The only thing I hate about this kid is his name. Yep, Swaggerty…you know damn well Greg Brown will have some stupid Swag/Swagger joke. Ugh, kill me now! I used to hate that Ike Taylor would say Swaggin’ U as his school during MNF games.
Right before Swaggerty, the Athletics took Kyler Murray. If that name sounds familiar, then you pay attention to college football. Murray was the backup to Baker Mayfield. He is an option QB with tremendous speed and will be the starter this fall. Yep, you heard that right. The A’s are going to allow him to play college football. So he may do some summer baseball, probably at rookie camp or something, then will report back Oklahoma for football season. This seems so odd to me. For one thing, he could get hurt. Then the A’s would be out that bonus money AND out a top ten pick. Aside from the injury aspect, there is the development part. He will be missing all that time, which could set him back. I hope not, he looks like he could be an exciting baseball player.
Finally, I need to talk about the way MLB broadcasts the draft. I get that the MLB Network wants to build the draft up just like the NFL draft. Unfortunately, trying to copy NFL stuff is not going to work. For one thing, there are not many players invited, since the pool is so huge. You have tons of high school and college kids. Most of them have games coming up (state tournament games, college games, etc). They only bring like twelve players and they try to do the whole jersey thing, which does not work. The player has to take off his suit jacket, then put on the jersey, which is button up. Most of these kids are nervous, so they fumble with the buttons and it takes a minute or two for them to get up on stage. Just put on the hat. Or design a lookalike jersey that is pullover.
Also, the girl they had interviewing the players was terrible. She would ask “how does it feel to be drafted by this team?” or “what is going through your mind right now?” What do you think someone is going to say? What person will say “ughhh, I hate the Padres, I wanted to be drafted by the Marlins!” Or better yet “eh, I hate baseball, but it pays the bills.” Of course they will all be excited. And why was she asking players things like “do you think you could join the team today and compete for a starting job?” Umm, what? Seriously, what is the right answer? “Yes, I think the current third baseman sucks balls and I would be much better.” OR “nah, I am totally not ready, my skills are nothing and I cannot believe they drafted me this high!”
The whole event seems totally unprepared. At one point, they wanted a player to get a picture of his name on the draft board, but they had to tell him to move like three times. That was after they had to explain to one of the kids on live TV that he had to put his name up on the board. Again, this would be cool if you had more than 12 players there. Or maybe rehearse before it starts. Put an X on the floor by the board and tell them 500 times that when they drafted, they are to go up and place their name on the board, then stand on the X for pictures. I am not a producer or anything, but it just seems like common sense.
The Pirates Bullpen
Sucks. I mean, really sucks. The bullpen has given up 23 runs in the 7th-8th-9th innings…in six games! Granted, one of those games they won in extra innings, but still. If they would have won five out of those six games, then they would be sitting at 35-24 and a game behind the Brewers. Hell, even if they won just three of them, they would be ahead of the Cardinals and Cubs in the division. That is probably the most frustrating thing about this season. And you cannot point to any one player. Crick has a few good games, then gets rocked. Vasquez has been bad lately. Santana? Kontos? Rodriguez? Suck suck suck. All of you Tony Watson haters out there are probably wishing he was back in the ‘burgh right about now.
Sophomore Slump
Time to check in on those second year players…
Aside from the two shortstops, it seems that these guys are having a rough patch. DeJong and Swanson have missed time, but they are still leading the pack. Bell’s defense continues to kill him, that and the fact that he has almost no power this year, which is bad for a first baseman. Bellinger seems to be slumping big time (but he did just destroy a Tyler Glasnow pitch into deep centerfield, so maybe he will snap out of it). Hoskins should be back soon from his injury, so maybe his bad luck will reverse.
That is it for this month!
