More Stuff and Junk

[DOUGHBOYS]

The other day, a sabr-influenced fella on MLB was talking about the wonder of Mike Trout. He stated that Trout had an OBP of over .400 in games where Trout had not gotten a hit. On the surface, that sounds great.
At the same time, it is a perfect illustration of why OBP has A LOT to do with Sabr's and so little to do with our game.
Trout is second, only to Cody Bellinger in On Base Percentage, yet, there are 50 players in baseball who have as many or more Runs Scored.
Getting back to the sabr-influenced fellas marvy stat....
Trout has gone hitless in 10 games.
His roto line for those games?
.000/4//0/0/0
For us, not hitting, no matter how it is painted by sabrs, is not hitting.

Only 28 hitters are hitting .300 after six weeks of the season.
With the passing of Ichiro, baseball for the first time in its history, is left without a true 'hit for average' batter.
We have hundreds of brutes, eschewing the free bunt single for a hit.
We have a few speed players that are trying to reach base, but lack the skills of a Rod Carew or even Bill Madlock to do that.
Even Jose Altuve, the closest thing we have to a 'hit for average' batter is over swinging in trying to hit the ball out of the park.
Altuve has nine homers and a .250 batting average.


The NL East was AWESOME!....during draft season.
For a division that added Harper, McCutchen, Segura, Corbin, Ed Diaz, Robertson, and Donaldson, they are BORING!
Between the Phillies, the Braves, the Nationals, and Mets, these four vaunted teams have a run differential of....+1...yep one
The pitching has been especially disappointing.
deGrom , Syndergaard, Wheeler, Nola, Scherzer, Corbin, and Strasburg have all been inconsistent.
The Nationals have lost six of seven Scherzer starts. P-U-t-h-e-t-i-c!

The Giants have a horrible lineup. Just horrible.
And you know what?
Giants fans are noticing.
Attendance is down in baseball and nowhere is it more noticeable than San Francisco.
Guaranteed sell outs are gone. Giants Fans did not even sell out for the Yankees.
They barely drew 30,000 for the Dodgers.
Baseball executives have had license to have bad teams on the field and not pay for it through the turnstiles in the past.
It's not enough for the Giants to say "We tried to get Stanton" or "We tried to get Harper and Machado".
It's not even enough to say we're going to keep the players that won past Championships.
Fans are savvy. They know a bad product.
Here is the lineup the Giants started today....

2B Joe Panik L
RF S. Duggar L
C Stephen Vogt L
1B Brandon Belt L
3B P. Sandoval S
CF Kevin Pillar R
SS B. Crawford L
LF Mike Gerber L
P D. Pomeranz R

Seriously? In May?
This is a September lineup when a team is looking for this year to end.
But you know what?
The Giants have a better record than the Nationals.
At least, before starting today with that punch and (heavy on the) judy lineup.

Do you know who has the best record in the National League?
The Cubs.
Yep, the same team that everybody worried about two weeks ago.

How bad are the Marlins?
They have two more wins than the Miami Dolphins.
Why should Miami fans go see them?
They have nobody worth watching.
And what is worse, they have nobody in their Minor League system that is a surefire Major Leaguer.
Stanton, Yelich, Ozuna, and Realmuto gone.
Replaced with replaceable players.
Way to go, Derek! Way to go.

Too grumpy for you? Tough, onward.

Miami is so bad, they are averaging a home run OR stolen base a game.
That's right, they have played 33 games and have 34 HR/SB. Exciting.
By contrast, Seattle averages nearly three HR/SB per game.
The Marlins also 'lead' the league in drawing the least base on balls.
Truly, a lineup in which a pitcher wants to face each hitter.
Miami had the spotlight all draft season in wondering where they would trade JT Realmuto.
Since then, there is no reason to give this franchise even a peak.

Where have all the Stars gone in the American League?
These are your home run leaders...
Jay Bruce, SEA 11
Gary Sanchez, NYY 11
Eddie Rosario, MIN 11
Joey Gallo, TEX 11

These are your batting leaders...
Hunter Dozier, KC .343
Trey Mancini, BAL .336
Michael Brantley, HOU.336
Elvis Andrus, TEX .333
Josh Reddick, HOU .333

Mike Trout is tied for second ....on his own team in home runs!...With Tommy LaStella.
"LaSTELLA!", sorry, Marlon Brando old school line.
Mookie Betts leads the Red Sox in at bats...but little else.
Betts has as many stolen bases as Tsu-Wei Lin.
One.

Top pitchers in Wins and ERA?
It's not Chris Sale and Corey Kluber.
It's Tyler Glasnow and Domingo German.
Not Holland, German.
By the way, there was a player named English in the 20's and 30's who could probably hit German.
In the hitters year of 1930, Woody English hit .335 for the Cubs.
He had over 200 hits and walked 100 times for a sabr-Exciting OBP of .430