Houston, We Have Rule Changes! The Official 2023 MLB Season Thread

[Regular_P]

Juan Soto has an .883 OPS so far this season.
That's 11th in baseball, and pretty good for a guy who plays in San Diego.

He's only 24 and turns 25 in October.
If he were on the market, a team like the Yankees should absolutely throw the bag at him.

I would say that Yordan Alvarez is the better offensive player. But can he even play a full season without something sending him to the IL?

Anyway, it doesn't matter much what Alvarez makes in comparison to Soto.
If Soto gets a massive deal and Alvarez believes he's worth more...that's between Alvarez, his agent, and the Astros. Get your money, Yordan.

His OPS is inflated by walks though and he isn't being pitched around like Ohtani. All of his other stats are well below the elite hitters of the game.

23rd in HRs
48th in 2Bs
57th in hits
26th in RBIs
65th in AVG

If I'm a team ready to give out a massive contract, I need to see numbers near the top of those lists. I get that he's still young but he started his career on fire and now he's regressing. Perhaps, the league has figured out how to neutralize him.

 

[Remote]

His OPS is inflated by walks though and he isn't being pitched around like Ohtani. All of his other stats are well below the elite hitters of the game.

23rd in HRs
48th in 2Bs
57th in hits
26th in RBIs
65th in AVG

If I'm a team ready to give out a massive contract, I need to see numbers near the top of those lists. I get that he's still young but he started his career on fire and now he's regressing. Perhaps, the league has figured out how to neutralize him.

I understand but his OPS being driven by walks doesn't scare me.
Walk percentages are fairly stable.

There's a lot of value in a player that's always on base. Whether his teammates behind him fail to drive him in...that's another story.

If you want to reserve the biggest contracts for the Ohtanis and Acunas of the game, I think that's cool. They do have more power.

 

[Regular_P]

I understand but his OPS being driven by walks doesn't scare me.
Walk percentages are fairly stable.

There's a lot of value in a player that's always on base. Whether his teammates behind him fail to drive him in...that's another story.

If you want to reserve the biggest contracts for the Ohtanis and Acunas of the game, I think that's cool. They do have more power.

There is if that's his role but I believe there's a negative psychological toll on a team if the best player is walking more than getting hits. Their role, especially if they're making massive money, is to put the ball in play. The guys hitting behind them are not as good so walks for them aren't as valuable.

That was an issue I always had with Votto and I remember Dusty Baker complaining about when he was managing Cincy. The guy only had three 100 RBI seasons in his entire career.

 

[The_Sheff]

Dodgers doing all this just to lose expectedly in the Division series, and completely too

Can see it with the Braves too.

 

[TrillaMonsoon]

Acuna and Olson have been killing all year but dont sleep on my guy Michael Harris.

The first two months of the season he only had 3 HRs and 10 RBI and was hitting under .200, since June 1st hes hitting 335/366/529 with 18 doubles, 10 HR, 47 runs and 15 stolen bases. And he had been hitting in the 9 spot until Albies got hurt. No breaks in the Braves lineup.

 

[Gritsngravy]

I wonder who off this list will have the most home runs will it’s all said and done, maybe trout can get to 500 many even 600, i can see Bryce if he stays healthy getting to 500 maybe even 600, I don’t know about paul or arenado, Stanton would need to have a resurgence to get to 600, manny ceiling is probably 400, Freddie ceiling is probably400

Basically Bryce and trout the only ones I can see having 40+ hr seasons consistently but they both been dealing with injury

 

[Gritsngravy]

About the braves and dodgers it always seems like teams with good records and peak at the end of the season always lose in the early rounds, or am i tweaking

 

[The_Sheff]

Acuna and Olson have been killing all year but dont sleep on my guy Michael Harris.

The first two months of the season he only had 3 HRs and 10 RBI and was hitting under .200, since June 1st hes hitting 335/366/529 with 18 doubles, 10 HR, 47 runs and 15 stolen bases. And he had been hitting in the 9 spot until Albies got hurt. No breaks in the Braves lineup.

Next season I'm hoping to see him steal 40 bases.

 

[Super Cheech]

About the braves and dodgers it always seems like teams with good records and peak at the end of the season always lose in the early rounds, or am i tweaking

Always happens with the Dodgers, hot at the end of summer and cool off in the fall...

 

[VegetasHairline]

 

[Remote]

It wasn't that long ago that Mookie Betts was batting like .260.
At least it felt like that.

He's up to .317 now.

 

[VegetasHairline]

 

[VegetasHairline]

 

[VegetasHairline]

Those new stolen base rules are great. That said, he's still probably over 50 under the old rules. He's having a historic season. Too bad he signed that 95 Bad Boy contract

Acuña stole 29 bases last season coming off his torn ACL. Had 37 steals in 2019 and just missed a 40/40 season because of a minor injury at the end of the season and the Braves held him out. Acuña is the modern day Ricky Henderson. Derosa did a good breakdown.

 

[daemonova]

Charlie Morton and Freddie Freeman aren’t walking into the locker room to save them in October

We still have Charlie Morton, can't say for sure about next year