2025 MLB Season Starting NOW!!!

[jlhoots]

On 5/29/2025 at 3:03 AM, Dan Gould said:

All it took to make Milwaukee a .500 club was a visit from Boston.

Now, it's Atlanta's turn.

What an f-ing joke this team is.

Milwaukee beats Phillies twice in a row in Philadelphia for 6 wins in a row.

[Dan Gould]

First series with Yankees this weekend and I have fewer than zero fucks to give.

 

Thank god the Cubs have an actual roster of talent or baseball season would be over (and cricket is not something I am about to start watching).

[JSngry]

WNBA is a good summer product as well.

[ghost of miles]

Really nice story about Judge and his wife’s first year of parenting:

For Judge, fatherhood brings ‘excitement’, ‘wonder’, ‘joy’

[JSngry]

Wow. 

[JSngry]

Ok, here's something that is the opposite of predictable. Or excitement. Or joy, But definitely a sounce of wonder, like I wonder what the fuck happened here?

But thinghs have gotten better since, although for how much longer...

[Dan Gould]

Will @Matthew stop by about Giants acquiring Devers from the Red Sox for barely more than a box of baseballs and an equipment bag?  Apologies if he is not the resident Giants fan, it's been a while ...

 

While I wasn't thrilled at the length of the contract given to Devers, the fact remains that this is a top hitter very much at the height of his talents.  It basically means that for the Red Sox to crawl into the post-season this season, at least two of three rookies have to hit as advertised, with no growing pains.  

I would feel a lot better about this if the players received included someone that the Giants might actually miss in the future but this ain't that. 

About the only thing I can say about it is that it (somewhat) relieves the logjam of outfielders and rookies finding playing time, and if that had necessitated sending Duran or Abreu away, I would have been quite upset.  I want to see what those two can do as they are not at their peak and are very good already.

 

[sonnymax]

On 6/4/2025 at 7:23 AM, Dan Gould said:

First series with Yankees this weekend and I have fewer than zero fucks to give.

Thankfully, I did, along with one or two to spare for this past weekend's series. Sox take 5 out of 6, Judge strikes out again and again and again. What's not to love?

[GA Russell]

This is more complicated than it should be, but it looks like you can stream every MLB game for the rest of the year for $60 (50% off).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/offers/ref=atv_3p_mlb_c_6rhKJb_HS15e16a_1_1

[Dan Gould]

Proof that signing Devers for a crap ton of money didn't mean shit when it came to helping the team, but now at San Fran he's happily taking ground balls at 1B.  Fuck him:

 

Devers will likely split his time between DH and first base for now. Devers got some work in at first on Tuesday, but the Giants want to get him up to speed before they consider giving him his first start at the position.

“We talked to him a little bit today. He goes, ‘I’ll play wherever you want me to play, I’ll hit wherever you want me to hit,’” Melvin said. “He’s going to DH today. He’s going to hit in the three-spot. We’re going to work him in and get him some ground balls at first and make sure he’s comfortable before we put him over there. That’s pretty much the way we’re looking at it right now, a little bit of DH and a little bit of first.”

 

[JSngry]

Why did Dolly leave Porter?

[felser]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Why did Dolly leave Porter?

Because he wanted to move her off third base on the Porter Wagoner Revue softball team, as Mel Tillis was a better fielder?

[JSngry]

Or maybe because Dolly felt like she was getting her chain yanked just a little too hard?

[Matthew]

On 6/16/2025 at 7:13 AM, Dan Gould said:

Will @Matthew stop by about Giants acquiring Devers from the Red Sox for barely more than a box of baseballs and an equipment bag?  Apologies if he is not the resident Giants fan, it's been a while ...

 

While I wasn't thrilled at the length of the contract given to Devers, the fact remains that this is a top hitter very much at the height of his talents.  It basically means that for the Red Sox to crawl into the post-season this season, at least two of three rookies have to hit as advertised, with no growing pains.  

I would feel a lot better about this if the players received included someone that the Giants might actually miss in the future but this ain't that. 

About the only thing I can say about it is that it (somewhat) relieves the logjam of outfielders and rookies finding playing time, and if that had necessitated sending Duran or Abreu away, I would have been quite upset.  I want to see what those two can do as they are not at their peak and are very good already.

 

Been busy with work, but I'm not overly excited about the trade. I'm not a fan of players who don't budge on trying to help the team by trying to play a different position. Thought Devers looked bad, but he's making all the right noises in San Francisco and Buster Posey is a big fan, and he's should know since he's turned the Giants around and added enthusiasm to the organization.

I think Kyle Harrison will turn out to be a very good pitcher, he has great stuff, is a lefty, and he's on the verge of putting things together. Should be a consistent 13 - 16 game winner according to my crystal ball. The rest of the players Boston got shouldn't add up to too much, but you never know.

Also think Boston desperately wanted out of the contract they signed with Devers, though I don't go along with the big conspiracy theory that the ownership got rid of the contract to spend the money on Manchester United, but it's not a healthy thing to have multiple franchises owned by the same corporation, some team will be left holding the short end of the stick.

The Giants are struggling right now, especially on offense, so any addition there is welcome. 

[Dan Gould]

38 minutes ago, Matthew said:

Been busy with work, but I'm not overly excited about the trade. I'm not a fan of players who don't budge on trying to help the team by trying to play a different position. Thought Devers looked bad, but he's making all the right noises in San Francisco and Buster Posey is a big fan, and he's should know since he's turned the Giants around and added enthusiasm to the organization.

I think Kyle Harrison will turn out to be a very good pitcher, he has great stuff, is a lefty, and he's on the verge of putting things together. Should be a consistent 13 - 16 game winner according to my crystal ball. The rest of the players Boston got shouldn't add up to too much, but you never know.

Also think Boston desperately wanted out of the contract they signed with Devers, though I don't go along with the big conspiracy theory that the ownership got rid of the contract to spend the money on Manchester United, but it's not a healthy thing to have multiple franchises owned by the same corporation, some team will be left holding the short end of the stick.

The Giants are struggling right now, especially on offense, so any addition there is welcome. 

I found Devers comment when this series started to be disengenuous at best ("if they had asked me in spring training to take grounders at 1B, I would have").  At the start of the season they were protecting his shoulders and had Casas recovered from his rib cage injury, with Romy Gonzalez behind him on the depth chart. There was no need for Devers to work at 1B then, the need became acute when Casas went down again.

And his interest in the team was zero, because he was still butthurt over being replaced at 3B.  

I guess I should watch to see if John Henry takes on some salary to improve the team this year or if it really was to free up money for his other interests. That would be truly pathetic, even if dumping Devers was the right thing to do.

Is Harrison under team control long enough to enjoy his bright future?

 

[jlhoots]

New name - Jacob Misiorowski.

[JSngry]

 

Ken Rosenthal sounds labor-friendly

One meeting, that’s all it took. One meeting with his new San Francisco Giants superiors, and suddenly Rafael Devers no longer was Rafael Diva. Funny how that works when bosses communicate their wishes and do not simply assume a player with a $313.5 million contract should do whatever they want.
 

People skills. They might be baseball’s new market inefficiency.

The Boston Red Sox never shared their intentions with Devers when they were trying to sign free-agent third baseman Alex Bregman, prompting Devers to initially balk at becoming a DH and then outright refuse to move to first base.

The Giants related to Devers that only four teams entered Tuesday with a worse OPS at first base, or something to that effect. And voila! There was Devers, all smiles at his introductory news conference, saying, “I am here to play wherever they want me to play.” Including first base, where he took grounders before his Giants debut.

“I don’t think it’s going to be too difficult for him,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “More than anything, the fact he hasn’t played in the field this year, we have to take our time working him in. It’s a new position. We’ll take it day to day.”

Devers is not above reproach for refusing to do the same for the Red Sox, no matter how much he believes they slighted him. But here’s rooting for this trade to work out for Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey, and not simply because he appears to have a better feel for players than Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. Or even his predecessor, Farhan Zaidi, who made the same mistake with Brandon Crawford that Breslow did with Devers, failing to inform his incumbent shortstop that he was agreeing to terms with another, Carlos Correa.

This deal is a referendum on teams that define players more as “dudes” — Posey’s word — than “assets.” A referendum on all the other fancy terms executives use, from flexibility to sustainability to efficiency, while hedging their bets and operating out of fear. A referendum on absorbing contracts that might not age well to do what every team should be trying to do — win.

[GA Russell]

I like this Cubs uniform too.

 

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, GA Russell said:

I like this Cubs uniform too.

 

Looks like the Expos!!!