Around Baseball 2024 edition

Carp said:
While it is still relatively early, it would seem Freddie's decline phase has started. Current slash line of .286/.395/.444, good for an .839 OPS. His underlying stats support that as well, with his Avg EV and ISO at career lows, and very far off from recent years.

It remains to be seen what that decline will actually look however. Will he age like Votto and continue to be a useful hitter throughout the remainder of his contract, or will he basically be done as an everyday player by age 36, like Teixeira? I certainly wouldn't want to be paying 27 million per year over the next 3 years to find out.
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I could certainly see Freeman glide-pathing to retirement with a few seasons where he looks like Mark Grace. He's the kind of guy who can always put bat to ball, and guys who can do that and have good eyes will always be able to draw a fair number of walks, even without power. That won't be living up to his contract, but that's how long-term contracts in baseball work.

There's a reason Freeman wanted six years, and there's a reason we weren't willing to give it to him.
 
I’m not ready to say that his decline has started. Anytime I’ve seen him play this year, he seems to still hit the ball hard. But those number do suggest it’s possible. Will be something I’ll pay attention to as time goes by.
 
MadduxFanII said:
I could certainly see Freeman glide-pathing to retirement with a few seasons where he looks like Mark Grace. He's the kind of guy who can always put bat to ball, and guys who can do that and have good eyes will always be able to draw a fair number of walks, even without power. That won't be living up to his contract, but that's how long-term contracts in baseball work.

There's a reason Freeman wanted six years, and there's a reason we weren't willing to give it to him.
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Have much the same feeling. Freeman's game is pretty malleable and unless there's a complete collapse of his physical tools, he can translate to an OBP guy with less power. A lot of us have thrown around the Grace comparison from the time he arrived. He's turned out to be a better hitter (and more complete) than Grace, but I think he can emulate Grace's last few years to some extent where he'll still manage a mid-.800 OPS. That level of production doesn't warrant the AAV or length of the contract, but no one put a gun to the Dodgers' collective brain trust when they doled out the dough.
 
According to bowman, Riley won't be back till Monday. Snit says he isn't surprised Riley was out 2 weeks. I don't get this at all.
 
I see that Brave-for-two-months Mike Ford--the AAAA king--is back in the major leagues with the Reds. Leading me to ask, "The Reds were viewed as contenders?"
 
Eric Gregg's strike zone was wider than his girth, but Hernandez made so many bad calls across almost all aspects of umpiring that it became mind-numbing.
 
bravesnumberone said:
Annual post on what a travesty it is that we don’t have wall to wall baseball on TV on Memorial Day.
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Agree 100%. I'm way old, but I remember Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day as being big double-header days for a lot of teams. Only one minor league game last night. Seems that a good way to get people to the ballpark (major leagues or minor leagues) is to play a game when people are off of work. Should have been a day when all the games at mlb.tv were available.
 
50PoundHead said:
Agree 100%. I'm way old, but I remember Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day as being big double-header days for a lot of teams. Only one minor league game last night. Seems that a good way to get people to the ballpark (major leagues or minor leagues) is to play a game when people are off of work. Should have been a day when all the games at mlb.tv were available.
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The idiots who run this league don't care about the general fan.. only corporate sponsors. I can agree that they are a huge chunk of money that can't be ignored, but it is so massively short sighted to just shun the average joe that is going to keep the corporate sponsors coming back. ManDick is by far the worst commissioner this sport has seen and maybe any sport.
 
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