MLBRT 11/7/2024

The questions and discussion…  

1) Due to his nearly unmatched talent, age and track record in MLB Juan Soto is without doubt the top free agent available this off-season. 

Which player is the “second best” player who will be available this off-season? Why?   

While Juan Soto is the clear-cut number, there’s a couple players who come very close to Juan Soto, however, won’t command nearly the dollar value that Soto is bringing in as he’ll likely come close to what Ohtani was given (at least in asking).

Corbin Burnes is the second-best free agent on the market for this upcoming season, as long as Baltimore doesn’t re-sign him before free agency opens up. Corbin Burnes is projected to bring in $200 million on his next contract, which is, at least, $300 million less than what Juan Soto’s asking price is going for. Corbin Burnes is extremely consistent and reliable. He won the Cy Young in 2021 while leading the MLB in ERA at 2.43 for the Milwaukee Brewers. He led all baseball with 33 games started in 2022 with a 2.94 ERA, had 32 starts in 2023 with a 3.34 ERA and this season, posted a 2.92 ERA in 32 games while with the Baltimore Orioles. He’s reliable, a big strikeout pitcher, and limits runs. He’s better than Blake Snell. He’s more consistent than any other pitcher on the market and is one of the best pitchers in the game. Expect him to easily receive the $200 million and get a bidding war for his services this off-season. 

Corbin Burnes…

Soto, being what amounts to almost being a once in a lifetime generational player, is the obvious no-brainer top free agent in this year’s market…

As for who comes next…

For me personally if I’m a GM, and I’ve no gaping on field holes that I need to address, then I go for pitching, especially starting pitching… and with that said…   

Corbin Burnes is my number two player in this year’s free agent class.

Four consecutive trips to the All-Star Game; among the league leaders in innings pitched since the pandemic; and he’s proved that his game works in both the AL and the NL from his time in Milwaukee and Baltimore.

His career ERA and WHIP are 3.19 and 1.063 respectively and if you throw out his disaster of a season in 2019 when he his ERA was 8.82 and WHIP was an unsightly 1.837 both stats would be significantly lower.. the ERA would be under 3.00 and the WHIP might sink below 1.00.

That makes him the second best free agent in this year’s market.

2) A recent new report broke the news that baseball broadcaster Bob Costas is retiring from play-by-play announcing. Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, reports that Costas has confirmed the news but Costas has added that he would make his own announcement in the future.  

How will you remember Costas’ career as a broadcaster and analyst of MLB games and as a commentator on the state of the game through the years? Why?

What is your most memorable Bob Costas’ moment? Why?  

Bob Costas is a legend when it comes to baseball broadcasting, as well as broadcasting overall.

He was a long-time Cardinals’ play-by-play announcer, as well as covering three World Series and ten league championship series while covering the game for 44 seasons. The way he brought the game to life with colorful descriptions, storytelling, announcing and excitement in the booth was a never forget moment.

The most memorable moments I can remember from Bob Costas are the times the Cardinals would come to Milwaukee, and Bob Costas would join Bob Uecker in the radio booth to talk baseball and cover the game together. Those two together was something you couldn’t miss, and I remember growing up always turning on the radio when those two were in the booth together as their countless stories and a long, long memory of the game together was something that you had to take the time to listen to.

Costas will be missed in the broadcast booth, but still getting to hear his interviews will be a fantastic showing for MLB Network viewers. 

In his confirmation of his retirement as an announcer and sports commentator Costas appeared on “MLB Tonight” and told Tom Verducci, “I knew for more than a year that this would be the end of it… I felt that I couldn’t consistently reach my past standard. There might have been individual games, or stretches within games, or moments in games that were just the same as if it was the 1990s or the early 21st century. But I couldn’t string enough of them together.”

Costa may have lost a step or two but for his career he was head and shoulders above almost any other MLB commentator that has come along in many a year. He will be missed.

In his 44-year career highlights include winning 29 Emmy Awards, covering 12 Olympics and calling or hosting multiple World Series, Super Bowls and NBA Finals as well as his too many to list signature moments calling some of the most historic moments in MLB history.

However, I will remember Costas most for addressing some of the biggest issues in sports, and regardless of popular opinion and/or of the people in various boardrooms who supposedly call the shots, he took each issue head on and spoke about it openly, sincerely and with integrity and respect. for the game and the people he was referencing.  

3) Regardless of how it is analyzed and viewed presumptive AL MVP Aaron Judge had a wretched World Series… 4 for 18 (.222) in the World Series and overall slashed just .184/.344/.408 in 14 postseason games. 

Has Aaron Judge’s performance in this year’s World Series put a serious dent in how Judge’s MLB career… his so-called legacy… will be viewed… or… judged?  Why or why not?

Aaron Judge’s poor playoff performances, including his awful World Series showing, will definitely drop him down on my list of how I view Aaron Judge. If you can’t perform, even somewhat close to your regular season numbers, then it shows to me that you can’t handle pressure. You can’t be the leader of the team if you can’t show up when it counts the most. When the team relies on you to perform and deliver, you crumble and fall apart. Why should teams pay you top dollar?

For regular season performance? That’s great, but you’re a “can’t-sit” bat during the regular season.

Playoffs? You’re a can’t-hit bat and in the way. That’s not going to work for a team that’s trying to build. It definitely marks a nice dent into his career’s legacy. A great regular-season hitter, but can’t deliver in the moments it matters most. 

Like it or not it’s a part of major league sports that when a star player doesn’t perform well in the playoffs, and particularly in Championship games or series, especially in a losing cause, then that player will suffer not only the harsh criticism of critics and fans alike but, yes, it will affect how his career is seen as a whole.

And, yes, there is right now a serious dent in how Judge’s MLB career is being viewed.

I would suggest though that if the Yankees had won the World Series a lot of the conversation as well as the severity of the criticism would be a tad muted.  

Two 2024 World Series players…

Player A… 18 ABs, 4 hits, .167/.261/.500 slash line with 3 RBIs, 2 runs scored and a HR.

 Player B… 19 ABs, 2 hits, .105/.227/.158 slash line with 2 runs scored and 0 RBIs and HRs.

Judge is player A and Shohei Ohtani is player B. Ohtani’s World Series was far worse than Judge’s yet there is hardly a peep being said about it. Why? The Dodgers won the World Series.

Winning cures and fixes a lot of criticism as well as the shading of the appearance of things. And Ohtani’s teammates took care of business on the field while Judge’s did not.  

Still the Yanks lost on the biggest stage there is in MLB and their biggest star in a word.. Stunk! And that, as people sometimes are wont to say… is a part of his permanent record.

Hopefully he gets more playoffs to correct and atone for that part of his MLB history.

4) How important was manager Dave Roberts to the Los Angeles Dodgers winning this year’s World Series? Why?

And does this World Series title assure that Roberts will eventually being elected into Baseball Hall of Fame? Why or why not?

I think Dave Roberts played a bigger part than what most people would attribute to him. For one, he was able to get one of the best lineups in all of baseball to flow together. He knew how to put the lineup together that works towards everybody’s strengths. Not only did he have Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Tommy Edman, Teoscar Hernandez, Will Smith and Shohei Ohtani at his disposal in the lineup, but he was able to construct that lineup just right to get the maximum production that he could.

He also was able to work his bullpen and pitching rotation to fit the team’s needs, while dealing with a bunch of injuries including missing their star pitcher in Clayton Kershaw.

I think this definitely is going to go down in Roberts’ legacy as a fantastic World Series win.

And it’s said to be easy once you have an All-Star lineup like the Dodgers did. However, it takes an All-Star manager in order to fit the pieces all together just right to perform at their maximum output. That’s what Dave Roberts did. 

I’m going to cheat a bit here and simply quote Mookie Betts, one of the Dodgers’ best players, who said this about Dave Roberts…

“His maneuvering mitigated a short-handed starting rotation. His optimism anchored a team in desperate need of it. To be honest, Dave is the real reason why we’re here.”

Amen to that and what else is there to say?  

5) In Game 4, the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts went up for a fly ball in foul territory when two fans grabbed his glove and tried to rip the ball out. Ultimately, the umpires ruled that the Yankees’ batter out due to fan interference, but later Betts said he was incensed when it occurred.

Yankees security quickly kicked both of the people involved from the Stadium and then refused them admission to Game 5.  

But is that enough? Should the Yankees send a message not only to the fans attending their games but to all fans who attend MLB games anywhere and extend a suspension of their season tickets into the 2025 season or a possibly rescind, or refuse to renew their season ticket subscription entirely? Why or why not?

And in the same manner that protective netting has been installed in MLB ballparks along ballpark foul lines should MLB require teams to install Plexiglas shielding along the foul lines and outfield fences to prevent fans from reaching into a ballpark’s playing area and interfering with players in the way Betts was in Game 4?

I think baseball should leave the guy alone for next season. While he did something that shouldn’t happen in the game, and it was publicized very heavily due to it being in a World Series game for the entire world to see, you could clearly tell that he was absolutely toasted in the first inning. That kind of move was not a “in my right state of mind” decision. After Mookie Betts caught the ball already, with a closed glove, he held on to his glove and tried to rip the ball out of a closed glove. Nobody does that, who isn’t extremely intoxicated thinking they’re making the right move at that time of place. Give him a little bit of a break.

Yes, he should have some restrictions like not sitting on any wall in which he can get in the way like this again. However, I wouldn’t ban him from future games or restrict him from coming to any baseball game again.

And I definitely wouldn’t ruin the experience for all the other fans who don’t conduct themselves in this type of matter by putting up plexiglass along all the walls. Not only would this prohibit the view and effect the fan experience, but it also will hinder correct calls when it comes to home runs as it’ll extend all the walls by, what, six feet tall? It’s just not anything positive to implement. 

There will always be some fans who take things too far. And while it might seem like this was  aa situation where alls well that ends well with no one hurt and the umpires took control of the situation by calling fan interference and the people who screwed with Betts were evicted from the Stadium the potential to cause Betts a serious injury was there.

I think a clear message needs to be sent that this type of behavior by the buffoons involved will not be tolerated and that maybe the Yankees shouldn’t take away whosever seson tickets were involved but they restrict the number of game he is allowed to attend in 2025 and then his seson tickets should be reissued with his seats nowhere near the playing field.

And then be told that any repeat of his Game 4 behavior would result in a revocation of his tickets.

As for Plexiglass shielding around the foul lines and outfield fences?

Naw. I just don’t see the need to take things that far and ruin the fans and the players ability to interact with one another.

Extra Innings…