MLBRT 2/29/2024

The questions and discussion…  

1) The Los Angeles Angels went 73-89 last season and that was with unanimous AL MVP Shohei Ohtani. If they are to improve upon that record this season the Angels not only need a healthy and productive Mike Trout, they also need a healthy and productive Anthony Rendon who due to injuries appeared in just 43 games last season, during which he hit .236/.361/.318 with two home runs.

On Monday (2/19) the 33-year old Rendon reported to Angels camp and made it clear that baseball is not a top priority for him when he told assembled reporters “My enthusiasm (for baseball) has been the same since I got drafted to be honest with you. I was actually deleting old emails because my storage to my maximum in my email. So I’m going back and deleting old emails. I emailed myself a pros and cons of why I wanted to stay in the game. This was in 2014. My thought process of the game has not changed since then. I keep making it this long… (Baseball has) never been a top priority for me. This is a job. I do this to make a living. My faith, my family come first before this job. So if those things come before it, I’m leaving.”

What are your thoughts regarding Rendon’s comments? Why?

I think that he looks at it realistically. As long as he puts forth his best effort day in and day out, does proper preparation, training and puts in the work to be great at the game, how he treats his job is how he treats his job. Because, when it really comes down to it, baseball, football, or office work is just what it is; a job. If he comes in and has a bad attitude, or negatively driving it where he doesn’t want to be there, then it becomes a problem. But he can still treat baseball as a job, put in all the necessary work and extra work, have a fun time with it and a positive attitude, and you wouldn’t know the difference unless he said the comments he did.

I think he just spoke the thoughts of most players out loud. People treat it as a job because it is. And I can certainly see how he feels about it being a job, especially the past couple of seasons where he’s been injured and had to put in extra work to overcome that and make a comeback. When he initially wrote those comments down in an email, he was actually really good. In 2014, he was coming off his second MLB season and put up 39 home runs, 126 OPS+, finished fifth in MVP voting and scored 111 runs which led the National League for the Nationals. So there’s nothing wrong with his comments, as long as it doesn’t affect his job. 

Almost everyday players are quoted in the media… players in every major league sport not just MLB… that they understand the sport they are involved in is a business or that they understand the business side of the sport they are participating.

I think Rendon is just putting it a lot more bluntly than those other players do.

And I see nothing wrong whatsoever in what he is saying as long as he puts in the work needed to do his job to the best of his ability and in giving that performance doesn’t cheat his employers or we the fans in playing the sport of professional baseball. And the way he puts his comments I believe that if he does reach that the point where it becomes a reality where he doesn’t believe he can put forth that effort needed to perform within MLB to the best of his ability that he will call it a day and quit playing in MLB.

Sounds to me Rendon has his perspectives of what is important… what his life is all about… completely right regardless of how it might rub many of the fans that read those comments.  

2) Which player is your top candidate to be this season’s Comeback Player of the Year in the AL? Why?  

I think Carlos Rodon will win Comeback Player of the Year in the American League for the New York Yankees.

He pitched awful in the games he did play in last year, pitching 64.1 innings while posting a 6.85 ERA, an almost 10% walk rate and had a 1.45 WHIP. He should be healthy this season, have a little better run support, and come in as the number two starter in the Yankees’ rotation. His season last year was destroyed by injuries. He has 162 game averages of over 200 strikeouts a season, an under 4 ERA, posted a career 108 ERA+ and has been a very top of the line pitcher. So to see him pitch how he did, and struggle with injuries, definitely speaks volumes of how he’ll change it around this season as long as he stays healthy. 

Giancarlo Stanton has made it clear that his 2023 performance was unacceptable after he was limited to a career-worst .191/.275/.420 slash line. Word is that this the off-season he prioritized conditioning and diet and expects to come into the 2024 season in a much more leaner and well-conditioned version of himself than he has been in many years. I expect with the Yankees most likely having him hit slightly lower in their batting order than he has in the past will also put less pressure on him to perform to the high expectations that he as well as the Yankees have desired and that with the addition of Juan Soto and a healthy Aaron Judge back in the lineup as well as other Yankees who underperformed in 2023 playing better in 2024 that Stanton will maybe not put up numbers that translate into equaling his 59 HR season but will produce 35+ HRs with at least 100 Runs and RBIs and win him the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award.  

3) Which player is your top candidate to be this season’s Comeback Player of the Year in the NL? Why? 

Edwin Diaz will be the NL Comeback Player of the Year.

After suffering a brutal injury in the World Baseball Classic that knocked out the New York Mets’ closer for the season, he’s coming into spring training fully healthy and ready to go. He was coming off of an amazing season in 2022 for the Mets, closing out 39 games in saves, an insane 297 ERA+, a WHIP of 0.839 and an ERA of 1.31 with a FIP of 0.90. He had 118 strikeouts, which equates to over 17 per nine innings. While he might not be that dominant this season, he’s definitely going to make a huge impact and almost lock this award up by August.

Every year he has started at least 10 games, except for the 2016 season, Luis Severino has had an ERA at either 3.39 or lower with a WHIP under 1.20  including his 2017 and 2018 seasons when he logged 190+ innings with WHIPs of 1.040 and 1.145 respectively  and placed in the top ten of the voting for the AL Cy Young Award.   

Last year he battled injuries and in reviewing his year became convinced that he was tipping his pitches to the batters he faced when he had the worst seson of his relatively young career.

Now as a member of the Mets I not only expect him to win a regular spot in the Mets rotation but to rebound to be a pitcher who performs a lot closer lo 2017 and 2018 seasons than what he did in his 2023 season and will wind up being the nest pitcher the Mets have throughout the 2024 season and wind up not only winning the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award but get some votes for the NL Cy Young, too.  

4) As an outfielder Bryce Harper was a seven-time All-Star. Starting this season he is moving to the infield to play first base full time.

In your opinion how will Harper perform at first? Will he continue to play at his usual All-Star level?  Why or why not?

I think Bryce Harper will handle first base perfectly fine for the Phillies. He played there when he came back from injury and has amassed a total of 303 innings at the position only suffering one error and was one run above average on defensive runs saved. His hitting didn’t take an impact and he’s still one of the best hitters in the MLB finishing last season with a Silver Slugger award.

I think he will continue at an All-Star level, even if it’s boosted by his offense. I’m not worried at him being at first, and I don’t think Philadelphia is either. He can handle it. It might actually be a little easier than the outfield for him. At least for me it was, but I didn’t get anywhere close to the MLB level. 

First, from everything I have read Harper is totally on board with playing at first and being the best first baseman he can be.   

Second, I think playing first will help keep him healthier than if he was still performing in the outfield and will subject him to less physical stress allowing him to perform at his best level in years which would be no feat considering his past years have been at an All-Star level already.

And third, the guy is a great overall athlete and will continue putting up his usual steady All-Star offense that usually have in the MVP conversation as well as giving the Phillies no worse than an average defense at first.

In other words, he will do just fine as the Phillies everyday first baseman.  

5) Since MLB first expanded from eight teams in each league, arguably the two best back-to-back hitters in any team’s lineup were Roger Maris (61 HRs, 141 RBIs and AL MVP) and Mickey Mantle (54 HRs, 128 RBIs and runner up for AL MVP) for the 1961 Yankees.

In 2024 which two players will be the best back-to-back hitters in MLB? Why?

Will they come anywhere near to equaling the seasons that Maris and Mantle produced in 1961? Why or why not?  

I think Mookie Betts and/or Freddie Freeman with Shohei Ohtani will be the best back-to-back hitters in the MLB next season. They’re all three contact plus power hitters. They can get on base every game and consistently. Having them featuring each other will force teams to pitch at them. I think they’re going to have a huge competition with the trio the Braves feature between Olson, Riley, Ozuna, Acuna Jr. as a dominant, explosive four power hitters.

I think the duo for the Dodgers edges them out, while the overall lineup in Atlanta beats out the Dodgers. Ohtani and Betts/Freeman have a good chance of matching Maris and Mantle’s 1961 season due to the fact that they’re more explosive hitters in today’s game, with an inability to pitch around them anymore. You want to pitch around one, you have the other two coming up. And who wants to free pass a player to have another player with equal or greater amount of ability to drive them in. It’s going to be a fun year watching both Atlanta and Los Angeles, and I think we could see two teams’ duo back-to-back hitters out pace Maris and Mantle’s 1961 season.

Stay tuned. 

I’m going with the Yankees’ Juan Soto and Aaron Judge.

Maybe they won’t equal what Maris and Mantle did in 1961…

But it sure will be a heck of a lot of fun as a Yankees fan watching them destroy opposing pitching all season long as they come as close as they can in accomplishing it.

I predict Judge comes close to hitting 60 HRs again with about 140 RBIs…

And Soto gets to at least 40 HRs  with a ton of runs scored hitting in front of Judge. 

Extra Innings…