MLBRT 4/4/2024

The questions and discussion…  

1) Where will the Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Shane Bieber be after this season’s trade deadline? Why?

Shane Bieber has started off 2024 with a very strong showing. I think he’s going to have a lot of interest come trade deadline, and the Yankees are going to be the one to swoop in and take him for the closing stretch.

The Yankees’ offense looks a lot better already through, roughly, a week of the season. They’re going to need to add some pieces to fit this team all the way together to make a postseason run in a division that’s supposed to be tough yet again. The Yankees will need to bolster their starting rotation, especially when they finally get Gerritt Cole back from injury and having a top one-two punch at the top of the rotation is going to make all the difference come the final month stretch and the beginning of the postseason. 

As long as Bieber is having a decent season… with respect to his ERA and WHIP… he will definitely have teams very interested in trying to acquire him before or at the trade deadline.

The teams I think that will be most interested in getting him will be the Dodgers, Yankees, Braves and possibly the Rangers, Orioles and maybe the Giants. But it all really depends upon whether any of these teams are n the running for the playoffs and the shape that their starting rotations are in.  

The best possibilities for the teams that might wind up getting Bieber I believe will be the Yankees, Braves or the Dodgers.

For the Tanks it will al depend upon whether Gerrit Cole has come back from his arm troubles and how efficient he has been since coming back as well how efficient the replacements that the Yanks have been using for Cole in his absence. But I think if they are not in a comfortable lead in the AL East and are instead fighting to get a Wild Card then they will be in the market to get Bieber in a big way.    

For the Dodgers it’s really very similar to the yanks situation… it all depends on how their starters are working out as the season progresses. Right now I think their pitching is somewhat questionable but with a high potential to be either somewhat good to exceptional overachievers. If they are leaning toward being just so-so the they also will be looking to acquire Bieber.  

For the Braves it all depends upon whether they have incurred any injuries to their rotation. If they have then they too will be definitely in the mix to try and land Bieber.  

In the end it will all come down to which team offers the best package in prospects and MLB ready players in their efforts to get Bieber. And in my view I think the Yankees have the best assets to offer up of the three teams I just mentioned.

However I won’t count out the Orioles especially if they are on the border line of making the playoffs. If there is one team that possesses an exceptional deep pocket of prospects and young MLB players to offer up to get Bieber, it is the Orioles. They could just overwhelm everyone and sweep Bieber away very easiy if they so desire.

2) What was your biggest takeaway from this season’s opening day? Why?

My biggest takeaway from Opening Day was how good the Braves look, yet again. Their offense is surging immediately. They’re going to be on pace for yet another dominant offensive showing for 2024.

The Dodgers, especially Mookie Betts, has been a big scoring machine. Their red flag to me, early, is their pitching. They’ve allowed a lot of runs as well, but they’re at a 52-38 run scored/allowed differential.

The other take away, on the other spectrum of scoring and allowing runs, the Brewers are 4-0 at this point and have only scored 17 runs while allowing 10. If they can maintain stellar pitching and not having to score a lot of runs to win, they could be a dangerous, sneaky, under-the-radar team.

I’m surprised that we’ve already seen a no-hitter in baseball, presented by the Astros Ronel Blanco against the Blue Jays. It’s the earliest no-hitter in MLB history. Ohtani still is without a home run, Mike Trout has started off the season without missing Ohtani in smacking a home run in his first at-bat of the season. Bryce Harper just went 3-for-4 last night with three home runs against the Reds on TBS. It’s going to be a really fun season with a lot of action. 

How Mookie Betts is looking like he is going to have a monster season is my biggest take away.  

And then there is how well Juan Soto has inserted himself kind of seamlessly into the Yankees lineup and how he could  also be on the way to getting some early AL MVP talk.

And the 16 runs the D’backs scored on Opening Day was certainly an eye opener and it included a 14-run outburst in the bottom of the third inning which was an Opening Day record.

The early hot start by the Red Sox is certainly worth mentioning since they were, by most accounts, supposed to stink this year.

And we already have a no-hitter which is the earliest one of those games has ever been posted in any MLB season. 

3) Which team has the best starting pitching rotation in MLB? Why?

Best starting rotation in baseball is Atlanta.

They have Spencer Strider as their ace. He’s young, added a pitch to his two-pitch arsenal, and is poised to make a push for 300 strikeouts and make a race for the NL Cy Young award.

They also have Max Fried as a second ace on their roster who’s poised for another solid season after posting a 2.55 ERA in 77 innings last season, 2.48 ERA in 185 innings in 2022 and having an overall career ERA of 3.06 with a 1.17 WHIP.

They added Chris Sale in the back-end of the rotation, and if he can manage an ERA around 4, while somewhat regaining form from before his string of injuries hampered him, and stay healthy, he’ll be a super solid contributor at the back-end of their rotation.

They also have Charlie Morton, who’s nearing the end of his career, who posted a 3.64 ERA in 163 innings pitched last season and is still a very solid contributor as the number three starter for them.

This roster, including the bullpen, is stacked. Atlanta boasts the best pitching rotation, and they could be in the sweepstakes for Shane Bieber at the trade deadline. Landing him would solidify them as the far-and-away best starting rotation in baseball. 

As good as the Braves were in the regular season last year, it might be thought that everything broke just right for them all season long. The truth, however, was their starting rotation was beset by injuries and they had to throw some rookies in the mix who performed rather well. That experience by those players, in particular the experience gained by Bryce Elder, will pay dividends this season.

Add in a rotation of Spencer Strider, who I considered the best starter of any pitcher in MLB right now, along with Max Fried as well as veteran guys in Charlie Morton and reclamation project Chris Sale (who early on looks damn good) and the Braves have  a five-deep collection of potential All-Star’s for their starting rotation.  

4) Will Ronald Acuña Jr. steal at least 70 bases in the 2024 season? Why or why not?

Ronald Acuña Jr. had an outstanding season last year, leading the league in most offensive categories on his way to an MVP season. While I don’t think he’s going to reach his 73 stolen base total from last season, I think he’s going to clear 50.

So far, through five games, he has one stolen base, which came on Opening Day vs the Phillies (technically Friday, with the rain delaying the start to their season). Acuña Jr. is a fast player, but he hasn’t posted huge stolen base numbers. I think with the bigger bases, a good offense, and a knack for getting on base, I think we’ll still see him being aggressive this year, but not have the amazing overall season he had last season, so his stolen base totals are going to drop a little bit. I still see a 40-40 season for him, with him surpassing 50 stolen bases, but I don’t think he’s going to reach the 70 mark. 

Thanks to a number of rule changes, base stealing was back in a big way last season.

Braves superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. led all players with 73 steals in 2023, the most for any individual player in a season since José Reyes swiped 78 bags in 2007.

While Acuña’s speed isn’t what it was before his ACL tear in 2021, that didn’t stop him from leading the Majors with those 73 steals while becoming the first player in MLB history to join the 40 HR/70 Steals club.  

Once upon a time Acuña said he wanted to have MLB’s first 50 HR/50 Steals season and to my way of thinking that is certainly a possibility for him this season.

I’m going to say while he might struggle to get to those 50 HRs but I think he easily gets to 50 steals and frankly he might take a shot at surpassing his 73 from last year and go for 100 this year and create an entirely new club for players to try and join… 40+ HRS and 100+ Stolen Bases.  

5) The San Diego Padres Xander Bogaerts is switching from shortstop to second base for the 2024 seson. Bogaerts has never played the at second base position previously during his MLB career.

Xander Bogaerts will be the NL’s starting second baseman in this year’s All-Star game.  True or no true/Why or why not?

I think Xander Bogaerts is going to have a great season, and a lot of success at second base. While he’s going to get a lot of votes to make the All-Star Game, I don’t think he’s going to outpace Ozzie Albies for the starting second base position in the All-Star Game.

Not only is Albies going to have a better season, he’s going to get a lot of extra votes for being on a team that’s on national television a lot more often, including being on one of the best teams in all of baseball of the Atlanta Braves. The team and the attention he’s going to attract from the national audience is going to drive voting up to get him the starting nod for the All-Star Game, which is going to hinder Bogaerts from getting the start for the National League. 

Bogaerts will change position one year into an 11-year deal with the Padres and become the team’s second baseman to accommodate Ha-Seong Kim. Not that Bogaerts was exactly a bum at short, but Kim won a Gold Glove as a utility fielder while seeing time at second base, third and shortstop and is regarded as the better player at short.

As for Bogaerts winning a spot as the NL’s starting All-Star second baseman… he will need to improve somewhat from his decent season of last year where he slashed .285/.350/.440.  But if he adapts to the switch of positions rather easily  I don’t see he can’t have a season that will rival some of the better  years he has had in his MLB career.

I give him a 50-50 shot at being this season’s NL All-Star at second base.

Extra Innings…