MLBRT 5/2/2024

The questions and discussion…  

1) Recently Max Scherzer made his first minor league rehab start following offseason back surgery, throwing 52 pitches in 2.3 innings at Triple-A. Afterwards he spoke to reporters and said while the numbers weren’t all that great the biggest result that mattered he felt good and made it out in one piece. However he also had another issue he spoke to in MLB… the arbiters of the game, the umpires. In particular he suggested a relegation system for umpires. He said, that while he believes most umpires are good at their jobs, “”We need to rank the umpires. Let the electronic strike zone rank the umpires. We need to have a conversation about the bottom… let’s call it 10%… whatever you want to declare the bottom is and talk about relegating those umpires to the minor leagues.”

Coincidentally sportswriter Bill Madden wrote in his column on Sunday while MLB has a rating system for umpires “… nothing is really done regarding those who consistently rank at the bottom of MLB’s rating system every year and yet they go on, year after year, embarrassing the game with their poor performance, which makes you wonder what’s the purpose of a rating system if there are no consequences for the umpires who consistently rank at the bottom? Baseball umpires are like Supreme Court justices. They can’t be fired, and they can’t be demoted.” He added, “It’s an age-old problem for baseball and a puzzlement that it’s never been fixed. If players get sent back to the minors or released for poor performance, why can’t umpires?”

What are your thoughts about a relegation system for MLB umpires? Why?

With the poor umpire play and umpires wanting to control the entire show, there needs to be a relegation system for these umpires. There needs to be a system to hold umpires (and refs in all sports) accountable for mistakes on their end.

You can’t have clear-cut mistakes happening in games. Like in the Brewers-Yankees’ series where a Yankees’ player is sliding into second, throws his padded hand up to interfere with the double play, and not call it interference. There shouldn’t be issues where you’re completely off the entire strike zone and inconsistent while you’re off. We can’t have Angel Hernandez still umpiring in professional baseball while clearly not being able to keep up with the speed of the game play or the speed of pitches.

There’s a lot of errors happening, and there’s an entire rating system on Twitter and utilized by MLB that they need to apply. The fans deserve better. The players deserve better. The teams and organizations deserve better. The league deserves better. Adding a relegation system benefits every party and improves the overall quality of the game. 

If MLB has a rating system for umpires but it has no real consequences of any import than what is the use of having it at all? If it doesn’t result in having dire consequences for the umpires with consistently negative ratings then there is no incentive for then to change… to get better at their craft. With end result that the game itself is much poorer for both the players and the fans. Right now the situation is as Madden says “… (the umpires) are like Supreme Court justices. (Who) can’t be fired, and (who) can’t be demoted.”

I totally agree with Bill Madden’s words… “If players get sent back to the minors or released for poor performance, why can’t umpires?”

It is far past time for MLB to institute a relegation system for MLB umpires.

 2) As the season approaches 40 games for the Chicago Cubs as of Sunday (4/28) the team’s standing in the NL Central was a very nice 17-10 and just ½ game out of first place. However two of their best position players are presently missing from their lineup… Seiya Suzuki was placed on the IL last Monday (4/22) with an oblique injury and on Wednesday (4/24) Cody Bellinger was put on the IL with two fractured ribs.  Suzuki and Bellinger were the Cubs’ 2-3 hitters in the lineup when healthy and now the team faces the prospect of missing both, concurrently, for multiple weeks.

Can the remainder of the Cubs’ lineup step up on offense? Can the Cubs survive the Suzuki and Bellinger injuries and still contend in the Central for the playoffs this season either by winning the division or earnings a Wild Card? Why or why not?

I think the Cubs’ lineup can sustain their success with Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki out for up to a month.

They have Mike Tauchman, who, according to WAR on ESPN, has the best WAR of the entire lineup and he plays right field. They still have Dansby Swanson and Nico Horner in their lineup. Michael Busch is leading the team with home runs. They’re still winning games.

They have three starters with under 2.00 ERAs (Shoto Imanaga, Javier Assad and Jameson Taillon). Imanaga is a Cy Young Award leading candidate with a 0.78 ERA, 0.75 WHIP and 35K/4BB showing stellar command.

Their bullpen (Mark Leiter Jr, Hayden Wesneski, Keegan Thompson) all have ERAs under 1.00.

With pitching like this, and still having big offensive contributors, the Chicago Cubs are going to be a strong team in the NL Central without Bellinger and Suzuki. 

First… Mike Tauchman slides over to center from right for Bellinger and while there is a sacrifice in power… 5 HRs for Bellinger to 3 for Tauchman…    Tauchman’s overall slash numbers are better…. .289/.424/..482 for Tauchman to Bellinger’s .226/.320/.485. And worth mentioning regarding the power department between the two players Bellinger only has 1 double while Tauchman has 7.  So frankly it’s not as if Bellinger was tearing up the league while he was in the lineup.

And then Pete Crow-Armstrong moves into right. And maybe he isn’t the overall player Suzuki is but he pays a decent field and in 9 games has a slash line of .292/.280/.500… not great but it’ll do for the time being and maybe with playing every day  he gets those numbers up a tad. The point is it’s not as if the Cubs don’t have a temporary answer until Bellinger and Suzuki return to the lineup.

And if their two top starters  in Shota Imanaga (0.78 ERA/0.75 WHIP/5-0 W/L) and Javier Assad (1.97 ERA/1.00 WHIP 2=0 W/L) can keep on throwing up the numbers they have been so far this season, along with the batters they have in their lineup even without Bellinger and Suzuki the Cubs should be able to maintain their top standing in a relatively weak NL Central until the team gets fully healthy.

3) In the AL Central the Cleveland Guardians lead the division by 2½ games with an AL best record (as of 4/28) of 19-8 (.704).

Are the Guardians for real this season? Can they continue playing at or near their present level throughout the season with their present roster? Why or why not?  

The Guardians are for real this season. Having a strong start to the season makes the rest of the season that much easier. You can struggle through some periods and still have that cushion room. The added benefit to a strong start for Cleveland this season is being in the AL Central, which is overall very weak, and features the Chicago White Sox historically awful team there too.

The Guardians have had some awesome contributors on offense in Steven Kwan (his defense is impeccable as well), Josh Naylor and Jose Ramirez have been RBI machines for them both having brought in 24 runs, seven more than the very talented Andres Jimenez, who has the second highest WAR on their offense. Tyler Freeman, despite having a poor batting average, is still getting on base at an almost .300 clip, has a 0.7 WAR, and has driven in 12 RBIs this season. Brayan Rocchio has been drawing walks (tied for team lead) and getting stolen bases (tied for team lead).

Their weaker spot is pitching, and hurts more with Shane Bieber lost for the season, but having a gate locking finisher in closer Emmanuel Clase is a game-changer. Tanner Bibee has been having a very solid season for them starting which helps try and brace for impact on Bieber not being a contributing member of the squad this season.

The Guardians can keep this up and remain in the race for the divisional pennant and a playoff spot. 

While the Guardians’ starters aren’t the top rotation in the AL they aren’t terrible either. Their overall pitching numbers see them with a 3.32 ERA (6^th in AL) and a 1.21 WHIP (7^th). However a team they lead the AL with 292 strikeouts which means they tend to keep the opposition off the base paths without putting the ball into play… a testament to this is they are tied for 2^nd in the AL with 4 shutouts.

But their bullpen is a different story altogether… they lead the AL in ERA  (2.43) and are second in WHIP (1.05) and have 140 of those league leading strikeouts to only 38 walk which is the 3^rd lowest in the AL for any bullpen.  

Now as a team the Guardians are slashing .248 (4^th in AL)/.322(4^th)/.398 (6^th) along with 140 RBIs (4^th) and 155 runs scored (2^nd).

If they can keep up this level of production throughout the remainder of the season I see no reason why they can’t be in the running for the AL Central title or at the minimum a Wild Card spot.

4) The Kansas City Royals, have a 17-11 (.607) record which is the 4^th best in the AL and puts them 2½ behind Cleveland in the AL Central (as of 4/28 AM).

Similar to the Guardians…

Are the Royals for real this season? Is the team’s hot start sustainable? Why or why not?   

Why?

The Royals are also sustainable for the season, benefiting from a solid start, and having two excellent players who are feeding off of each other in Bobby Witt Jr and Salvador Perez.

They also have the benefit of facing the White Sox for extended games being in the same division.

They’ve really excelled pitching, having Seth Lugo at 1.60 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and is 5-1 on the season. They have strikeout machine Cole Ragans, who has posted an 11.9 K/9 through seven starts. Brady Singer is back shutting down as well, with 2.62 and 1.02 WHIP, and newly acquired (this off-season) Michael Wacha has been a solid contributor for the team, averaging almost 90 pitches a start.

Outside of Witt Jr having an MVP year and Perez right behind him, they have Kyle Isbel posting a 0.9 WAR, Maikel Garcia has been a big contributor on offense and the base paths (8 stolen bases), as well as Vinnie Pasquantino at first with a 0.7 WAR, 17 walks to 12 strikeouts and four home runs with .325 OBP.

The Royals can sustain this hot start with their great pitching and big contributors on offense. 

The Royals batters aren’t slashing the hell out of opposition’s pitching… as a team they sit around 10^th or so in AL in the three relevant statistical categories. But as team they do tend to get the overall job done… as a collective bunch they drive in runs… 140 which is 4^th in the AL… and score a fair number of runs…. 148 which is 5^th.

Their pitching is also sort of on the mediocre side of things too… the ERA is a decent 3.14 (5th) but the WHIP is only tenth best in the AL at 1.24 and they don’t strikeout a lot of batters… 238 which is last in the AL… while giving up 99 walks. Yeah, they do have Seth Lugo who has a 5-1 W/L record with a nifty 1.60 ERA and 1.02 WHIP but the pitching drops off from there in my opinion.  

And the weakest part of the team may be their bullpen with a so-so 3.38 ERA (7th in AL bullpens) and a not so hot 1.35 WHIP while striking out just 78 batters and walking 43.

I’m not so sure the Royals have enough to keep winning games at the pace they have been winning at so far this season. And in their division with teams like the Guardians, Tigers and Twins all having decent seasons of their own early on that division is shaping up to be very competitive this year.

Frankly, I give the Royals a 50-50 shot at maybe getting a Wild Card.

5) As of Sunday morning (4/28) the Yankees had played in 28 games and Aaron Judge’s batting average stood at .190 with a .328 OBP and a .390 slugging percentage… very unlike Judge’s usual numbers. 

While the season is still young, it isn’t so young that the question can’t be posed…

 What’s going on with the Yankees captain?

Can Aaron Judge turn around his slow start to help lead the Yankees into the playoffs? Why or why not?

I think Aaron Judge was just having a slow start.

As of typing this, he has six home runs, .331 OBP, a positive WAR and is getting better as this season has grown older. He has Juan Soto to help him on offense and he’s a player he can bounce off of after starting this season on absolute fire. Anthony Rizzo has been good, Anthony Volpe has been trying to keep up with Juan Soto on the season, and having a supporting cast around Judge like he hasn’t had in the past two seasons, it is only going to benefit him in improving and feeding off their positive energy and positive results.

The Yankees have been on fire overall this season as well, jumping out to be among the first teams to hit 20 wins, they’re leading the AL East, and have a positive run differential at +41.

Judge will find his footing (if he’s not finding it as I type this ), and the Yankees will be fine on their way to the playoffs.  

Judge was recently quoted in the NY press as saying he is still Aaron Judge and that he expects to put up numbers somewhere in the neighborhood of what he usually does each season.

And I think that is probably a decent assessment of what his 2024 season will wind up being. With Juan Soto, who so far is having an MVP season, hitting in front of him and Anthony Rizzo having a decent season behind him in the batting order he just needs to get that BA up and then everything will begin falling into place.  

And it’s not as if his year has been totally in the toilet… despite his present sub .200 BA he still has 6 HRs, 18 RBIs and has managed to draw 24 walks which is second best only to teammate Soto’s 28 in the AL.

Extra Innings…