Welcome to a different version of 5 Issues I Appreciated (Or Didn’t Like) This Week. I’m going to maintain the introduction brief and candy right this moment so I can get again to my once-annual responsible pleasure: spending all day watching the US Open. However whereas I’m going full Jimmy Butler, loads of baseball is going on, so I’ve bought my eyes on that as properly. You couldn’t watch a sport this week with out seeing one thing spectacular. We’ve bought nice baserunning, terrible baserunning, and phenomenal catches. We’ve bought groups misunderstanding danger and reward, and GMs touching sizzling stoves over and over. It’s an incredible week to observe baseball, as a result of it all the time is. Shout out to Zach Lowe of ESPN as all the time for the column concept, and one programming observe: 5 Issues shall be off subsequent Friday. Let’s get to the baseball!
1. Anthony Volpe’s Disruptive Pace
One other yr, one other below-average season with the bat for the Yankees shortstop. That’s turning him right into a lightning rod for controversy, as a result of he’s a kind of participant who usually will get missed (protection and velocity) enjoying for a workforce the place gamers usually get overrated. The mix of the 2 results in some complicated opinions. “He’s an excellent participant who will make fewer All-Star groups than you suppose as a result of defensive worth is constantly underappreciated” isn’t precisely a powerful argument in case you’re speaking to an acquaintance at a sports activities bar.
One factor that everybody can agree on, although: After he reaches base, Anthony Volpe is an issue. I tuned into Monday’s Nationals-Yankees sport to see Dylan Crews within the majors and to observe Aaron Choose and Juan Soto, however I ended up simply marveling at Volpe for lots of the afternoon. He bought on base thrice (that’s the onerous half for him, to be clear) and tilted the whole protection every time. He wasn’t even happening this play, and his vault lead nonetheless dragged Ildemaro Vargas out of place:
I’m not fairly certain the way to assign worth for that play. The ball discovered a gap there, however DJ LeMahieu might simply as simply have hit the ball straight to Vargas. I’m not saying that we want a sophisticated statistical reckoning concerning the worth of a runner bluffing a fielder into movement, however that doesn’t change how cool it’s to observe Volpe spook good veteran infielders simply by standing round and bouncing.
A few of his baserunning worth is of the easy, look-at-this-fast-human-being selection. You don’t have to hit the ball very deep to drive him residence from third:
A few of the worth is effort-based. Volpe’s all the time enthusiastic about an additional base. Even when he hits a clear single, he’s bought eyes on the play. An innocuous outfield bobble? He’ll take the bottom, thanks very a lot:
After all, in case you present somebody taking a bouncing lead within the first GIF, it’s a must to present them stealing a base within the fourth: Name it Volpe’s Run. That double led to a pitching change, and after two seems at Joe La Sorsa’s supply, Volpe helped himself to 3rd base:
Not each sport is like this, however most of his instances on base are. He’s by no means content material to go station to station. His instincts are finely tuned, his velocity blazing. I’m rooting for Volpe to enhance on the plate, and it’s for egocentric causes: I really like to observe nice baserunning, and I need to see him get extra probabilities to do it.
2. Regardless of the Reverse of That Is
Oh Washington. The Nats are close to the highest of my watch record proper now. Their assortment of younger offensive standouts makes for enjoyable video games, and now that Crews has debuted, the highest of their lineup seems legitimately wonderful. You possibly can see the way forward for the workforce even earlier than they’re able to contend, and that’s simply cool. They may even be good already – they received the collection in opposition to the Yankees this week, with Crews hitting his first huge league homer within the deciding sport. However uh, they’re not fairly prepared for prime time but. Check out this laser beam double:
Boy, it certain seems enjoyable to pour on the runs while you’re already successful. Wait, I misspoke. Check out this lengthy fielder’s alternative:
Someway, Joey Gallo didn’t rating on a jog on that one. He slammed on the brakes at third base and realized he couldn’t make it residence. Then he bought frolicked to dry as a result of everybody else within the play stored operating prefer it was a transparent double (it was). What a goof! That meant the one query was whether or not he’d have the ability to maintain the rundown lengthy sufficient to let everybody advance a base. The reply was a convincing sure – to everybody apart from Juan Yepez:
I feel his mind simply brief circuited there. He was standing on third with Gallo fully caught in a rundown. All it’s a must to do to complete the play is stand nonetheless. However for no matter purpose, he began side-shuffling in retreat towards second, one other base at the moment occupied by a runner (!). Whereas Jazz Chisholm Jr. tagged Gallo out, Yepez was busy hanging José Tena out to dry. Famously, you’ll be able to’t have two runners on the identical base. The remainder of the play was tutorial:
I really feel dangerous hanging Yepez out to dry, as a result of some clearer communication would have made this play a run-scoring double. First, Gallo was overly cautious tagging up on the deep drive to middle. Then, he bought bamboozled. Watch the bottom coach maintain Yepez, just for Gallo to see the signal and suppose it was meant for him:
Only a catastrophe throughout. I can’t get sufficient of the Gameday description: “José Tena singles on a pointy line drive to middle fielder Aaron Choose. Juan Yepez to third. José Tena traces right into a double play, middle fielder Aaron Choose to shortstop Anthony Volpe to catcher Austin Wells to first baseman DJ LeMahieu to catcher Austin Wells to 3rd baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second baseman Gleyber Torres. Joey Gallo out at residence. Juan Yepez to third. José Tena out at 2nd. Two Outs.”
Ah, sure, simply your typical 8-6-2-3-2-5-4 double play. The Nationals are plenty of enjoyable to observe – even when it’s at their expense.
3. We Get It, Rays
The entire never-trade-with-Tampa-Bay bit is overdone. The Rays lose loads of trades. They win their justifiable share too, in fact, however they’re excessive quantity operators in a enterprise filled with uncertainty. Generally, you get Isaac Paredes for nearly nothing. Generally, you get Jonny DeLuca. If you churn your roster to the extent that they do, you’ll be able to’t win all of them, and that’s superb. However the Cardinals? Yeah, they need to positively not commerce with the Rays.
First, in 2018, they despatched Tommy Pham to Tampa Bay in change for some depth prospects, and Pham racked up 8 WAR within the subsequent yr and a half with the Rays. Then, earlier than the 2020 season, the Cardinals swapped Randy Arozarena for Matthew Liberatore; Randy turned the face of the postseason, and Libby became a protracted reliever. The newest deal won’t be essentially the most damaging, but it surely’s an apt capper to a transaction trilogy.
Dylan Carlson was alleged to be the subsequent huge factor in St. Louis, however that ship had sailed lengthy earlier than the Cardinals jettisoned him on the deadline this yr. His offensive sport simply broke down out of nowhere over the past two years, and he performed himself out of St. Louis even because the workforce floundered for outfield depth this yr. He had a 50 wRC+ in a part-time position when the workforce determined it was time to maneuver on.
That’s superb, guys want adjustments of surroundings on a regular basis. However buying and selling him to the Rays, of all groups, felt a little bit on the nostril. The reliever they bought again, Shawn Armstrong, is a wonderfully good bullpen possibility. He made 11 appearances for the Redbirds and compiled a 2.84 ERA (2.78 FIP), a stable month’s work. However I’m utilizing the previous tense as a result of they designated him for task earlier this week, hoping one other workforce would decide up the steadiness of his contract and save them $350,000 or so. They’ve made a comparable transfer with Pham, whom in addition they acquired on the deadline, since then. In Armstrong’s case, in addition they did it as a result of he’d pitched two days in a row and so they wanted one other recent arm on the energetic roster; it was a messy scenario throughout.
We’ve got their postseason odds at 1.1% after a desultory August, and so they probably aren’t dropping a lot of that worth by transferring on from Armstrong. It’s the signaling of all of it, although: They traded for the man, bought precisely what they needed from him, and nonetheless couldn’t preserve him round for 2 months. In the meantime, Carlson seems like an inexpensive main leaguer once more. He hasn’t been a world beater by any means, however he’s hitting the ball onerous extra incessantly in a semi-platoon position that takes benefit of his means to hit lefties. He already has three homers as a Ray after none all yr as a Cardinal.
Carlson needed to go, as a result of one thing wasn’t working in St. Louis. Armstrong was a wonderfully affordable return, and he did precisely what the workforce hoped for when the Cardinals acquired him. The optics, although! They traded one more fairly good outfielder who didn’t match into the puzzle in St. Louis. Tampa Bay has two years to get essentially the most out of him. As is customary, not one of the gamers the Rays despatched again to Missouri moved the needle. For appearances’ sake, if nothing else, the Cardinals can’t preserve making these trades.
4. Outrageous Robberies
It feels bizarre that Jackson Chourio, a five-tool celebrity with blazing footspeed, doesn’t play middle. It looks as if a knock on him, nearly. Certain, this man’s a prodigy, however he can’t deal with the robust defensive place that you just would possibly anticipate him to play given his expertise. Besides, that’s not fairly proper. Why would you play him in middle subject while you at the moment have Spider-Man patrolling the grass? I imply…
Blake Perkins robs ANOTHER residence run! ? pic.twitter.com/vvEn9GVR7V
— MLB (@MLB) August 28, 2024
Oh my goodness. I don’t even need to hear about catch chance on this one, as a result of the issue of this play is the half the place he will get over the wall in deep middle. This isn’t a type of “robberies” the place the fielder grazes the wall along with his again and everybody celebrates. Blake Perkins can do these simply superb – he has 4 robberies this yr, and so they weren’t all this tough – however he may also go the additional mile. He went all the way in which up and over to get this one:
That’s an 8-foot wall, so he most likely bought to the ball 9 or so ft within the air. He needed to cowl a ton of floor earlier than getting there; 101 ft from his preliminary place, to be exact. He took an incredible route, which gave him time to decelerate and time the soar, however the ball stored carrying. Ultimately, he needed to parkour up the wall a little bit bit to get sufficient peak:
What extra can I say? You possibly can’t do it any higher than that. Perkins reacted like he was shocked by his personal play:
So no sweat, Jackson. You’re a reasonably good outfielder too; you simply can’t climb partitions fairly so nimbly. There’s no disgrace in second place when first place seems like that.
5. Getting by With a Little Assist
Austin Riley is on the IL proper now, and 2024 has been a down yr for him. That’s largely an offensive subject, although his protection isn’t fairly as much as earlier years’ requirements, both. That stated, he can nonetheless flip an absolute gem on the market. Check out this magnificence from two weeks in the past:
That’s the world the place he’s improved essentially the most. His arm is under common for third base, so he compensates by getting his ft planted and placing his complete physique into the throw. That ball needed to journey without end, and to be truthful, it two-hopped Matt Olson, however that’s an correct ball given the place he caught it and the way shortly he needed to let it go. That’s very good, however watch Jo Adell on the bag. What’s he doing?!? That isn’t the way you’re alleged to run out a bang-bang play. If he went straight in, he’d beat the throw comfortably. As a substitute, he curled his manner into an out.
In his thoughts, I’m certain that ball was a double proper out of the field. That’s affordable! Have a look at the place Riley made the play:
Riley’s plant foot ended up all the way in which into the grass in foul territory. Not many baseballs get fielded there, and Adell hit that one on a line, so when he began out of the field, he was certainly contemplating his choices with reference to second base. He got here out of the field wanting down the road and taking a direct, fairly than rounded, route. However as you’ll be able to see from the excessive angle replay, he began to bend his path to chop the bag and head for second, proper across the similar time that Riley rose and fired:
The closeup of Adell is unquestionably a nasty look:
However take one other take a look at these final two photographs and also you’ll get a greater concept of what occurred. Adell most likely couldn’t see the ball within the nook cleanly. There was plenty of visitors: baserunners, umpires, Riley himself, the pitcher, and so forth. About midway down the baseline, he seemed away from the play to choose up first base coach Bo Porter, precisely what you must do when you’ll be able to’t discover the ball by yourself. However Porter simply plain missed it. He was pinwheeling Adell towards second, imploring him to arc out for additional velocity. He clearly thought the ball was within the outfield and that Adell going huge might give him a shot at an additional base.
I’d put extra blame on Porter than on Adell on this scenario, however there’s blame to go round for each. I’d give credit score to Riley, too, in fact. Base coaches and baserunners make errors typically, and so they aren’t all the time punished by excellent defensive performs like that. However that is an unforgivable mistake given the sport scenario.
Adell’s run was far much less essential than the 2 in entrance of him. If there was any query in any respect about his being protected or not, any query about whether or not Riley had fielded it, the proper play was to e-book it to first and fully neglect concerning the double. Reaching first safely is value greater than a run: the runner scoring from third plus the primary and third scenario that will’ve end result from it. Groups have scored 0.52 runs after first and third with two outs this yr, and 0.59 runs after second and third with two outs. Which means, if Adell had taken a straight line path, the Angels would’ve scored a run and had that 0.52 on prime of it, so making an out at first base price them an anticipated 1.52 runs. Advancing to second would have gained them one other 0.07 anticipated runs, however provided that that runner on third scored, which didn’t occur as a result of Adell was out at first. They’d’ve wanted to efficiently advance to second 96 instances out of 100 to make the maths work there. It’s worse than that, although: Going from a one-run result in a two-run lead is value astronomically greater than stepping up from two to 3. Take that into consideration, and we’re taking a look at a play the place you’d should be proper 98 instances out of 100.
The Angels mistook enjoying onerous for enjoying sensible. The successful baseball play there may be to make sure the run. It didn’t find yourself costing them, but it surely might have. They by no means scored once more, and the Braves put loads of visitors on the bases the remainder of the way in which. The humorous factor is, I’m certain that Adell will get knocked for not hustling on this play, and I don’t suppose that’s what went mistaken. He and Porter simply bought grasping aiming for a hustle double when the best alternative was to nit it up (play extraordinarily conservatively, for the non-poker-players on the market). It’s an odd option to make a mistake – but it surely’s positively nonetheless a mistake.
