Wednesday Babbling

Cooperstown Progress Report

Another year of regular season data is in the books, so it’s a good opportunity to take a moment and see which players have strengthened their cases to make it into the Hall Of Fame. For reference, here are the players who in my opinion were already Hall Of Famers when the season started - Mookie Betts, Miguel Cabrera, Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Mike Trout, Justin Verlander, and Joey Votto. When all was said & done, I don’t believe anyone new locked up a spot this season, but a few have taken major steps forward. Others essentially remained in a holding pattern, while others are starting to run out of time. Let’s see who’s who. (For this exercise I’m not including any of the plethora of young stars. As great as the likes of Acuna/Ohtani/Soto among others have been so far, they all have a ways to go to reach the 10 years of service to be eligible, so any thoughts on their Hall chances are heavily premature.)

The player who improved his odds the most is Gerrit Cole. Until now he has accomplished almost everything except winning a Cy Young Award, and he is the overwhelming favorite to do so this year. That is also likely to be a unanimous selection. It’s possible that the trophy will be all he needs, but I believe he could probably use at least 1 more elite season to clinch it.

Beyond Cole, I don’t see any other current pitchers that are realistically in the running. Chris Sale and Jacob deGrom have put together impressive careers, but with his ongoing recovery from Tommy John surgery deGrom won’t be able to put together his next full season until 2025, which will be his age 37 year. There’s just not enough time for him to put together enough great years to become a legitimate contender. The same goes for Sale. Due to a litany of injuries he hasn’t even tallied enough innings to qualify for an ERA title since 2017. He had a Gerrit Cole type vibe in his peak; the only thing missing from his resume is a Cy Young. By now it’s safe to say that’s not gonna happen, and neither is Cooperstown.

Similarly, there is a trio of relief pitchers who have passed their peak and are unlikely to add much more to their lists of credentials. I set the bar a lot higher for relievers than I do for other positions, and I suspect actual voters largely feel the same, so odds are long for these three. Aroldis Chapman has the further stigma of domestic violence on his record, so he has little chance. Of the other two, I would place Kenley Jansen’s odds slightly better than those of Craig Kimbrel. Both of them at this stage in their careers are middle of the pack guys rather than ace-level closers, so the chances of either putting together an elite season are slim. They’re likely out of the running.

There are a handful of players who had solid seasons, but not the kind that’s impressive enough to move the needle all that much. Nolan Arenado was on the express lane going into this season, but 2023 was a down year by his standards. That isn’t a huge issue in and of itself, but his defensive numbers moved in a disturbingly negative direction. His outstanding defense is what separates him from the pack; a drastic downward trend in that aspect of his game could seriously damage his chances.

Jose Altuve is going to be a tough one to judge; will future voters punish him for the sign-stealing scandal, even though his Astros teammates insist that he wasn’t part of it? This year he missed a lot of time due to injury, so he didn’t put up hall caliber numbers. Plus he’s 34 years old; he’s getting close to that age where a rapid decline could easily occur. I’d want to see him have at least one more top notch season. Is he still capable of that?

It was also a mundane season for Manny Machado. He was dealing with a bad elbow all year, which curtailed his production. This year was a wash for him, but I’m confident that an offseason of recovery will do wonders for him. He’s still a strong contender if he rebounds next year.

I’ll treat the gaggle of shortstops as a collective. The only one from that batch who has already hit 10 seasons is Xander Bogaerts, and after a slow start he put together another big season, largely in line with the type of year he would generally have in Boston. Even better, he has improved his defensive work, which was long the biggest criticism of his game. I think he’s getting fairly close. None of the other top shortstops are at 10 seasons until next year, we should have a better idea where each of them stand at that point. (Quick answer - I like Francisco Lindor’s chances best of all of them. I have doubts about Carlos Correa’s ability to remain healthy & I want to see what happens next year to judge Trea Turner. Was his poor first half just one of those things, or was it an early sign of a downward trend? And as good as he is, Corey Seager’s frequent injuries are worrisome.) And while we’re on the infield, Jose Ramirez has put together yet another terrific season. His name is now in the mix; he still needs a few more big years to close the deal but keep an eye on him.

Finally, there is Bryce Harper. First off, he had a strong regular season, if not quite up to his usual standards. His power numbers were down initially, but that was a result of his recovery from Tommy John surgery. But that power returned in the latter months as his recovery progressed. More importantly, he showed a lot by coming back as quickly as he did and later on volunteering to play first base. That allowed the Phillies to give Kyle Schwarber a lot more time as DH (his ideal defensive position) and keep him away from having to play the outfield. That’s precisely the type of intangible contribution to a winning team that impresses voters. And for all of the mockery he heard after the Nationals won the World Series in the year following his free agency departure, he has always put up huge postseason numbers, and this year has been no different. I don’t think he’s fully closed the HOF deal yet, but I would not argue with anyone who feels that he’s already done everything he needs to do.

New Olympic Sports

The 2024 Paris Olympics are less than a year away, but preparations for the 2028 Los Angeles games are already in full swing. The program of sports in the program has been more fluid in recent cycles as events are added and dropped each quadrennial. Which make sense, in order to remain relevant organizers should add sports that are gaining in international popularity while deemphasizing those that no longer warrant a spotlight. That doesn’t explain modern pentathlon’s continuing inclusion (hack joke - it’s not very modern) but I digress.

There was a lot of attention paid to the announcement that breakdancing will be part of the 2024 games, but it’s also worth noting that karate and baseball/softball have been dropped. It comes as no surprise that with the Olympics returning to the United States 4 years later baseball & softball will be reinstated in 2028. That combo is one of 5 sports that will be added. The other newbies are cricket, flag football, lacrosse, and squash.

Flag football is an interesting choice. The popularity of American football has been growing worldwide, but there are some insurmountable hurdles that prevent it from becoming an Olympic sport. The obvious one is that there are nowhere near enough participants in other countries to justify its inclusion. In addition, the games last for 16 days spread across 3 weekends. It’s physically impossible to stage a football tournament in that brief an amount of time. Flag football is a reasonable compromise. Plus, both genders can compete, which is an important consideration with the IOC’s gender equity mandate.

Oddly enough, at the moment there is only 1 sport on the 2024 program that will be dropped in 2028 and that is the aforementioned breakdancing. Interesting that an American invention will not be part of an Olympics held on American soil. Boxing’s inclusion continues to be tenuous; the IOC is displeased over the ongoing judging controversies. And modern pentathlon continues to display the survival skills of a cockroach.

A Major Shift In Momentum

For the first 2 games of the WNBA Finals, you could almost sense the Aces saying to the Liberty, “It’s so adorable that you call yourselves a super team. WE’RE a super team!” The Liberty responded with a strong showing in game 3, building a solid lead in front of their home crowd. And then the series took a sudden turn, as Chelsea Gray suffered a foot injury and had to leave the game early.

Part of the reason why I picked New York as the playoffs began is that Las Vegas’s lack of depth concerned me. GOAT contender Candace Parker suffered a season ending foot injury, which helped highlight just how thin their bench is. The playoff rotation was reduced to only 6 players, which could have been a major issue if not for the fact that they played enough blowout games that they were able to rest their key players at the end of games.

Unfortunately for the Aces, the worst has happened as two of their rotation players have suffered injuries that will keep them out of tonight’s Game 4, and most likely Game 5 if that one is necessary. In addition to Gray’s absence they will be missing glue player Kiah Stokes. Gray’s absence is so devastating not just because of her tremendous skill, but also because more than anyone else on the roster she epitomizes the “take no prisoners, step on the opponent’s throat” mentality that has made them so successful. The Aces will only be able to suit up 8 players this evening. No team in WNBA history has ever come back from an 0-2 deficit to win a best of 5 series. The Liberty have a strong chance to be the first.

More Retail Nonsense

I’m not sure how long this has been going on before I had reason to notice, but the security protocols at pharmacies have been getting more and more absurd. I’ve mentioned in the past how the inconvenience of shopping at a CVS causes them to lose some of my business. In most cases, any item that’s under lock & key is also available at your average supermarket, and I can purchase that item without having to wait for an employee to open up the case for me.

I’m not saying this out of any sense of self-importance, but I don’t want to waste time going from aisle to aisle needing to request assistance multiple times. I’ll gladly purchase an item that I can pull off the shelf and bring to checkout myself. Otherwise, sorry, I’ll buy my deodorant elsewhere. But I know that going in; what I just noticed for the first time is something else.

I rarely purchase groceries at a pharmacy, but the other day while shopping at my local CVS I decided to grab something from the freezer, only to find that all of the freezer doors were locked. Really? Locking up the freezers? Like I said, that’s probably been going on for some time & I had never realized it because I had no reason to, but that is beyond absurd. How long until pharmacies are like jewelry stores - you can’t even enter until someone buzzes you in?

Korrections Korner

An eagle-eyed reader pointed out an omission I made in Monday’s newsletter. I had a sneaking suspicion that I had overlooked an ex-Met when I was looking through playoff rosters and I did in fact miss someone. Travis Jankowski is on the Rangers’ roster, so add one more to the Texas total. Would you believe that it was an intentional error on my part to see how closely people read this newsletter? That’s what I’m going with.

How Do You Really Feel, Trevor?

Veteran relief pitcher Trevor May announced his retirement from baseball on Monday. He had spent his final major league season as part of the hot mess that was the 2023 Oakland Athletics. May departed with some choice words for Oakland owner John Fisher.

The guy sure knows how to make an exit. I don’t think May will be on Fisher’s Christmas card list this year.

Until Next Time

Hey, Kevin McCarthy, do you have any Gym Jordan schadenfreude? Sure seems so.

Thanks for reading. I know this is an especially bleak moment in history, I hope my nonsense can brighten one’s day if only for a few minutes. Let’s do this again on Friday. See ya then!