I'm thinking the account you saw on IG talking about the A's and how Moneyball barely mentions the great players they had, might have been the writer, Jeff Pearlman.
If you think counting TB cliches is hard, try counting the number of people John Wick kills in his films. My buddy and I tried once in John Wick III and gave up in about 5 minutes. We were well over 50 at that point.
Someone on the web tried to estimate the insurance claims that would have arisen out of The Avengers, then tried to slice and dice it between harm caused by the good guys and the bad guys. Both sides ran into the trillions.
Regarding lefty starters, I’ve often wondered where the 1997 Mariners trio of Randy Johnson, Jeff Fassero and Jamie Moyer stack up historically. They were all really good that year and I’m not sure how common it is to have quality 1-3 lefties at the top of a rotation.
I was thinking about that threesome last night. They averaged 18-6 with an era of about 3 and a quarter for the season. Moyer and Johnson both threw left-handed and both peaked very late. Is there *anything* else that was even vaguely similar about them? Johnson threw hard, harder, and hardest with an awesome fastball and a dive-bombing slider. Moyer threw soft, softer, and softest with a change that would be timed with a sundial.
Brady is getting better but he is weird to listen to. I think he's gotten some feedback that he needs to be less robotic so he's trying to be more enthusiastic. The problem is that as a QB who probably hasn't interacted with regular people since high school it just sounds weird. Like why is he laughing and so excited over a screen pass? Why is he just as excited about a mesh concept as Caleb Williams throwing a dart to win a game.
I'm glad to have Ron Gant posting here. In between your time as an info-tainment host on a local Atlanta morning news program, that is. But you should have used those massively strong thighs to fight off Shamu Hrbek in '91!
Why does every article at mlb.com that's about all 30 clubs always start with the AL East? Alphabetically they should start with the AL Central. But it always goes AL East, Central, and West and then follows the same order for the NL.
The Correa points you raise are so spot on - speaking as an Astros fan.
Is hard to get any real sense of how I should feel. We all assumed after 2017 (put aside the cheating for a second) that this guy was a future MVP/HOF, the co-emotional lead of a team at 22.
He just... never got there. He had great years but just always got hurt. He's at 45 bWAR through his age-30 season which is good. He's at 5.9 per 162 which is stellar. He just never comes close to 162.
It's hard to call him a disappointment - he's still generally been very good, he's great in teh clubhouse. He has a slew of magical postseason moments. But then again he just never came close to that MVP type (other than that 2021 season).
It's also a bit similar to my feelings on that Astros run as a whole - hard to argue with 7 straight ALCS appearances, 4 WS appearances and two titles, but they also have some truly awful collapses:
- losing end of the "road team wins each series" twice, blowing the 3-2 lead each time
- the 2018 ALCS where they outhit the Red Sox but couldn't string together a hit
- their fairly fallow showing in 2021 against the Braves
- the September collapse last year, though that was amore about the Mariners playing out of their mind for a month
Anyway, mini-rambling-rant over, but in summary both Correa and the Astros are that weird mix between being on their face very successful with some really notable flaws/gaps that always leave you thinking there should've been more.
I understand how Correa can appear to be a disappointment. But since the draft started 61 seasons ago, he has accumulated the 6th most bWAR of any 1/1 pick. There have been far more Ben McDonalds, Bob Horners and Pat Burrells than Junior Griffeys and Chipper Joneses. And that doesn't even begin to address the complete washouts like Mikey Moniak, Tim Beckham, Luke Hochevar, or Bryan Bullington.
**It's also a bit similar to my feelings on that Astros run as a whole - hard to argue with 7 straight ALCS appearances, 4 WS appearances and two titles, but they also have some truly awful collapses:**
As a Braves fan of loooooong standing, I can really understand this.
Yeah, should be clear, disappointment relative to where he is now vs what I expected him to be back on November 5th, 2017.
Respective to generic #1 pick, he's a smashing success - and honestly even compared to him on Nov-05, 2017, I'm being critical saying he's a disappointment.
Can’t believe Joe missed the obvious lefty-lefty 1-2 combo of Eddie Plank and Rube Waddell.
Also, count me among those who think Brady has gotten *much* better as an announcer. I say this somewhat begrudgingly, as I’m not a Brady stan and I hated how he bumped Olsen before he even did anything. But… during the playoffs I found myself actually kinda liking him. He’s not the greatest, but what can I say, I find him enjoyable to listen to.
Don't think you have to go back as far as 2002-03 to find a pair of really good lefties atop a rotation. I dunno how dominant Framber Valdez is anymore, as he was only worth 3.8 bWAR last year and has only been worth more than that once in his career, and never more than 4.4 bWAR. If you figure Skubal can somehow repeat his repeating and put up another 6-bWAR season, and Valdez is good for ~3.5 bWAR, then you're looking for some combination in the neighborhood of 10 bWAR for two lefty starters.
The 2025 Yankees got 9 bWAR out of Carlos Rodon and Max Fried, so that's not a bad comp.
To get more than 10 bWAR out of two lefties, you can go with the Dodgers in 2013 with Clayton Kershaw and Hyun Jin Ryu, who were worth 8.1 and 3.5 bWAR respectively.
Or the Phillies in 2013, with Cliff Lee (6.4) and Cole Hamels (4), though they were both better in 2011, (8.5 and 6.4, respectively), though 2011 Roy Halladay was better than either of them (8.8) so technically I guess they weren't at the top of that rotation.
two outstanding lefty starters at top of the rotation?
I remember well the Orioles of the 70s with Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar, but then the O’s had Jim Palmer as their #1 so McNally and Cuellar were not at tTHE top, ‘just’ # 2 and 3
and then A’s of the early 70s had Vida Blue and Ken Holtzman, but Catfish was their #1, so same story
I'm thinking the account you saw on IG talking about the A's and how Moneyball barely mentions the great players they had, might have been the writer, Jeff Pearlman.
Of course the A’s put together a team like this when they’ve left Oakland behind.
If you think counting TB cliches is hard, try counting the number of people John Wick kills in his films. My buddy and I tried once in John Wick III and gave up in about 5 minutes. We were well over 50 at that point.
Someone on the web tried to estimate the insurance claims that would have arisen out of The Avengers, then tried to slice and dice it between harm caused by the good guys and the bad guys. Both sides ran into the trillions.
Regarding lefty starters, I’ve often wondered where the 1997 Mariners trio of Randy Johnson, Jeff Fassero and Jamie Moyer stack up historically. They were all really good that year and I’m not sure how common it is to have quality 1-3 lefties at the top of a rotation.
I was thinking about that threesome last night. They averaged 18-6 with an era of about 3 and a quarter for the season. Moyer and Johnson both threw left-handed and both peaked very late. Is there *anything* else that was even vaguely similar about them? Johnson threw hard, harder, and hardest with an awesome fastball and a dive-bombing slider. Moyer threw soft, softer, and softest with a change that would be timed with a sundial.
Brady is getting better but he is weird to listen to. I think he's gotten some feedback that he needs to be less robotic so he's trying to be more enthusiastic. The problem is that as a QB who probably hasn't interacted with regular people since high school it just sounds weird. Like why is he laughing and so excited over a screen pass? Why is he just as excited about a mesh concept as Caleb Williams throwing a dart to win a game.
I'm glad to have Ron Gant posting here. In between your time as an info-tainment host on a local Atlanta morning news program, that is. But you should have used those massively strong thighs to fight off Shamu Hrbek in '91!
Why does every article at mlb.com that's about all 30 clubs always start with the AL East? Alphabetically they should start with the AL Central. But it always goes AL East, Central, and West and then follows the same order for the NL.
"Coby" Bellinger?
The Correa points you raise are so spot on - speaking as an Astros fan.
Is hard to get any real sense of how I should feel. We all assumed after 2017 (put aside the cheating for a second) that this guy was a future MVP/HOF, the co-emotional lead of a team at 22.
He just... never got there. He had great years but just always got hurt. He's at 45 bWAR through his age-30 season which is good. He's at 5.9 per 162 which is stellar. He just never comes close to 162.
It's hard to call him a disappointment - he's still generally been very good, he's great in teh clubhouse. He has a slew of magical postseason moments. But then again he just never came close to that MVP type (other than that 2021 season).
It's also a bit similar to my feelings on that Astros run as a whole - hard to argue with 7 straight ALCS appearances, 4 WS appearances and two titles, but they also have some truly awful collapses:
- losing end of the "road team wins each series" twice, blowing the 3-2 lead each time
- the 2018 ALCS where they outhit the Red Sox but couldn't string together a hit
- their fairly fallow showing in 2021 against the Braves
- the September collapse last year, though that was amore about the Mariners playing out of their mind for a month
Anyway, mini-rambling-rant over, but in summary both Correa and the Astros are that weird mix between being on their face very successful with some really notable flaws/gaps that always leave you thinking there should've been more.
I understand how Correa can appear to be a disappointment. But since the draft started 61 seasons ago, he has accumulated the 6th most bWAR of any 1/1 pick. There have been far more Ben McDonalds, Bob Horners and Pat Burrells than Junior Griffeys and Chipper Joneses. And that doesn't even begin to address the complete washouts like Mikey Moniak, Tim Beckham, Luke Hochevar, or Bryan Bullington.
**It's also a bit similar to my feelings on that Astros run as a whole - hard to argue with 7 straight ALCS appearances, 4 WS appearances and two titles, but they also have some truly awful collapses:**
As a Braves fan of loooooong standing, I can really understand this.
Yeah, should be clear, disappointment relative to where he is now vs what I expected him to be back on November 5th, 2017.
Respective to generic #1 pick, he's a smashing success - and honestly even compared to him on Nov-05, 2017, I'm being critical saying he's a disappointment.
Yankee lefties Whitey Ford and Bobby Shantz.
Bobby Shantz played major league baseball 77 years ago, his manager was Connie Mack…and he’s alive today!
How about Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee as a pair of lefties?
Love the references to The Smiths and Almost Famous.
Can’t believe Joe missed the obvious lefty-lefty 1-2 combo of Eddie Plank and Rube Waddell.
Also, count me among those who think Brady has gotten *much* better as an announcer. I say this somewhat begrudgingly, as I’m not a Brady stan and I hated how he bumped Olsen before he even did anything. But… during the playoffs I found myself actually kinda liking him. He’s not the greatest, but what can I say, I find him enjoyable to listen to.
I was thinking of Waddell and Plank too. I guess the A's like to start each century with some great left handed pitching.
Don't think you have to go back as far as 2002-03 to find a pair of really good lefties atop a rotation. I dunno how dominant Framber Valdez is anymore, as he was only worth 3.8 bWAR last year and has only been worth more than that once in his career, and never more than 4.4 bWAR. If you figure Skubal can somehow repeat his repeating and put up another 6-bWAR season, and Valdez is good for ~3.5 bWAR, then you're looking for some combination in the neighborhood of 10 bWAR for two lefty starters.
The 2025 Yankees got 9 bWAR out of Carlos Rodon and Max Fried, so that's not a bad comp.
To get more than 10 bWAR out of two lefties, you can go with the Dodgers in 2013 with Clayton Kershaw and Hyun Jin Ryu, who were worth 8.1 and 3.5 bWAR respectively.
Or the Phillies in 2013, with Cliff Lee (6.4) and Cole Hamels (4), though they were both better in 2011, (8.5 and 6.4, respectively), though 2011 Roy Halladay was better than either of them (8.8) so technically I guess they weren't at the top of that rotation.
It feels weird reading Joe’s forecast and not having to think about my AL fantasy team for the first time since 1994.
two outstanding lefty starters at top of the rotation?
I remember well the Orioles of the 70s with Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar, but then the O’s had Jim Palmer as their #1 so McNally and Cuellar were not at tTHE top, ‘just’ # 2 and 3
and then A’s of the early 70s had Vida Blue and Ken Holtzman, but Catfish was their #1, so same story
Pettitte and Wells in 98?