Right off the bat, I want to clarify that I support making immigration easier, and that the way most countries deal with immigrants is inhumane; I should know that myself since I was an immigrant in my own country and now I am an immigrant in Europe. Furthermore, I would like to concede that the neoliberals have the academic literature on their side, as there is good evidence suggesting that ALL types of immigration are economically beneficial, and that even open borders is not an economically unsound idea.

My concern here is not economics. It never was. It has always been about the culture.

And I don’t mean the culture in the way that the right wing populists always push it. I do not care for pretty looking churches, bizarre customs, or the color of someone’s skin. As a matter of fact, the culture I am speaking of is a common enemy of both the populist right and many of the immigrants I will be discussing here: Namely liberalism and other variants of social progressivism. What inspired me to write this was the massive amount of backlash that Macron got for his comments on Islam. Mind you, I do think there are issues with his approach, but outside observers often look at the issue with the wrong lens. Especially Americans.
The aim of this essay is to criticize the approach of many American or “Americanized” liberals AND leftists when it comes to the rhetorical battle around this subject. Furthermore, I will be pointing out concerning trends and some of the internal contradictions that liberals and leftists often run into. I will also point out the differences between liberals and leftists in how exactly they botch up.
Are we clear?
Let’s start:
Being able to contemplate the idea of Open Borders to begin with is essentially an American privilege.
Despite Donald Trump’s election victory in 2016, and the rise of right wing populism, America remains one of the best countries when it comes to treatment of its immigrants. Yes, even when compared to Europe.
There are currently 3 million gypsies in America. These roma in America have integrated so well that nobody even notices them or talks about them. Meanwhile, France in 2009, decided to deport the entire gypsy population indiscriminately. And While this decision was met with some level of outrage, most Europeans felt apathetic about it. Some even encouraged it. Not only are gypsies treated as a separate entity, but they’re not even tolerated.
This extends to Muslims as well. Sure, you occasionally do get the cringe-worthy article from the Huffington Post, but overall muslims in America view themselves as Americans, take pride in their own country, tend to be more educated and richer than the average American, and are even more secular than Evangelicals as many more muslims believe in evolution than evangelicals. Muslim Americans are not a society within a society: They are a part of that society. Muslims in Europe, however, are much poorer on average, commit more crime, and feel more detached. [1] [2]
This is more of a personal observation than anything I can empirically prove but even among those who support immigration, the difference is clear as day between Americans and Europeans. Americans ACCEPT different groups. Europeans only TOLERATE at best. Americans think that diversity is good in and of itself, while Europeans only accept diversity under conditions. This even extends to linguistic expression. Many Turks are still called “Gastarbeiter” (Guest workers) that live in their “Gastland” (Guest country) despite being born in the country. Minorities in Europe are seen as guests that should be treated kindly, but if they “overstep their boundaries” or “overstay their welcome” then they are to be disposed of. This sort of perspective isn’t unique to Europe either. This is very much the norm worldwide.
These comparisons have all been with other liberal westeren democracies. When you compare America to developing nations, It paints an even grimer picture. Libya enslaved many of its immigrants under Gaddafi’s police state, Asian-looking people in India faced heavy discrimination after the COVID outbreak, Filipino maids are regularly abused and raped in the gulf states, China has essentially erased the Mandschu culture, while running sterilization camps on Uighurs, and Lebanon is simply Lebanon.
Macron was on the mark when he spoke about “Islamic separatism”. What he said was of no controversy in my opinion. Macron also acknowledged that France had failed its immigrant communities, creating "our own separatism" with ghettos of "misery and hardship" where people were lumped together according to their origins and social background. "We have thus created districts where the promise of the Republic has no longer been kept, and therefore districts where the attraction of these messages, where these most radical forms were sources of hope," he added. [3]
If the advocates of immigration fail to recognize this problem then they will lose the the spiritual and rhetorical battle with the illberal right.

So how is this related to my overall thesis? Doesn’t this prove that integration CAN be done and that it’s mostly Europe’s fault for how it treats its immigrants?

Yes, it is partially Europe’s fault, but this doesn’t mean we should blindly support mass immigration or expect the issue to resolve itself.
Pointing fingers at Europe isn’t going to solve the fact that, simply put, Europe does not have the institutions or the cultural Zeitgeist to integrate these immigrants fully or even properly. And that blindly increasing immigration will only cause further tears in social cohesion and empower the populist right, and that is especially the case if the advocates of immigrants fail to reform and rephrase their positions and rhetoric. Europe simply lacks what America has and it’s important to realize that these deficiencies in the European system ought to be solved first.
What are the results of those deficiencies?
The result is that 63 percent of German Turks voted for Erdogan. In Austria, that percentage was 71 percent [4]. As a reminder, Erdogan is an Islamist authotarian Leader who has reapeatedly denied or justified Genocide, and imprisoned many jouranlists, including German ones. And mind you, Turks in Germany have been a significant minority for over 60 years now, ever since they came as Gastarbeiter (Guest workers). The claim that the Muslim immigrants from the Refugee crisis in 2015 will eventually integrate does not sound as reassuring when you take that fact into consideration.
One interesting fact is that Turks in Turkey vote for Erdogan by a lower percentage at 53 percent. It seems that Erdogan exploited how ostracized many of these groups feel by signalling turkish identity and nationalism which is why even more Turks supported him in Germany than in . This theory seems to be consistent as well since Austria had even more people voting for Erdogan, and Austria is overall more xenophobic than Germany. This is a theory according to a professor in the University of Duisburg-Essen and goes to show how failed institutions can lead to radicalization, not just of the native populace, but also the immigrants.
It’s very obvious that these communities are neither liberal nor socially progressive by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, in some cases, they are more violent than the populist right. While most antisemitic incidednts in Germany happened due to the far right, most of those done by the far right included things like verbal harassment but not a lot of physical violence. Meanwhile, 80 percent of the jews that did experiecned physical violence have said that they have been attacked by someone with a muslim or turkish background. Furthermore, what these reports define as “far right” often includes Islamist organizations and demosntrations such as Hizbollah and Hamas. [5]
In the UK and France, the birth rates between the Native population and Muslim population are laughably disparate. The non-muslim French and British population hover around 1.9, while the muslim population hovers around 2.9. [6]
What’s concerning here is not the “White Genocide” as many right wing populists and racists are quick to point out. Rather, what’s concerning, is that higher birthrates are correlated with having lower or no education/employment for women on average, and a more “traditionalist” (I prefer calling it a misogynistic) culture [7]. Women are clearly seen as “breeders'' for the lack of a better term in much of these communities.
For comparison sake, the highest difference in the US birthrates is between Whites and Hispanics...Whites having a 1.65 birthrate and Hispanics having a 1.95 birth rate...A mere 0.3 difference, and yet Republicans have exploited the differences in birth rates over and over to fear monger about the extinction of white people...can you imagine how much more ammo the right wing has in Europe? [8]
Oh and remember the statistics about Erdogan? Turns out that only 16 percent of American Turks have voted for Erdogan. This has been overwhelmingly due to the fact that American turks are much more educated on average than European-Turks.
In Birmingham, Muslim communites have been at the forefront of the anti-LGBT movement that seeks to remove LGBT and sex ed from schools. Even more concerning is that these trends don’t just apply to muslim minorities, but to many Easteren Europeans as well. A recent survey of school children in Germany found out that homophobic views were almost just as widespread among children from ex-Soviet countries as those from muslim countries, and that both groups had a far higher rate of homophobic views than German children. In the German state of Baden-Württemberg, Yugoslavian women and Serbian women had a higher birth rate than Turkish women. [9]
So what’s happening here? Clearly, America has better institutions, but how are those institutions exactly better?
In America, cultural integration is made possible due to several factors:
1) Economic activity has been shown to be the best way to integrate immigrants. Labor union and market regulations have been shown to be much more flexible in the US, which has given many immigrants the economic opportunities that they need to blend in within society. Protectionism also runs rampant in Europe, especially when it comes to qualification of degrees. For example, many of the refugees that came to Germany had education and a degree, but due to very protectionist policies that only recognized German or European degrees, these immigrants faced great discrimination in the labor market. Another example is that many high skilled Muslims in Sweden are deported due to strict union contracts and regulations. [2] [10]

2) America has much higher standards and vetting for those who it lets in. This means that the sample of immigrants that arrives in America will not be representative of what views average Muslim holds, as they will be more educated and richer on average. However, this factor might not be as effective as previously thought since even low income American Muslims showed signs of being more integrated than low income European muslims. [1]

3) America has less “cultural and historical” baggage. The colonial past between the middle east and France/UK is a heavy one. 1.5 million deaths in the Algerian struggle against France, plus burning down entire forests on their retreat. Things like that will always push these groups of people towards anti-west and anti-liberal views. The American psyche is not defined by such historical scars...except for a certain group that we will cover later in this text.

Many are quick to point out that America had a period of time where Open borders was the norm, and that “everything was fine” back then, however, they forget two important factors
For a significant period of time, these “open borders” only allowed white, able bodied men to enter the country. Furthermore, most people did not have any level of higher education back then, so the disparity in education that we see in Europe nowadays is much more concerning. [11]
Cultural Liberalism was not as big of a thing as it is right now. What is meant with this is that back then, most people were homophobic, sexist, bigoted etc...Women’s rights, gay rights, civil rights and many other liberal values only developed much later on, and every since then, there has been a huge divergence between developed countring and developing countries on these issues. The political framework was not at all the same and pretending that the cultural impact would have been the same.
Returning to a previous point, there is one ethnicity in America that can be compared to the plight of European minorities in terms of discrimination and integration. You probably guessed it by now, but yes...it’s African Americans.
Remember the study that compared European Muslims with American Muslims? One interesting finding is that the overwhelming majority of American Muslims who felt like they were detached from American society, and felt unsatisfied with their conditions, were African Americans. African Americans also face similar issues to the Roma, Arabs, and Turks when it comes to finding proper housing and job applications.
I do think it’s intriguing, however, that it took 400 years of historical scars in the form of slavery for an ethnicity to be treated the same way that many Europeans treat their minorities on a regular basis, whether their arrival was new or not. If anything, this only demonstrates even further how much better America is at this.

Now we come to where I think Liberals and Leftists have failed, and why they have failed in the rhetorical battle against the right.

Many people who support immigration are wary of the term “Merit-based immigration”. They say that the term is usually just a dog whistle because how exactly do we define “merit”?
They are correct that the “merit-based” has been used to justify racist views. However, I still think it is important to think of “merit” in terms of liberalism. I find it funny that the same leftists that will go on and on about the “Paradox of tolerance”, fail to apply it when it comes to immigration.
Of course, “The paradox of tolerance” is entirely correct. A tolerant society needs to crush intolerant elements in order to survive in the long run. However, it is bizarre that this always only applies to the Republican party or the conservative opposition in general, and not the illiberal trends among immigrants.
It should also be noted that voting patterns do not necessarily mean that a group of people has embraced the values of that party. Many minorities only vote Democrat due to the rampant racism in the Republican party. African Americans have a homophobia problem, and have more conservative views on criminal justice, as 80 percent of African Americans support more or the same level of policing [13]. Many Hispanic immigrants tend to be very religious and conservative.
It was only a matter of time before Democrats got a taste of what it means to have an illiberal minority. I fondly remember the meltdown that happened when the results from Cuban Americans in Miami Dade county came about. Despite Biden’s attempt to distance himself from socialism, he couldn’t beat how right wing many of these minorities skewed. Another example was in Texas. One of the major factors as to why Democrats underperformed with Hispanics in Texas, was that many of these groups were no longer immigrants. Many were already third or fourth generation, had a green card or even citizenship, and so Democrats’ support towards illegal immigrants did not strike them as sympathetic. Some even viewed border patrol as protectors and not enemies. [14]
This returns to my main thesis. We simply can not blindly support open borders in regions that are less than ideal when it comes to integration, and constantly chastitize anyone with right wing beliefs at the same time. If you fear the rise of illberalism in Westeren countries, you can not simply shrug your hands at existing illberalism within many immigrant communities. That is a privilege that you can afford as an American due to the fact that your country is capable of integrating immigrants (albeit not perfectly)..
Our political situation has reached a crisis, as one side has the right values yet does not call for the assimilation to these values, and the other side does call for assimilation but not assimilation to the right values. That is the issue that haunts the liberal/populist divide when it comes to the immigration debate.
On the rhetorical side of things, I would like to note an incident that made me realize how bad liberals are at marketing their ideas. I fondly remember an Anti-AfD demonstration (AfD being the far right party in germany) where many activists held a sign that said “Rassisten essen heimlich Döner” which translates to “Racists eat Döner in secret!” (Doener being a type of turkish street food). The next day, I saw the caretaker of our domitory, who has repeatedly said racist and xenophobic things to me and other students, eat a Doener in front of the turkish shop owner.
The idea that immigrants are somehow good because of “food” reflects the white suburban nature of many liberals. Immigrants like me are merely commodities that make exotic foods for them. It screams of patranoization and commodification. I am an Arab who has never worked in the food industry. My value to a community extends far beyond food, yet liberals are keen on mentioning Gyros, Tacos, and Doener whenever they express their support. As an immigrant, I want to be a part of society and climb new heights. I am not here to make you your favorite dishes.
Even worse, it highlights how detached liberals and leftists are from the working class. The working class does not care for delicious food. The working class does not desire revolution or utopia. What most working class natives want is security and stability. This is exactly how the right managed to tap into their fear: Fear mongering. What liberals needed to do was give assurance. Rambling about human rights or how “arbitrary” borders are is not a discussion that the average person cares about. However, the average person does care about crime and economic opportunities within their own community. Instead of endlessly romanticizing immigrants or screeching about racism, activists could have pointed out, for instance, that crime in Germany has been the lowest it’s been since 1992 , despite the influx of refugees [15]. Utilizing statistics like that is what gets people to take your side. Not vague calls for humanity.
Among leftists, there is a popular theory that capitalism and neoliberalism are the cause of the rise in the far-right. However, this idea is simply incorrect. For starters, it is ironic how the biggest surges in far right populism were actually in ex-communist states such as East Germany, Poland, and Hungary. Secondly, many of the labor regulations and union contracts that made integration hard for immigrants, were passed by leftists. People are too quick to forget that it was the socialists and social democrats who pushed the heaviest for protectionism in the past. Thirdly, the last major economic recession happened in 2008 (excluding COVID). However, most of the far right in Europe saw its surge immediately only after the refugee crisis in 2015, so it’s obvious that the recession only played a minor role in enabling the right compared to the refugee crisis, as there were already many muslim communities in Europe way before 2015 and 2008. Lastly, many of these immigrants are moving out to begin with precisely because capitalism in the West offers them better opportunities.
Even phrasing such as “Open Borders'' is problematic. When a xenophobe, or even an average person, hears the phase “Open Borders'' they think it implies being vulnerable or weak to foriegn attacks. It’s similar to “Defund the Police'' in terms of bad marketing. Changing to something like “Flow of Labor'' might prove to be better.
In conclusion, Those who advocate for immigration must change their approaches and must seek the correct institutional change in order to help out immigrants and avoid damaging social cohesion. Immigration is indeed beautiful, but we have to be careful about how we conduct things, and avoid viewing minority groups as helpless victims, and instead understand that they have just as much agency as the populist right.
Sources:
[1] https://internationalepolitik.de/de/amerika-machst-du-es-besser
[2] https://www.cato.org/blog/muslim-immigration-integration-united-states-western-europe https://www.cato.org/blog/muslim-assimilation-demographic-education-income-opinions-violence
[3] https://www.euronews.com/2020/11/02/macron-and-islam-what-has-the-french-president-actually-said-to-outrage-the-muslim-world
[4] https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/wahlen-in-der-tuerkei-so-haben-die-deutschtuerken-gewaehlt-1.4028731 https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/tuerkische-praesidentschaftswahlen-warum-tuerken-in-deutschland-fuer-erdogan-stimmen/22733474.html
[5] https://www.zeit.de/zustimmung?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeit.de%2Fgesellschaft%2F2019-10%2Fantisemitismus-anschlag-halle-rechtsextremismus-rechte-gewalt-kriminalitaet
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/wachsender-antisemitismus-in-berlin-warum-die-zahl-der-straftaten-gegen-juden-steigt/25001524.html
[6] https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/29/europes-growing-muslim-population/
[7] https://blogs.worldbank.org/health/female-education-and-childbearing-closer-look-data#:~:text=In%20a%20nutshell%2C%20data%20show,she%20is%20likely%20to%20bear.&text=A%20negative%20correlation%20is%20most,(TFR)%20in%20a%20population.
[8] https://www.statista.com/statistics/226292/us-fertility-rates-by-race-and-ethnicity/
[9]
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/26/birmingham-anderton-park-primary-muslim-protests-lgbt-teaching-rights
https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/studie-einwandererkinder-sind-besonders-schwulenfeindlich-a-507822.html
https://www.statistik-bw.de/Service/Veroeff/Monatshefte/PDF/Beitrag09_10_02.pdf
[10]
https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article161205254/Fluechtlinge-bemuehen-sich-massenhaft-um-Berufsanerkennung.html
https://de.statista.com/infografik/20663/diskriminierung-auf-dem-wohnungsmarkt/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/freylindsay/2019/02/13/why-sweden-is-deporting-high-skilled-labor-migrants/?sh=168e7cc34510
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191213-why-is-sweden-deporting-talented-expats
[11]
https://newrepublic.com/article/154717/open-borders-made-america-great
[12]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/20/roma-african-americans-common-struggle
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rakeenmabud/2019/12/04/history-and-housing-discrimination-why-neighborhoods-in-the-united-states-are-still-so-segregated/?sh=30711684501d
[13]
https://news.gallup.com/poll/316571/black-americans-police-retain-local-presence.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication
[14]
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/07/how-democrats-latino-voters-texas-border-towns

Motor City Management - Detroit Tigers Report 2024 - Cleveland Rocks

If you'd like to catch up on previous installments, you can do so here: Initial Setup, 2020 Season Report, 2021 Season Report, 2022 Season Report, 2023 Season Report
Let's take a look at the award winners from 2023 to wrap that year up and then get into the moves made and the season recap for 2024!

2023 Offseason News

League News:

Scott Oberg wins the AL Reliever of the Year award, Detroit's Drew Carlton received votes. In the NL, Miami's Thomas Burrows wins the award.
1B Diego Maicon powers his way to the AL Rookie of the Year with 43 homeruns while SS Nasim Nunez's 30 stolen bases helps him take the NL trophy.
Detroit's Casey Mize takes home the AL Cy Young Award, receiving all 32 first place votes. San Diego's Luis Patino was the NL's best offering and wins the award.
Houston's Kyle Tucker unseats Mike Trout as the AL MVP with a stellar season for the Astros. In the NL, Cody Bellinger wins his third straight MVP and 4th in the last 5 years.

Detroit Achievements:

Ke'Bryan Hayes wins his first Gold Glove at 2B.
SP Casey Mize wins the AL Cy Young Award!

Offseason Transactions

Owner gave us a $4,000,000 budget increase, but we have some solid players coming off of minimums, so our scouting and development budgets will be going down from their max.
League News:

1B Matt Olson signs with the San Francisco Giants for $212,600,000 over 7 years.
Reliever of the Year Scott Oberg, along with SP Carmen Mlodzinksi and $2,000,000 in cash are dealt to the Rockies for CF Garret Mitchell.
The Chicago Cubs and White Sox complete a cross-town deal with RF Nomar Mazara going to the Cubs and SP Will Mercer and 2B Ryan Bliss going to the White Sox.
Chicago Cubs sign SP Jose Quintana for $72,000,000 over 4 years.
SP Luke Weaver is sent to the Rockies for a package of 3 prospects.
Chicago Cubs sign SP Kyle Hendricks for $82,000,000 over 5 years.
NPB star SS Hayato Sakamoto signs with the Texas Rangers for 4 years, $52,400,000.
SP Noah Syndergaard is sent to the Cincinnati Reds for a package of 3 prospects.
SP Blake Snell nets $18,800,000 a year for the next 5 seasons with the Boston Red Sox.
1B Max Muncy gets $82,000,000 over 4 years to head cross-town to the Angels.
3B Miguel Andujar signs with the Marlins for $10,000,000 a year for 4 years.
The Giants pay SP Carlos Martinez $16,500,000 a year for the next 4 seasons.
Kyle Schwarber nets $19,142,857 a year for the next 7 years with the Houston Astros.
Cleveland Indians sign SP Dinelson Lamet to a 2 year deal worth $53,400,000.
Max Kepler is signed by the Washington Nationals for 5 years at $92,900,000.
No one is elected to the Hall of Fame. Gary Sheffield (40.1%/10th year) is removed from the ballot.

Detroit Departures:

RP Bryan Garcia
CF Albert Almora Jr.

Detroit Trades:
Trade #1 Detroit receives: 2B Marcus Chiu, RP Jack Little Los Angeles receives: RP Junior Fernandez, RP Brendan White
Fernandez didn't seem like he was going to make it back to the majors and was available as an auto-renew for 1M+, so I moved him for another reliever that I can take a chance on and a 2B prospect that looks ready for AAA and gives me some infield depth.
Trade #2 Detroit receives: RF Ismael Mena, 2B Jordy Barley, $750,000 San Diego receives: SS Vidal Brujan
Brujan wasn't very good for us last year and was super pissed about not being an everyday starter. I can't offer him that, but the Padres were willing to part with a decent middle infielder who will play in AAA and a RF prospect that I'm really excited to be adding to the team in Mena, with great personality traits.
Trade #3 Detroit receives: 3B Jordan Diaz Oakland receives: RP Blake Taylor
Taylor wasn't going to stick with the team after a down season and some regression, but Diaz looks like a solid piece for the future. He's 23, cost-controlled and already has a nice hitting profile. He'll start in AAA likely.
Detroit Additions:
OF Jairo Pomares - He was on the waiver wire to end the season and looks like a more than capable hitter. He's young and on a minimum, so I figured I'd take a flier on him.

Spring Training

We have $17,600,000 available for free agents/trades for the season, $12,000,000 set aside for the draft and $5,400,000 set aside for international amateurs. We're spending the maximum allowed on development again this year.
We used the spring to have Castro play 2B and Gold Glover Ke'Bryan Hayes play SS.
Detroits News:

SP Matt Manning tore a back muscle and will miss four months.
RP David McKay tears his rotator cuff and will miss 6 months.

Regular Season

First Half
We take an Opening Day win behind a nice outing from Casey Mize and hope to continue that momentum. We're projected to win 99 games and have three top pitchers, but I have my doubts - especially with Manning missing significant time. I normally don't note much about the second game, but it was Kumar Rocker's first start and he was stellar - 8 and a third innings, 1 run and 7 strikeouts - a good look for the rookie.
As we roll into May we sit at 18-14, five games back of the unstoppable Cleveland Indians. We started 5-0, but we've had some down stops as well. At 32-28 on June 1st, the team is now seven games back of the Indians and three games back of the wild card. We need some help. Sandy Alcantara goes back into the rotation, replacing a struggling Justin Dunn, while bullpen roles get shifted as well. Ke'Bryan Hayes has been incredibly unlucky at the plate with a .222 BABIP, resulting in a .187 batting average. We'll give him another month to sort it out, but we move Evan White to CF and bring Riley Greene into the starting lineup to spell a struggling Parker Meadows. We bring up Jonathan Bowlan and David Parkinson, sending down Alex Lange and Drew Carlton to AAA.
2024 Draft
Another low pick for us, this year we spend the 27th on SP Doug Wade in the 1st round. We double-down on pitching in the 2nd with Kevin Abbs. We grab a SS that looks like a future gold glover in the third in Jeff Allemand. Left fielder Mike Gode is next on the merit of his bat. In the fifth it's center fielder Jim Longchamps with a stellar combo of speed and defense. We like the next picks of SS Ben Barilla, CF Mike Voytko and CF Kevin Devaney as well.
We limped into the All-Star break with a record of 38-37. Matt Manning returns from injury though, and hopefully it's a much-needed shot in the arm. It seems to work as the team goes on a winning streak to finish June, landing 1st in the Wild Card at 46-40 (yet still 9 back of the surging Indians).
July would prove to be a turning point for us as we secured series wins against the Mariners, Rays (swept), White Sox (swept), Rangers, Blue Jays (swept) and Angels en route to a showdown with the Indians to close the month. That showing put us 3 games up on the wild card, but still 7 back of Cleveland. We take one from them, but they prove to be too much, winning two to end the month.
Second Half
August is a new month though, and we kick it off with series wins against the Athletics and Twins, but then get swept by the Yankees. We sweep the Royals and win a series against the Steelhounds to sandwich a series loss to the Orioles and head into roster expansion. We send down David Parkinson and bring up RP Ethan DeCaster, CF Jairo Pomares and 1B Bryant Packard.
We roll into September, securing wins against a number of top teams. On September 14th we lose RP Jack Little for four months, but also clinch a playoff spot. We sit three games back of Cleveland with a chance at a division title and a series against them. We take game one handily, but draw their ace in game two against our back-half and fall by one. Mize carries us to a 2-1 win in game three though to win the series and put us just two games back three games left, giving us an outside shot. We take a game against the Athletics and the Indians drop one to the Angels to move us one game back. Another huge win against the Athletics, coupled with a Cleveland loss and we sit tied heading into game 162. We control our destiny and can force a tiebreaker!
Unfortunately, there are no last game heroics - the Athletics steal one from us and the Indians prevail, we'll take the top wild card spot.

Playoffs

We've secured a wild card berth one again, this time against the Athletics - who put us there with a win in Game 162. We have Casey Mize on the mound and it's a game we should win - we were probably the third best team in the AL, but the Indians control our division.
Wild Card - Game 1 - Tigers defeat Athletics, 9-5 We've finally advanced past the wild card round in my tenure! Mize gets hit later in the game, but we pretty much control this one wire to wire and now must face the Rays, a team we were 8-4 against during the regular season.
Division Series - Game 1 - Rays defeat Tigers, 7-6 We jump to a 6-0 lead and then crumble the rest of the way. The bullpen really didn't do too bad, just couldn't get another run on offense. If we score six, we should be winning.
Division Series - Game 2 - Tigers defeat Rays, 6-5 So I guess we're having only close games. This time it's us that had to battle back throughout the game to score, but we did it. We need better outings from the rotation.
Division Series - Game 3 - Rays defeat Tigers, 7-4 Well, we aren't getting good outings from our good pitching staff, which is irritating. The Rays blast us for 7 runs in the first three innings and we can't recover. We're on the ropes now, let's see what we're made of.
Division Series - Game 4 - Tigers defeat Rays, 4-1 Finally we get an elite performance. Mize showed up, holding them to one run over nearly 8 innings and the bullpen shut the door for us. We've got Rocker on the mound in Game 5 against Glasnow, their ace, so it'll be a high pressure situation for the rookie.
Division Series - Game 5 - Tigers defeat Rays, 6-4 We pulled it off! Rocker gave us 6 innings of quality work, only allowing 2 runs. Zach Hess got rocked in relief, but De Geus and Short shut it down after that. We got on Glasnow early and chased him before he could complete 5 innings and maintained he lead all the way! Willy Adames of the Rays was named series MVP.
The bad news for us is that the Indians swept the Angels in their series and they'll be our opponent in the League Championship Series. We were 5-7 against them during the season. Their lineup is strong, particularly the Lindor-Ramirez-Aquino-Casas gauntlet that sits from #2-#5 in the order. Their pitching is even better though, with the league's lowest FIP and best bullpen ERA, which helped them to the second fewest runs against. Shane Bieber had a down year, but he's still Shane Bieber - but Daniel Espino and Dinelson Lamet give them a fearsome three-headed monster. This will be tough to unseat the defending champs.
League Championship Series - Game 1 - Tigers defeat Indians, 3-2 A HUGE road win against Bieber off of Castro's two-run dinger in the 8th inning. Bieber was stellar, but we happened to get ahold of Edwin Diaz, which is also surprising. Manning was decent and our bullpen was stellar. I'm pumped to steal one in Cleveland.
League Championship Series - Game 2 - Indians defeat Tigers, 6-5 This was about as close as it can get throughout - we kept answering each other at the plate until we finally failed to do so. It's a shame to chase Espino so early and still lose with Mize on the mound, but I'm still glad to have one win already.
League Championship Series - Game 3 - Indians defeat Tigers, 4-1 Yeah, Lamet held us in check and their bullpen was stellar. Skubal was unfortunate, giving up three runs with only one of them being earned. It particularly hurts because the error was by Ke'Bryan Hayes, last season's gold glove winner. We need to bounce back in Game 4.
League Championship Series - Game 4 - Indians defeat Tigers, 7-6 (13) Well, that hurts. We got a serviceable outing from Rocker and got on Plesac early - we got some runs on Edwin Diaz again too, but the rest of their bullpen was untouchable. Ours, on the other hand, all gave up runs except for Zach Hess. Tough. We battled, but this road is now an incredibly uphill one.
League Championship Series - Game 5 - Indians defeat Tigers, 4-2 Manning got blown up and Bieber continues having a strong postseason - he seems to have caught fire at the right time for them. We have a lot to take from this series and feel good about going forward, but I'm starting to really dislike Cleveland. Their reign needs to end.
World Series Well, the Giants draw the appearance for the National League and get off to a 3-0 start. But Cleveland, they aren't killable are they? No, no they are not. They came back. They won the dang thing. The Cleveland Indians repeat as MLB Champions.
Detroit Achievements

SP Casey Mize is named an All-Star
2B Willi Castro is named an All-Star starter
3B Isaac Paredes is named an All-Star
RF Yaya Chentouf is named an All-Star
SP Justin Powell, C Dale Burton and SS Trevor Haskins are named to the All-Prospects Game - Haskins wins MVP.

Season Recap

My division nemesis wins the World Series after sending us home. I dislike this. We had a great season though with our best win total of my tenure and had he most cost efficient team per wins, runs scored and WAR in the league. We became a top 10 team in attendance and our player's popularity is growing. Our owner wants us to upgrade at short stop - so I guess he doesn't like the Castro/Hayes swap - so we make take a look at that once again. Spoiler alert - we got a budget increase, so maybe we'll spend it. Who knows.

Hitters

Starting Lineup
CF Parker Meadows
Meadows ended up going to the bench instead of an everyday starter as his bat just wasn't there like it was last year. He's a quality fielder and baserunner and makes the minimum, so he'll be back - but he may not have a clear role on the team in the future.
DH Kyle Isbel
Isbel ended up much lower in the order during the season and his bat just wasn't good enough for a DH role. My scout thinks he should be better than he is, but I have two seasons of data that say he isn't. He's also listed as fragile, which I'm not sure if I just missed that before or if it's new, but I may try to move him this offseason.
2B Willi Castro
Willi just keeps getting better. He was a 2.5 WAR player as a rookie, gave me two seasons of 5 WAR and now nearly 8 this season - the move to 2B seems to have worked well for him and he was a plus defender. He led the league in runs, had his best season yet at the plate and was a 20/20 player. His arbitration estimate is $15,000,000 - which is a lot, but I don't see how I can let him walk while I have contract control. He's given me four full seasons without any injury issues, is a fan favorite and one of my best players. I'd love to sign him longer term if it's reasonable.
RF Yaya Chentouf
Yaya made his first all-star team, led the league in walks and was a dominant hitter for us this season. He's come a long way since he was a struggling reliever in my minors, now giving us nearly 6 WAR in RF. He's on a minimum deal and was incredible, he's obviously returning. His jump from 25 to 51 homeruns helped us accomplish our goal of improving on our homerun total that our owner set as well. Yaya has also become extremely popular at a national level - he's quickly become one of my favorites.
1B Ryan Mountcastle
Mountcastle continues to be a steady performer for me - he's not an all-star and he's not going to win any awards, but he's reliable and dependable. He bounced back from his 1.4 WAR season to give us nearly 3 this year, hit well and played good defense. His arbitration estimate is cheap, so he'll return.
LF Evan White
White was a bit disappointing again. He was the hottest player on the team two years ago and gave us 5 WAR, now he's struggling to hit 2. The bat has cooled off considerably, though, much like Isbel, my scout thinks he should be better than he has been. He doesn't appear to be having any bad BABIP luck either, so maybe he's just not as good as I had hoped, but still serviceable. He's still locked up long-term with Seattle footing 40% of the bill, so that's good. Defensively, I prefer him in left than center, but center field continues to elude me. It might be worth considering if I need both him and Mountcastle, or if I should move White to 1B or move him out.
3B Isaac Paredes
Well now, here is a pleasant surprise. Paredes wasn't someone who had a big BABIP jump, but his bat was much improved this year - going from below league average to one of the best in the league. He gave us 4.3 WAR despite missing a few weeks with injury as well, so a solid season all-around. His arbitration estimate isn't too bad, so I'll definitely be keeping him around. His personality concerns me, but if he keeps up the performance from this season he'll be hard to move on from.
SS Ke'Bryan Hayes
I had hopes that swapping Hayes and Castro would empower them both to have better seasons defensively and thus provide more value. While Hayes was a plus defender at short, it wasn't by much and I've seen four seasons of his bat not being that good. Yes, he was unlucky this season, but I'm not sure he's going to give me much even if he wasn't. If I can find a better defensive option, I may just do that.
C Christian Vazquez
My catcher position has never been one worth going crazy about. Vazquez continues to be a bad hitter for me, despite that one great season, but his defensive value is so hard to gauge. Our pitching staff was the league's best and it's tough to not credit Christian with a lot of that. I'm going to let him hit free agency and try to get him cheaper there.
Bench/Replacements
C Jake Rogers
Rogers was a better backup this year than last year, despite less appearances. I'll probably bring him back, but I might give more time to Drew Romo next year and see what he brings. Rogers looks like a solid backup with no real intentions of being a starter.
3B Jordan Diaz
Diaz was brought in to maybe replace Paredes if he struggled and I think he pushed Isaac to a career year. Diaz was decent enough as a bench player and he'll either be back with us or in AAA next year to see if he fills out some more.
RF Riley Greene
Greene pretty quickly became the everyday starter in left field, forcing my hand with his play as a fourth outfielder. Well, he was pretty dang good as a rookie, giving us 3.4 WAR in 118 starts. He was a great hitter and brought some extra pop to the lineup as well. My scout thinks his discipline will come along as well, and I hope it does because he'll be deadly if so.
OF Jairo Pomares
Pomares was tearing it up in AAA, came up at the end of the year and had a decent, albeit brief, appearance. He may be a full-time fourth outfielder next year.

Pitchers

Rotation
SP Casey Mize
Mize casually came out and improved upon his Cy Young campaign from last season, giving us a league leading 6.2 WAR and a 61 FIP-. He was pretty solid I'd say, obviously. All of that was despite a higher BABIP against him, so I like what Mize gave us. Will he repeat as Cy Young? I'm not sure, but he should be in contention.
SP Kumar Rocker
What can you expect from a rookie starting pitcher? Well, how about 4.2 WAR, a 130 ERA+ and a 73 FIP-? I will take that every single day of the week. Wow. Rocker was outstanding and my scout says this guy might get better - that is exciting. He struck out a lot of players, kept walks reasonable and overall was deserving of the #2 role in my rotation with Manning out.
SP Franklin Perez
"Fragile" Franklin finally gets his shot - and, well, he was... okay? He had four different injuries, big surprise, and was kind of rough as a starter. However, when I moved him to the bullpen, he was pretty good when healthy. I may try to capitalize on some team thinking he can be a full-time starter and move him out, but I've been saying that for awhile.
SP Justin Dunn
Dunn was worse in the rotation this year then he was last year, so he ended up being sent back to AAA to clear room for other arms. Similar to Perez, maybe I should try to move him - he has yet to perform in the majors.
SP Tarik Skubal
Tarik surprised me. He was decent enough the last two seasons, but was demoted to the pen last year. I didn't think he'd be in the rotation, but injuries said otherwise and his performance said it was a good call. He gave us 2.5 WAR as our fifth starter, which I'll definitely take. His arbitration estimate is 3M, which is probably doable.
Bullpen
SP Matt Manning
Matt missed four months with injury, which is alarming - but he came back strong and gave us 1.4 WAR in 19 starts. I suppose it was his worst stretch since his rookie year, but he was still an above average arm. The arbitration estimate is just over five million, so he'll likely be back.
RP Brett De Geus
My bullpen has yet to have a consistent leader. This year it was Brett de Geus, who gave us 2.1 WAR in 81 IP in his 63 appearances. He was downright dominant with a 58 FIP-, striking out 32% of the opposition. He'll be back on a minimum.
RP Gerson Moreno
Moreno was another new face who was surprisingly solid for us. He gave us almost 1 WAR over his league-leading 71 games and 24 holds. He was pretty solid and will be back on a minimum.
RP Zack Hess
Hess was as productive as Moreno in half as many appearances, so he was pretty great for us. He'll get more opportunities next year in the pen.
RP Kyle Dohy
Dohy was another 1 WAR reliever who was better than league average. He's also on a minimum and will be back - the high stuff, no control guys do well with Vazquez. He struck out nearly 40% of the opposition.
RP Jack Little
Little was decent enough before he got injured and missed the playoffs. He logged a lot of innings for us and gave us a solid 1 WAR. However, I think we have better arms and he won't be as relied upon next year.
RP Genesis Cabrera
Genesis was far better in the bullpen role this year than he was last year - giving us 1 WAR and a solid 149 ERA+ and 79 FIP-. He filled in for a recovering Alcantara at the end of the year too in the rotation. His estimate is less than a million, so he should return.
RP Drew Carlton
Here is the reason I was complaining about bullpen volatility - Carlton gave us 2 WAR last year and was so bad this year that I sent him down after 19 games and never looked back. I will not be picking up his arbitration.
RP Sandy Alcantara
Sandy was better than I expected despite his ratings falling a bit. He was mostly used in the pen, filled in as a starter later on, and was good at both. However, he wants eight million dollars to extend soooo good luck elsewhere!
RP Jonathan Bowlan
Jonathan got called up a couple of times, was serviceable when he was up, but will be back in AAA or gone next season.
RP Alex Lange
Keeping it short - Lange wasn't good when he was up and got sent down, where he'll stay.
RP David Parkinson
Even shorter - he was awful.

Prospect Watch

SP Justin Powell - Powell wasn't even listed last year because he struggled in rookie ball. I let him repeat, which I normally don't do, because he had just been drafted. Well, he had quite the development tour this year and is now ranked as not only my top prospect, but as the 2nd best prospect in baseball. The bad news is that he wasn't good in rookie ball again, but he'll go to A-.
SP Doug Wade - Wade was our top pick this year and was good enough in A- to go to A, where I hope he'll improve.
SS Trevor Haskins - Haskins was solid in A and will go to AA. I like his defensive profile and he's a solid baserunner. The bat tool needs some work still but I have high hopes.
C Dale Burton - Burton is, of course, still fragile, which isn't great. He was fine enough in A- to go to A though, but I don't know if he's a long-term option.
CF Petey Halpin - Petey will go to AAA next year. Maybe he's the future CF option, I don't know. Maybe he's just a fourth outfielder.
RF Ismael Mena - Mena was great in AA and will go to AAA. If he fills out the hitting tool, he doesn't have a weakness. He's a phenomenal runner and solid in the outfield. Hopefully he keeps progressing.
C Drew Romo - Romo's hitting never developed, not like it looked like it would way back in 2020. But, the defense is there and he might be the Vazquez replacement due to that alone. It's not like Vazquez has hit either.

Future Outlook

Arbitration is going to hit hard for some folks this year. Willi Castro and Casey Mize in particular. We're going to have to be more financially selective moving forward as we start to lose the cheap and controlled deals we've been accustomed to.

Dave Gettleman’s future: The case for and against the Giants general manager - The Athletic

A verdict on the future of Giants general manager Dave Gettleman shouldn’t be determined by the outcome of Sunday’s season finale. Whether ownership believes the franchise is headed in the right direction or hasn’t made enough progress, a win or loss by the 5-10 Giants against the 6-9 Cowboys shouldn’t outweigh three years of data.
So, as judgment day nears for Gettleman, here’s a breakdown of what co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch have to evaluate:
DRAFT
As Gettleman said at the end of last season, “You build the team through the draft.” The draft is the most important piece of roster building, so that’s where any evaluation starts.
The case against Gettleman:
Gettleman inherited a premium asset: The No. 2 pick in the 2018 draft. The last time the Giants had the No. 2 pick, they took Lawrence Taylor in the 1981 draft.
Gettleman eschewed taking a quarterback in a class that had three selected between picks three and 10. And he didn’t seriously entertain trade offers for the No. 2 pick. Gettleman was smitten with Saquon Barkley, dismissing positional value arguments against taking a running back with a top pick as “a crock” and “nonsense.”
Barkley had a brilliant rookie season — and the Giants went 5-11. A high-ankle sprain caused Barkley to miss three games as the Giants went 4-12 in 2019. He has been sidelined this season since tearing his ACL in Week 2.
While Barkley’s talent is undeniable, he will have played in 31 of 48 games during his first three seasons. The return on the No. 2 pick has been underwhelming thus far and Barkley is now eligible for a contract extension.
There have been minimal contributions from the rest of the 2018 class. Trading second, fourth and fifth-round picks to move up seven spots to take cornerback DeAndre Baker with the 30th pick in the 2019 draft was a disaster. Setting aside whatever did or didn’t happen at a Florida house party in May — armed robbery charges were eventually dropped — Baker displayed a lack of professionalism throughout his rookie season.
Gettleman has never traded back in eight drafts as a general manager. That’s baffling considering the crapshoot nature of the draft and the evidence that many of the top teams in the league constantly trade back to acquire more picks. The lack of depth on the current roster shows the value in trading back.
The Giants don’t have a full allotment of picks for 2021, which is tough to swallow for a rebuilding team. They dealt their fifth- and seventh-round picks for Leonard Williams and Isaac Yiadom, respectively, while adding an extra sixth-round pick from Arizona for Markus Golden at this season’s trade deadline.
The case for Gettleman:
Ownership can take some solace in the fact that Gettleman avoided any colossal busts with his top picks (Baker notwithstanding). Quarterback Josh Rosen, who was a candidate for the No. 2 pick in 2018, went 10th overall and is already on his fourth team. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who many analysts rated higher than Daniel Jones, was released this week by Washington less than two years after being the No. 15 pick in the 2019 draft. Sam Darnold, who was widely viewed as the best quarterback option available for the Giants in 2018, hasn’t been as bad as Rosen or Haskins, but the Jets appear ready to make a change after three unimpressive seasons from the former No. 3 pick.
Dexter Lawrence, the 17th pick in the 2019 draft, is a quality player, and this year’s class has shown some promise, but it’s too early to pass judgment on the rookies.
Gettleman has found some value in the later rounds, most notably 2018 fifth-round pick Darius Slayton, who has 96 catches for 1,469 yards and 11 touchdowns in two seasons. Gettleman arrived with a reputation for finding unheralded offensive linemen, and 2018 undrafted free agent Nick Gates looks like a potential long-term answer at center.
The big question:
That this separate category is necessary is more of a negative than a positive for Gettleman, but the jury is still out on Jones, the sixth pick in the 2019 draft.
The Giants have the No. 31 scoring offense in the league this season. That puts Gettleman in a sticky spot. Whether the problem is Jones or his supporting cast, the blame points in the same direction. Gettleman either missed on the Jones pick or has done a poor job building a sufficient supporting cast around the young quarterback.
Coach Joe Judge has emphasized his commitment to Jones for 2021. That’s nice, but such proclamations aren’t necessary for truly elite quarterbacks after two seasons as the starter.
Next season is shaping up as make-or-break for Jones. If Gettleman survives, his fate will be inexorably tied to Jones.
FREE AGENCY
There’s a popular misconception that Gettleman was hamstrung by the cap situation he inherited.
There were certainly some inflated veteran contracts on the books when Gettleman took over. Yet, in his first offseason he was able to make Nate Solder the highest-paid left tackle in the league, make Odell Beckham Jr. the highest-paid wide receiver in the league, absorb Alec Ogletree’s salary in a trade, eat $15 million in dead money from the Jason Pierre-Paul trade, sign a pair of mid-level free agents, and still carry the cap hits of Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison and Janoris Jenkins. That’s a lot of spending for a general manager supposedly constrained by the cap.
The case against Gettleman:
The free-agent signings in Gettleman’s first offseason were atrocious. Solder signed a four-year, $62 million contract; guard Patrick Omameh signed a three-year, $15 million contract; linebacker Kareem Martin signed a three-year, $15 million contract; and running back Jonathan Stewart signed a two-year, $6.8 million contract despite it being evident that the 31-year-old had nothing left in the tank. All of those signings were flops.
A common defense of the Solder signing is that Gettleman had no other options and he needed to upgrade the offensive line. There are always other options. Just look at the Patriots, who let Solder walk in free agency and then traded a third-round pick to the 49ers for Trent Brown and a fifth-round pick (they also got a third-round compensatory pick in 2019 for Solder). Brown counted just $1.9 million against the cap in 2018 and the Patriots didn’t miss a beat when he was plugged in at left tackle.
Handing out the biggest contract to the highest-profile free agent doesn’t take any skill. It was Gettleman’s job to find an alternative to overpaying Solder and he failed.
The 2019 offseason was quieter in free agency partly due to the dead money incurred from trading Beckham to Cleveland, but there was still a big whiff. Two days after dealing Beckham, Gettleman signed veteran receiver Golden Tate. It was questionable to give a four-year, $37.5 million contract to a 30-year-old slot receiver and the move has gone worse than expected.
Tate was suspended for the first four games of last season for PEDs, then he was suspended for another game this season for selfish antics. Tate has been a non-factor this season and will likely be a cap casualty two years into his deal.
The case for Gettleman:
It wasn’t all bad for Gettleman in 2019. Signing outside linebacker Markus Golden to a one-year, $3.75 million deal proved to be excellent value, as he recorded 10 sacks last season.
Mara said after last season that Gettleman’s “batting average has got to increase going forward.” Gettleman responded by batting 1.000 this offseason.
The big-ticket signings were cornerback James Bradberry (three years, $43.5 million) and linebacker Blake Martinez (three years, $30.75 million). Bradberry earned his first Pro Bowl selection and established himself as one of the top corners in the league, while Martinez has been a significant upgrade as a tackling machine in the middle of the defense.
Both players are only in their fifth seasons and have proven track records of durability. They will be the backbone of the defense for the duration of their contracts, if not longer.
Adding veterans Logan Ryan and Graham Gano on one-year deals during training camp provided a major boost. Ryan has been a versatile piece of the secondary and a strong leader, which he parlayed into a three-year, $30 million extension. Gano has been lights out, making 30 of 31 field goals to earn a three-year, $14 million extension.
TRADES
Say this for Gettleman: He’s not afraid to make bold moves. In three years, he’s dealt Jason Pierre-Paul, Damon Harrison, Eli Apple, Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon, while trading for Alec Ogletree and Leonard Williams. The case against Gettleman:
There’s grey area to most of Gettleman’s trades, but the most controversial deal remains the acquisition of Williams at last season’s trade deadline. The Giants, who were 2-6 at the time, sent a 2020 third-round pick (No. 68 overall) and a 2021 fifth-round pick to the Jets for Williams, an impending free agent.
It was a baffling trade the moment it was executed and became worse when the Giants weren’t able to reach an agreement on a long-term extension after the season. The Giants ceded all leverage to Williams with the trade since his camp knew the team wouldn’t let him walk after parting with two mid-round picks for eight games of service.
So Williams, who had a half sack last season, happily accepted the $16.1 million franchise tag from the Giants for this season. Williams has had a breakout season, recording a career-high 8.5 sacks. So Gettleman’s evaluation of the player was accurate. But the cost to acquire and retain Williams keeps growing.
The prudent move would have been to wait until Williams hit free agency and then make a strong offer. Imagine how much cheaper Williams would have been a year ago coming off the worst season of his career than he will be now.
If Williams didn’t become available because another team traded for him and then extended/franchised him, that would be a tough break but it’s not as if he’s an irreplaceable player. The Giants essentially have parted with two draft picks and $16 million to have the inside track to bid against other teams to give Williams $20 million per year on a long-term deal this offseason. That’s not exactly a master class in asset management.
The Ogletree trade was on par with the Solder signing as far as blowing resources on a disappointing, overpaid veteran. The Giants got Ogletree and a seventh-round pick from the Rams in exchange for fourth- and sixth-round picks in the 2018 draft. The Giants inherited Ogletree’s bloated contract and cut him after two dismal seasons.
Trading Pierre-Paul for a third-round pick would have made sense if Gettleman was committed to a full rebuild in 2018. Instead, the trade just created a pass rushing hole that still hasn’t been filled, while Pierre-Paul has 30.5 sacks in three seasons with the Buccaneers. The case for Gettleman:
The Beckham trade was Gettleman’s other blockbuster, and that deal looks much better today than when it was executed. Beckham hasn’t been the same player in Cleveland, and he tore his ACL in Week 7 of this season. There has been some promise shown in the return from that deal, with Lawrence and veteran safety Jabrill Peppers emerging as key pieces of an improving defense. Unloading Vernon’s contract for steady guard Kevin Zeitler was a solid move in a deal connected to the Beckham trade.
A case can be made that the Giants would have received more for Harrison if they dealt him in the 2018 offseason, but getting a fifth-round pick at the trade deadline still proved to be decent value since the aging defensive tackle’s skills have deteriorated rapidly.
The same timing critique of the Apple trade applies, but it’s understandable that Gettleman wanted to give the 2016 first-round pick a clean slate. When it became clear that Apple was a lost cause, the Giants got fourth- and seventh-round picks for him from the Saints at the 2018 trade deadline. Apple is out of the league just two years later.
COACH
The reality is Gettleman can’t be judged too harshly or favorably on the coaching hires. He has a voice in the process, but he’s not the one making the final decision on the head coach.
The case against Gettleman:
The first coach hired on Gettleman’s watch, Pat Shurmur, was fired after two seasons.
The case for Gettleman:
The second coach hired on Gettleman’s watch, Joe Judge, has shown significant potential.
Despite a gruff image, Gettleman’s history demonstrates a collaborative relationship with his coaches. Just look at all of the acquisitions in his first two offseasons who had ties to former defensive coordinator James Bettcher from his time in Arizona. That has continued with the new staff, as most free agent signings had a connection to Judge or an assistant coach.
All indications are that Gettleman and Judge have a good working relationship. Judge spoke this week of the “one vision” throughout the team facility and said he enjoyed working with Gettleman through free agency and the draft. Compatibility with Judge could be the strongest point in Gettleman’s favor since the organization is fully invested in the coach’s vision.
OVERALL ROSTER-BUILDING
There’s no denying that Gettleman, who has spent 34 years as an NFL evaluator, has an eye for talent. The questions surround his ability to fit that talent evaluation into the big-picture process of building a team with the finite resources available in a salary cap/draft system.
The case against Gettleman:
Some of the defenses of Gettleman’s tenure are remarkably contradictory. It’s often noted that he inherited a bad roster (rarely do fired GMs leave behind Super Bowl contenders). The state of the roster can be debated, but the reality is Gettleman assessed that group and took a win-now approach in his first offseason.
There’s a theory that hasn’t been proven or refuted that ownership mandated one last run with Eli Manning. Even if that’s the case, ownership didn’t force Gettleman to add the likes of Solder, Ogletree, Omameh and Martin in that ill-fated attempt to win with Manning.
With that handicap dismissed, the biggest flaws with Gettleman’s tenure have been a general disregard for positional value and questionable asset management.
Taking a running back with the second pick (and therefore being positioned to give a monster extension to a running back) is difficult to reconcile in the face of mountains of evidence that the position is just not as valuable as others. Pouring premium resources into interior defensive linemen and neglecting edge rushers is another dubious approach.
The Williams trade, the refusal to trade back in the draft, not seriously entertaining bids for the No. 2 pick and not shopping the Beckham offer to other teams are among the many head-scratching asset management moves. The case for Gettleman:
Gettleman has demonstrated his scouting ability. He recognized that Williams had a higher ceiling than he was displaying with the Jets. He stuck with Gates to allow the undrafted free agent to blossom into a starting center. Insisting on Peppers’ inclusion in the Beckham trade has paid off now that the safety is in the right system.
The challenge in making a case for Gettleman in this category is that even by his stated old-school “basic truths” of building a roster — run the ball, stop the run, rush the passer — he’s fallen short in assembling a team that excels in those areas.
THE FUTURE
Mara and Tisch need to have a hard conversation about the state of their franchise.
Tom Coughlin, the head coach for the Giants’ two most recent Super Bowls, was fired in 2015 after consecutive 6-10 seasons. Coughlin didn’t have fewer than six wins in any of his 12 seasons with the Giants.
Jerry Reese, the general manager for the Giants’ two most recent Super Bowls, survived the consecutive 6-10 seasons, rebounded with an 11-5 season in 2016 and then was fired after a 2-10 start to the 2017 season. The 2017 season was the only time in Reese’s 11 years as general manager that the Giants won fewer than six games.
Meanwhile, Gettleman needs a victory Sunday just to achieve his first six-win season. The Giants are 14-33 under Gettleman. Among the seven general managers hired in 2017 or 2018, Gettleman’s .298 winning percentage is by far the worst. Marty Hurney, who replaced Gettleman with the Panthers in 2017, had the next lowest winning percentage (.435) among that group. Hurney was fired last week.
If ownership decides to keep Gettleman, who turns 70 in February, they’ll be doing so based on a conviction that the franchise is headed in the right direction despite a lack of any tangible progress in his first three seasons.

AA Transactions Recap

In the aftermath of the Super Bowl, the American Association has been busy, announcing their 2021 lineup and schedule, and continuing to fill rosters for the upcoming season, which will start on May 18.
Here's a look at what teams have been up to the last couple days:
Chicago Dogs
The Dogs re-signed RHP Justin Goossen-Brown, who will return for his third season with the Dogs. The 24-year-old righty is 1-2 with a 3.45 ERA in 22 games (four starts) over the 2019-20 seasons with Chicago, but he posted a 5.14 ERA in his eight appearances in 2020.
Next, they signed infielder Grant Kay. The 27-year-old previous reached as high as Triple-A with Tampa Bay, before signing with Sioux Falls in 2020, where he hit .262 with 3 homers and 18 RBI in 39 games.
Lastly, they re-signed 31-year-old reliever Paul Schwendel. Pitching professionally for the first time since 2015, Schwendel went 0-1 with a 5.81 ERA in 23 games, but struck out 33 batters in just 26.2 innings.
Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
Fargo-Moorhead re-signed outfielder Alex Boxwell, a 24-year-old who suited up 34 times in 2020, batting .246 with 4 homers and 10 RBI. A Minnesota alum, Boxwell also has had cups of coffee with the St. Paul Saints and Gary SouthShore Railcats in 2018 and '19, before finishing the 2019 campaign in Fargo.
The RedHawks also inked right-hander Michael Hope, who they re-acquired in a trade with the Sussex County Miners of the Frontier League on January 25. The 24-year-old was a RedHawk in 2019, going 8-0 in 31 games out of the bullpen with a 3.46 ERA, striking out 46 over 59.2 innings, and even going 3-for-7 with a homer at the plate.
Lastly, the 'Hawks acquired another pitcher from Sussex County, trading for 29-year-old lefty Cam Hatch. Most recently, Hatch pitched in the pop-up league Yinzer Baseball Confederacy in 2020, going 0-2, but posting a 0.87 ERA with two saves over nine outings and 10.1 innings. Hatch has also pitched in the Pacific Association (2018-19) and the United Shore Professional Baseball League (2016).
Milwaukee Milkmen
The Milkmen re-signed three members of their championship squad, starting with set-up man AJ Schugel. The 31-year-old righty, who posted a 3.19 ERA in 73 MLB games from 2015-17, excelled for Milwaukee in 2020 after missing all of 2019, posting a 1.03 ERA in 28 games and allowing just ten hits in 26.1 innings, good for a microscopic .112 opponent's batting average.
Another righty reliever, 29-year-old Zach Hartman, re-upped as well. Hartman, Milwaukee's all-time pitching appearances leader with 60, returns for his third year with the Milkmen, having gone 4-4 with a 3.72 ERA over 87.0 innings. A former Dodgers and Angels prospect, Hartman was 1-1 with a 3.89 ERA in 18 games (four starts) in 2020, striking out 25 over 34.2 innings.
A man who caught both hurlers, catcher Christian Correa, returns for his second year in Milwaukee and fourth in the AA. Correa batted just .211 with four homers (one of them a walk-off) and 20 RBI, but was known for his defensive acumen behind the dish. The 27-year-old also has played in the AA for Kansas City (2017,19) and Sussex County (2018) in the now-defunct Can-Am League.
Winnipeg Goldeyes
Not content to watch two division rivals shore up their bullpen, the Goldeyes re-signed right-hander Nate Antone (who's not from San Antone). With the Goldeyes in 2020, the 29-year-old went 1-0 with a 3.55 ERA in 22 games, striking out 29 and allowing just 17 hits over 25.1 innings. An Indy-ball lifer, Antone had previously pitched for Quebec and Sussex County (both 2019) in the Can-Am League, Gary (2017) and Joliet (2017-18) of the Frontier League.
Also, the Goldeyes shored up the left side with southpaw Ken Frosch, who pitched for St. Paul from 2017-19. Frosch has appeared in 133 AA games (plus seven more in the postseason), going 9-6 with a 2,76 ERA in 124.0 innings with the Saints, striking out 129 and being the key lefty reliever on the 2019 AA Champs and the 2018 runner-ups. Including his 2016 stint in the Frontier League (with Evansville), Frosch has a career 2.47 ERA over 180 games, all in Indy ball.
Looking Ahead
So far, several teams already have quite a few signings, while others have remained rather silent on that front, though perhaps they are merely waiting out uncertainty in the MLB/MiLB umbrella to see what kind of players fall out and wind up in the Indy ranks.
What also will be interesting to see is the development of Kane County's roster. With Opening Day now barely three months away, the Cougars are in, but they have no manager and no players, so there will be a lot of scrambling done in the coming weeks.
On the other side, the traveling Houston Apollos will be run as a by-product of the Pecos League, meaning that their players will be supplied from the Pecos League, with the roster likely being assembled much later than other teams.

The Future of Hell Let Loose

A Toast to the 2020 Colorado Rockies!

Heading out of 2019 and into 2020, the Rockies had no expectations. Heading out of 2020 and into 2021… we still have no expectations.
But this isn’t a post about hating the Colorado Rockies and what they’ve done poorly or not done! After all, the literal title of this post is “A toast to the 2020 Colorado Rockies”. So instead of hating on Jeff Bridich like we always do as Rockies fans, let’s bring up some highs, some lows, and overall, let’s have a fun time reminiscing about a truly unique Rockies season, even outside covid.

MILE HIGHS

Comeback Player of the Year… after 7 years off
Prior to this season, the last MLB season Daniel Bard pitched in was in 2013, where he only pitched 1 inning, giving up two walks and an earned run. His 9.00 ERA in 2013 and the 6.22 ERA the year prior led to him being designated for assignment by the Red Sox, which was disappointing for Bard after posting great numbers for the 2009-2011 Sox teams. It appeared as if the yips had ended his career, retiring in 2017 after being stuck in minor league purgatory for several years. Yet, seven years later, with tape on his back, he pitches himself back into the big leagues with an excellent spring training showing. He not only is able to throw his first major league pitch since Barack Obama was in office, he’s still got his vintage stuff on a 99 mph pitch. Truly, a comeback story for the ages.
Nolan Is Still Nolan
Nolan Arenado had injured his shoulder within the first few games in Oakland. He’s clearly not himself offensively this year, with a triple slash of .253/.303/.434, and a wRC+ of 76. He hasn’t had one season under 100 wRC+ since his rookie year, so why do I still say “Nolan Is Still Nolan”? Despite that shoulder injury, he’s still the best defensive player in baseball. If you don’t like FanGraphs, here’s Baseball Savant ranking him among the top fielders in baseball, too. Here’s baseball-reference having Nolan lead in defensive WAR as well!. Not a stats guy? Here’s an amazing play by Nolan to pass the eye test. No matter how you slice it, Nolan was still Nolan defensively, and he did all of that through injury.
The Re-Emergence of K-Free and Senzei
Both Kyle Freeland and Antonio Senzatela debuted in 2017. In 2018, they both improved to lead the Rockies oh-so-close to upsetting the Dodgers for the NL West title. Then 2019 came, and both pitchers suffered major setbacks. Kyle Freeland? Went from an unheard of 2.85 ERA despite playing in Coors to a 90’s era Rockies-esque 6.73 ERA. And, Senzatela? Not much better, falling from a respectable 4.38 to a horrendous 6.71 ERA. It looked like the Rockies had a starting pitching problem again, but in 2020 the two made improvements. Senzatela would start to mix his pitches better, and it got him a 3.44 ERA, best of his career, as he led the Rockies in rWAR and ranked second in fWAR. Freeland had a 4.33 ERA, which looks even better if you take out his last start in a meaningless game, bringing it down to 3.69. These guys proved that 2019 struggles were just a fluke and oddly made the rotation a Rockies strength. Hats off to these two underrated comebacks, alongside Daniel Bard.
A Fantastic Start to the Season
Of all of the stories, the high that Rockies fans remember best is their hot start to the season. Starting 11-3, the Rockies looked absolutely dominant in a shortened 60-game season. Not a single Rockies fan, or even any fan, was expecting this greatness. Sure, the offense wasn’t sustainable and the bullpen had signs of distress, but it didn’t matter. The Rockies were #1 in the NL, baby.

ROCKY LOWS

The Rockies Forget How to Win
The higher you climb, the farther you fall, they say. After the Rockies went 11-4 through the first 15 games of the season, they only needed to play .500 ball for the rest of the season to make the expanded playoffs. The Rockies would go 15-30 the next 45 games. In all honesty, let’s not talk about this anymore.
A Bullpen only Sunnier than in Philadelphia
The Phillies had a historically bad bullpen, with an ERA of 7.06. Right behind them, however, were the 6.77 ERA Colorado Rockies. Daniel Bard & Yency Almonte were pretty much the only good relievers in the Rockies bullpen. Carlos Estevez posted a 7.50 ERA after a 3.75 ERA the year prior. Jairo posted a 7.65 ERA mark himself after setting himself up to be a promising closer last season. Hoffman continued to be a bust, with a whopping 9.28 ERA. Pazos provided no support as a lefty with a 16.88 ERA. Then, of course, Bridich-overpayment Wade Davis had an amazing 20.77 ERA. Please come back healthy Scott Oberg. We miss you.
Please Fire Jeff Bridich
Last year, u/Underbubble made this exact point here too: Jeff Bridich needs to be fired. Since then, he’s somehow gotten worse. I’ve already mentioned how bad Wade Davis had been this season, but what did Bridich do to try and improve on his mediocre 2019 team, and supposedly make these 2020 Rockies the 94-win team Rockies owner Dick Monfort famously projected them to be?
Nothing - literally nothing. He signed minor leaguers, released some bad players, and that’s it. Oh, and he pissed off Nolan Arenado. While most fans want a World Series win or even a playoff appearance from their squad every year, every Rockies fan wants Jeff Bridich fired instead, as there’s no reaching those two goals with him as our GM. Rockies fans are to Jeff Bridich as Mets fans were to the Wilpons. Bridich is still our GM though, so it looks to be a rough offseason for us.

GOODBYES, AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF AN OLD FRIEND

I want to start by giving a quick shoutout to DJ LeMahieu! After Jeff Bridich foolishly believed that Daniel Murphy was a better investment than DJ LeMahieu, he would go on to become an MVP candidate for the Yankees, in both 2019 and 2020. A triple slash of .364/.421/.590 is just absurd, even in a 60 game season. Beautiful. Let’s say move onto goodbyes though before this becomes a rant.
Matt Kemp: The only team to beat the Dodgers this whole season in a series? The Colorado Rockies. Who hit the home run to put the Rockies in the lead for one of those crucial games. Matt Kemp. You’re probably not a Rockie with the DH rule being removed once again, but you truly made your time here memorable. Thanks.
Chris Owings: Other than the fact we didn’t see you for like, half the season after you got injured… You did quite well for us here. You were an underrated part of our original 11-4 run. I don’t think you’re a Rockie next year either, but you were also memorable.
Wade Davis: Uh. Thanks for September 2018. That wasn’t bad!
Daniel Murphy: Thanks for bringing meme material to 2020.
Drew Butera: We know you’re going to be back again, who are we kidding.
Last year’s toast said good riddance to the 2019 Rockies. Well, 2020 was unique. It’s not gonna be easy to forget. Though still, one last toast to the 2020 Rockies, and good riddance, once again.

ColoradoRockies Top 5 Shitposts by Karma:

I feel silly
RoxsHub (NSFW?)
After doing nothing in the offseason
What a monster.
Wade Davis has me like

Motor City Management - Detroit Tigers Report 2020 - Exceeding Expectations

Motor City Management - Detroit Tigers Franchise - OOTP21
If you're just tuning in, you can catch up here: 2020 (Opening Day)
The 2020 Detroit Tigers now feature the best minor league system in baseball and perhaps the ugliest Opening Day lineup in baseball as well. The league projects them to win only 19 of their 60 games. Going into the season I agreed with them, but, let's take a look at what we're working with and how things panned out.

2020 Tigers Recap

We knew it would be ugly, but it wasn't as bad as expected. The team exceeded expectations and managed 23 wins to their 37 losses. Certainly a down year, but the .383 winning percentage was an improvement over the 2019 final of .292%. The team's hitting was abysmal, finished 13th in runs scored, 15th in OBP/WAOPS/Home Runs. However, as a lone bright spot on offense, we were 1st in the league in baserunning at a +11.2. We'll take any win we can get.
The pitching staff was actually not bad! Finishing 7th in runs against, 6th in starter ERA and 10th in bullpen ERA. I was proud of the arms for holding it down a bit and helping us to the 23 wins without much offense behind them. We ranked 6th in FIP and 5th in pitching WAR. Defensively? We ranked 14th in efficiency and 8th in zone rating, so I'd like to see that improve along with the hitting.
Unsurprisingly, we didn't bring home any hardware in 2020.

Around the League

The Atlanta Braves were your 2020 MLB Champions! The playoffs were a bit wild, with the Angels making a surprise trip to the World Series, where they pushed Atlanta to seven games. The Braves also did the unthinkable in the NLCS, pulling off a reverse sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Clayton Kershaw notched his 2,500th strikeout, but not many notable milestones happened in 2020.
In the AL, Oakland had a phenomenal season for awards, with Matt Olson bringing home the league MVP and Jesus Luzardo securing both the Rookie of the Year award and a Cy Young! Taylor Rogers grabbed a Reliever of the Year for the Twins.
In the NL, Christian Yelich brought home a 2nd MVP trophy. Cardinals' youngster Jack Flaherty won the Cy Young in a stellar year, while Sixto Sanchez won Rookie of the Year for the Marlins and Edwin Diaz grabbed another Reliever of the Year award!
You can take a look at the Batting Leaders and Pitching Leaders as well. Grienke managed 9 wins in the short season, deGrom had 11 Quality Starts, Yolando Alvarez paced the league with 22 dingers and Daniel Murphy hit about .100 higher than in 2019 to lead the league with a .361. Mondesi was a menace on the basepaths and Vlad Guerrero Jr. was good as always.

Transactions

Trade #1
Tigers receive: RP Kyle Dohy, $1,200,000 cash Phillies receive: C Josh Phegley
I will now always look for waiver guys I can flip later (Phegley was a waiver guy). Dohy has a ton of stuff and not much else, hoping he magically works on it and becomes a great reliever.
Trade #2
Tigers receive: RP Bryan Hudson, CL Wyatt Short, CF D.J. Wilson, $125,000 cash Cubs receive: RF Cameron Maybin, RP Luke Sommerfeld
I'm not sad about 33 YO Maybin leaving - I should've dealt him earlier when he had some more value. Hudson and Short give me more bullpen arms in the system, Wilson probably never pans out.
Trade #3
Tigers receive: CF Gage Canning, $25,000 cash Nationals receive: C Austin Romine
Austin wasn't playing much for me at the deadline and he hit well for the Nats in 9 games. Clearing Romine's money let me sign one more draftee that I didn't have the money for previously.
Trade #4
Tigers receive: CF Rusney Castillo Red Sox receive: 1B Miguel Cabrera (DET retains 60%), 1B Frank Schwindel, C Jon Rosoff
The fans weren't pleased about this one. Miggy was slashing .214/.291/.300. He was making 30M and set to do so for about 5 more years. Castillo was a contract I could get out from under, so I made this move to clear the future books. He hit even worse for Boston the rest of the way. It turns out though, that it wouldn't matter for me or Boston. Miggy retired at the end of the year and I released Castillo - we both clear cap.

Batters - 2020

Starting Lineup
C - Francisco Pena Pena did about what I expected, if not moreso. He's been a AAAA guy for a long time, so I'm surprised that he hit as well as he did in a "full" season. I assume that his defensive acumen is part of the reason for my staff's relative success compared to their talent. Pena played himself into a 2 year extension for $3,000,000 total. 1B - Will Craig Craig was 25 coming into the season with some potential to grow into a slightly above average hitter, having been pretty good in AAA in 2019. Given that I had Cabrera at 1B, I decided to see what Craig had. It was a bit disappointing and my scout thinks he took a step back, but he's on a minimum and I don't believe I'm going to suddenly be good, so he'll get more reps next year. 2B - Hernan Perez Hernan was a super utility guy for the Tigers that I threw into a starting role due to moving Schoop - unsurprisingly, he didn't play well and was awful at the plate. I released him after the season and he went to play in Australia. 3B - Dawel Lugo I had no expectations of Lugo performing that well, but he ended up being a league average hitter with 1 WAR. He'll be back on the team next year, though he may just be keeping the spot warm for future talents. SS - Jordy Mercer Mercer was thrust into the starting job due to lack of bodies and, well, it went about like you'd expect. He was horrible at the plate and was let go after the season. He remains unsigned on January 1st. LF - Myles Straw Straw started the season in LF and played 34 games there, but also spent time at 2B, SS, CF and RF. Basically, he became what Perez had been, but he's a better fielder. His bat was pretty bad, I expected him to hit closer to .300 and he managed .254. He'll be on the team next year for another shot, as he's only 26. CF - Derek Hill It was a lot to expect Hill to make the jump from AA, but at 24 I thought I'd give it a go. He was the team's 22nd ranked prospect and I believe that'll go down after this showing - hit hitting was poor, which seems to be a theme for the team. He will return however, we'll see if he gets more starting duties. RF - Victor Reyes Reyes was almost league average at the plate! That's a win for your 2020 Detroit Tigers. He gave us almost one WAR and hit over .300. He's pretty solid in RF, so I'm excited to see if he can up his discipline at the plate and become a better hitter to go with it. DH - Miguel Cabrera I mean, Miggy was horrible, but we all knew that was coming. The Tigers were proud to retire his #24 after the season though to honor his tenure with the team and I imagine he'll have a decent shot at a Hall of Fame plaque in a few years!
Bench C - Austin Romine Romine was bad, but I never wanted him to hang around much anyway. The bat was unplayable and the defense wasn't needed with Pena being a better defender. He played well in a short duration for Washington after being dealt though. He's unsigned as of January 1st. LF - Christin "Twilight" Stewart Twilight, a nickname he earned by being named Christin Stewart, played 44 games for us including 33 starts. A dozen of his appearances were in left field, but he primarily was the team's DH after the departure of Cabrera. He hit almost league average, which is a plus on this roster, and will be back with us next season. I'm hoping his combination of power and discipline will lead to better things at the plate. He's also a captain on the team and was critical to keeping our morale stable in a bad year. LF - Travis Demeritte Travis also spent most of his time in LF, playing 25 games for us and hitting slightly below average. As is spoiled by his player card, he won't be with the team next season.
Replacements/Call-Ups C - Jake Rogers Rogers was kind of a pleasant surprise. He got a limited run after Romine was dealt, coming up for a cup of coffee at the end of the season. He has a similar situation in 2019, in which he was horrible, but it went much better in 2020! He only had 30 plate appearances, but carried a .556 slugging percentage and a 116 OPS+. He'll likely be on the major league roster next year.

Pitchers - 2020

Rotation SP - Casey Mize Mize was right around league average, which I will certainly take for a 23 year old that got thrust into an Opening Day role and the unit's ace. He finished the season with 3 of his strongest performances in a row and stayed durable the whole season - I'm hoping that those trends continue into 2021. SP - Spencer Turnbull Turnbull led the league in losses and also in fewest homeruns given up. His ERA+ and FIP tell the story - he went 0-7 on a horrible team and is living proof that wins and losses aren't good evaluators. He was an above average pitcher and will likely be relied on heavily in the rotation again next season. SP - Daniel Norris Norris was also right around league average, perhaps a bit of BABIP luck on his side this year, but he's got a balanced profile and was healthy all season. He has four pitches that are above average and no glaring weakness, he'll be back in the rotation again as well. SP - Matt Manning Despite carrying a high .340 BABIP, Manning was pretty good for us, slightly above average on the mound. He's the 2nd best prospect in our system (behind Mize) and I'm counting on these two anchoring the rotation for awhile - Manning got a younger start and has more room to grow, he might end up being the better of the two, who knows. He'll definitely be back. SP - Ivan Nova Nova certainly could've been worse. He was right below average, which was manageable since he was a bottom of the rotation starter. As is spoiled by his card, he won't be back next season, but I did extend him for 2 seasons at 1M per year, so he's a cheap arm.
Bullpen LR - Jordan Zimmermann Jordan was bad and surprisingly no one wanted his 25M contract. He tore his UCL and spent most of the season on the IR before being let go after the year. He'll be out until June and hasn't been signed, I imagine his career is probably done. MR - Rony Garcia Rony was a Rule 5 guy that the Tigers grabbed from the Yankees (before I took over) and while I was worried about his capabilities, he pitched pretty damn well. In 14 games (22 IP) he had a 2.42 ERA, 201 ERA+ and struck out nearly 9 per 9. Now, it does seem like he probably was pretty lucky all things considered, with a 4.43 FIP, but, sometimes its better to be lucky than to be good. MR - Luiz Gohara Gohara was brought in as a possible rotation arm, but ended up pitching well in the pen. He put up a 2.25 ERA in 12 IP, helped out by a probably unsustainable .214 BABIP. Short seasons are weird for evaluating bullpen guys, but Gohara has 3 great pitches, 2 of them being really nasty. He has a history of not keeping the ball in the park, but did well this year in limited opportunities. If he can keep it in, he'll be good. He'll have another go at it next year. His personality scares me though.
MR - Bryan Garcia Bryan was one of my Bryan pair that dominated. Sure, it's limited appearances at only 11 IP, but he never allowed an earned run across those innings, so I'll take it. He also refused to walk anyone which I'm a big fan of. I'm excited to see what he can do across a full season. MR - Buck Farmer Let's talk about the unluckiest hurler in the game, Buck Farmer. A quick glance at his 7.00 ERA and 69 (nice) ERA+ across 27 IP and you're running away from him, but... he had a 3.02 FIP and 62 FIP- with a .362 BABIP. I think he was a bit unlucky and he'll have another shot next season more than likely. MR - Drew Carlton On the other hand from Farmer, Carlton looks like he was a bit lucky. Carlton is supposed to possess great control and he walked 16% of the batters he faced, so that's alarming. We'll see if he makes the cut next year, but he's on a minimum deal and has minor league options if needed. MR - Blake Taylor Feels like I had so many similar arms in the bullpen and a lot of these guys are interchangeable. Taylor was okay - I'm concerned about him if the BABIP stabilizes, but he'll have a shot at it next year again. MR - David McKay McKay was below average in 24 IP, but had a .446 BABIP. That feels unlucky. He has an absolutely nasty slider and I'm hoping he can bounce back, but if not he has minor league options. SU - Bryan Abreu The other dominating Bryan. He refused to allow an earned run also and also decided to strike out nearly 40% of the opposition. The good news is that his BABIP wasn't super lucky, so I'm hoping he can keep it up next year. He has two elite pitches, another on it's way and a fourth that is above average. He has some stamina, but I think his control would concern me in long doses, but we'll see. He'll be on the staff in some way, shape or form. SU - Hunter Harvey Harvey logged a lot of innings for me given the short season, 36 of them, and in them he was pretty dang good. He's got a nasty curveball and fastball has some life, so I'm hoping he can continue to be a reliable setup man next year. CL - Joe Jimenez Ignore Joe's 4.00 ERA and pay attention instead to his 122 ERA+, 2.65 FIP and 54 FIP-. Joe was good for me, striking out 30% of the batter's he faced with his slidefastball combo. If he brings the changeup up a bit too that's even better. Holding onto a closer during a rebuild may be silly, but Joe was young enough that I wanted to ride it out instead of shipping him out and I hope it'll be worth it. I hope he can be better than 80% on saves though.

Updates from the Farm

I was so pumped about my minor league system. Lots of prospects, I manually set every organization's rosters, lineups and staffs, handling demotions and promotions myself for the first time ever. I was so excited about it that I totally forgot that there was no A/AA/AAA for 2020... what a letdown. So, the stats won't tell me much of a story this year, but I'll still share what my prospects look like and what I expect going forward, as well as where they'll be suiting up to start 2021.
Top 200:
1 (7) - SP Casey Mize For Mize, see above. Given the short season he's still considered a prospect, but this guy is in the rotation and figures to be for awhile. He's rated as the 7th best prospect in baseball by BNN and is my top prospect.
2 (11) - SP Matt Manning Same for Manning, who is discussed above as well - he's moved up a couple of spots after last season.
3 (27) - SP Tarik Skubal Tarik is another top 30 prospect league-wide, another arm in the farm. He has a plus fastball and changeup combo, with a curve and slider that look to be above league average. He projects with above average stuff, league average control and slightly lower than average movement. I have my concerns about Tarik, namely the extreme flyball profile and his poor personality profile, but he's a leader and could be a live arm. I was really hoping to see how he did in AAA last year, so we'll settle for this season and see if he's almost ready. He was great in AA in 2019.
4 (54) - OF Riley Greene Green looks like he may swing an above average bat for me and has the potential to draw a lot of walks. I like that he doesn't have any glaring weaknesses, looks like a good baserunner and is reliable in the field. I wish his arm was a bit stronger and of course he needs to fill out the potential, but he'll be in high A ball in 2021 to see if he can keep progressing nicely.
6 (65) - IF Ke'Bryan Hayes Hayes is a good third baseman that I had plans of teaching 2B this season when I thought there would be games. I think he'll give me some infield versatility, playing solid defense, and I like his personality. He's already got the discipline and doesn't strike out a ton, with some room to improve there. If the contact comes along he'll have a nice profile. I wish we hadn't lost the year because I wanted to teach him a couple of positions, but he might be ready after one more season.
7 (72) - 1B Ryan Mountcastle Mountcastle feels like a prospect that is already ready, but I was hoping to see it myself in AAA this year. The defense is there (sure, only at 1B) and the hitting tool is pretty much big league ready, but I'd love the discipline to fill out more. I think he's probably a better option than Will Craig at 1B already, but I still want to see if his 2019 AAA performance holds. He could be a call-up next season.
8 (78) - C Drew Romo My new scout isn't as high on Romo as the one I had when I drafted him, but I'm still hopeful. Since he was in a low enough league, we can actually see that he was a good player in the Gulf Coast League last year, hit well in his 49 games. He's definitely going to be going up to Low A to see if he keeps moving nicely and hopefully that helps the hit tool come along. The defense is already solid and I love the high work ethic and leadership - I'm hopeful he's a long-term backstop for me.
9 (87) - 3B Isaac Paredes Paredes is why I'm teaching Hayes 2B - I think Paredes profiles better at 3B, though isn't going to win any gold gloves there. He was great in 2019 so I want to see it a bit in AAA, but he's coming along nicely despite no playing time. He looks to truly have no weakness, though no elite talent either. If he fills out the hitting, he'll be a nice everyday player for me soon.
10 (96) - RP Bryan Abreu See above for Abreu's 2020 in the MLB. Abreu was great in relief and I imagine he doesn't quite have the stamina for more, but BNN likes him as a top 100 arm.
11 (124) - 1B/OF Evan White I really wanted White to learn a corner OF position, he's got the ratings for it (60/60/60) and I have Mountcastle at 1B in the pipeline too. The new scout likes White even more than my old one did, and he had a couple of nice positive progressions throughout the season despite no playing time. The concern with White is the hitting, but it sure looks like it's come along nicely already and he looks about as big league ready as he's going to - I just wanna see him do it in AAA for a bit this season.
12 (129) - RF Yusniel Diaz Diaz looks like he can be a league average hitter and a good right fielder. Frankly I'm hoping his high work ethic pushes one of his hitting tools a bit higher to make him more worthwhile, but he was hitting well in AA in 2019 and I hope he'll do the same in AAA.
13 (143) - SP Franklin Perez Perez has some work to do and his fragile durability concerns me a lot. It's probably as good of a time as ever to try to sell on him if anyone will take him, but I'm not sure if they will. BNN still likes him as a top 150 guy though and he looks to have a fairly balanced profile. If he survives on the team until the season he'll open it AA.
14 (146) - OF Daz Cameron Daz is the guy I'm hoping replaces Hill in CF soon. He needs to show me the bat in AAA, but the speed is good and the defense is good. He's god a solid profile (and I need a prankster on my MLB team) and has the makings of a solid walks guy with decent average and pop.
15 (168) - SP Kyle Harrison The big lefty spent time in the GCL after being drafted in the 3rd round (69th overall, nice) and was pretty solid in his time there. 10 starts, 3.04 ERA with an ERA+ of 152. The strikeouts weren't that great, but he didn't give up a bunch of homers or walks - he'll be in Low A next season.
16 (190) - Dean Kremer Another arm I would've loved to see in AAA this season, he struggled there in 2019 but I think he's ready now. Four solid pitches, balanced profile, but I need to see him perform in AAA this year before deciding if he's ready to come up, I think he's a year away.
Notes on some outside the Top 200:
LF Sammy Siani did well enough in R+ that he'll go to Low A next season. SP Justin Dunn will get time in AAA to see if he's ready. SP Ryan Hagenow wasn't overly stellar in the GCL, I might try him in Rookie + for the year rather than a full bump to A-. SP Charez Butcher was solid in the GCL, will see A- action in 2021. SP Storm Hierholzer was decent in the GCL, he'll go to R+ for the Clio Kings. CF Derek Hill is now 28th in my system and outside the Top 500. OF Petey Halpin struggled a bit in the GCL, may give him another year there or try R+. SP Calvin Schapira was good in A-, will go to A/A+. 2B Addison Barger raked in R+, will go to A- or A. C Yeison Ceballo was a bit below average in Rookie ball, will try R+. SS Hunter Haas will move to R+ from the GCL after an average season. SP Alex Greene was solid in the GCL, will go to A-. SP Davis Heller is probably ready for A- after a decent R+ season. SP Hunter Cranton dominated R+, will go to A/A+ (was 20th round pick). 1B Alex Burleson was solid in limited time in the GCL, will go to A-. IF/RP Masyn Winn tore his rotator cuff and missed most of 2020, will repeat GCL. RP Luke Little struggled in R+, will repeat. RP Blake Weiman retired from baseball to go play golf.
I'm looking forward to getting all of my prospects on the field in 2021 and seeing if we can improve upon our major league performances. I know it'll be another rough year, but we have lots to look forward to!

Even though everyone's already forgotten about Baseball-Reference's simulated season, I put together a prospective ballot for each award based on how players did in the sim.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about click here. Here’s some more links to how AL pitchers did, how NL pitchers did, how AL batters did, and how NL batters did. Also if a stat is italicized that means the player led their respective league in that category. Anyway onto the important stuff.

American League MVP

1. Francisco Lindor, CLE

.309/.361/.546, 205 H, 56 2B, 33 HR, 131 RBI, 362 TB, 9.2 WAR Lindor proved he was the complete package this year. At the plate, he led the AL in hits, hits for extra bases, and total bases. Of course, clobbering 56 doubles and 33 homers will do that. He had the most WAR of anyone in the American League (including the fish man), and his glove sure helped that number. Oh did I mention his team came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series? Because his team came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series.

2. Mike Trout, LAA

.275/.436/.556, 151 H, 43 HR, 145 BB, 94 RBI, 129 R, 9.0 WAR Wow didn’t expect to see him here. Led the AL in OBP and OPS. Shocker. Would've led WAR too if it wasn't for that Indian man. Also led league in Runs Scored and Walks because why not when you're a god. Mike Trout is still very good at baseball, and the Angels still didn't make the playoffs.

3. Yordan Alvarez, HOU

.304/.380/.551, 195 H, 39 HR, 135 RBI, 354 TB, 162 GS, 5.2 WAR The 23-year-old really stepped up this year, batting in the most runs in the league. He also scored 118 runs, the second most on a team that won 94 games. Alvarez also came in super clutch for Houston with 4.5 Win Probability Added, third most in the league. Second most was Mike Trout with 5.0, and in first we have…

4. Matt Chapman, OAK

.248/.337/.512, 151 H, 42 HR, 127 RBI, 94 R, 7.1 WAR, 5.2 WPA A low batting average didn’t matter to the reigning Gold Glove winner, whose team won the division by 5 games. I feel pretty safe in saying if Chapman had been gone the Athletics wouldn’t have won 99 games, and when a player does something like that, you put him on your MVP ballot.

5. Shohei Ohtani, LAA

As Batter: .301/.372/.520, 121 H, 21 HR, 43 XBH, 209 TB, 79 RBI, 72 R, 3.5 WAR As Pitcher: 10-14, 3.68 ERA, 20 QS, 203.0 IP, 73 BB, 246 K, 1.084 WHIP, 3.2 WAR Second best OPS on a team with Mike Trout on it is nothing to sneeze at. Accomplishing that while also being arguably the best pitcher on the squad and you have Shohei Ohtani. While, again, the Angels didn’t make the postseason, that 86-76 record would look a lot worse if it weren’t for Ohtani-san.

6. Byron Buxton, MIN

.274/.322/.446, 189 H, 24 HR, 308 TB, 97 RBI, 113 R, 55 SB, 754 PA, 691 AB, 6.3 WAR A shoo-in for Gold Glove in CF following Kevin Kiermaier’s midseason trade to the Cubs, Buxton helped his team win 97 games, finishing only one game behind the AL Central-winning Indians. Buxton also held his own at the plate, where he settled in more than any other American League batter, and made the most of it. Second most bags swiped in the league too.

7. Jose Ramirez, CLE

.289/.363/.540, 186 H, 38 HR, 83 XBH, 348 TB, 108 RBI, 125 R, 28 SB, 6.6 WAR Batting in front of the Francisco Lindor does have its perks, but when that bat is Jose Ramirez, it helps even more. Ramirez was also the leader in runs scored on the come-back-from-a-3-and-0-deficit-to-win-the-World-Series team, and finished with the second most extra base hits in the AL (behind Lindor).

8. Yoan Moncada, CHW

.308/.370/.531, 197 H, 36 HR, 88 RBI, 108 R, 340 TB, 6.6 WAR, 4.1 WPA Moncada’s inclusion this high up is more out of sympathy than anything else. His team came in with such high promise, so many predicted they’d compete for the division, before finishing the year below .500 at 78-84. He still contributed, garnering the 3rd most hits and the 7th most total bases in the AL, but ultimately fell victim to a team that started Edwin “.180/.261/.359 and -1.6 WAR” Encarnacion at DH for 138 games. A bullpen whose second best arm had negative WAR probably didn’t help either.

9. Gleyber Torres, NYY

.291/.371/.559, 178 H, 46 HR, 81 XBH, 132 RBI, 121 R, 342 TB, 6.3 WAR, 4.4 WPA Best player on the team with the most wins in the AL. Second most homers in the league behind Joey Gallo’s 47. Only thing holding him back is the excellence of everyone above him. And the fact that while he was the best player on the only AL 100-win team, he was far from the only great player on that team.

10. Shed Long, SEA

.287/.352/540, 182 H, 39 HR, 79 XBH, 343 TB, 133 RBI, 103 R, 5.1 WAR Wanted to acknowledge the surprise team of the year, the Seattle Mariners, who led their division for a good portion of the season before regressing to finish at 84-78. A big part of their success was Long, who led the team in hits (by 24), RBIs (by 46), homers (by 11), and qualified OPS (by .113). In other words, the tenth spot on this ballot went to the entire Mariners offense, and his name is Shed Long.
Honorable Mentions: George Springer HOU (.303/.386/.564, 44 HR, 6.6 WAR) Rafael Devers BOS (.303/.351/.457, 38 HR, 2nd most TB, 6.1 WAR) Andrelton Simmons LAA (.283/.318/.407, 6.6 WAR) Gerrit Cole NYY (18-4, led league in ERA and Ks, 6.0 WAR) Trey Mancini BAL (~30 games lost to injury, .302/.368/.587, 40 HR, 4.1 WAR)

American League Cy Young

1. Gerrit Cole, NYY

32 GS, 18-5, 214.1 IP, 3.02 ERA, 283 K, 23 QS, 1.106 WHIP, 11.9 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 6.0 WAR Best pitcher on the best team, but that’s not why I’m voting for him. He’s in the #1 spot because he led the league in the two more important categories of the Pitching Triple Crown, only walked 48, and accrued the most WAR of any AL pitcher.

2. Shane Bieber, CLE

33 GS, 20-8, 214.2 IP, 3.65 ERA, 218 K, 22 BB, 20 QS, 1.030 WHIP, 9.1 K/9. 0.9 BB/9, 4.8 WAR Lowest WHIP and fewest walks surrendered of any qualified AL starter, most wins in the league, and need I remind you that he’s on the team that came back from a 3-0 deficit in the World Series to beat the St. Louis Cardinals? While he was tenth in strikeouts, his miniscule number of walks meant his K/BB was also the best in the American League.

3. Lucas Giolito, CHW

34 GS, 13-9, 187.2 IP, 3.40 ERA, 277 K, 14 QS, 1.040 WHIP, 13.3 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 4.6 WAR While he may not have gone as long into the games he started as the people above him, G-Elite-o made his pitches count. Only six strikeouts behind the leader Cole despite over 25 fewer innings pitched, the highest K/9 in the AL, and probably would’ve had a lot more wins if his bullpen wasn’t a dumpster fire.

4. Jesus Luzardo, OAK

33 GS, 13-7, 210.1 IP, 3.04 ERA, 234 K, 25 QS, 1.108 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.5 WAR Second lowest ERA, most Quality Starts, and being the best pitcher on a 99-win team while a rookie. Stands right below Gerrit Cole on several lists (ERA and WAR are the primary two that land him here) but his contributions to his team were far from second best.

5. Aroldis Chapman, NYY

48 GF, 1-2, 35 SV, 55.2 IP, 2.10 ERA, 86 K, 0 BS, 1.006 WHIP, 13.9 K/9, 2.0 WAR, 3.7 WPA Yankees games very often came down to Chapman performing (as you can see with the league-high save total), and each time they called on him, he delivered. His 3.7 Wins Probability Added is the highest of any AL pitcher, starting or otherwise. Gerrit Cole, in second, has 3.0. Chapman was integral to the Yankees pitching this year.
Honorable Mentions: Zack Greinke HOU (33 GS, 18-7, 229.0 IP, 4.52 ERA, 6 CG, 2 SHO, 216 K, 27 BB, 3.6 WAR) Brendan McKay TBR (32 GS, 16-12, 186.0 IP, 3.87 ERA, 207 K, 4.3 WAR) Sean Manaea OAK (33 GS, 16-7, 219.1 IP, 3.32 ERA, 192 K, 4.1 WAR)

American League Rookie Of The Year

1. Jesus Luzardo, OAK

33 GS, 13-7, 210.1 IP, 3.04 ERA, 234 K, 25 QS, 1.108 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.5 WAR Basically for all of the reasons listed for his Cy Young candidacy, plus the fact that he’s a rookie. Dude killed it.

2. Austin Hays, BAL

.286/.326/.510, 179 H, 35 HR, 70 XBH, 319 TB, 87 RBI, 91 R, 3.4 WAR The consensus best rookie bat of the 2020 American League came to us from the Baltimore Orioles. Hays led all AL qualified rookies in every single stat listed above, sharing only his homer total and WAR total with Luis Robert. The future of the Orioles is looking bright.

3. Brendan McKay, TBR

32 GS, 16-12, 186.0 IP, 3.87 ERA, 207 K, 15 QS, 1.210 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 4.3 WAR Any other year, Brendan McKay would be an easy pick for best rookie pitcher. He had the bad luck of debuting the same year as Jesus Luzardo, but that didn’t stop him from excelling. He led his team’s rotation in Wins, Quality Starts, and BB/9.
Honorable Mentions: Nate Pearson TOR (34 GS, 8-8, 170.2 IP, 3.85 ERA, 204 K, 7 QS, 1.178 WHIP, 3.2 WAR) Luis Robert CHW (.248/.297/.496, 135 H, 35 HR, 270 TB, 75 RBI, 84 R, 3.4 WAR)

American League Manager of the Year

1. Terry Francona, CLE

98-64, Won AL Central, won World Series Tito just broke a 70+-year World Series drought with his second team. Also, not sure if you’ve heard, but they came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series.

2. Bob Melvin, OAK

99-63, Won AL West, lost ALDS in 4 to eventual WS Champs I honestly don’t know what I’m doing here so I just voted for Melvin because Oakland seems like a good team that Melvin helps along.

3. Scott Servais, SEA

84-78, 4th in AL West A great deal of expectations were upended near the beginning of the season as they led the AL West as late as June and were in a Wild Card spot for a great deal of the time they weren’t leading. Servais was a big part of making that product happen, so that’s why he’s here.
Honorable Mentions: Rocco Baldelli MIN (97-65) Aaron Boone NYY (100-62)

National League MVP

1. Juan Soto, WAS

.317/.441/.626, 187 H, 44 HR, 90 XBH, 369 TB, 141 RBI, 128 R, 130 BB, 9.0 WAR Juan. Soto. And I thought Mike Trout’s age-21 season was incredible. Soto truly showed all he had this year, leading so many offensive categories, captaining a playoff team, and garnering the most RBIs by a batter in a single season since 2009. Now some might say “But Bellinger was more valuable! His WPA dwarfs Soto and he had a much better season!” To that, I say, look at what they had to work with. Bellinger had 9 other players on his team top 3.5 WAR. Soto had 5. Bellinger’s team won 121 games, and without his 9 Wins Above Replacement, they would have won a measly 112, still by far the best in the league. If Soto’s 98-win team gets his 9 wins taken away, their 89 wins don’t capture the division, and depending on how many of those wins go to Milwaukee, they might not even be in the playoffs. So, in that sense, I feel comfortable picking Childish Bambino as my NL MVP.

2. Cody Bellinger, LAD

.297/.431/.593, 170 H, 45 HR, 77 XBH, 339 TB, 104 RBI, 137 R, 134 BB, 9.2 WAR, 8.8 WPA Boy oh boy did Bellinger have a year. Although it ended far short of where many believed it should have in NLCS Game 5, that doesn’t discount the amazing things Belli showed he was capable of. He led the NL in both home runs and walks, the first to do so since Barry Bonds in 2001. His 9.2 WAR was the most in the league. His 137 runs were the most in the league. His team won 121 games. What else can I say?

3. Ozzie Albies, ATL

.325/.367/.542, 222 H, 27 HR, 84 XBH, 370 TB, 95 RBI, 128 R, 29 SB, 7.0 WAR, 7.3 WPA Albies was the best player on a very good Braves team. Led the league in hits and total bases, which, I mean, that’s pretty good. Also spent a fair amount of time this season atop the batting average leaderboard. 7 fewer wins and Atlanta likely isn’t in the playoffs, so, yeah. Dunno if I can say much more. Braves fans better enjoy that contract.

4. Christian Yelich, MIL

.312/.423/.582, 174 H, 39 HR, 71 XBH, 324 TB, 114 RBI, 122 R, 29 SB, 7.9 WAR Another player whose team wouldn’t have made it if his Wins were taken away. Yelich’s Brewers barely scraped into the playoffs, and he dragged them kicking and screaming to that postseason spot. One of only three NL players to pass an OPS of 1.000 (others were Soto and Bellinger), and the third most WAR of any NL player, it’s no surprise he’s on here in such a high spot.

5. Clayton Kershaw, LAD

32 GS, 17-0, 217.0 IP, 2.36 ERA, 227 K, 25 QS, 2 SHO, 0.912 WHIP, 9.4 K/9, 1.0 BB/9, 7.2 WAR Three people are all valid answers to who the best pitcher was in the NL this year. Those men are Max Scherzer, Walker Buehler, and Clayton Kershaw. In my opinion, which will most definitely not be shared by everyone, Kershaw deserves to be remembered as the best. He suffered no losses, allowed the fewest walks and home runs of the three previously mentioned, and, last but not least, he threw a no-hitter. That will surely not convince many of you. It convinced me. And he’s that’s why he’s at number 5.

6. Max Scherzer, WAS

33 GS, 16-8, 226.0 IP 2.63 ERA, 318 K, 25 QS, 0.889 WHIP, 12.7 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, 7.7 WAR See what I meant? Scherzer was dominant. He struck out 35 more batters than any other pitcher did this year. Only eight of his starts weren’t Quality Starts. He pitched more innings than any other NL pitcher not named Johnny Cueto. His ERA and win total are 3rd and 6th among National League starters, respectively. He also pitched his team into the postseason, so it seems like he did all right.

7. Walker Buehler, LAD

33 GS, 15-5, 205.1 IP, 2.28 ERA, 278 K, 24 QS, 0.843 WHIP, 12.2 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 7.1 WAR, 3.8 WPA I really didn’t have any option but to group these three together. They were all just that good. And Buehler was no exception. League’s lowest ERA, lowest WHIP, and second most strikeouts. Lowest H/9 (6.0) of any NL starter as well. The only thing that Buehler did wrong was pitch so well in the same year as two other amazing performances. He even performed in the playoffs, allowing but two runs in striking out 19 in 15.1 innings of NLCS work only to see it all wither away as LA lost both games. You’ll get em next year.

8. Nolan Arenado, COL

.296/.364/.572, 182 H, 44 HR, 80 XBH, 351 TB, 110 RBI, 122 R, 7.8 WAR The high-flying third baseman may not have reached the postseason, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t try. With the most home runs and runs scored for the most potent offense in the NL West not based in Los Angeles, Arenado only struck out 103 times this year. That was the second lowest on the team, and lower than 93 other qualified batters. I guess he was also a pretty good defender so there’s that too.

9. Kris Bryant, CHC

.285/.413/.533, 159 H, 35 HR, 297 TB, 86 RBI, 107 R, 100 BB, 22 HBP, 7.0 WAR The Cubs lost 97 games this year, the most in the National League. They did that due to the trainwreck that was half their rotation and a bullpen that was equivalent to soggy bologna. If they were tanking, it appears they forgot to tell Kris Bryant, because he went off. Fourth highest on-base percentage among qualified batters. 5th highest OPS. 5th most walks. Top ten in many other categories. If you were curious who was above him on those leaderboards, many of them are elsewhere on this ballot. Pity the Cubs’ pitching exploded or he’d be in for a much better conclusion to a fantastic year.

10. Fernando Tatis Jr., SDP

.280/.354/.521, 173 H, 35 HR, 322 TB, 84 RBI, 98 R, 5.2 WAR If anybody doubted that Tatis Jr. was destined for greatness, this year silenced all doubters. At 21, Junior helped a surprise San Diego squad to a much-higher-than-predicted 77-85 record, and led the team in hits, home runs, slugging, and total bases while he was at it. He also had the most WAR on the team but that was kind of a given. He can only go up from here.
Honorable Mentions: Jacob deGrom NYM (13-14, 222.1 IP, 2.67 ERA, 250 K, 26 QS, 1.043 WHIP, 5.1 WAR) Kolten Wong STL (.283/.363/.390, 181 H, 42 XBH, 249 TB, 59 RBI, 102 R, 39 SB, 6.1 WAR) Miguel Rojas MIA (.300/.359/.421, 187 H, 49 XBH, 68 RBI, 82 R, 20 SB, 6.5 WAR) Ronald Acuña Jr. ATL (.302/.392/.536, 184 H, 35 HR, 71 XBH, 327 TB, 114 RBI, 117 R, 39 SB, 6.1 WAR) Gavin Lux LAD (.295/.376/.519, 161 H, 27 HR, 63 XBH, 283 TB, 74 RBI, 98 R, 22 SB, 5.4 WAR) Stephen Strasburg WAS (19-5, 211.0 IP, 3.67 ERA, 242 K, 22 QS, 1.095 WHIP, 6.7 WAR)

National League Cy Young

1. Clayton Kershaw, LAD

32 GS, 17-0, 217.0 IP, 2.36 ERA, 227 K, 25 QS, 2 SHO, 0.912 WHIP, 9.4 K/9, 1.0 BB/9, 7.2 WAR Said all I need to say back over at #5 on the MVP listing, so go peep that if you haven’t already to know why he’s here.

2. Max Scherzer, WAS

33 GS, 16-8, 226.0 IP 2.63 ERA, 318 K, 25 QS, 0.889 WHIP, 12.7 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, 7.7 WAR Same as Kersh. This was really tough I promise you, and tomorrow I might feel differently, but this is my ballot today.

3. Walker Buehler, LAD

33 GS, 15-5, 205.1 IP, 2.28 ERA, 278 K, 24 QS, 0.843 WHIP, 12.2 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 7.1 WAR, 3.8 WPA Ditto on the last two. Buehler also led the league in WPA for starters, which I didn’t mention up there, but do here because this is specifically a pitching award.

4. Jacob deGrom, NYM

34 GS, 13-14, 222.1 IP, 2.67 ERA, 250 K, 26 QS, 1.043 WHIP, 10.1 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.1 WAR While deGrom may have lost out on the three-peat, he didn’t lose for lack of trying. In only his second losing season, the deGrominator led the league with 26 of his 34 games started being Quality Starts. He also happened to be given an average of, and I calculated this myself, 1.97 runs of support. Because of course he was. He did throw a no-hitter of his own against the team that would eventually win his division, though. So that’s pretty good.

5. Stephen Strasburg, WAS

33 GS, 19-5, 211.0 IP, 3.67 ERA, 242 K, 22 QS, 1.095 WHIP, 10.3 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 6.7 WAR The Nationals and Dodgers had, without a doubt, the best 1-2 starting duos in the league this year. Scherzer and strasburg were 1st and 4th on pitcher WAR league-wide, and Kershaw and Buehler were 2nd and 3rd. Strasburg showed last year was no fluke, striking out the 6th most batters of any NL pitcher and having the 4th best K/BB of any starter. His 22 quality starts were also tied for fifth most in the National LEague, and his 19 wins were the second most behind only Dodger Alex Wood. Strasburg’s numbers speak for themselves.
Honorable Mentions: Jack Flaherty STL (33 GS, 10-9, 198.1 IP, 3.40 ERA, 245 K, 1.008 WHIP, 11.1 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.9 WAR) Robbie Ray ARI (34 GS, 18-7, 203.0 IP, 3.01 ERA, 1.158 WHIP, 5.5 WAR) Josh Hader MIL (42 GF, 4-3, 52.0 IP, 1.38 ERA, 25 SV, 105 K, 0.932 WHIP, 18.2 K/9, 2.8 WAR) Freddy Peralta MIL (9-6, 3.01 ERA, okay overall, but threw a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts)

National League Rookie of the Year

1. Gavin Lux, LAD

.295/.376/.519, 161 H, 27 HR, 63 XBH, 283 TB, 74 RBI, 98 R, 22 SB, 5.4 WAR Early on in the Rookie of the Year race, Lux proved the award was his to lose. And following a rookie season that could see him pop up on more than a few MVP ballots, it looks like he hasn’t. He leads NL rookies in all rate stats, has the most dingers, hits for extra bases, and total bases among that crowd. His team won 121 games. There you go.

2. Carter Kieboom, WAS

.283/.356/.451, 170 H, 21 HR, 58 XBH, 271 TB, 87 RBI, 101 R, 4.5 WAR The consensus second best NL rookie is nothing to be ashamed of when the first place player does what Gavin Lux did. Kieboom showed up too for his first year in the majors, leading NL rookies in RBIs, hits, and runs scored. He’ll definitely be one to keep your eye on in the coming years.

3. Kwang Hyun Kim, STL

59 G, 9-1, 104.1 IP, 2.76 ERA, 2 SV, 10 Ho, 123 K, 0.939 WHIP, 10.6 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 2.6 WAR The former KBO MVP proved he could hang with the big dogs of the MLB in his debut season across the pond. In a year that saw many promising pitchers debut very well, Kim led them all in ERA, WHIP, and K/BB (5.59) while coming out of the bullpen for the NL pennant winners.
Honorable Mentions: Bryse Wilson ATL (29 GS, 12-9, 173.0 IP, 3.59 ERA, 165 K, 10 QS, 1.069 WHIP, 3.0 WAR) Trevor Rogers MIA (27 GS, 10-11, 164.0 IP, 3.24 ERA, 140 K, 15 QS, 1.220 WHIP, 3.3 WAR) Brusdar Graterol LAD (42 G, 20 GS, 8-4, 131.1 IP, 3.22 ERA, 136 K, 1.150 WHIP, 9.3 K/9, 2.9 WAR) Michel Baez SDP (64 G, 3-2, 82.1 IP, 2.95 ERA, 109 K, 0.996 WHIP, 11.9 K/9, 1.8 WAR)

National League Manager of the Year

1. Mike Shildt, STL

96-66, Won NL Central, Won NL Pennant Again I’m not sure how I’m supposed to judge this because there really isn’t all that much to go on but his team did really well so…

2. Dave Roberts, LAD

121-41, Won NL West, lost NLCS in 5 games His team did really well too but everyone kind of expected that so his placement isn’t as high even though they did really well.

3. Davey Martinez, WAS

98-64, Won NL East, Lost NLDS in 3 games His team did really well too even though they lost a pretty good player so I guess he gets my vote too.
Honorable Mentions: Craig Counsell MIL (86-76) Brian Snitker ATL (92-70)

batting average leaders 2020 video

Can you name the MLB Batting Average Leaders in 2020 (Deadline)? by Big_Chungus68 Plays Quiz not verified by Sporcle . Rate 5 stars Rate 4 stars Rate 3 stars Rate 2 stars Rate 1 star . How to Play. Popular Quizzes Today. Find the US States - No Outlines Minefield 939 2020 Draft Recap: Round 2 (Fantasy Baseball) FantasyPros · 2 days ago. The first round was covered in this post. The Nationals shortstop solidified himself as one of the most valuable fantasy hitters in the game, racking up a .335 batting < Louisville Baseball 2021 Season Preview Sports Illustrated · 2 days ago. We're over a week into the new year, and that means only one thing: the 2021 Visit ESPN to view 2020 MLB stat leaders. MLB has enhanced its code of conduct pertaining to harassment and discrimination, has set up an anonymous hotline for those with information about sexual Here are the 2020 season's league leaders. Share. Here are the 2020 season's league leaders. September 28th, 2020. Sarah Langs @ (1986) and Al Oliver (1982) did so in Montreal. His .351 batting average was fourth-highest by a player in a qualified season in his age-21 season or younger. Soto also paced the Majors in on-base percentage (.490), slugging (.695) and OPS (1.185), easily making Visit ESPN to view 2020 MLB player stats. To qualify, a player must have at least 3.1 PA/game. Statistics are updated nightly MLB 2020 League Leaders in Batting Average, Home Runs, ERA – Hitting .400 Plus More. July 6, 2020 By Kreighton R Leave a Comment. The MLB announced a 60-game 2020 season and baseball purists are petrified. A friend of mine put his foot down and insisted, “if anyone breaks Lajoie’s record it doesn’t count”. He was referring, of course, to Nap Lajoie’s all-time-high single season 2020 Batting Leaders including BA: LeMahieu .364, H: Abreu 76, HR: Voit 22, OBP: LeMahieu .421, OPS: LeMahieu 1.011, R: Ramirez 45, R: Anderson 45, RBI: Abreu 60, SB 2020 Category Sleepers: RBI Rotoworld via Yahoo Sports · 11 months ago. After looking at categories that were more based...shift to categories that are more dependent on opportunity, supporting cast, and batting order spot.... It's a toss-up: Which candidates would you vote for in MLB's close MVP races? Yahoo Sports · 3 months ago. The Los Angeles Dodgers will go down as the champions of MLB 2020 Batting Leaders including BA: LeMahieu .364, H: Turner 78, HR: Voit 22, OBP: Soto .490, OPS: Soto 1.185, R: Freeman 51, RBI: Abreu 60, SB: Mondesi 24, SLG: Soto .695 Five of the top 10 players in batting average for 2020 are among Box-Toppers’ top 100 players. DJ LeMahieu of the Yankees led all players with a .364 batting average in the pandemic-shortened, 60-game 2020 season. He had 3.5 Box-Toppers points, 75th among all players and 13th among American Leagu

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PewDiePie - YouTube

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2020 MLB Stat Leaders | ESPN

batting average leaders 2020

batting average leaders 2020 - win

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I love Trea Turner and you should too: a brief history and analysis on baseball's most underrated shortstop

A speedy boy is born

From the start to the starting shortstop

Zooming to greatness

TVT for MVP

All MLB snub: real eyes realize real lies

In conclusion: Trea Turner send tweet

A Nuanced Perspective on Open Borders: Where the Liberals and the Left Fail.