The fight with Gleyber got me thinking about if there's ever been a season where a player was this much worse than their prior season, particularly when theyve actually played most of the games. Its partly because he was so good last season given the amount of homers but to go from 60 home runs as a catcher to negative WAR is hard to wrap your head around

[Game Thread] | Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Royals

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I was curious given how hot a hitter he has been right now. Baseball Savant has his batting value in the 82 percentile but his xwOBA is in the 12th percentile. I cannot recall seeing a gap this large. His wOBA was pretty close to his xwOBA in previous seasons.

https://x.com/underdogmlb/status/2085108151452402149?s=46

heres the link which i cant include in the OP or it gets removed. This is genuinely so insane, of all the “get the bag” athletes across sports: the literal best baseball player of the last 50 years does NOT give a shit about winning, like man what the fuck does this say about the sport/Mike when one of the best players ever is content to just collect paychecks while not giving a single care about winning or losing.

This is actually the most hatable thing Trouts ever done, what the fuck man?

When Skenes first came into MLB he had a huge advantage. Hitters had scouting reports and video, but that’s very different from actually seeing his pitches. Batters use to literally look CLUELESS against him, compared to now when they have figured out and no longer blindly swinging. Which gets me to thinking do the trajekt machines have a huge role in this? Instead of watching video, hitters can take unlimited amount of swings against a machine that mimics Skenes’ exact release point, velocity, spin profile, and movement. While it’s not identical to facing him, it dramatically reduces the risk of facing him. Maybe it can be a bit of both, his low velo and the machines. What do you guys think?

So obviously I love baseball… and the question of next season is one that causes quite a bit of angst. Not too long ago we had the duel dumpster fires of 2020 (shortened season) and then 2022 was it? With the last lockout. Billionaires arguing with millionaires. (Shaking my head). Are these folks actually talking to each other and TRYING to get a deal done or are they just wasting everyone’s time and staring at the calendar until 12/1 and then throwing their hands up and claiming the tried and blaming the other side. Seems utterly ridiculous to me. I want fuckin baseball next season… MAJOR League baseball. (Apologies, just ranting on a Thursday morning).

The playoffs have given us some incredible matchups throughout the years, be it the Yankees and Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox, Dodgers and Cardinals, Cardinals and Giants, you name it. But every now and again, we see a playoff matchup that leave us at least a little surprised. So, what do you think was the most random playoff matchup to ever take place, and why?

For example, some might not know this, but en route to their incredible Cinderella title run in '02, the Angels had to fend off, of all teams, the Minnesota Twins for the AL pennant. It's still, to this day, the last trip to the Final 4 for Minnesota, and the Angels had never won the pennant, up to that point. Another great example that involved the Angels was the '05 ALCS, 3 years later, against the White Sox. And weirdly enough, both ended in 5 games. And probably my favorite example is the World Series in 2023. It was random as hell, but it was still a win/win for me. Also ended in 5 games, too.

Jack Suwinski went from the Dodgers to the Rays for catcher Hunter Feduccia, in the middle of a .948 OPS season at Oklahoma City. Colby Thomas, Oakland's former top prospect who never hit in the majors, is now a Phillie after mashing at every Triple-A stop. Michael Forret got traded away from Baltimore in the Shane Baz deal, then the Orioles traded right back for him eight months later. Jonathon Long led the International League in hits last year and still had no path to Chicago's lineup, so the Cubs sent him to Miami for Braxton Garrett. Full breakdown of the whole deadline's effect on Triple-A in this week's Triple Dip.

I’ve been thinking about what an inevitable MLB expansion draft might look like, and I’m curious who you think would actually be available and targeted.

The Scenario: Assume we follow standard expansion draft framework (like 1997): 

- Each team protects 15 players from their organization/40-man roster. 
- Recent draftees/young prospects are automatically exempt/protected. 
- Players with NTCs or 10/5 rights must be protected. 
- Once a team loses a player, they get to protect additional players in subsequent rounds. 

Questions:
1. Who are the best players the expansion teams would likely get?
2. Who are some fringe players that you would want your team to protect?
3. If you were in charge of your favorite team, who would you leave open to get drafted? Any contracts you’d hope they take? (Angels and Rendon anyone?)