By Tom
You’ve seen it by now. I’m sure of it.
I suffered a concussion this past summer in a baseball game. It was the bottom of the 7th in a 5-3 game. It was a senior legion game so these kids were now young adults, some of them tuning up for college. It was summer in St. Louis, Ladue West if I remember, and it was hot with a little breeze.
My gear is a mish-mash of catching equipment and overpriced Wilson equipment I bought off Ump-Attire. I don’t even have plate shoes, because the cheap shin guards I have cover them–and frankly, each shot I’ve taken off the foot never really hurt. The chest protector is a big bastard, one that I wish was slimmer but I’d be doing the designers a disservice if I didn’t say it was effective. I’ve taken a lot of shots off the chest and shoulders and never feel it. The mask is a Wilson hockey mask that costs around $200 and is a good fit.
The kid closing the game out is sitting mid-80s. The thing about working the slot is you never really get a good look at some of the plays easily caught on tape. For example, a foul ball off the batter in the box. Happens fast, too fast, that if your peripherals are a tick off you’re basically relying on your partner to call it. And you’re taught to stay in no matter what too. Pitch in the dirt or a wild one coming for your face, you hang in there, you have to see the zone and if the batter swung.
It was a foul tip. There’s nothing you can do with a foul tip. They always come off the bat hotter than the pitch. A pitch around 84 mph is flying back around 90 or 95. You just have to let it hit you and I took it square. It dropped me and for a few seconds it took me a second to get my bearings. After getting up we finished the inning and I drove to the ER.
I didn’t work another plate game the rest of the season. I probably shouldn’t have worked in the field either, not with temperatures at 100 degrees. This shit was serious even for a guy working high school games.
Watching Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa get absolutely fucked up this past Thursday, on primetime TV, was disheartening to say the least. Sports leagues will always put the product above the player, it’s why large conglomerates like the NFL and NHL fought lawsuits for so long, it’s why MLB had to shell out $185 million to future big leaguers. If these leagues cared about players–their workers–so much there wouldn’t be any demand for unionization.
This could have been avoided. Tua was clearly concussed four days before he lost consciousness and seized up for everyone to see. He left that game momentarily only to return and finish. The Dolphins’ excuse was from a different reality, as they said he suffered a back injury
The first domino has fallen as the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant who cleared Tagovailoa has been fired by the NFLPA. Notice that it’s the union exercising their right to dismiss them. Head coach Mike McDaniel has been under intense scrutiny for his decision to play Tagovailoa, he has said that “This is a player-friendly organization, and I make it very clear from the onset that my job here is for the players…If there would have been anything lingering with his head, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I prematurely put someone out there and put them in harm’s way.”
Well, ya did man. We all saw it, surely you did.
Tagovailoa had battled adversity his previous two seasons, the 2020 first rounder–and top pick–has been injured off and on since breaking into the league. He faced further scrutiny when he took over for fill-in starter Ryan Fitzpatrick–the Dolphins went 6-3 in games he started that year. His stats for the first two seasons had been underwhelming, however he appeared to have turned a corner this season posting a 109.9 QB rating before his injury. Earlier in the season, Tua threw for 6 touchdowns and 469 yards in a thrilling 42-38 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.
Miami’s moral track record in recent seasons hasn’t boded well. Whether it’s punishing players for protesting the National Anthem, courting a sexual predator to be their new franchise QB, firing their successful head coach for not deliberately losing games, or now throwing their current franchise QB’s health under the bus. These are billionaires with their toys smashing them together and the worst thing they’ll ever face is a slap on the wrist and a fine.
Team MVPs
Alright enough sad shit. The season is winding down and enough has happened to where we can hand out some end-of-the-season accolades. Plus I spent way too much time researching and writing about Ben DeLuzio’s weird twitter account for me to do much research on how the Pirates are projected to be the first team flung into the Sun, or how the Brewers divisional collapse has generated so much gravitational pull that a small, but expanding, black hole has formed at the bottom of the left field slide in American Family Field. These are just some guys I picked for these sections, there are other players who deserve praise and adulation, but these guys are the ones I like. If you disagree, well fuck you.
- Goldy and Nolan: Automatic lock. For most of the season Goldy has been the or one of the frontrunners for NL MVP. He cooled off in September after posting a 1.115 OPS in August, allowing Nolan to chase him down. Both dudes lead the NL in fWAR at 7.2 with Manny Machado hot on their trail at 7.1. Goldschmidt leads the NL in wRC+, 21 points ahead of second-place slugger Freddie Freeman. Nolan is right behind Freddie with a 152 and a point ahead of Machado. If you want more ammunition for the Nolan vs. Manny debate, Nolan’s DRS and OAA is miles ahead of him. Goldy’s .988 OPS is tops in the NL, and he’s top 5 in average, home runs, runs scored, and RBIs. Goldy’s bashed a 164 OPS+ with RISP and a 214 OPS+ with 2 outs and RISP. Nolan has been super clutch too, posting a 136 and 148 OPS+ in those situations. League MVP should go to Goldy, unless they find a bunch of Nazi shit in his weird house or something.
- Albert Pujols: It’s tiring at this point, but Albert Pujols is this team’s second half MVP. Go read last week’s edition of SFS for more in-depth puffery. Pujols is tied for 1st in the NL in home runs since the All-Star Break, and 3rd in the MLB. His 1.053 OPS leads the NL and is second behind only Aaron Judge. He may also be the last player to hit 700 career home runs for a long, long, long time.
- Ryan Helsley: Hells Bells Helsley, try saying that 5 times fast. This bullpen wouldn’t be worth a shit if it weren’t for Helsely stepping up. He’s tied for 5th in the majors in fWAR, 6th in K/9, 3rd in ERA, and leads the circuit in LOB%. He’s also thrown the fastest pitch this season at 104 mph and his heater is top 5 in spin rate. The man has simply been electric this year and nothing would bring me more joy than seeing him close out a series at Truist Park.
Big Leap FOrward
- Brendan Donovan: If Atlanta didn’t have two cheat codes on their team, I’d picked Brendan Donovan as ROY. He’ll still get some votes. Donny Boy ranks 4th in the NL in OBP for guys with 400 PAs and 16th in wRC+. He played five positions in the field and played them adequately. He’s been steady all goddamn season. His 2.5 WAR is 39th in the NL, who would have guessed he’d be a top 50 position player! Donny’s excellent rookie season has increased his stock as either a trade target or potential replacement for Tommy Two-Bags should he ever be put on the market or suffer an injury.
- Tommy Edman: Speaking of which, Tommy Edman has put up the kind of WAR this season to be earning Corey Seager money. Depending what metric you like to use, Tommy 4-Dicks has a 5.3 fWAR or 6.0 bWAR. It’s kind of impressive he’s doing this despite posting a .716 OPS, but the man is invaluable everywhere else. In fact, despite the dip in offensive production league-wide, Tommy has improved compared to last year. His 106 OPS+ is above league average, he’s OBP and SLUG are also higher. He’s nabbed 30 bags and scored 90+ runs in consecutive seasons. Tommy’s BABIP suggests that a .250-.270 batting average is probably his window annually, but his power still has room to grow. We haven’t even talked about the other intangibles. Edman’s Baserunning saved Runs leads the Majors, and his Defensive Runs Above Average–DEF–is 5th in the league as well, a value he’s accrued by playing two demanding defensive positions at shortstop and second base. We’re not done yet, he’s top 10 at both of those positions in DEF despite playing just over 600 innings apiece, the league leaders have played over 1,000.
- Lars Nootbaar: Who would’ve thunk it after the horrid start he had to the season? Noot entered July slashing .145/.221/.261 in 77 PAs. Since then he’s slashing .256/.380/.517 in 255 PAs. Noot’s OBP ranks 13th in the Majors, right behind Donny Boy, since the end of June. The .517 SLUG is also top 25 and his wRC+ is top 20. What’s even more impressive is his walk rate, Noot’s 4th in the league since the turn of July with a 16.9 BB%. Oh have I also mentioned he has a top 20 gun in RF too? His 2.7 fWAR is third on the team in that span, just behind Goldy.
Eeeeeeshhh
- Paul DeJong: I feel this has been harped on to the point my asshole is programmed to seize up when I hear his name. I feel bad for Pauly. He went down to the minors, got his power stroke back, came back up and showed promise even threatening to get over the Mendoza Line. In the 10 games following his return, PDJ was slashing .333/.439/.849 with 4 long-balls, but since then he’s 8 for his last 84 with a .314 OPS. Even if we include that 10 game spurt, DeJong is slashing .162/.261/.333 since coming back from Memphis. DeJong is cheap for a major leaguer, but his value is not as a defensive replacement, which is what he’s been used for down the stretch. He was a ROY runner-up in 2017 and smashed 30 bombs in 2019, but since that power surge he’s been woefully ineffective. Since 2020 there have been 257 players with at least 700 PAs, Pauly D is the 20th worst in Offensive Runs Above Average–OFF. His 77 wRC+ in that span is 15th worst, his 28.3 K% 29th, his .195 average 4th, OBP 14th, and SLUG 20th. DeJong isn’t just having a bad season, but his career has completely bottomed in the last three.
- Tyler O’Neill: This entire podcast sung the praises of Tyler O’Neill at the beginning of the season, and he has not disappointed…by being the pre-2021 Tyler O’Neill. Injuries have, again, limited O’Neill’s playing time, as he’s appeared in only 96 games this season, and while his 101 OPS+ puts him at the league average, Tyler O’Neill is not supposed to be average. Last season Hercules was far and away the best left fielder in the game; his .912 OPS and 11 DRS earned him MVP votes and a second consecutive Gold Glove. This season he’s carrying a .700 OPS and 0 DRS. I don’t really care much for the defense, however the offense is of grave concern. Among 95 outfielders with at least 350 PAs, O’Neill is 41st from the bottom in slugging and his fWAR 38th. While his SO% is 4.6 points lower than last season, and his BB% above league average, his HR% is down from 6.3% to 3.7%. It’s been nothing short of a disappointing year for Muscles.
- A lot of guys on the pitching staff: I thought about Dylan Carlson, but I don’t know. It feels like pitching should be here. I thought about singling one guy out, but really it’s just an amalgamation of dudes underperforming and getting hurt. Steven Matz signed a 4 year $44 million deal and DID THE EXACT THING I FUCKING KNEW WAS GONNA HAPPEN. Dakota Hudson labored the whole season until getting his dingle flicked and sent to the minors to straighten his shit out. Prior to his demotion, he was carrying a 4.43 ERA through 126 innings, I even wrote a whole fucking article on how not good he was performing. I guess he read it–hi, Dakota–because since coming back from Memphis he’s gone 11 innings with no earned runs, let’s see if he can keep that momentum. Fucking Jordan Hicks showing that 2018 is going to be the only healthy season of his career, although in his defense what the fuck was management thinking putting him in the rotation to start the year? Hicks completed 5 innings in one of his 8 starts on the season, he walked at least 2 batters in all of those starts, he didn’t win a single one and the team went 3-5. He wasn’t much better out of the ‘pen either carrying a 4.50 ERA and a 3.7 BB/9, I thought we learned our lesson about this with Alex Reyes last season? Oh and I forgot, Genesis Cabrera and TJ McFarland and Nick Wittgren and Drew VerHagen and Jack Flaherty too. Cabrera for Hicks-like reasons, McFarland and Wittgren for being bad–to Mac’s credit, he’s trying to battle back–VerHagen for getting hurt and being bad, and Flaherty not because he’s done anything wrong, but just so I can say the front office has fucked his shoulder and career up so bad to this point. We’re three years removed from Jack’s top 5 Cy Young season. What is it with this city and shoulder problems on their stars?
Time for Some Unnecessary Kindness
We’re playing the Pirates again, hooooorrraaaaay, says no one except Pirates fans, who’re happy the season’s almost over. We wrap up a 2 game series at home today and then head to PNC to finish the campaign with a 3 game series. The Pirates took a 13-3 drubbing last night and sit at 99 losses for the season. They’re most likely gonna lose 100 games and the Cardinals probably win 94-96. Another great season for a team that’s expected to compete, and another forgotten season for the penny-pinchin’ Pirates.
We dunked on the Pirates for fun a few editions ago, and while it’s nice to say unnecessarily cruel things about a baseball team and their fanbase, do we really need to say that they don’t deserve nice things again? Let’s be nice to the Pirates, at least this once.
Bob Nutting sucks so bad. Bottom-Line Bob, what a dumb but accurate nickname for a mega rich owner who derives pleasure from watching this fanbase suffer. I’ve shat on Yinzers and their goofy accents and that I hate their football and hockey teams, but the Pirates? I would love to hate the Pirates, like authentically hate them. Hate them because they’re successful and a thorn in the side, like they were during those brief glimmers of hope under Clint Hurdle. Those days were cool, it seemed like every other year one of the bottom-feeders figured it out. From 2010 to 2019 the NL Central Division Champs went: Reds, Brewers, Reds, Cardinals, Cardinals, Cardinals, Cubs, Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals. Everyone got a piece of the action except the Pirates, but they posted some good-ass teams like in 2015 when they won 98 games or 2013 when they won 94. They earned a wildcard berth from 2013 to 2015, all while never posting a payroll over $100 million.
Bucs fans deserve so much more. We’re talking about a franchise that had some of the wildest uniforms, had a pitcher–allegedly–throw a no-hitter high on LSD, Won 2 World Series with guys popping greenies and doing coke in the clubhouse, produced one of baseball’s greatest legends and humanitarians–a guy who died in the act of humanitarianism, who did so much they named the league’s humanitarian award after him–who gave us baseball’s greatest World Series game. A storied franchise with dudes like Honus Wagner, Paul Waner, Willie Stargell, Ralph Kiner, and Barry Bonds. You could tell a very interesting story about the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, one filled with stunning achievement and immense heartbreak, a tragic fable.
But then you get to this moment, or the moment Bob Nutting became principal owner in 2007. He had his hand in organization as early as 2002, so maybe it starts there. The Pirates entered a period of malaise following their 3rd consecutive NLCS loss in 1992–and 2nd to the Atlanta Braves. They languished at the bottom of the division except for a 2nd place run in 1997 when the Houston Astros won the division with 84 games. Pirates fans never really came out during that span, who could blame them. Their attendance spiked in 2001 with the opening of PNC Park, one of baseball’s most gorgeous parks, but it never sustained that momentum, well except in those Clint Hurdle years. They weren’t much, just middle of the road compared to the rest of the league, but they were the highest attended seasons in Pirates history. Aside from 2001, the 2012-2016 years saw Pittsburgh draw the most in their franchise’s history. They didn’t even spend that much money to do this, they had reclamation projects like AJ Burnett and Francisco Liriano, scrappy players like Russell Martin, Neil Walker, and Jody Mercer, and one superstar in Andrew McCutcheon, a guy they got on a bargain for most of his career–and who should sue them for it. Those years should show you what Pirates fans are capable of if you just give them a chance and reason to believe.
Fuck Bob Nutting with the entire state of Pennyslvania, make him sell the team and shoot him into a brick wall at light speed.
First pitch is at 1:15 with Roansy Contreras going against Adam Wainwright. Enjoy the game everyone.
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