Whattaya talk, Anthony? You get too much sun out at the beach?
McCarron, a native New Yorker, has also worked at the Daily News for about the last two hundred years. Even if you're on the Mets' channel, Ant'ny, no need to go around striking the usual pose that we New Yorkers are really just a bunch of insular provincials in our own right, unaware of what is going on in the greater world.
McCarron assured us that, after all, Ohtani is "a great hitter and a great pitcher."
Ohtani is certainly a marvel. But he is essentially a DH who pitches once a week—the only way he has managed to stay uninjured in the majors.
As a batter, he is a lifetime .266 hitter. As a pitcher, he got into double figures in wins for the first time this year, and has yet to throw a single complete game.
Ohtani still does not have a single chance in the field, other than on the mound. He has still yet to play a single, meaningful game for his woeful Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. No playoff game, no game in a pennant race—and that's with one Mike Trout on the same team.
All the attempts by MLB and its media friends to make him into the next Babe Ruth—ESPN even named him their baseball player of the year. At the All-Star Game—don't make it so.
Yes, he's a good pitcher, having his best year as such. But he's still never thrown more than 137 innings in a season, and he has a lifetime record of 24-13, 3.13.
Yes, he's a good hitter, having just drilled two homers last night against a hapless Tigers team, in the sort of typical, 10-0, glorified exhibition the Angels play all the year long. But his hitting stats are notably down from last season.
This year, Aaron Judge has an OPS that is nearly 200 points HIGHER than Ohtani's, 1.085-.898. This year, Judge is leading the AL in runs, homers, RBI, total bases, and walks. He has a chance to break the Non-Cheaters' Season Home Run Record, and even an outside chance to become the first, non-juiced Triple Crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski, in 1967.
He has also been doing all this while playing some stellar outfield, and stealing 15 bases in 17 attempts. And, as noted yesterday, he has done it while playing in a pennant race, surrounded by what has become one of the most unproductive lineups in living memory.
Ohtani has never led the league in anything, save for triples and caught-stealing in 2021. (He is 11-20 in stolen bases this year, and bids fair to hold onto the caught-stealing title.)
Look, once again: I don't want to just bash the West Coast Wonder.
But Aaron Judge was already robbed of one MVP award by the shenanigans of the Littlest Astro back in 2017. No need for New York sportswriters to be running down his chances in 2022. And cheer up, Anthony—he'll probably be playing for your guys next year.
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37 comments:
Well done HC66,
but not to pick your nits but he leads MLB ( not just the AL) in
Runs
OBP
HR
RBI
OPS
and, Slg.
And that is with having .220 hitters "protecting" him. [Except for Carp before he got hurt.]
I agree with 100% of this. Ohtani is the star of “The Baseball Player's New Clothes,” it seems to me. A good pitcher and a good hitter. But if he was JUST a pitcher, or JUST a hitter, would he be talked about for MVP?
O's promoters will say that he's NOT just a pitcher or just a hitter, that's why he's so incredible and wondrous.
If he put up Ruthian numbers, I'd agree. But he doesn't.
Hoss, I quoted your post liberally on Twitter because I doubt that most people would click the link to the post that IIH put up. And people need to read your points.
How does a good hitter/good pitcher = MVP? Especially when Judge is having a Ruthian season? If Judge gets robbed of another MVP, there's going to be hell to pay.
Pitching is a separate award or should be. Ohtani is hitting .260 for a bad team. Judge is hitting over .300 with 54 homers for a first place team. Enough said.
Thanks, guys. And yes, it's amazing that Ohtani can do both. But in context, he's essentially a roadside attraction. Making him out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread is just MLB's desperate effort to attract eyeballs to a game they have mostly ruined.
Deflating the Ohtani hype is something I'd love to see any media outlet pick up on. Right now, there's no conversation about it at all in terms of "name" media.
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2022/9/6/23338405/yankees-mlb-first-base-depth-ronald-guzman-anthony-rizzo-injury-scranton-railriders
And he pitches!
Is MVP a misnomer? Is the winner supposed to be the most valuable player or the best player? If the former it’s clearly Judge, without him the NYY would buried in the standings. The Angels are buried WITH Ohtani (who I like!) If the latter, I’d still say Judge. He has excelled in every facet of the game this year. Look at the the deceptively simple move he pulled the other day in advancing from 2nd to 3rd on a GO to short. He was safe because of his perfectly positioned slide. A lesser light, like Torres, would have undoubtedly over slid the bag and be tagged out. Stanton would’ve been glued to second, lest he break a sweat (or a foot).
The only thing that will stop AJ from winning the MVP is the well documented anti-NYY bias. Aaron Judge is clearly the Most Valuable AND Best Player in 2022.
Wow! How amazing! A guy who can hit AND pitch!!
Who woulda thunk it?
Beggin' the Colonel's pardon, but let's face it. This is really about drawing in the Asian Market. I find identity politics to be distasteful, but when it carries over to sports...FUCK
@borntorun999, I've always thought those terms were synonymous. Most valuable player should be "the best player" in the league. Not the most valuable to his team, but the most valuable for the whole league. And pitchers have their own award, the Cy Young.
@Kevin, Could be and probably is. We know how big baseball is in Japan and Korea. And with the Asian-American population in California and the west coast, it's certainly not a crime for MLB to hype Ohtani to draw more fans. But the well educated media should know better than to say Ohtani is an MVP candidate. He's not. Not even close.
If Judge leaves the Yanks, and Ohtani decides that he doesn't have to stay on the west coast, it would be interesting to see if the Yankees try to get him, as Susan Waldman has said a number of times during broadcasts. He does have a very sweet lefty swing. The kind of thing that the Yanks have been missing since Robbie Cano left.
Nothing against Ohtani, but he the poster boy for today's idolism, if that's a word. He's an average hitter and as a pitcher, he might get to 150 IP this year. Gossage & Fingers used to throw that many innings out of the pen. He does hit HRs, but so does Joey Gallo. At this point there nothing exceptional about him, plus his team sucks with him and without him.
Yes, but he is better than any lefty hitter we got!
Of course, we'd have to get rid of Stanton first, so that Ohtani could DH. But with Cashman, impossible!
I’m afraid the only way we’ll be rid of Stanton will be when we DFA him, which may not be for years.
Meredith reports Ronald Guzman up from Scranton and in the clubhouse.
IL move coming?
Rainout today, doubleheader tomorrow.
Guzman has been playing 1B AND pitching down in Scranton. Does this mean he is immediately in the conversation for MVP???
Rizzo to the IL. Headaches. At least it wasn’t a tattoo
Guzman is the new Ohtani!
But seriously, Rizzo is a huge loss. Sure glad we didn't consider Freeman. And Guzman? Man, they must just hate Miggy!
On Ohtani, Kevin, I suspect they ARE trying to draw more Asian fans—but then, they've been at that a long time. And hey, they're always trying to open up "new" markets.
And I don't even mind celebrating him. What he's doing is very rare. They just don't need to make out that he is annually the best player in the majors.
Hoss,
Guzman is an actual first baseman. AnDUjar is not. Read the article I liked to earlier (above). He's also like 6'5". So good target.
linked to - not liked to
Twenty years from now, if people still talk about baseball, they won't remember who the F the 2022 AL MVP was. Or was not.
But if Judge hits 62-63-64 or more HRs, they WILL talk about that. Esp. if he passes 60 in 154 games.
He can write his name on the golden record book, the one in people's brains. The same way we all remember Mickey and Whitey and Yogi. And Luis Arroyo!
That's what is important. Screw the MVP voters. Screw the guy who pitches once a week (really?) and doesn't hit well enough to make anyone forget anything.
Judge has got a chance to do this. He can make Hal's position look awfully bad (when the NYYs do not sign him).
I want him to do all of it. Don't you? What else matters in this year of abominations?
They can post date Rizzo’s IL stint to the last game he played, so he may not be gone that long. I didn’t know epidurals caused severe headaches. Guzman has MLB experience, a lefty bat and has a rep as a good glove. He’s been hot at Scranton, hope he provide a little jolt in his time here.
Seriously headaches?
Donna meet Prima.
Obviously he won't; opt out now. Who would sign him?
Good thing we didn't have MLB players storming Normandy and Okinawa.
Thanks, Dad, Uncle Joe, Uncle Gulio and Uncle Norb.
Thanks to men like you, I get to bitch about millionaires that can't play baseball because they have a headache.
My Dad's best Friend shook every time there was a thunder storm because it gave him Pacific War flashbacks. I would try not to giggle, cuz I was a jerky kid. Thanks Uncle Shorty.
I' m also 3 deep into an Irish Bar night, so excuse the maudlin
Archie,
"An epidural headache is caused by leaking spinal fluid when the dura which is the thin membrane that surrounds the spinal cord is punctured by an epidural needle. The fluid acts as a cushion around the brain and without it, the brain tends to sag and rubs painfully against the bony skull. This brain sagging causes stretching in the connective ..."
So he's not slacking. They botched the procedure.
Brain on Bone.
Sounds painful.
https://youtu.be/UOHMg7IkzHU
All joking a........side - next time someone other than Donaldson should perform the epidural.
Surprised that they didn't let Hicks do it.
That's pretty funny, AA! And I hope Rizzo is okay. I have had shots in my lumbar sac—don't know if or how that's different than an epidural—and while I didn't get bad headaches, there was that chance. And the whole thing was WEIRD! I could feel it down my spine and into my leg. Uggh!
And Rizzo is a cancer survivor. So, let's hope he's okay. Giancarlo reportedly pressed three models today, so I guess he's all right.
I too hope Rizzo is OK
He's a talented player - hopefully the headaches resolve and he's able to get back into the game.
My wife has had to endure a few lumbar punctures over the years (that is when they take some fluid out). First couple of times she suffered from moderate headaches, taking the recommended day off. The third time was the charm. The next day, bad "migraine". The following day THE BLACK KNIGHT makes it into work, vomiting from pain, feeling " a bit down from the migraine, "I've had worse". Thirty-plus minutes (she's a pharmacist), and noticing that her lower back "felt a bit damp" leaking spinal fluid, she drove to the ER, crawling and vomiting on the asphalt... The remedy was an extremely painful procedure which I'll skip over. The point here is that there is a wide range of outcomes which can result from sticking a needle into the spinal canal. I believe that my wife's third outcome is rare, but guys, don't go rushing into having the epi until every other option has been exhausted, "outcomes may vary... a lot".
Oh, back to Ohtani. He's a both a very good pitcher and a hitter. Adding the two doesn't in any way make him "GREAT". But a helluva nice marketing piece, absolutely. I get the point of marketing, baseball is of course big business. But after forty-plus years of listening to ESPN'S relentless quest to sell the gullible Public into enjoying turd cannolis, I sometimes get a bit sick of it all. I know, I'm just another cranky old-timer who was young a couple of years ago..🙄
I apologize.
I guess they are calling this a headache to avoid letting us know how serious this is.
I hope he feels better
I made the assumption that he was a slacker.
My bad
Who knows with the Yankees... maybe he has a paper cut. 🤞
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