Newsletter Excerpt, September 5, 2024 -- "No-Hitters Are Nice, But..."

 

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

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The situation the Cubs find themselves in, unlikely to make the playoffs despite their big free-agent signing working out, has been replicated all around baseball. The Cubs’ rivals, the Cardinals, signed Sonny Gray to a three-year deal and have gotten 26 starts of 3.84 ERA ball while never really contending in the NL. The Cardinals’ whole offseason approach, in fact, to sign veteran innings guys, has worked -- 75 starts and more than 400 innings of a 4.09 ERA from Gray, Kyle Gibson, and Lance Lynn  

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, August 28, 2024 -- "Royals, Crowned"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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There are two big reasons they’re in position to steal the division. One is health. During a season when injuries to great players on contenders are one of the big stories, the Royals have been the healthiest team in the sport. They’ve used 18 position players, fewest in baseball, and one of those is trade pickup DeJong. All but 30 PAs have come from 15 guys. Back in March, the ZiPS projection system pegged Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia, Salvador Perez, and Vinnie Pasquantino to be the Royals’ four best players. Those four, combined, have missed 11 games this year.

 

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, August 26, 2024 -- "Fun With Numbers: 99! 51! 74?"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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When you’re homering every six PA, a 10% IBB rate means 1-2 dingers lost to never seeing a pitch, much less a good pitch. This may not be a reparable problem for Judge, whose Yankees lead the AL East by 1.5 games over the Orioles and who project to play relevant games deep into September. Judge’s walk rate and intentional-walk rate are not likely to dive the way McGwire’s did, creating those extra opportunities. 

Newsletter Excerpt, August 23, 2024 -- "Collapse"

 

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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[Sarah Langs’s Voice] Wheeeeee! 

           R/G   AVG   OBP   SLG   wRC+

7/30-8/4   9.3  .246  .313  .415   104

8/5-10     9.3  .254  .319  .421   108

8/11-16    9.3  .249  .318  .422   108

8/17-22    7.6  .233  .302  .375    91

That is an incredible anomaly. That’s first-week-of-April offense in August. I mention April because weather has been proposed a one reason for the downtick. It has been mild here in New York and in some parts of the country. Can we dispense with the idea, though, that “mild for August” is enough to lop 50 off points of slugging around the league? No one’s wearing balaclavas out there. You can’t see players’ breath. Vendors are still schlepping cold beer rather than hot coffee.

 

Newsletter Excerpt, August 22, 2024 -- "Perfect Game"

 

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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The game had a lot of baseball left in it, the Mets eventually winning on a pinch-hit walkoff homer by Jesse Winker. Whether you’re a fan of the winning team or not, the energy of a walkoff win is incredible, and Winker’s blast -- and his explosive reaction to it -- set Citi on fire. I didn’t think the ball was gone off the bat, mostly because I didn’t think Winker had that kind of oppo power. It cleared the wall in left-center easily, though, flying 414 feet.

For me, though, it was just the second-biggest homer of the day. Watching Vientos crush that Kimbrel fast(ish)ball was my favorite ballpark moment since I took M to our first game in 2018, the culmination of a year of strong opinions about two disparate players.

 

Newsletter Excerpt, August 20, 2024 -- "The Seattle Kariners"

 

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card.

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Last year, the Mariners had the seventh-best OPS when not striking out. This year, they’re 14th. They’ve struck out a little more, but when not striking out, they’ve gone from a very good offense to an average one. That, and not an extra whiff every three games, is the difference between last year’s offense and this year’s one.