2019 MLB Season

[knightedsoldier5000]

With teams active in the trade and free agent market, now might be a good time to start talking about the 2019 MLB season.

The Dodgers got even whiter by trading away 2 Africans to the Reds - possibly to make room for Bryce Harper?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/12/report-dodgers-reds-finalizing-a-significant-trade.html
The Dodgers and Reds have announced a long-rumored blockbuster that will shift around a variety of notable players. Veterans Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, and Alex Wood are all heading to Cincinnati, along with catcher/infielder Kyle Farmer and $7MM. Meanwhile, righty Homer Bailey is going to Los Angeles, accompanied by young righty Josiah Gray and infielder Jeter Downs.

 

[PHillisFan]

With teams active in the trade and free agent market, now might be a good time to start talking about the 2019 MLB season.

The Dodgers got even whiter by trading away 2 Africans to the Reds - possibly to make room for Bryce Harper?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/12/report-dodgers-reds-finalizing-a-significant-trade.html
The Dodgers and Reds have announced a long-rumored blockbuster that will shift around a variety of notable players. Veterans Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, and Alex Wood are all heading to Cincinnati, along with catcher/infielder Kyle Farmer and $7MM. Meanwhile, righty Homer Bailey is going to Los Angeles, accompanied by young righty Josiah Gray and infielder Jeter Downs.

I have a feeling Bryce would rather play with his best friend Kris Bryant if the Cubs can make it work.

 

[Carolina Speed]

Yankees 1B/DH, Luke Voit 3R HR to begin the 2019 season!

 

[Freethinker]

The Los Angeles Dodgers are going to be quite the team to follow this year. For opening day they started 8 White position players, with a South Korean pitcher. The result was they set the MLB record for opening day homeruns with 8!! 4 of them where off of All-star pitcher Zack Greinke so they weren't teeing off on a bum all day. The record setting homeruns:

Joc Pederson (2)
Enrique Hernandez (2) {Puerto Rican who is entirely European looking}
Corey Seager (1)
Austin Barnes (1)
Max Muncy (1)
Cody Bellinger (1)

The ironic thing about the Dodgers being so White is that they play in one of the least White areas of the country. Los Angeles as of the 2010 census is only 29% non-Hispanic White and a good chunk of the percent are jews.

Anyway go Dodgers!

 

[Carolina Speed]

The Los Angeles Dodgers are going to be quite the team to follow this year. For opening day they started 8 White position players, with a South Korean pitcher. The result was they set the MLB record for opening day homeruns with 8!! 4 of them where off of All-star pitcher Zack Greinke so they weren't teeing off on a bum all day. The record setting homeruns:

Joc Pederson (2)
Enrique Hernandez (2) {Puerto Rican who is entirely European looking}
Corey Seager (1)
Austin Barnes (1)
Max Muncy (1)
Cody Bellinger (1)

The ironic thing about the Dodgers being so White is that they play in one of the least White areas of the country. Los Angeles as of the 2010 census is only 29% non-Hispanic White and a good chunk of the percent are jews.

Anyway go Dodgers!

Thanks Freethinker! A couple of other positives. Rhys Hoskins, Philadelphia hits a Grand Slam and Colorado's Trevor Story went deep as well. David Dahl, Colorado was 3-4, 2 runs and an rbi. Hopefully Dahl can finally stay healthy.
On a frustrating note: San Francisco another mostly white team, let Bumgarner down today by not scoring a run. Bumgarner pitched 7 innings, struck out nine batters and only gave up two runs. BTW Bumgarner went 1-2 hitting.
Also, it looks like the Angels may continue to keep Mike Trout stranded on base this year. Trout went 1-3 and a walk, but no one was able to get him home.
Bumgarner and Trout are two of the best young players to come around in long time. I can't imagine how good their stats would be if they were on better hitting ball clubs!
I know, it's early.

 

[Heretic]

The Los Angeles Dodgers are going to be quite the team to follow this year. For opening day they started 8 White position players, with a South Korean pitcher. The result was they set the MLB record for opening day homeruns with 8!! 4 of them where off of All-star pitcher Zack Greinke so they weren't teeing off on a bum all day. The record setting homeruns:

Joc Pederson (2)
Enrique Hernandez (2) {Puerto Rican who is entirely European looking}
Corey Seager (1)
Austin Barnes (1)
Max Muncy (1)
Cody Bellinger (1)

The ironic thing about the Dodgers being so White is that they play in one of the least White areas of the country. Los Angeles as of the 2010 census is only 29% non-Hispanic White and a good chunk of the percent are jews.

Anyway go Dodgers!

Here they all are. I never thought of Dodger Stadium as being HR-friendly...must be the warm weather combined with great White hitters. Looks like the NL West will once again be the division to follow and root for.

 

[icsept]

I noticed the Angels started all White except for SS Simmons and DH Pujols.

 

[Carolina Speed]

I noticed the Angels started all White except for SS Simmons and DH Pujols.

OF, Justin Upton injured. Sprained toe. When he returns will make three. But yeah, not too bad.

 

[Freethinker]

Here are some other White friendly squads other than the Dodgers and Angles to support. I'm looking at position players and excluding pitching staffs for now. Therefore, NL teams would be out of 8 players and AL out of 9:

Atlanta Braves - 6 out of 8
C - Tyler Flowers
1B - Freddie Freeman
SS - Dansby Swanson
3B - Josh Donaldson
CF - Ender Inciarte (White man from Venezuela)
RF - Nick Markakis

Cincinnati Reds - 7* out of 8
C - Tucker Barnhart
1B - Joey Votto
2B - Scooter Gennett (Derek Dietrich while Scoot is hurt)
SS - Jose Peraza* (Venezuelan who could be considered White by some)
3B- Eugenio Suarez* (another Venezuelan who could be considered White by some)
LF - Jesse Winker
CF - Scott Schebler

Colorado Rockies - 7 out of 8
C - Chris Iannetta
1B - Daniel Murphy
2B - Ryan McMahon
SS - Trevor Story
3B - Nolan Arenado
LF - David Dahl
RF - Charlie Blackmon

San Francisco Giants - 7 out of 8
C - Buster Posey
1B - Brandon Belt
2B - Joe Panik
SS - Brandon Crawford
3B - Evan Longoria
CF - Steven Duggar
RF - Michael Reed

There are other good teams that are a notch below. If I have time, I can detail some more at a later date.

 

[La France Blanche]

I noticed the Angels started all White except for SS Simmons and DH Pujols.

Huge improvement from last year, when they often started only 2 whites.

 

[Carolina Speed]

Huge improvement from last year, when they often started only 2 whites.

Not trying to be a smart@$$, but I'm not sure the Angels ever started just two white players last year. If they did it was rare! Most of the time it was at least four counting the pitchers.
Even when the pitchers were black there were at least three white starters, sometimes five or six including a white pitcher.
Opening day 2018: Cozart, Trout, Calhoun, Ohtani,(Japanese)DH and Richards, white pitcher. That's five if you count Ohtani.
Sometimes it was Kinsler, Trout, Cozart, Calhoun, and a white pitcher.
or...Kinsler, Trout, Ohtani, Cozart, Calhoun, and a white pitcher. That's six if you count Ohtani!

 

[La France Blanche]

Not trying to be a smart@$$, but I'm not sure the Angels ever started just two white players last year. If they did it was rare! Most of the time it was at least four counting the pitchers.
Even when the pitchers were black there were at least three white starters, sometimes five or six including a white pitcher.
Opening day 2018: Cozart, Trout, Calhoun, Ohtani,(Japanese)DH and Richards, white pitcher. That's five if you count Ohtani.
Sometimes it was Kinsler, Trout, Cozart, Calhoun, and a white pitcher.
or...Kinsler, Trout, Ohtani, Cozart, Calhoun, and a white pitcher. That's six if you count Ohtani!

I remember a few games where Trout and Calhoun were the only whites, with a Hispanic/mystery meat pitcher. Cozart was injured in June and missed the rest of the season. I have great respect for Ohtani as a ballplayer, but counting him as "white" is silly.

 

[Carolina Speed]

I remember a few games where Trout and Calhoun were the only whites, with a Hispanic/mystery meat pitcher. Cozart was injured in June and missed the rest of the season. I have great respect for Ohtani as a ballplayer, but counting him as "white" is silly.

I've looked at almost every game from 2018 Angels lineup. I can't find one game where it was just Trout and Calhoun. Before Cozart was injured, Ian Kinsler and Cozart were both playing second and Cozart went to third in the line up. Before Cozart was injured , he and Valbuena were splitting time at third, then David Fletcher who is white took over for Valbuena, Then Fletcher took Kinsler's place at second, while Taylor Ward, who is white took over at third.
That's at least four white players most of the time and 5 out of 7 pitchers are white if you don't count Ohtani. Pitchers: Richards, Skaggs, Shoemaker, Tropeano, and Bridwell are white. Ohtani Japanese, Barria and Ramirez, not sure.
What you most likely saw was Fletcher at second, Kaleb Cowart who filled in at second and third for Fletcher, when Kinsler was out, and Calhoun. When Mike Trout was injured. It's kind of confusing. That's still three white players not including most of the pitchers. Only when Trout was out. Most of the time there were 3-4 white position players at all times, again not including most of the pitchers who were white.
I never said Ohtani was white. I said "IF" you want to count him as white. If you don't, you have 4-5 out of 8 that were white most of the time. Certainly not just TWO!
You can look up the 2018 Angels game by game lineup for yourself. If you find a game with just Trout and Calhoun starting, let me know and I'll stand corrected.

 

[Freethinker]

Paul Goldschmidt had 3 homeruns tonight. I’d say he’s acclimated to St. Louis very well.

 

[Truthteller]

On the negative side is the Arizona Diamondbacks, who always seemed to be mostly white. Back in 1999, in only their second season of existence, they made the playoffs with a predominantly white team. By their 4th season, they won the World Series starting 7 of 9 whites most games, including Steroid freak Luis Gonzalez, a white-Cuban American.

Even in recent years they've usually started at least 6 whites most games and in 2012, 2015 and 2018 they usually started 7 of 9 whites. Only times in their history Arizona had 4 non-white every day starters was 2004 (lost 111 games) and 2009 (lost 92 games).

Thus far (and it's real early) this season, Arizona is starting 5 every day non-whites -- first time in team history. Take away the 3 catchers and 7 of 10 position players are non-white. One of the whites is Christian Walker, who at 28 only has 92 career at bats. He has a 2 run homer tonight. I wish him luck this season -- talented power hitter, finally getting a chance?....Nonetheless, hopefully history repeats itself and they endure another 100 loss season.

 

[Carolina Speed]

Paul Goldschmidt had 3 homeruns tonight. I’d say he’s acclimated to St. Louis very well.

Nice.
Mike Trout with a solid night, 2-4,D, 2RBI,R.
Mitch Moreland saves Boston with a 3R PH, HR.
Christian Yelich off to hot start. He has 2 HR's and hitting .600.

 

[Shadowlight]

The media like a recurring nightmare is once again bitching about the lack of American black players. Again I don't want to rehash that most of them play the glory positions etc.

But the media would never dare talk about the decline of white players. 251 out of 882 MLB players this season were born outside the USA. Over 100 of them are Dominican. In that foreign group you have plenty of mixed black players as well as Hispanic mixes etc. In other words non white players.

And the Marlins have to move to another city. Enough is enough. They had less than 10,000 fans out their home game . Pathetic. And it is early yet.

Maybe Tampa Bay needs to find a new home too. There are plenty of cities that would love to have and support an MLB team. Certainly somewhere in North Carolina would be ideal. There are plenty of baseball hungry hot spots in this country. The Miami area is not one of them. And neither is Tampa Bay.

 

[Shadowlight]

Another year of no protection for Mike Trout in the line up. Their other power hitter, swing and miss ( but at least he has some pop) Upton will be out maybe up to three months. Pujols is useless as is expiration date was a long time ago. Just a leaden weight pulling down the offense. Dammit. I hate the fact teams keep pitching around him. Makes it difficult for Mike to really have a huge year. You can't hit balls out of the strike zone.

Possible cities who would love to have an MLB team. Charlotte or Raleigh ( Carolina Speed?), Montreal, Las Vegas and Portland.

Talk of Austin area too. Mexico has been mentioned. Good Lord I hope not. Nashville I am not too sure about.

I think they are talking about expanding although I would prefer they move those two dead rot Florida teams but it seems that Portland and somewhere in Carolina would be the two most likely choices. Both would thrive!

For some reason I thought Buffalo was in the mix but I didn't see their name on any updated lists.

 

[Carolina Speed]

Another year of no protection for Mike Trout in the line up. Their other power hitter, swing and miss ( but at least he has some pop) Upton will be out maybe up to three months. Pujols is useless as is expiration date was a long time ago. Just a leaden weight pulling down the offense. Dammit. I hate the fact teams keep pitching around him. Makes it difficult for Mike to really have a huge year. You can't hit balls out of the strike zone.

Possible cities who would love to have an MLB team. Charlotte or Raleigh ( Carolina Speed?), Montreal, Las Vegas and Portland.

Shadowlight, I always enjoy your posts even if it hurts. Yes, I stated earlier that I was hoping Trout would wait to sign with another team with some protection. It would be a wonderful thing to see him along with Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner play for a team that had power and score runs! To their credit, the Angels have had some bad luck. As mentioned, Upton getting injured as well as Ohtani, 22 homeruns/104 games, showed promise last year. Ohtani is making progress from Tommy John surgery and should be able to DH sometime this season. The Angels supposedly have some hot shot prospect, Jo Adell, almost ready to come up from the minor leagues, although I haven't heard much lately on him. However, the Angels have made some dumb mistakes as well. Signing Pujols to long term big contract was not very wise.

As for Charlotte becoming a MLB City. You can forget that for years....to come. Way too many challenges right now. Getting enough sponsorships to support MLB
on top of NASCAR, NBA All Star Game, UGH!, PGA Championship as well as NFL and NBA franchises already!
On top of all of that, Charlotte built the existing $55 million, 10,200-seat BB&T Field Ball Park in uptown Charlotte in 2014 where the AAA Charlotte Knights already play. The Ball Park cannot be retrofitted to accommodate MLB specifications!
The good news is, The Knights are among the league leaders in attendance every year, but it will be awhile before MLB arrives in Charlotte.

Again Shadowlight, I always enjoy your posts as well as many others here at CF. Thank you.

 

[Heretic]

Paul Goldschmidt had 3 homeruns tonight. I’d say he’s acclimated to St. Louis very well.

Here they are. Cardinals aren't too bad with five White starters (if you include the starting pitchers - all of whom are White). Fowler is still starting in RF though and will be a weight around the neck of the team.

 

[Carolina Speed]

Here they are. Cardinals aren't too bad with five White starters (if you include the starting pitchers - all of whom are White). Fowler is still starting in RF though and will be a weight around the neck of the team.

New York Mets:5-8
Nimmo, CF
Alonso, 1B. Look out for this rookie. Could be really good!
Conforto, RF
McNeill, LF
Davis, 3B

4-5 pitchers are white
de Grom, Cy Young winner
Sydergaard
Wheeler
Matz

Vargas is the other pitcher. Not sure what he is? Born in apple Valley CA.

 

[Carolina Speed]

New York Mets:5-8
Nimmo, CF
Alonso, 1B. Look out for this rookie. Could be really good!
Conforto, RF
McNeill, LF
Davis, 3B

4-5 pitchers are white
de Grom, Cy Young winner
Sydergaard
Wheeler
Matz

Vargas is the other pitcher. Not sure what he is? Born in apple Valley CA.

A big day so far for the Mets! Rookie Alonso 3-4, 2 RBI, Conforto, 2-5, 2 R, McNeill, 4-5, 2RBI, and Davis 2RBI. 11 runs scored!
Already exciting in Philadelphia against Atlanta. Atlanta up early as Freeman gets an RBI and SS Dansby Swanson goes deep with a two run HR!
For Philadelphia, Hoskins doubled and Realmuto drives him in.
Atlanta up 3-1.

 

[Carolina Speed]

A big day so far for the Mets! Rookie Alonso 3-4, 2 RBI, Conforto, 2-5, 2 R, McNeill, 4-5, 2RBI, and Davis 2RBI. 11 runs scored!
Already exciting in Philadelphia against Atlanta. Atlanta up early as Freeman gets an RBI and SS Dansby Swanson goes deep with a two run HR!
For Philadelphia, Hoskins doubled and Realmuto drives him in.
Atlanta up 3-1.

Harper with a big blast for the Phillies! First of many!

 

[Carolina Speed]

Harper with a big blast for the Phillies! First of many!

Turning into a big day in MLB. JT Realmuto a big day for Philadelphia as well. A HR and 3 RBI!
Alex Bregman gets Houston on the board with a HR.

 

[Carolina Speed]

Turning into a big day in MLB. JT Realmuto a big day for Philadelphia as well. A HR and 3 RBI!
Alex Bregman gets Houston on the board with a HR.

Wow! The all white LA Dodgers exploded for 18 runs yesterday. An 18-5 win over Arizona. Definitely my World Series Favorite!
Bellinger 2 HR's, 6 RBI
Petersen got his 3rd HR
Barnes, got his 2nd HR
Turner, 5 RBI
All starters are contributing except second baseman Chris Taylor. Expect him to pick it up soon.

BTW, Christian Yelich becomes the first returning MVP to get a HR in his first three game of the season.

MLB is getting off to a great start!