The Sunday Baseball Notes

For April 20, 2025 - THIS WEEK IT'S FREE

AARON JUDGE - BATTER OF THE MONTH, BATTER OF THE YEAR?

I like to think that Aaron Judge is off to not just a great start, but a great continuation:

YOSHI - PITCHER OF THE MONTH, PITCHER OF THE YEAR?

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, so far this season, is 3-1 with a 0.93 ERA and 0.86 WHIP over 29 innings. Here are his five starts:

AGE-RELATED STATS SOUND GOOD, BUT MEAN LITTLE

When Jackson Holliday hit his second career grand slam, he was 21 years and 133 days old. That makes him the youngest player in Orioles franchise history at the time of his slam, even younger than Cal Ripken Jr., who was not yet 23.

Interesting, barely. However, all this is just a social media post that I find just clogs the pipeline of valid (and fun) statistics.

Based on this, you should assume that if Cal had two salamis at such a young age and spent a long career with the Orioles, he is the franchise leader in slams. He hit eight. So did Manny Machado, Chris Davis, and, oh my goodness, Chris Hoiles. Eddie Murray hit 16. All of which means the stat, like most age-related statistics, is mildly interesting but ultimately meaningless.

THE METS ARE VERY GOOD, JUAN SOTO IS (WILL BE) GREAT

Mets fans really should stop whining and complaining about Juan Soto’s start. They really need to be reveling in the great first month the team is experiencing. In Soto and Francisco Lindor, they have two of the most talented and positive players in baseball. Mets fans need to realize that when you have players who work hard to spread a good vibe, it’s contagious. Of all the virtues that Alex Bregman brought to the Red Sox, it’s that clubhouse leadership that they desperately needed and is already serving them in good stead. The Mets have everything it takes to be the team in 2025 to win it all, including a great manager in Carlos Mendoza and a great president in David Stearns.

Of course, finding ways to lose is deeply ingrained in their DNA. Devin Gordon wrote a great book on the topic. It’s really a fun read.

Gordon also penned a terrific essay for the NY Times at the start of the season, entitled “Who Am I if the Mets Are Good?” Another fun read.

SPENDING MONEY AND BUILDING A FAN BASE IS A GOOD IDEA

Did you happen to notice the size of the crowd on Wednesday, April 16, at Petco Park? 41,562 turned out to see the Padres and the Cubs on a Wednesday afternoon with a 1:10 p.m. start. The Twins hosted the Mets that afternoon and drew 19,721. The Pirates hosted the Nationals that evening in front of 8,529 diehards. The Marlins had 8,438 of their fans to see them play Arizona that evening. On the other hand, the Dodgers that night drew 52,143 to see the horrible Rockies. Two cliches come to mind: cheap is expensive, and you need to spend money to make money.

I DON’T PLAY FANTASY BASEBALL

I don’t deal with any fantasy sports, so I don’t understand many of the rules. I do understand you can trade players. Every good GM or investor knows that you want to sell high. So, if you have catcher Will Smith on your roster, this would be the best time to get someone really good for him. Will, who is hitting .327 with an OPS of .926, is a consistently great starter, and then the bottom falls out as his duties behind the plate take their toll rather precipitously.

Here are Will’s monthlies from 2024:

Here are Will’s monthlies from 2023:

Here are Will’s career numbers from 2021 to 2024:

This is a fantasy suggestion because I’m your pal, not an idea for Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers, who are way smarter than I am.

SPEAKING OF THE DODGERS

The Dodgers got out of the gate with a rousing record of 8-0. Dreams of sugar plum fairies danced through the heads of Dodgers fans and the media alike.

National League standings since April 4:

MAX MUNCY SQUARED

We’re tracking the two Max Muncys this season as they share the same name, share the same August 25th birthday, and so far, share the same inability to hit this season.

STAN THE REDBIRD

The doggies and I went to visit our friend, Vinnie, and his dog Coco. We’re hanging out when he brought out a container with bird feed and filled the bird feeder. For the next 45 minutes or so, we watched as Vinnie’s new friend, a cardinal, had a wonderful meal. Vinnie and the bird share this moment a few times a week. Excuse me for being a city kid, but I had never seen such a thing. I, of course, named the bird “Stan.” Vinnie laughed but had no idea what I was talking about, and I saw no need to give a further example of me being an idiot savant.

You already know that the great Hall of Famer, with the corkscrew batting stance, Stan Musial, played for the St. Louis Cardinals for 22 seasons. You know that he was born in Donora, Pennsylvania, like Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. You know he had 3,630 hits in his career, 1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road. So, what don’t you know about him?

Here’s Six to Know about Number 6

1. He hit .326 with the bases empty and .327 w/RISP.

2. On July 8, 1962, at the age of 41 and 229 days, Stan became the oldest man to hit three homers in a game, It counted even though it was against the 1962 Mets. The record still stands.

3. In his first game on September 17, 1941, Stan got two hits. In his last game on September 29, 1963, Stan got two hits.

4. In his final season, on July 28, playing at Wrigley, Musial struck out three times, for the first and only time in his career. He played in 3026 games.

5. When Musial retired in 1963, he held 55 major league records.

6. “How good was Stan Musial? He was good enough to take your breath away.” – Vin Scully.

TOMORROW IS MARATHON MONDAY IN BOSTON

For me, that is watching morning baseball and remembering David Ortiz’s inspirational speech to Boston on April 20, 2013, as the Red Sox returned to Fenway for the first time since the Boston Marathon tragedy.

Even this video brought out the surly side of me. I wanted to share with you exactly what Big Papi said, because words matter. YouTube, NESN, and MLB made it damn near impossible to do that without bleeping the most inspirational phrase in the speech.

Here is the transcript:

“Alright, Alright Boston.

This jersey that we wear today. It doesn't say Red Sox, it says Boston.

We want to thank you, Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, and the whole Police Department for the great job they did this past week.

This is our fucking city, and nobody gonna dictate our freedom.

Stay strong, thank you.”

As Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me bleep.”

Happy Luke Easter Sunday.

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful wife, Maxie. She is wonderful for putting up with all my never-ending nonsense.

Feel better, Charley.