The Defense Doesn't Rest

A renewed emphasis on defense would be a good thing for the New York Mets.

Mike Vaccaro had an interesting column in the New York Post about the rather dull first winter of David Stearns's tenure, compared with the splashier debuts of some other recent Mets GMs. Back in the offseason of 2004-05, Omar Minaya famously hit the ground running, signing Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran in his first offseason in charge. In his inaugural hot stove as GM, Brodie Van Wagenen swung a deal for Edwin Díaz that, unfortunately, also saddled the club with the Albatross of Robinson Canó's contract.

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Much of the talk around baseball this spring has centered around changes that MLB has made to the ball in an effort to bring the home run numbers back down from their historic highs last season. MLB claims that the changes made were relatively minor, but players are concerned that the changes could prove significant. Since top home run hitters receive more money, a leaguewide drop in home run totals could mean less money in player contracts next year. Right now, no one knows exactly what will happen. It's hard to tell by what's happening in spring training, as players are still honing their swings, and the baseballs currently in use are mostly leftovers from last year.

Defense is Mostly Work and Commitment

When I started watching Major League Baseball in the late 60s - early 70s, defense was valued over offense. At least on competitive teams, you were only likely to see teams trying to hide bad defenders at first base and in left field. The reason was fairly simple. It was an era dominated by pitching. If bad defense cost you runs, it was more difficult to get them back when your team came to bat. Particularly in the key up-the-middle positions of catcher, second base, shortstop, and third base, elite defenders with almost comically low offensive stats were tolerated in a lineup. It wasn't uncommon to have another automatic out or even two hitting in front of a pitcher.

Modern Baseball Trends and Making Adjustments

I'm a bit late in getting to this, but Eno Sarris had a very interesting piece in The Athletic last week about how the teams in this year's World Series reflect modern baseball strategy, and asking how this strategy might continue to evolve. There are several fascinating observations here concerning ball movement, velocity, pitching up in the zone, and how hitters might adjust to these trends. As I mentioned in Sunday's post, baseball is glacially slow in adapting to new trends, and once they do follow suit, it's hard for a lot of teams to move on - even if things aren't working as well for them quite as well anymore.

Lessons From the Tampa Bay Rays

In The Athletic Monday, Jayson Stark had a piece on the unusual success of the Tampa Bay Rays this season. The Rays manage to field a remarkably competitive team year in and year out, despite having a budget that makes Fred Wilpon look like a profligate spender in comparison. Most people who follow baseball fairly closely are aware of the way Tampa Bay operates. Despite incredible budget constraints they manage to compete most years. Since 2008, they have managed to finish with a winning record 9 times out of 13 seasons. Two of the years they fell short they went 80-82. Their only awful season in the stretch was 2016 when they finished last in the AL East with a 68-94 record.