High Heat – Chris Russo. Listening to him rant is fine. We get it, you’re smart about baseball and stats.
But there’s a net nothing in the end. What he hypes up turns out to be something you can find on a tweet from a casual fan anywhere. I don’t know how this guy inked so many lucrative deals in his life. Maybe the hiring managers and media outlets felt bad for him when he square-rooted as they balked on the contract. They probably just ended up giving him a slot with a paycheck so they could avoid getting yelled at.
Here’s a re-cap of what his HIGH HEAT show on the MLB NETWORK had to offer on July 15th 2020 in the run up to the shortened 2020 MLB season.
I watched him rant for 15 minutes about the AL East and how stacked they are.
The net result: the Marlin’s suck.
Thanks man, we had no clue the Marlins were an underdog.
Take a stand on something, it’s one thing to know about players and stats, it’s another to actually produce something out of 15 minutes of airtime on TV. It’s not even a problem I have with Chris Russo, he’s actually quite interesting sometimes.
But whoever (unless it is Chris Russo who does this task) produces this show and edits content delivery is doing this show a disservice. The guy’s knowledge isn’t getting utilized by just letting him run with it. It’s not satellite radio where you can drone out while driving. It’s television – there’s more interesting stuff on YouTube from up and coming “MLB The Show” streamers.
For a bigger budget production, I think MLB Network is dropping the ball.
And the commentary by guest Bruce Schein – what are you talking about?
“The Nationals – how do they replace the value of Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon – in 2020?”
Bryce Harper didn’t factor in 2019, which, if you forgot, was the season they won the World Series, against ARGUABLY one of the greatest offensive teams on paper in the modern era. Rendon is the net loss of bat value – and you could say the Nat’s have replaced his overall contribution fairly well over the past several months without the burden of the excess salary. Sure, everyone keeps stating that the Nationals aren’t even qualifying for a wild card spot over their first 60 games of 2019. But if you look at their last 60 games and that is a different discussion.
They were 37-23 over their final 60 games in 2019, that puts the Nationals in second place for all of baseball based on 2020 ZIPS projections. Same for TeamRankings website. Baseball America has the Nationals in 2nd in the NL East after the Braves. PECOTA’s February 2020 predictions have the Nationals 2nd in the NL East too. As of July 14 2020, PECOTA has the Nationals in first place above the Mets, Braves, Phillies and Marlins.
No question that Rendon was a huge part of that team, including a WAR of 6.4 last year. But… Eric Thames plus the DH option; plus Carter Kieboom, plus Soto may get a bit more room to produce with a hefty bat missing from the lineup. Trea Turner may benefit from the change too.
Starlin Castro, Howie Kendrick, Cabrera etc. all grab some dynamism from the Rendon move. That’s not polishing a turd either, Rendon is awesome, but Soto will develop further; Kieboom has had some huge experience bumps and this team has some momentum.
The trade deadline isn’t here yet either.
Furthermore, arguably, their pitching carries them in the postseason, just as it had massive impact in 2019 – more so in the reduced 2020 season.
Tell me again – Why am I wasting time listening to internet keyboard cowboys rant about the same tired talking points – on a major production show – on the MLB (!!!) network. Come on, I have listened to Schein for years – you’re better than that man. Whoever is producing the show needs to clear their head and think about making strides in how the content gets pushed out through the very interesting channels it has at its disposal. To count the Nationals out is ridiculous – even after losing Rendon.
And Chip Caray – you’re such a well-spoken guy – you did a good job talking about what the Braves have in the tank, but give us some strategy. Tell us what you’d do without a Freddie Freeman. Tell us about where Puig actually fits? We understand that you know transactional dealings at the club – stretch yourself. You’d be an excellent tactician if you would run with it. Nothing but respect for Caray – but I think for my viewing time, I don’t need to know what I already know from reading Twitter or Reddit – players are playing or they aren’t. We don’t need an overview of what has happened 3 times a week..
What I think would make more sense is hearing what your experience shows can happen for a team that won 97 games. Had they won 3 more, there would have been an all time record set for the MLB – with 5 100 game winning teams. Arguably the Braves have the most to lose/gain this year given the unprecedented COVID-19 environment – tell me what you’d do to get them to the World Series. THAT would be MUST-SEE TV!
(By the way I highly respect Chip Caray and his knowledge and insight – but I’d love to see ANY commentator on “High Heat” push the limits of what can be done on the platform). When you are talking about a guy who can say anything he wants in a “homer” fashion – he’s the announcer for the team(!) – with impunity, man I’d just love to see Chip Caray tell me that the Braves can be in contention if…(insert unique commentary here). And Chris Russo? Oh shocker – the Braves are going to have a tough year if Freeman can’t play? Thanks for telling the future – that was totally impossible to speculate without your crack insight. YOU CAN DO BETTER!
Bruce Schein and Chris Russo – “losing Walker Buhler is a big loss!” Who lost Walker Buhler? You mean he won’t be going 7-8 innings per start? With the depth of the LAD rotation there was literally no chance Buhler was going to pitch a pitch past the 4th inning in 90% of his games anyway. What are you actually referring to? I’m kind of over the idea of these highly produced shows relying on a one of tweet about a simple training camp issue to make a show out of it. Walker Buhler is a superstar on a huge market team – he’ll cope with getting up to speed. If you think for a second, he won’t get into the rotation because he isn’t at 75 pitches in camp yet, you’re dreaming.
You guys can do better than this. Push the envelope, don’t make up crap to fill minutes. There is so much you could be talking about in arguably the most interesting season in the last 10 years of baseball – and you are filling ten minutes crying about a one-off tweet that will prove to be obsolete in 4 days?
How about some redemption for Chris Russo – his best rotation in baseball overview was largely spot on. But mostly because MLB.com’s picks were so far off. I love Cleveland, but really? You lost three strong pitchers and didn’t really replace them 1:1 over the past few years – you’re not the #4 rotation in baseball in 2020 – as good as you are. So yeah, while I wouldn’t agree 1:1 with Russo on his picks –
#1 Nationals
#2 Yankees
#3 Dodgers
#4 Astros
#5 Rays
Is infinitely better (more accurate/more realistic) than the picks by MLB.com
Here’s Russo’s Top 5 overall:
Chris Russo’s best 5 teams in baseball:
1. Yankees
2. Dodgers
3. Astros
4. Twins
5. Mets
The Mets? At 5? With the Braves, Nationals, A’s, Tampa Bay (good pick Bruce Schien, but still probably not a top 5 regardless).
Russo: No on Oakland because “they don’t get hot til Late July” (we are starting in late July); they’ve made legitimate improvements and had 97 wins for two past seasons…
The Mets have had all sorts of pitching concerns of (very) late with DeGrom, etc. We have yet to see whether Alonso goes into a sophomore slump. Oh yeah… by your A’s standard of non-selection the Mets were 28-32 through 60 games in 2019 (the A’s were 30-30). Mets were 27-33 through 60 in 2018 (31-29 in 2018 for the A’s). Way to get your facts to back up your feelings.
Here’s an idea Mad Dog Russo – let’s look at results, since you think so highly of them in making your list:
2019 through 60:
1: Braves (33-27) (35-25 in 2018)
2: Nationals (27-33) but they were 37-23 in the last 60 of 2019 – which is more likely to factor in during this COVID situation – especially considering they played the entire postseason… and WON THE WORLD SERIES (2018 through 60: 35-25)
3: Rays (37-23) (28-32 in 2018 through 60, but… 28-26 through 54 they lost games 55-62 in 2018 – Very competitive nonetheless, in relative perspective)
What’s the truth? 2020 is unlike any year in baseball history. Period. Using any kind of historical metric is ridiculous… … and what is with you hating Verlander and Kershaw so much? You don’t even rate them in the top 10 of baseball pitchers, but I will remind you…
Verlander: Literally won the Cy Young Award last year. But doesn’t crack your top 5 and is a “problem” because of his age. Batters who faced him in 2019 (CYA) and 2018 (second in voting with a 73% share to Snell’s 80%); Verlander was the 5th place vote getting pitcher in the CYA for the AL in 2017 too.
Kershaw: 8th best in CY YOUNG VOTING IN 2019; has won 3 CYA and was second in CYA voting in 2017 against a DOMINANT Scherzer. Kershaw was 16-5 with a 3.1 WAR in 2019. That’s not a legitimate pitcher anymore? Arguably his WAR was low, but a single season and the guy is “past it”?
How about 71-25 with a 2.38 ERA and 1019 strikeouts with a 10.1 avg strikeouts per 9 innings for Kershaw over the past 5 seasons. Name 4 guys better than that. Over the last 5 years 166 ERA+ (leads all of baseball); better than DeGrom, Verlander, etc. Come on man, when you have these hardcore feelings and make assertions that players like Kershaw have lost it, and that he isn’t half the pitcher he used to be, you have to have some sort of basis in reality.
/end rant.