PIITBlog by JD

 2023 Season Predictions The season starts on Thursday. The time has finally come. I am so pumped to get started and see what the Mets have in store for us. I wanted to give some official predictions for the upcoming season.     Let’s start with division rankings.   NL East: Braves Mets Phillies Marlins Nationals   This one was not that hard, unfortunately. The Braves have one of, if not the deepest lineup in baseball. They lost Swanson, but now have a totally healthy Acuna and newly acquired Sean Murphy. The Mets won 101 games last year and will likely regress a bit but are still good for 94+ wins. I have the Phillies pegged at 92 wins and a 3 rd  place finish. The Marlins are better than the Nationals. The Nationals may be the worst team in baseball.   NL Central: Cardinals Brewers Cubs Pirates Reds   The top 2 in this division were pretty close for me. The Cards won the division by 7 games last year, but the Brewers are a solid team. I am high ...

  Thoughts on the New Rules- PIITB by JD   I decided to pause the top 10 rankings to discuss the topic everyone is talking about. The pitch clock and the new rules for 2023.    First off, I want to say the pitch clock is working. It is doing what it was designed to do. Spring Training games are as fast as ever! The Mets have played one game over 3 hours this spring. Most of the games I have seen have been around 2 hours and 35 minutes. MLB has cut out the fluff between batters. That is not to say there are no issues with the clock and the new rules. Here are a couple of consequences I am not a fan of:   1.       Games ending due to a violation. That is simply unacceptable. Imagine it is the World Series, game 7 and Pete Alonso strikes out for taking too long in the box or Edwin Diaz walks in a batter for not starting his motion in time.  2.       The decline in broadcaster commentary. This is MASSIVE for the...

  JD’s Top 10 3 rd  Basemen- PIITB By JD   I decided to go back to the top 10 lists in order to avoid overreacting to Spring Training (is Brett Baty ROY?). This position is very deep, but lots of fun to rank. Personally 3 rd  basemen are  some of the most fun players you’ll see. Let’s go going   1.       Manny Machado- I know some will say Jram or even Arenado should be in the number 1 spot. For me, Machado is the pick. He is elite on both sides of the ball. He finished last season with 32 homers, a 152 wrc+, and accumulated 7.4 fwar. He just got paid the big bucks inking a 11 year $350 million extension with the Padres. He will go into the HoF a Padre.    2.       Nolan Arenado- the best fielder I have ever seen. He is truly a wizard at the hot corner. He had a comparable season to Manny last year. He hit 30 homers, a 151 wrc+, and 7.3 fwar. Nolan has won 10 gold gloves and is not slowing dow...