Jayhay (Baseball is Dead)

Paul Skenes is the first pitcher since Pedro Martinez in 2000 to lose two starts in a season with these stats:

◽️ 8+ IP
◽️ 1 or 0 R
◽️ 1 or 0 BB
◽️ 8+ K

H/T @jayhaykid.bsky.social

Spencer Schwellenbach is the first Braves pitcher since Greg Maddux in 2001 to allow fewer than 10 hits through his first 3 starts of the season (min. 20 IP).

Patrick Corbin is the only pitcher in baseball history to log 4 straight seasons making at least 30 starts with an ERA of 5 or greater.

2021: 5.82 ERA in 31 starts
2022: 6.31 ERA in 31 starts
2023: 5.20 ERA in 32 starts
2024: 5.62 ERA in 32 starts

Roki Sasaki 4-seamers thrown 99+ mph by inning Wednesday:

1st: 8
2nd: 0
3rd: 0

Roki Sasaki’s 4-seamers thrown below 98 mph by inning today:

1st: 0
2nd: 7
3rd: 12

Roki Sasaki is the first pitcher since Ryan Pepiot (May 11, 2022) to have a career debut start featuring 5+ BB but no more than 1 hit.

YouTube video by Underdog MLB with Jared Carrabis Mookie Betts Wants To Win UNLIMITED Titles With Dodgers || Baseball Is Dead

Mookie Betts isn’t limiting himself when it comes to how many championships he wants.

Watch our full interview here: youtu.be/WgoyKJs_5HI

Joey Gallo is the only player in baseball history to produce a season with 200+ K, 100+ BB and a Gold Glove award.

Anthony Rendon’s contract will stand as the Final Boss of bad contracts until the end of time. The Angels paid $245M to get made fun of for 7 years.

The Luka/AD trade in ⚾️ terms:

It’s like trading Bobby Witt Jr. for Corbin Burnes and saying afterwards it’s because “pitching wins championships”

We need to talk about how voters across eras don’t know what a Hall of Fame 2B looks like.

This is the first time we’ve had consecutive seasons of 3+ players being elected to the Hall of Fame since 2017-18 (7 players).

This is the first-ever Hall of Fame class featuring a starting pitcher, a relief pitcher and an outfielder.

Today we find out who joins the great Harold Baines in the halls of immortality

Listener questions for tomorrow’s podcast.

Offseason, 2025 season, baseball history: it’s all fair game.

Send em in.

The tide is turning

A quick peek under the hood of Justin Verlander:

Brent Rooker’s OPS+ in 2024 (165) was the 4th-highest by any A’s player in the Wild Card Era, behind Jason Giambi (2000-01) and Mark McGwire (1996).

There are so many worthy players on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot that you could take an entire offseason to discuss them all.

We’ll be talking the ballot on today’s @baseballisdead_ podcast. Gonna create a strawman who voted for McCann and Martin and rip them to shreds.

Corbin Burnes strikeout rate:

Dodgers: won WS, signed Snell, brought back Teoscar, extended Edman, signed Conforto

Giants: signed Adames, signed Chapman

Padres: won 93 games last season

D-Backs: signed Burnes, traded for Naylor

Rockies: 🤪

Corbin Burnes contract is tied for the 2nd-highest average annual value ever for a pitcher on a contract of 6+ years:

Gerrit Cole: $36m (9 years)
Corbin Burnes: $35m (6 years)
Stephen Strasburg: $35m (7 years)

The D-Backs are the 4th team in baseball history to issue multiple $200M+ contracts to pitchers:

Yankees: Cole/Fried
Dodgers: Yamamoto/Kershaw
Nationals: Strasburg/Scherzer
D-Backs: Burnes/Greinke

The starting pitching in the NL West is obscene:

Corbin Burnes
Zac Gallen
Blake Snell
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Logan Webb
Dylan Cease
Michael King
Merrill Kelly
Yu Darvish
Tyler Glasnow
Shohei Ohtani

To name a few.

Merry Christmas to the best baseball podcasts fans in the world @baseballisdead_

Here’s an incomplete list of players who have posted a lower wRC+ across 2022-24 than Joc Pederson (135):

Matt Olson
José Ramírez
Rafael Devers
Marcell Ozuna
Austin Riley
Julio Rodríguez
Pete Alonso

Kyle Tucker’s top near-age offensive comps, per ZiPS:

Interesting excerpt from Garrett Crochet on his potential sinker usage in 2025.

He threw 0 sinkers from April-July, then 9 in August and 41 in September.

That isn’t new, but this offseason feels particularly egregious given the team’s standing in the division and the specifics of the players traded. Paul Dolan was raised outside of Cleveland! You’d think he’d have some civic pride or just a little shame. Just pathetic.

A reigning division winner trading 2 of the 4 most important position players on the team - 26 and 27 years old, respectively - is a team that isn’t serious in any real way about winning.

I can appreciate and understand that the Guardians front office is extremely savvy and successful within their limitations and also lament the fact this franchise is kind of a joke.