RO Roundup: Opening Day Edition
2017 promises to be another great year of baseball — here’s what the RO Baseball writers will be following early in the season.
Opening. Day. Two words when juxtaposed one after another elicit an excitement and child-like giddiness unlike any other. It’s a buffet of sensory indulgence. It’s the bright green grass rendering in high definition, the dulcet tones of your home team’s play-by-play guy, and that first cold one you enjoy while taking in America’s pastime.
At RO Baseball, we can barely contain our excitement and are poised and eager to deliver thoughtful and fresh content to you all season long. Before that first pitch is thrown on Sunday, however, we wanted to share one thing that each of us will be following as the beautiful march to October begins.
Chris Loechel: As a lifelong Cubs fan, this is going to be hard to admit. OK, here goes: I am eagerly looking forward to watching the White Sox rebuild. Having followed the Cubs rebuild through each and every phase, I’ve acquired a passion for tracking prospects and evaluating future-focused signings and trades.
What will the return look like if/when Jose Quintana gets traded? How will it compare to the Chris Sale liquidation? Can they find a buyer for David Robertson? The Front office moves this year will be as interesting as the on-field product in 2017.
Shifting to the on-field product, what type of major league results will we see from Lucas Giolito, Yoan Moncada, and Carson Fulmer this year? All possess tantalizingly impactful upside with those pesky and completely valid causes for concern that create an incredibly wide spectrum of outcomes for each this year.
Down on the farm, how will the prospect stock of Michael Kopech, Zach Collins, and Alec Hansen look a year from today? How will hitters at the higher levels fare versus Kopech and how far can the secondaries and command improve? For Collins, will he develop as a receiver or will his advanced bat necessitate promotions too soon? For Hansen, will the command continue to improve and raise his profile?
Impending major and minor trades, highly anticipated White Sox debuts for newcomers, and exciting talent to stalk in the minors is just the right intriguing blend to have this Northsider taking frequent glances to the South.
Alex Alvarado: This is something worth paying closer attention to in August and September than it will be right now, but Miguel Cabrera could finish the season with more than 2,700 hits for his career.
Cabrera will be a Tiger through, at least, the 2023 season. By then, it’s an easy bet that we’ll be talking about the Tigers first baseman that’s in the elite club of somebody with over 3,000 hits for his career. Thousands of players have had the privilege of playing in the major leagues but only 30 are in that fraternity. Cabrera’s on pace to be in that club within the next 2–3 seasons, but he has to get to 2,700 first.
So far, Cabrera has 2,519, which means he’ll need 181 hits to reach the 2,700-hit mark. In his nine years with Detroit, Cabrera averaged 186 hits per season, so it’s totally do-able. If he does get to (or surpass) that total, it’s almost a given that his reign of receiving MVP votes in every year as a major leaguer will still be continued.
Sean O'Leary: There are plenty of storylines to look at in 2017. The one I’ll be watching, though, is Bryce Harper’s year after his year after his MVP campaign. Harper had an insane season in 2015, hitting .330/.460/.649, leading the National League in homers (42), and all of baseball in OPS (1.109), OPS+ (198), ISO (.319), OBP, and slugging. It was one of the better seasons we’ve seen in a while, and Harper seemed poised to repeat it in 2016.
Through the first 20 games of the season, Harper was hitting .318/.434/.818 with a 1.252 OPS with nine homers and 24 RBI. He was slugging .818!! He was off to a crazy hot start, and then he started to tail off. A lot of it seemed to be injury, and he finished the season with a .243/.373/.441 slash line. A disappointing season coming off his MVP year.
As one of the more exciting players in the league, many fans are hoping Harper can get back to 2015 form. He is currently leading all of Spring Training with eight homers, and looks like he’sback. I’ll be paying close attention to Harper this year, with the hopes that he can bounce back and be as exciting as he was in 2015.
Jeremy Frank: I’m looking forward to discovering more uses for Statcast data which could help us understand the game better. The possibilities are endless. In particular I’m excited to see what new defensive “metrics” come about in light of the Statcast Era.
Matt Varney: I think the most interesting division in baseball at this point in time is the NL East.
The Nationals’ Bryce Harper alarm clock is close to going off. The Mets original plan of a rotation with four homegrown aces in Syndergaard, Harvey, DeGrom, and Wheeler has never panned out thanks to injuries and the rest of the team looks ready to implode. The tragic death of José Fernández will without a doubt emotionally charge the Marlins in 2017. The question is, in what direction? Meanwhile, the Phillies could just be the most underrated team in all of baseball if their young players can put it all together this year.
And then there’s the Braves. Sure, they’re a mess. But there’s Dansby Swanson, Julio Teheran, and Freddie Freeman there to entertain us along with a slew of washed up ex-superstars. The Braves are the baseball equivalent of The Dark Knight. Established stars, a young up and comer that steals the show (yes Heath Ledger had been around awhile but he was so young and only just starting to break into mainstream films!) , and of course the old timers whose names alone put butts in seats. I’m in no way saying the Braves put together an Oscar-worthy season. But the cast isn’t that much different.
All in all, the NL East may not house this year’s World Series winner but it should be the most interesting divisions in baseball.
Casey Boguslaw: As a White Sox fan, I’m pretty exciting for the first rebuild of my lifetime, but I know it’s going to take some time for that to reap its benefits, so hit me up with this question again in 2019, and maybe my answer will be different.
It’s become a running joke here at RO, but while the White Sox take a break from contention, I have leaped on the bandwagon of the Seattle Mariners, mostly due to the actions of one Jerry Dipoto.
I’m extremely excited to see if all the moves Dipoto has made the last two seasons finally pays off and the Mariners can break their league-long playoff drought. Specifically, I want to see an outfield of Jarrod Dyson, Leonys Martin, and Mitch Haniger patrol that Safeco grass and snatch any baseball that dares to venture in their territory.
Of course I will be pumped to see what all of Statcast’s tools — specifically Catch Probability when discussing this topic — will say about the Mariners, and if Dipoto will finally bring back the Mariners to postseason baseball for the first time since 2001.
Sam Ostrowski: Of course, being a Chicago Cubs fan, I am looking forward to watching my favorite team make another run at a championship. However, this is not what I wanted to highlight. This will be the year of the prospects.
There is a new generation of talent ready to breakout and there is nothing better than watching young stars blossom. There are the ones looking to take the next step in their MLB career (Dansby Swanson, Orlando Arcia, Byron Buxton, etc.) and the ones looking to make their case as a Rookie of the Year candidate (Yoan Moncada, Aaron Judge, Bradley Zimmer, etc.).
The talent in MLB is beyond what we have ever seen. The athletes are more advanced in every aspect of the game. This being said, it’s ridiculous to think how much talent is coming up all at the same time. Just about every team has a star brewing in their system, ready to make waves. Decades will go by, and we will continue to discuss some of the rookie classes we have seen over the past couple of years. 2017 should be near the top of this list.
Let’s not take for granted the history we are witnessing right in front of us. It’s an exciting time to be a MLB fan. It’s becoming common for a rookie to make an immediate impact to a World Series contender. Cory Seager and Kyle Schwarber are just a couple perfect examples from last season. Who will it be this year? I can’t wait to find out.
Jesse Levine: As the season gets started, I will be paying close attention to the 24-year-old starting backstop for the New York Yankees, Gary Sanchez.
Sanchez put on a show right away when he got called up to the big league club in early August. The Yankees back-catcher got off to such a strong start that he pushed Brian McCann to the bench and eventually out of town as well.
Sanchez hit .299/.376/.657 with 20 bombs and 42 RBI’s in his rookie season, finishing second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.
The league is going to make adjustments to Sanchez, and he will need to adjust back. The Yankees will see if what they think they have in Sanchez, is in fact what he is.
Patrick Brewer: On the eve of the MLB season, I am excited that baseball is finally almost here. As a Padre fan, 2017 is going to be a tough year to watch my home team, but there our plenty of other storylines to watch across the game, especially in the division the Padres call their home, the National League West.
For the better part of the last decade, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants have dominated the NL West, leaving the rest of the division in the dust. The Giants have won three world series titles since 2010, and the Dodgers have won the division in four consecutive seasons, leaving the Rockies, Diamondbacks, and Rockies picking up the scraps.
After what was a bit of a hectic offseason in the division, this may be the year that all finally changes. The Colorado Rockies have very quietly had a good offseason, and have built a strong big league roster with an even deeper farm system. Obviously the injuries to Ian Desmond, Tom Murphy, David Dahl, and the terrible news about Chad Bettis have somewhat tempered expectations but the Rockies are still a team that should take a significant step forward in 2017. With their influx of young pitching talent, and more still on the way, the Rockies could finally prove that you can not only pitch well at Coors Field, but win ball games as well.
Zach Bernard: It’s incredibly strange to go from the most downtrodden and unfortunate fanbase in professional sports to wondering if your team can repeat as world champions, and yet, that’s where I find myself in 2017: will the Chicago Cubs be able to do it again?
Aside from injuries and postseason weirdness, I don’t see why they can’t. There are a number of “ifs” dominating the team’s direction entering this season: if Wade Davis and Brett Anderson can stay healthy, if Albert Almora Jr. can hit with consistency and serve as a viable replacement for Dexter Fowler, if Jason Heyward can break through, if Kyle Schwarber can be the special player we all believe he can be.
It’s interesting stuff. As a fan, the pressure is off. I don’t feel the Cubs need to win the World Series in 2017. Of course, I want that to happen and will follow just as aggressively as I always have. I will be heartbroken if the Cubs fall to another team in the NLCS. Unlike past years, I could get over that quickly. I’m more interested in the storylines, watching the vision of Theo Epstein grow now that the ultimate goal has been achieved.
And maybe, just maybe, I can actually watch Cubs games this year. I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, about 140 miles east of Chicago. Last year I was blacked out of most Cubs games and had to rely on foreign streams to watch my team. I lamented this problem frequently. Apparently, MLB seems to have eased their blackout rules for 2017.
What this means for me, I don’t quite know yet. But if I can watch Cubs games without the chore of having to find them, and if I can watch these storylines unfold with no stress, I’m going to be one happy fan in 2017.
Marcus Pond: As a Padres fan, I’ll be following the progression of outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Manuel Margot as they begin their rookie seasons. They were both impressive during a two week audition last September, as Margot collected five extra base hits and a pair of steals in 10 games, and Renfroe bashed four homers, three doubles, and 14 RBI in 11 games. Renfroe, the reigning NL Player Of The Week, will start the season with the big club, while Margot might spend some time in Triple-A El Paso for a little seasoning and to delay his arbitration clock.
Both have the best chances to be a part of the next competitive Padres team (a solid four years away), and even if San Diego projects to be the worst team in baseball, there’s no reason to lower expectations for this pair of prospects.
Robert O'Neill: As a Cubs fan, I’m thrilled for Opening Day and the ring ceremony, obviously. But, I’m also really interested to see how they follow 2016 up. Expecting the first World Series repeat of this century is a tall task, but if any team is capable, it’s this bunch.
Jake Hasan: One thing I’ll be watching closely this season is if Bryce Harper can come back and return to MVP form after his down year last year. With questions surrounding a possible shoulder injury last year it’ll be interesting to see if one of the league’s most polarizing players can get back on top of his game.
Be sure to stay tuned to RO Baseball all season long as we have dedicated coverage for each team, special series throughout the year, and surprises along the way.
Happy Opening Day!
