Mack – FWIW – Coronavirus Edition - Daily Thoughts 4-12

Good morning.

Let’s welcome Sal Aguilar, Reese Havens, Charles O’Brien, Erik Turgeon, and Rajai Davis to our family of readers.

I saw there was a survey taken and two thirds of the respondents said they would not return to a sports stadium until a cure for Covid is found.

I can see this.

I can not see American owners being very happy with the results of this survey. A stadium ‘filled’ with less than 15,000 fans is a revenue disaster for every team in the league. The cost of operating the facility doesn’t change nor does travel expenses. And what happens if one player in league tests positive?

More fuel for shutting down the entire season.

It was announced yesterday morning that al New York City schools will now close for the entire year. Here’s a question… how can you still consider playing baseball when you will not even allow kids to attend their classes?

Daniel Kim 대니얼 김 - @DanielKimW

Another positive day for Korea. Only 27 new COVID-19 cases were reported today by Korea’s CDC. First time in 50 days since daily positives were in the 20’s. Meanwhile in Busan, Lotte Giants played 1st night game which was televised nationally.

David Lennon - @DPLennon

Korea now has baseball because of a very early, aggressive testing program and monitoring process - for a much smaller country than US obviously.

We don’t have anywhere near that type of handle on COVID yet. Hopefully we get there, and then we’ll get baseball, too.

JJ Cooper - @jjcoop36

If you're going to split to Arizona and Florida, it makes more sense to split AL to one state and NL to the other. Less radical change that accomplishes the same goal. The only difference is teams would have to play in other team's parks. Same effect, less change.

Bob Nightengale - @BNightengale

 MLB considering radical realignment as one of their options for 2020 season: Grapefruit and Cactus leagues . USA Today

Northwell Health Foundation - @GiveToNorthwell

            Thank you to the New York Mets  and dunkin donuts  for fueling our #healthcareheros at North Shore University Hospital with a special breakfast. Thank you for your support of @NorthwellHealth

Emily Waldon - @EmilyCWaldon

            Spoke to a minor leaguer tonight who told me he has had two teammates living with him since they were sent home from Spring Training.

            Reason being, the players have elderly parents and they didn’t want to risk carrying something home from camp.

https://maxsportingstudio.com/is-j-d-davis-breakout-legit/ -

            Last year, J.D. Davis slashed 307/369/527 with a 136 wRC+ in 453 plate appearances. To put that in perspective Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. slashed .280/.365/.518 last year with a 126 wRC+. Obviously, Acuna is better because of his defense superiority and larger sample size of success, but if Davis can hit like he did last year he will be one of the best hitters in the NL East.

            However, many Mets fans doubt that his breakout is sustainable. Davis had a 35 wRC+ in 113 plate appearances with the Astros in 2018, and his .355 BABIP in 2019 is concerning. The most compelling and logical argument against Davis’ breakout is his high BABIP, or “batting average on balls in play.” The purpose of the stat is to spot players who may have gotten lucky or unlucky. The idea is that a player with a high BABIP might’ve been lucky by having an unusual percentage of his balls in play result in hits and that the player’s BABIP will eventually regress to league average or his career average, consequently bringing down his batting average and offensive production. However, for some players having a high BABIP is a skill. The past 2 years, there have been 5 players with at least 1000 plate appearances and a BABIP above .350. In my opinion, Davis is one of the players who can sustain a high BABIP.