Look at Ray Ray Run

Walker up to a 124 wRC+. If he finishes this year strong, he could finish with a combined wRC+ of 140 for the year between levels with nice walk and k rates. A really nice first year of professional baseball. He was always a well rounded player who did a lot of things well but nothing great do I don't think anyone should have expected some 190 year in the minors.

I'm argumentative because I corrected something that was factually inaccurate? What is belligerent about correcting that? Did I call him stupid or attack him? No. Did I call him any name or take it personally? No, but you sure have.

Fegan is great at what he does. Great to see him verify what I had seen with actual interviews and insider information.

Being 30% better than your peers in professional baseball is where Manny Macharo has spent his MLB career so yes... if that's not success then we do define it very differently.

Yes, at this point they would probably like to see consistency at a less challenging level to further build repetition and confidence with a new approach. This would also be why he hasn't been called up again and I'd understand that.

Sure, but changes are scary and you could get worse just as likely as getting better. When you start messing with what made you successful there is risk involved. There's zero point in taking that risk if you are succeeding. If he maintained a 130 wRC+ in the big leagues, he'd have been an incredibly successful hitter/catcher. The contact and approach issues at the big league level made him "bad" for his short stint and may have opened his eyes telling him that he wasn't going to survive and succeed at that level without being quicker. He could succeed every level prior without the change. That's the point.

What does this mean? You judge yourself vs your own expectations and how you are performing in comparison to your peers. Does that mean you aren't striving to be better? No, but it means you aren't going to make drastic uncomfortable changes and struggle just for the sake of it.

His lowest professional wRC+ is 126 (this year). Even with his ups and downs he has been 30%+ better than his peers at nearly every level. That's pretty good - certainly good enough to trust in yourself.

No, he said emeritus. Emeritus means you retire but you simply keep a title out of respect for what you've accomplished. It's not actually your job anymore but it's like a title for life. Emeritus can never be a "promotion."

Players have to be willing to change. You can coach them up all you want but if theyve had success, it's harder to get them to change something that theyve been doing their entire life. His struggles in the big leagues may have helped to convince him that some small changes needed to happen.

Absolutely. He's attacking his pitch early instead of letting the first one go. You also have to be smart enough to know your pitch. Theres usually never just one reason you've improved. I think its promising that there are two small changes paired with his results. We'll see how it holds and pitchers will adjust to his plan of attack as well. I'd love for his bat to spend a little more time in the zone still. There's still a lot of dead space at the beginning of his swing but that'll probably never change.

Great look at Collins' hands here. His hands are a smidge higher towards his ear and now his path/timing mechanism is a drop down hitch and through the ball instead of pulling his hands back, to where he starts them now, and then dropping down and then driving them through the zone. It's literally just a split second timing change but it may be allowing him to get to the ball just quicker enough to make all the difference. That little hitch he has is now just basically his load. Before it used to be he pulled his hands back and up and then started his path to the ball. It's so small but maybe that with his approach has helped.

You realize emeritus is retirement and not a promotion right?

More of this stuff. Jeeze. The Sox went 17 years between 1990 and 2006 where their worst finish was 3rd. They finished 3rd 4 times so they finished 1st or second 13 out of 17 years. If you stretch it to 2012, they went 23 years with 1 4th place finish and 23 3rd or better; with 6 3rd place finishes... so 17 years with 2nd or first out of 23. To say the sox have always been horrible and putting horrible product on the field is complete nonsense. It's been a rough 8 years. Painful. But for the majority of my life they have no done what you are stating.

Another bomb and this time a real bomb. FG stubbornly not bumping up his power grade is just becoming funny at this point. Theyve still got him at a 30 and theyve defended it recently lol.

Says who? No one is much more advanced than the Dodgers. No one is much more advanced than Andrew Friedman in anything PD and analytics in baseball.

He spent years in the Dodgers system - I don't think the Astros are better equipped than the Dodgers in anything. Equal possibly but not better.

The Dodgers front office was taken aback by how intelligent Greinke was in their interview if that opens peoples eyes. The guy literally sat in on Dodger drafts and gave his thoughts and opinions. That's how highly he's regarded.

Vaughn will likely get better each level as he finds his timing after the lay off.

One of my favorite baseball quotes ever about analytics and baseball and how it should be managed came from Greinke: “Baseball is a sport where being stupid and keeping things really simple a lot of times is the right way to do things,” he said. “There are very few guys that are capable of processing a lot of information and applying it and still being good at it. … I don’t want to name names, but there were guys I played with that were so stupid that they’re really good, because their mind never gets in the way.” The whole piece is a great read: https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-greinke-20140905-story.html The Astros aren't teaching Greinke anything he doesn't already know.

Ok. I find that having a nice bullpen piece or two may help with the confidence of a young staff. To each their own.

Greinke is probably the smartest player in the MLB (smart's in this sense). He started the deep dive into analytics before the Astros front office existed. He has very specific information he wanted to evolve his game and hes aged gracefully despite velocity declines because of that. If you search you can find extensive articles and interviews from Greinke about how he bought into analytics and implanted them into his arsenal. The astros are sharp, but Verlander had declined as had cole - they both needed guidance. Greinke has stayed consistent despite his stuff diminishing and its because of his analytic process. I'll add that when I say he's smarter than their front office I mean in regards to knowing his game and understanding how to maximize his outcomes.

Cool. The sox traded a bad defensive catcher for a closer to help their staff and bullpen. Then they signed a navarez replacement for 1.5 million who has been just as good as navarez and they have a nice bullpen piece to. Good moves by Hahn and a good decision to bring a better receiver for the young staff... yet people are still complaining. Weird stuff. I would rather have McCann and Colome than Navarez. I don't know about you.

Greinke is probably analytically smarter than the Astros front office. He doesnt need help in that world.

1. He doesn't grade out anywhere near that poorly in RF 2. Allen was better last year at 21 years old at the same levels allard has been at this year. People love the younger and unknown. Allen is likely just a better version of allard.