bmags

One of the things I thought would gel well here is they had 3 guys in Lavine, Vuc, and DeRozan who people would say "if they are the best player on your team ...", and I think they all carried that chip on their shoulder and were more open to taking the roles needed to win (especially Vuc, Lavine). Ball I think has a chip on his shoulder for being in some pretty chaotic environments, and being told what he wasn't. Those people are probably right (he's not a great half-court ball distributor), but he has a coach in Donovan who does not do that. He lets players be themselves.

Yeah, though, who knows if that is more or less favorable for winning a world series as it prevents the super loading of teams. Sox I feel have a high floor which helps.

It's funny how what you have you done for me lately the pitching offseason market is. I swear that Rodriguez got this hot market for his last 2 innings of work where he looked incredible. And the important thingi s that isn't necessarily wrong, the pop-up guys have fared pretty decently on their next contracts. Smyly wasn't amazing but he was an important part of the bullpen.

I think one other interesting wrinkle is some predicitions that the new officiating focus would take away from Demar's FT shooting, neutralizing that part of the signing. Instead DeRozan's fouls have carried over fine because they are from driving and working in tight space, not coaxing defenders from the 3 point line. He has been everything you could ask for with the added benefit of giving Zach a true trusted leader, because from what it sounds like players love DeRozan and respect him way more than the general nba sentiment.

I could write a million words on this. As a fan, I definitely feel a circle the wagons effect whenever it feels like sportswriter groupthink pile-on occurs. I didn't initially know what to think right away, because like a lot of people, I did not watch a minute of the Demar DeRozan spurs. It turns out, none of the writers did either! But when the pile-on kept coming it just seemed like some obviously stupid points were being made. My fav: 1. Bulls were signing DeRozan as a negotiation hedge to prepare for Lavine's departure (when their own logic of trying to build a winner around Levine so he'd stay seemed so much more obviously likely) 2. The bulls were stupid for signing a high usage player and taking the ball out of Zach's hands when it was obvious they desperately needed another ball handler to relieve Zach last year and Ball really isn't that But then it was also clear a consistent thing that happens with mostly nfl writers but sometimes NBA writers (who in general I find to be the next best behind baseball writers), is they are just prone to slamming a good-not-great player like DeRozan, whose biggest strength (iso and mid-range) are the things holding him back from being great in the modern NBA. And, they missed that he had evolved into a great playmaker in San Antonio, and that has been evident in Chicago. Zach gets on heaters throughout the game, DeRozan is always on one, and if he wasn't here what would our second unit be exactly? So I will give a lot of credit to Kevin O'Connor of the ringer who identified all of these trends and was definitely the only person who watched San Antonio DeRozan. Simmons initially got all of this right, then right before the season was talking about how 1) and 2) were going to happen. I don't think anyone could have predicted how well the perimeter defense would be just by Caruso and Ball shutting down the perimeter. It was my biggest gripe with signings like Jabari though. You surround Lavine with dumb IQ defenders, he gets worse as he tries to be more aggressive. Put smart players around him, he gets a lot better. Ball can be aggressive, so Lavine can just focus on assignments. Guy just wanted to win and didn't trust his teammates to make plays.

What a huge win! Obviously I’ll see none of the West coast trip, but amazing they pulled this out. Clips were on fire. Lets get Coby back and roll.

Can’t help but notice these are his two clients who previously played in Chicago. What are the odds Levine even knows who the rest are? I am still pretty skeptical here. He’s just such a hack.

Also forgot that I signed Schwarber then didn’t even start him. Overall, a great post

Lol I forgot Cease sorry Dylan. That lineup does not include Leury, so that really would need some rule 5/ roster invite guys to be meaningful bullpen

Ok this is my improbable All-In offseason 195M Add: Schwarber Scherzer Conforto Trade: Kimbrel to Phillies Keuchel (send Jose Rodriguez out) to a salary floored Pirates Trade Vaughn, Crochet, Jared Kelly, Wes Kath for Brandon Lowe The bullpen is a problem, sure. The rays would be saving…3.5 million shipping out Lowe now but DO have Vidal Brujam Lineup: Anderson Conforto Robert Grandal Abreu Lowe Moncada Eloy Sheets Pitching Scherzer Giolito Lynn Kopech uhhh shoot didn’t think this through

My bad I fat fingered adding a player I didn’t mean so that is actually 175

For the Vaughn/sheets outfield believers I think this is an interesting approach of believing in the core while adding effective, flexible depth: Team Salary: 180M Assumes: Trade Kimbrel w/o salary returned Adds: Chris Taylor @ 15.5M Leury @ 6M Rich Hill Collin McHugh Trade: Chris Stratton Hill and McHugh are there to provide starter depth without starter spots. Stratton is my pet project. Taylor and Leury provide flexible players that can start interchangeably around the field, opening up easier playing time for Vaughn, Sheets. Are we better vs RHH - not really. Taylor was slightly above average last year vs RHP thanks to a decent OBP. But if you have the real Leury somehow (lol) of Sept, that’s two slightly better than avg vs RHP players.

Okay, here is a roster resource. I added some stuff so people could see how it works. Please after you open it, copy a version for yourself. I think I restricted it anyway https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v-L_AWIcTXsM6LdFFzwS7dB30E3rS-WLeOe4anRs1MI/

Well yes I think the sox are going to be blindsided by operating in a market that is suddenly not 3-4 teams deep but 10-12, and the sox seem to hate prolonged negotiation so I just don't see their strike quick price being near enough to entice the FAs.

uh oh too many people stated the opinion that Michael Conforto seemed like a good fit and was a free agent so Dick Allen needs to make sure to overstate their opinions and remind us that he's not actually a savior and we are all thankful.

Cool, enjoy Freddy Galvis.

Sure I like semien. I don’t really understand these weird binaries people are setting up to win arguments. I just think Conforto is a good player that balances our lineup and plays good defense and sheets could play DH. If we want to sign an MVP type 2b that is also nice.

The Brewers could afford him in 2019 Because Yellich was making under $10 mill. It was a surprise they could add Yaz at the time. Arb salary growth is a thing. That they couldn’t sign him long term isn’t really interesting. The Brewers and Dodgers are smart orgs, it’s a wonder those idiots wanted this guy in the first place IMO

I don’t know, despite their below average speed and below average athleticism we may be missing something here

This was my hunch as well, that because it was a hamstring it may have made his 2021 RF numbers worse. But in general, I'm not really big on the stringer data relied on for DRS, and jonathan judge did an article showing FRAA to be the best outfield defensive metric, and that had him as basically neutral and historically positive in RF. I think at this age, neutral matches the eye test. I don't think he's great, but considering the ease of our corner situation, I think it's likely he'll be positive for us or at least neutral.

I can't believe the Ball tampering stuff still hasn't been resolved. I kinda feel like what will have happened is the league does not have the goods from their investigation, the circumstantial evidence is damning, so the league can't really figure out what the appropriate precedent is for just appearing to break the rules. And honestly I think "rich paul just has a big mouth, but obviously when ball liked our offer a trade was going to work out" is real.

I think this is possible. The players demands may boost the median mlb player at the expense of the star mlb player (like in the NBA). If things like team control are reduced and players hit free agency sooner, players like semien likely have less leverage than now. Interesting point.

Conforto Fielding Runs Above Average -0.2 Andrew Vaughn Fielding Runs Above Average -3.8

People really struggle with degrees on this board. Because Conforto is not a good fielder, he must be the same as our bad fielders. I was really impressed with Vaughn's outfield last year - because he was not the worst LF as I expected. In 218 chances, Conforto +1 Outs above Average last year In 179 chances between LF and RF, Vaughn was -5 in Outs above Average

Fun thing Kiley Mcdaniel just posted, unlike in other offseasons - this one has a deadline of sorts. Even though it doesn't end your offseason, we can see just how much imposing one can impact team decisionmaking. I'm looking forward to this, a nice test for some recent discussions around improving the offseason.