Balta1701

That's great. So are you paying him $80 million dollars based on what he did in 2018 (a 6 rWAR player) or based on what he'll likely do for you in 2020-2023 (a 3 rWAR player last year)?

Because quite simply their track record is awful. You could have done better. A trained monkey throwing darts could have done better.

Because if he plays next year and stays healthy and is the old Betances, he'll be back looking at a $75 million deal or more, covering 5-ish seasons. That's what he was on track for prior to this year.

I'm not gonna tell you your wrong as it's entirely possible they could afford a payroll above $160. I will ask what will you do if they run into this season with a $120 million payroll.

Apparently you cannot win a World Series game if you introduce your team to the Avengers theme. Which is a shame because that’s a great home team intro. Scherzer and Strasbourg vs Cole and Verlander to decide the way this series goes. I like that. Let’s rock.

I don’t believe that at all, but if he is expected to be ready opening day then he should take the best 1 year deal he can get, because he won’t have a QO attached to him if he has a good year. If he thinks he’s healthy, 1/$3 is a better deal for him than 2/$30.

I don’t care one iota that he’s a rookie but when my starter in the World Series has thrown 2 hits through 5 innings and only 67 pitches in a shutout there’s no way on Earth he doesn’t start the 6th inning. You have a 4 run lead. Go to the bullpen once he has a base runner or two.

I'd say "There's no way our payroll goes that high" except I also said there's no way our payroll goes past $120 million in 2015 and then they signed Cabrera to go nearly to $130 million, so I'm not going to even try to guess their payroll limits. Skeptical about that level, but no idea. But, if they were willing to go that high, in order, I solve: 1 starting pitcher RF and DH Bullpen Bench 6th starter Getting 2 top flight starters is way down my list, to the point of it seeming like a bad buy given the presence of 4 other reasonable starters even before Rodon returns from injury. If you're gonna spend that much money, go fill the RF and DH spots and let's see what we can do with that lineup.

With them having money to spend this would be an intelligent move, but obviously it needs to be a 2 year deal as I don't believe he's going to do much at all in 2020. And we still need 2020 bullpen help regardless.

"The prosecution rests your honor."

"Indiana is Bowl Eligible on October 26th. This is not a drill." - the BTN announcers.

The 2 teams with the highest OBP in baseball in 2019 were the Astros and Nationals.

In that game we had Greinke up with runners on first and third one out and he bunted a guy to second. We had Sanchez come up with one out and a guy on 3rd and he flailed away as an out. An easy out in a spot that could key a rally as opposed to Zimmerman or Alvarez coming up where we’ve got a battle in an RBI situation? Give me the challenge, not the weak bunt of one runner over.

Rodon won’t be ready but Kopech might. I’m ok with bringing in someone like Nova or Teheran as a 6th starter to open the year, but we have enough needs elsewhere that I can’t justify 2 big pitching signings unless we have totally given up on Lopez, and frankly he was good enough last season to be a 5th starter if he shows no extra improvement. Put Lopez in the rotation, give me one big pitching signing, and then fill the RF and DH spots.

Are you that down on Lopez that you're ready to throw him away/into the bullpen?

S*** i'm dumb. Thanks.

I didn't watch that game obviously but does having Fultz become a solid rotation player change that perspective?

Apparently the Astros are firing Taubmann the "Thank god for domestic violence" guy. Notably more than happened to the actual domestic abuser, but it's a start.

I think this is a balk.

The Dodgers got $16.4 million from the Blue Jays to go along with Martin. Had they signed Grandal to the same contract the Brewers did, they'd have been well into luxury tax territory with their other moves last year.

Abreu? Well yeah, but that's not a "lifetime guarantee" like he has from the franchise.

In no small part because he received a qualifying offer and teams will not give away draft picks without a fight. In another part, because he turned down a multi-year deal with the Mets expecting a better deal to come along, the Mets said fine and filled their catcher spot elsewhere.

But that's quantifiable. The worst framing catchers are about 10 runs better today than the worst framing catcher of 2012, and the best framing catchers are comparable. So while Brian McCann was 50 framing runs better than Carlos Santana in 2012, Austin Hedges is 40 framing runs better than Welington Castillo and company. So it is still potentially huge value - if those framing runs are calculated accurately, ,then improvement in that number from McCann to Grandal is a 3 win level improvement.

While I agree with you that I prefer other ways to spend money and that it can't capture pitch selection - I disagree with your statement that the value of framing has gone down, because I think there's a good chance the algorithms would catch that given that they have K-Zone style data for every pitch and can actually see "hey which guy is getting more/fewer borderline strikes called". Given that should be something that can be measured and calculated, I think that's a strong number that is well supported by data over a number of years, and although Grandal isn't my preferred option, his strong framing and other defensive skills are the biggest argument in his favor and the biggest reason to consider him.

It is worth noting that last year, people swore up and down that the only rating for catchers you should take into account was WARP - the Baseball Prospectus version - because it weights framing in a much stronger and more appropriate way than either fangraphs or B-R. WARP hated McCann's defense and framing, basically putting him down at the bottom of the league in fielding and a slight step upwards from Castillo and Narvaez. Because his fielding came out so bad, they had him being a 1 - WARP catcher, with at least a dozen guys better than him (I start getting to guys that I don't know whether they're a catcher or not). B-P adores Grandal and thinks his catching makes him one of the best players in baseball.