Balta1701

Batting average on balls in play. Generally speaking it can be 1 of 2 things - it's a combination of how hard a guy hits a ball and how lucky he's been. If a guy has the highest BABIP in the league with minimal plate appearances (cough James McCann cough) that is often a sign that he's gotten unusually lucky in having balls that were hit in play turn into hits. If a guy hits the ball right at people for a month, he will have a low BABIP, if those same bloop hits fall then he will have a high BABIP. Guys who hit the ball right on the nose will often be slightly elevated in that stat, making it a little hard to discern luck from performance, but most big leaguers will fall somewhere in the range of .270-.330 by the end of the year. Someone like Moncada might be a little bit higher because everything he hits turns into a double off the wall since his contact is so hard. Someone like Harper might be a little low because they ground into the shift. Someone like Madrigal might be a little low since his contact is so weak. If you compare 1 year to another for a player, the low BABIP for Anderson in 2018 could be that he just had an unlucky year and that given enough time it swung the other way in April of this year. Anderson's BABIP in April was .435, so you could certainly say that no matter how good of contact he was making, he was likely to come dramatically down on his batting average from where he was at the end of April, because about 25% of his hits were just falling in by luck compared to the best hitters in the league.

Konerko-Thome-Dye-2006.

He did not immediately release him, he immediately traded him for Carl Everett.

That's what I figured. If the Cubs were to sign Cole, picking up one of their guys on the trade market could be an interesting concept as we wouldn't have to send over a lot if we were taking on salary.

They'd have to pick up his option well before the time that Cole would be signing, they'll pick up that option just after the world series unless he gets hurt, that'll be 1.5 months before Cole has any prayer of signing. If they needed to clear salary, Q for 1 year at $11.5 is totally tradeable. Oh, and if they need to clear salary, the White Sox could use a LH hitting right fielder and have the ability to take on money. That'd be interesting too.

A 2-3 WAR pitcher for $11 million? Maybe if he falls apart or gets hurt, but not if he just keeps doing what he's currently doing.

Are you expecting the Cubs to decline his option?

If that was the only part of it, I'd say it was possible, but there are multiple relievers who are as good as or better than Colome available, some of whom are cheaper with more control. This isn't a sellers market unless you have a guy who is truly elite.

If the White Sox are hoping to get a current top 100 prospect for Colome, especially with Kimbrel going for a relative pittance compared to his asking price and likely taking the Cubs out of the game, I think they end up holding Colome through the end of the season. There's just too many relievers who might be available to get that kind of return.

No, teams no longer lose or adjust first round picks after the last CBA. The White Sox would lose their 2nd highest draft pick in the draft and $500k in international money if they signed a free agent who received a qualifying offer. That would most likely be their 2nd round pick - except in the unlikely scenario that they offer Jose Abreu a qualifying offer, Abreu turns it down, then signs a $50 million deal somewhere else. Shorter version: Sign 1 major person lose 2nd round pick. Sign 2 major people lose 2nd and 3rd round picks.

I do think there's a nonzero chance they'll go after Bumgarner, they clearly do need a starting pitcher.

I'd probably put a decent wager on the White Sox signing 0 of those guys.

A whole lot of people have suggested that him being a gold-glove caliber 2b will make up for his weak offensive performance.

Just to stress, "Top grade closers" are currently not in a "limited supply" on this trade market. Here's ones that are possibly available depending on which teams sell, most of which have stats comparable to or better than Colome. Edwin Diaz Shane Greene Ken Giles Will Smith Greg Holland Some others who could get on the list if teams who are at the edge of competitive get antsy include Brad Hand, Felipe Vazquez, Raisel Iglesias, and if the Padres got a top offer Kirby Yates. I doubt any of those latter guys do get moved, but I think we'll see 4-5 closers get dealt this deadline since there's no reason for teams to hold those first few guys. If teams want guys with multiple years of control, single years of control cheaply, 1 arbitration year, long term deals, literally all of that could be available.

Clearly they did not. Jeff Samardzija being slightly better does not turn a mid-70s win team into a 90 win team.

With no use for him yesterday and 2 offdays this week? I think almost any manager in the bigs would have put their closer out on the mound today.

Colome just dropped out of the AL top 20 in relief pitcher ERA today.

That was not the best thing ever for trade value.

Your link is broken but is this the article you're going for? The IF has points that are too dense you can't tell exactly but there's an awful lot on the RH side.

Wonder if this had something to do with that seemingly very team friendly extension he signed last offseason.

Unfortunately that double split isn't available for the minors.

Since Madrigal got into our system he's gone the opposite way over 45% of the time (slightly better, 41% this season). Bryce Harper has been hurt enough by the Shift that Boras called it out for hurting his player, and Harper only pulls the ball 39.3% of the time in his career. So far, shifting Madrigal the opposite way is currently more effective at getting him out than shifting Harper to pull, and I'm not sure how heavily they would use the shift at A-ball.

This statement is only true if he can drive the ball. If the defense can play him in/shift him and expect fairly weak contact, then his average will be surprisingly low - as it has been this year. That is why I keep stressing the importance of the power game - it is the thing required for him to be able to do what you're asking for.

It's certainly possible; if his numbers are in the .725-.750 range at birmingham then he looks a lot more like a big leaguer. It just remains that he has very little margin for error; if his batting average drops a little more, then he falls onto the other edge of the knife.

Since he snapped out of that funk he's had 5 extra base hits in 19 games. That's actually down from the rate in April.