caulfield12

Madrigal never had great success in the minor leagues and even in Winston-Salem this year...at least until his final 2-3 weeks there. The contact and defense were there, just not the xb power and pull capacity. Robert, you can at least make an argument for a September recall...but I’m still not buying that they will do this until the April/May cutoff for a year of player control in 2020. With the odds of signing Moncada and Robert to team-friendly extension because of how much money they’ve already received, you just can’t risk it. All that said, if someone guaranteed Cole and one more solid starter in the rotation for 2020, pushing up Robert this year would at least be a reasonable or defensible position. Another reason would be them having the opportunity to make the postseason with Birmingham, but that might not be in the cards. It’s not like a Madrigal hasn’t been around winning/success or proving doubters wrong his entire life. But he still needs to go through an extended slump in Birmingham and come out the other side...at the very least. With Cease and all the injury problems including his own history, would be much more inclined to give him an opportunity at the big league level sooner rather than later, but he’ll take his lumps for sure until his secondary pitches become more reliable. Bottom line, we’re buried because of pitching woes and still need to be a bit patient with Robert and Nick.

https://sports.yahoo.com/more-tough-injury-news-former-234956998.html

8 errors now through though 47 games. https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=19709&position=SS Had his 11th homer and a double last night so OPS back over 1.000 through what amounts to 1/3rd of a season. Positive net fwar on defense, should be at 2.4 overall when updated. I would guess on a prorated or per game basis he would also be first in defensive runs saved per game played. If you look at minor league numbers, he has always been 340-370 for BABIP, but it at 430 right now. If you adjust that down, his OPS probably ends up much closer to 900 and a batting average in the 275-285 range. That would still end up as close to a 7 fWAR player without missing five weeks, but this is his second consecutive year with a major injury. http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/35983/fernando-tatis-jr 26 strikeouts in his last 20 games, so nearing the dreaded 30% there...but also 12 xbh, including five homers. He’s not going to get 40/40 in homers and stolen bases, but 25/25 or 30/30 is a definite possibility.

Thad Bodley the message board poster?

We can trade for that ace with what pieces? If we trade Abreu, Colome, McCann, Leury, it would be for minor leaguers in a trade with a contender. Otherwise, it’s that same list of pitchers like Stroman, Freeland, Foltynewitz, J.Gray, Archer...that are all going to cost significant minor league pieces we don’t happen to have with Collins arguably being our most expendable chip if they can get McCann to sign an attractive extension.

Sano was in a 3/29 slump before that at bat. Next batter gets hit in his first mlb plate appearance. Don’t get to keep the ball, it seems. Took Leury’s hit away...eventually, Jimenez will probably get another error as well.

Bob Rosenberg just got a raise from Reinsdorf...

So it should be noted that Tatis has already missed big chunks of the last two seasons with major wrist and hamstring (5 weeks) injuries...and he’s so big, that he’s going to hit even more frequently for showboating and because they’re pitching him inside more to keep him from getting extended out over the plate.

Kopech needs to be a TOR starter as well...Burger, it would be a pleasant surprise at this point if he even equaled Matt Davidson’s career numbers. A lot are skeptical that he’ll even make it to Chicago. McCann is under control through next year and is a strong candidate for extension compared to Moncada and Robert, whose families are both already set for life. Finally, one could argue López needs to be a #5 or high leverage reliever...or they’re going to need to spend even more $$$ in free agency. Or Dunning needs to take his place.

Shane Victorino (3 years, $39 million) Ryan Dempster (2 years, 26.5 million) Jonny Gomes (2 years, $10 million) David Ross (2 years, $6.2 million) Stephen Drew (1 year, $9.5 million) Mike Napoli (1 year, $5 million) Koji Uehara (1 year, $4.5 million) The 2013 Red Sox are a great recent example....committing to $100 million roughly of total veteran FA contracts and getting a really significant bang for their buck in terms of production. It is widely considered one of the most important factors in their World Series title that year. Of course, the GM largely responsible for this group, Ben Cherington, still eventually lost his job.

Of course, there’s always a chance he’s a late bloomer like Carlos Martinez w/ the Cards.

Yes, and that’s my salient observation. If he’s not playing 75-80% of the time, he’s going to go into a terrible funk that will be difficult to extricate himself from at the big league level...his swing is just way too long and has too many moving parts.

Between John Wick...that recent Asian-themed indie movie where he plays a caricature of himself...Duke KaBoom in Toy Story 4 and rumors DC and Marvel have courted him he's basically back on top of the world for now.

Unfortunately, with that swing, the only way he will ever get going is with consistent playing time...

LoL...still exist, actually coming back to the US from China for summer vacation and will experience AT&T Park in SF for the first time Sunday. At any rate, that’s nice of you to say, but message boards are increasingly the territory the territory of millennials and “Sabes-driven” conversations...I kind of miss the day when people just had their opinions and it wasn’t about just proving everyone to be wrong with analytics. Back then, you could have asked 100 different fans who they preferred between Mantle, Mays, Aaron and Clemente and gotten a ton of fascinating yet completely subjective answers.

This is exactly the type of trade we’ve been unable to pull off under Hahn...and it’s pretty clear we no longer have the expendable horses in the minors to bring in the next Christian Yelich, so we absolutely have to find 2-3 fWAR players in more creative ways. The best Hahn has come up with is Palka, Tilson and Cordell. Not good enough. 7. Oscar Mercado, OF, Cleveland Indians Mercado was picked up by the Indians in an under-the-radar trade at the deadline last year, and it now looks like a real steal for the Tribe. He was acquired in exchange for outfielders Conner Capel and Jhon Torres. Mercado has been impressive, slashing .307/.358/.465 with eight doubles, four homers and six stolen bases in 34 games since being called up. In the minors, he was slashing .294/.396/.496 with 10 doubles, four homers and 14 stolen bases in 17 attempts. He’s an exciting player with a good combination of power and speed and above-average bat speed. He looks to be a below-average defender in the outfield, but he’s a high-energy, athletic player who might end up playing a key role for the Indians in the wild-card race.

Yes, because instead signing bottom tier FA’s worked even better? Unless we sign Cole, Rendon, Ozuna or Grandal...we will be signing mid-tier FA’s again this offseason.

Don’t just assume they won’t play him in RF.

With the current Sox injuries jinx, this means a torn labrum on the first pitch and a Markell Fultz-like shooting hitch.

Might as well add Freeland or J. Gray to the list. Stroman...just to make our clubhouse even more entertaining. Reyes or Renfroe is too obvious.

We spent money this offseason and ended up with a 0 fWAR net return with all the new players that came onboard. That list, not including Giolito...is now six starting pitchers deep with TJS in their histories. Last year, the rebuild was derailed by an injury to just one of them, which shouldn’t happen with all the talent we’ve had to trade and a series of higher first round draft picks. Eaton is not a clear fleecing until Giolito or Lopez go on to sustained run of success for two seasons or sign an extension. Because at this point, with the uncertainty moving forward with Lopez, you simply filled one hole in the starting rotation but created an equally big one in RF. You need to get at least 2/3 of those pitchers as dependable rotation members first. Money/flexibility only matters if it’s spent wisely, and Abreu/Tatis/Robert all were largely scouting coups for Paddy/KW. Fwiw, Tatis, Sr., was practically begging the White Sox not to trade his son and already predicting how much more he would fill out. So even if Robert becomes a five tool superstar and stays healthy, we’ve missed out on or or traded two back to the NL. We also failed to exploit the Robert class with our unprecedented financial flexibility (to bring in a plethora of fellow international signees simultaneously) in order to cushion the pressure on the rotation with future depth and we still have YET to sign a legit impact FA for more than $75 million... And then a dismal track record with FA signings, regardless of the opportunity cost/money allocated. The only thing that continues to protect him is JR and the penurious ways of our fellow AL Central competitors...in almost any other division, anything but a Wild Card would be next to impossible with our ongoing pitching woes.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=ss&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2018&team=0 Interestingly enough, we already developed or at least identified 2 of the Top Ten Fielding SS’s. Semien at #3 and Anderson at #10. 3 of the Top Ten If you count Tatis, Jr. Iglesias was 4th. The craziest stat was in RF though... https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=rf&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2018-01-01&enddate=2018-12-31

And force all left-handed pull hitters to practice push bunts down the 3B line at least twenty minutes per day. Make parking free and all souvenirs and concessions sold at only 25% markup. Matt Davidson three homer game against KC on Opening Day Bobblehead Giveaway.

Fegan was predicting they would be quite fortunate if it was just one month...

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/white-sox-sign-jake-peavy-to-two-year-extension/ The White Sox were 40-64 on the day of that trade at the deadline. Going nowhere fast, and owing another roughly $20 million on his contract. At that point, with his diminished stuff and injury history...he was more or less a ticking time bomb. The surprising success of 2012 had quickly evaporated. With Colome, there are a ton of teams now out there like the Cardinals and Red Sox who are desperate for bullpen help and also for a pitcher under control for the following season. There’s also a death of quality closer candidates on this upcoming free agent market. You’re underestimating how easy it is to find a guy in their mid to late 30’s...look at the career trajectory of Allen going downhill with the Indians and then to the Angels. Looking through the FA list, Hector Rondon might actually be one of the top three options. As the mileage on arms builds up, the potential for disaster awaiting between ages 32-36 only increases.