caulfield12

The effect of “must face a minimum of three hitters per appearance” for relievers next year (minus a faked or real injury) will be interesting to watch play out on roster composition/pitcher usage. More Vendittes that are ambidextrous?

The curse of Nardiwashere the SoxTalk member name strikes again.

I thought it was Goldschmidt/JDM, Bumgarner...? Or you’re NOW willing to elevate that to Sale/2+ years to Verlander (mutual option for Year 3)/Gerrit Cole, a generous Jimenez extension AND JDM/Goldschmidt/Rendon/Bogaerts/DiDi G?

How many more injuries to top pitching prospects do you think it will take for them to feel compelled to make a move to simply reverse the “rebuild is failing/fading” narrative? We’re already starting to see anomalous behavior...the biggest contract in MLB history for someone without any major league at-bats under their belt? Since when do we set precedents of actually increasing the cost of doing business by being overly generous? What allows them to be SO certain about Jimenez that they lacked the conviction to do so with generational talents Machado and Harper?

Elated you could add to your low “likes” count...

I’ll refer you back to the sarcastic/hyperbolic tenor of all your posts about moving to Nashville...of course they CAN afford to pay Sale, Verlander and Cole, but WILL they? You really want to double down again that we can add a Jimenez extension, one of those three pitchers and another $75-125 million on a position prospect/hitter?

Did your cat or dog pee on the carpet this morning? You really want four separate posts or threads, one outlining each pitcher? Covering a couple lines of simple/rudimentary statistics? Every time I see 2019-20 FA’s listed, there are always tons of names in these threads, with only seven of the being realistic top and second tier targets. If we were trying to acquire Manny Machado last offseason (2017-18) and during the actual season in order to convince him to sign an undervalue extension before he hit the market, one of the top players in all of baseball, why exactly would it be that hard to acquire Archer or Greinke? I think not, at least compared to the two young Mets’ pitchers.

Fine we have no prayer to get a really good FA pitcher because we just allocated all our money to Eloy Jimenez, so why not acquire one of four possible pitchers that might be available for various reasons before the trade deadline? Happy now...? Exciting stuff, for sure. Suggesting potential trades without mentioning realistic names is also quite thought-provoking.

Let’s try it this way. JD Martinez, 50.3, -14.7, 5.9 Paul Goldschmidt, 40, -12, 5.1 Two pulled off this feat, and one was barely over 5. Brandon Nimmo and Matt Carpenter come close, but their defense wasn’t close to being a -10, either. And they were 4.5 and 5. Haniger would be the other at 4.6, so there aren’t any obvious parallels besides Eloy having to hit like JDM to be around 6. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=19,d So one of five great offensive players in all of baseball...and having to equal JD Martinez. Not a high bar or standard, at all.

Except he’s likely to be worse than Harper defensively and won’t pick up many assists either, which is how Avi made his defensive stats look much better than the overall reality of Avi in RF taking terrible routes and getting bad or late jumps. Who are these hitters with more than -10 defense who still ended up with 5+ fWAR numbers?

Seems like one of the only solutions on the pitching front is a trade, if we’re unwilling to pay for Sale, Verlander, Cole... Buy out Greinke’s deal, something like $96 million remaining. 10.8 fWAR in the NL West over the last three years, 3.6 average. 3.6 x 9= $32.4 million of value Jameson Fisher and Yolmer/Leury for assuming remainder of Greinke deal? Much more realistically, Chris Archer would be 10 fWAR=3.33 3.33 x 9=$30 million of value $7.5 million salary in 2019, two options valued at $8.25 million for both 2020/21, $24 million total for next three years (age 30-32) $1.75 million 2020 buyout What would the Pirates need in return to make this work? Syndegaard I’m pretty sure with three years, deGrom’s two years make no logical sense without Machado/Harper. Cost would be Jimenez+...not sure they would accept Robert, Cease and Madrigal....and that would wipe out three core pieces of the rebuild that have to be above average major leaguers, anyway.

Probably by striking out at a much closer rate to his walks, for one. In the minors, 59 bb vs. 87 k’s. Jimenez is 117 vs. 310, for one. In 2014 and 15, his walk and k rates were very similar, in fact. In his 9.3 season, 77.7 offense vs. -10.2 defensively.

Why so much money if Jimenez’s fWAR is always going to be limited to the 3.5-4.5 range but Machado could easily come close to doubling that production and is a completely proven commodity?

Entirely different bidding circumstances and Lat Am signing pool consequences for a player at Robert's age.

Unless you count the 3 million fans from 2007. How many of those bottom 10 franchises have neared the 3 million mark? Maybe 2-2.5 million, or closer to 3 in first year of a new ballpark. We're also going to end up with a Top 5-7 media/broadcasting rights deal in terms of overall revenues (local/national/MLBAM) if Hahn and Williams don't f$%k it up too badly before they have to renegotiate yet again in another five years down the line (2024).

The ONE signing that sort of made sense....at that price, and if he can get back to the 93-95 MPH range.

Iowa might not even beat Illinois...lost 5/6, trailing at halftime 7 of last 8. Had five of those go down to last second miracle shots. At least Nebraska followed up the rally from 47-31 down and 8-9 in the final minute. Almost hope we lose again, to get a 7/10 matchup instead of 8/9, as you’re much unlikelier to take out a #1 with that Iowa roster. Need a #2 to get upset.

That was actually the unofficial ending of Disco Demolition Night, just didn’t get printed out formally on the pocket promotional schedules. Plus, that used to happen about once a month in the hotel windows overlooking Skydome/Rogers.

Chris Correa, banned for life.

And the Astros still didn’t even suffer for offering those what turned out to be bad early extensions for Singleton, Grossman, Chris Johnson, maybe Jason Castro....not remembering Matt Dominguez so clearly. Or pressuring the young players to sign them in order to get a promotion to the big league team. This was just FIVE short years ago, and of course they also got Altuve to extend as well. “The deal, which is the first of its kind for a player with zero major league service time, is guaranteed for five years and $10M, according to Passan. It also includes three club options for $2.5M in 2019, $5M in 2020 and $13M in 2020, along with $5M in bonuses and awards that could raise its valye to $35M. As Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com notes, Singleton is giving up a free agent year at $13M, and will still be able to hit the free agent market when he is 30 years old. Singleton, who was originally drafted by the Phillies in the eighth round of the 2009 draft, joined the Astros' organization in the Hunter Pence trade in 2011 and has been widely-regarded as one of the best first base prospects in all of baseball. Before hitting .267 with 14 HR and 43 RBI in 54 games with Triple-A Oklahoma City this season, he was ranked by Baseball America as the 82nd best prospect in the league, ranking among the league's top 100 prospects for the fourth straight season. The Astros are known to be working on long-term extensions with many of their young players, and also have made offers to Robbie Grossman, Matt Dominguez, and rookie George Springer. The offer to Springer, who was regarded as a top prospect before his promotion, would have guaranteed him $7.6M over four years with three team options that could raise its value to $23M, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com.That offer is strikingly similar in terms of average annual value to the one that Singleton has agreed to, guaranteeing $1.9M per year on the guaranteed portion of the contract compared to the $2M that Singleton will receive.” https://www.mlbdailydish.com/2014/6/2/5772700/astros-promote-jon-singleton-sign-him-to-long-term-contract-extension

Amazing how similar the #1 farm systems in baseball (1999/2000) and 2017/18 are eerily reminiscent in terms of the spate of injuries decimating the ranks. Does that also mean we’re only five years away...2023 World Series? And where’s our Mark Buehrle this time around?

Then doubly lucky we traded Loiaza for Contreras when we did...but didn’t one or two of the 2005 team have a PEDs allegation or two, maybe Ozuna, in their background? Aaron Rowand was suspected by some because of the way his body broke down, but his style play ended up being the most destructive factor. We’ve had our share of guys like Myers or Wilfredo Cordero. D’Angelo Jimenez was apparently one of the worst character guys of all-time, fwiw. Cheating off the field vs. PEDs or domestic abuse/violence are slightly different situations, though.

Yoan Moncada was the #1 prospect in all of of baseball entering 2017. He has four tools (at least 3 1/2 because it’s more raw power than consistent in game power), Jimenez has just 2, and he doesn’t walk nearly as much as Thomas. Well, almost no one does. Jimenez is stuck behind Guerrero and Tatis.

Unless you think Palka is part of the future as a LH platoon DH. Theyre also taking at bats away from Rondon. Those are the two most affected, obviously Delmonico as well.

Wilson Betemit and Ryan Sweeney agree with you.