The Sir

You still need to be banned.

Would the doubting Thomases just stop? There's nothing saying we're out. Hahn isn't a SoxTalk poster, he's not going to come out and say, "I think it's 50% us, 40% the Phils, and 10% someone else." He's going to be vague and cover all the bases. Don't freak out about it.

At this point, Felix Hernandez is probably playing for a one year deal worth a few million. In other news, I wish my talents allowed me to say, "Hey, I pretty much suck now, but give me five million dollars and I'll work for you this year."

If I was a mod, I would have banned you a week ago.

I hope this doesn't factor in at all. Some prospects are going to fail. If Jimenez and Robert fill LF and CF as budding stars, respectively, and Harper takes over right, and Gonzalez or one of the others is coming up hard, we trade them for something we need. You don't refuse to add a proven star when you have money and mutual interest just because some unproven asset in A ball might play that position in 3 years. Now, I'd assume he's talking about not signing, say, Denard Span to putz around in CF at replacement value and still be there when Robert's knocking on the door.

Yeah, I sat in an actual meeting once that took seven hours. That sucked- you sat in one spot, you listened, some other guy talked, occasionally someone yelled at someone else, and this repeated ad nauseum, for the majority of a work day. No food, no view, no socializing. If I had to imagine it, I'm guessing this meeting was in a huge, luxurious room, with catered food and more on demand, sofas, a nice view, and lots of socializing rather than just a carousel of people briefing their one little piece. Not that bad.

Yeah, I'm not sure myself. Because OBP for Player A was higher than SLG, I was beginning to wonder if this player even existed. The past few years suggest not, although Mauer/Freese/Markakis came close various times (I thought of Juan Pierre but he never did it), but a FanGraphs article from 2008 showed that he does, most notably in the form of Luis Castillo, Ozzie Smith, and Willie Randolph. So this guy used to be out there. I think the better point is that each player has its use. I want Player A leading off or maybe in the 2 slot, but Player B can hit 4th (or, on a team that isn't the 2013-2018 White Sox and actually wants to score lots of runs...7th). It's dumb to pose it as one or the other because these two players aren't quite job competition for each other.

I was going to play devil's advocate in favor of the low-OPS guy, on the basis that he could be better if he were a high-OBP guy (a la Madrigal, if he managed to walk more) and the other was a big power but sucky at everything else type (a la Davidson), but it wasn't that powerful in the end. I created a .700 OPS guy who had 1x homerun and walked enough to have an OBP of .365 and an .800 OPS guy who hit 35 bombs and didn't walk much so his OBP was .317. All to make a point that a guy who can get on base a ton is good for the sluggers behind him, but I'd probably still take the 35 bombs over a .048 higher OBP. So, meh. Anyways, even though that failed, I created an Excel spreadsheet that I wanted to share. All you have to do is plug in the numbers for each type of hit, as well as walks and strikeouts, and it gives you calculated BAs, OBPs, SLGs, OPSs, and BABIPs. I was just goofing around at first, but I'm going to keep this piece for future use. Player Comp.xlsx

How so? Totally disregarding his MLB stint, he walked tons of people in MiLB, including 6.2/per 9IP at AAA in 2018.

Bold prediction: Harper and Machado jointly decide to sign for hundreds of millions...of Japanese Yen. This offseason goes down in MLB history as the one where two people named Tanner were swapped for each other. In all seriousness though, I know nothing about Tanner Rainey, and I know we shouldn't pay attention small samples, but his is a really, really BAD small sample. 7 IP in relief, with 12 BBs, 4 homers, and 19 runs, and he's 25? And this, in exchange for a consistent innings eater who has twice thrown 190+ IP with an ERA under 3? What are the Nats doing?

Fort Worth absolutely deserves a mention in this category.

I gave you the reaction for your Philly comments. Terrible city.

Putting aside my fanatical LA hatred, this is the best take. Living in Sherman Oaks is a heck of a lot better than living in Stop 6 (a less than appealing neighborhood in Fort Worth).

The smog is disgusting, the airport had no available seating nor working outlets, and a grown man who was upset that my one year old was crying at the very end of the flight pushed my three year old out of the way to get off the plane and then ran out of the terminal like a little b**** when my wife started telling me what he did. Fuck LA.

I lived in Chicago for a few years when I was a kid, but have barely been there in the last 20. As a military brat, I'm not really from anywhere in particular, but I now live in the best state in the union, so I can judge.

Been to Milwaukee. Also, Kandahar. Some portion of the population was actively trying to kill me, and it was still a friendlier city than LA.

Man, I really hope they don't speed up Cease's timeline just because they signed Harper. I mean, if Harper gets ten years, he'll likely be here longer than Dylan will. Calling the dude up early just because of that would be some impulsive foolishness.

Hopefully Bryce hates LA as much as I do. Seriously, I don't know why it's some sort of trope in our country that people get rich and move to LA, or move to LA so they can get rich. I flew through there the other day and it's easily the shittiest place I've ever been, and I'm in the Army (i.e. going to shitty places is sort of the point, for us).

Building a brand? He can do that on the Southside. He comes to us and he is instantly the star. Not gonna be that way in LA, where he'll still be second-tier to Kershaw and probably others.

I'm not putting too much stock in it, but it is positive for us. No, Harper's not going to track the daily rise and fall of Luis Basabe's OPS like us geeks do, but if his agent is saying they are considering the long-term chances of each team, I think it can let us relax from losing 100 games last year. I just think these sorts of statements show that's not really on the radar anymore. We have young talent, and we're gonna be real good in the future. If Bryce is seriously looking at what his suitors are going to be like several years from now, I think that speaks well of our chances.

This seems like good news for us. Obviously, it won't be the main factor in his decision, but we've definitely got everyone else beat on quality talent in the minors...

Why didn't you say so? Someone call Jerry. This guy's got $400 million he wants to give Bryce! Let's do this!

No, but I am sad for her because she'll probably end up drowning in a creek.

I'm assuming everybody remembers the Arnie Munoz start. We were down 11-1 after the third inning. Somehow came back to make it 15-14 going into the bottom of the 8th, and lost 17-14. There was another game against the Tigers, more recently, where, if I'm remembering right, someone hit a bases loaded double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie it at 6. The runner from first tried to score, and was ruled out, although video replay showed he was clearly safe (this was before replay review). We gave up a homerun in the tenth and went down without any further struggle. My point is, if we miss out, this will be like those games. In the third inning, I was over the Munoz start. We sucked that day, and we lost. At the beginning of the ninth inning, I was over that Tigers game. Win some, lose some, whatever. By the time the games were over, they were some of the worst losses I can remember. Similarly, three months ago, Harper was a non-issue because I just assumed he'd end up somewhere else. Now, I won't be satisfied with anything less than victory.

I'm doubtful about all of them, but at least Reporter Liam and NYSportscast have nominal ties to sports journalism, even if somewhat weak. That guy Luke saying Harper to the Dodgers has connections to a website that sells athletic shoes and stuff. Definitely don't believe that one.