Jose Abreu

Do you really think that signing Abreu for about 2 years to ~10-12 AAV is gonna preclude a team with basically no payroll from retaining a reliever or catcher? Because saying Alonso is a better fielding 1B isn't really saying much, and the value gained from playing him there over Abreu is almost negligible

I think this concern is just fear mongering from the anti-Abreu people. Yes, he has stated that he prefers 1B, but like you said, what old 1B doesn't prefer to play the field? I can basically guarantee you that if he signs a new contract here, he isn't gonna become a clubhouse cancer or anything and complain that he's DHing while Vaughn plays 1B.

No, I'm saying he believes it but he has just always been extremely pessimistic. He'll hear a quote and spin it in the most negative way possible. It's just his writing style

Fegan will always write with the more negative angle because the Twitter folks will eat it up

How many teams are in the league and how much did Saquon/CMC/Kamara go for? My 10 team auction is on Monday and I can't tell if they're gonna go low 50s or high 60s. The entire league has just been messing with each other and nobody knows what to expect

Abreu

Oh, they will

Absolutely, and I don't think he's a good defensive 1B, but I'm just trying to make a point that you shouldn't just look at one stat. If you don't like his wRC+ or fWAR, maybe look at his exit velocity and hard hit rate instead. Even better, look at them in conjunction with each other.

They're all in the negative range because Fangraphs adjusts those ratings based on position, and anyone playing first base provides far less value than someone playing shortstop or center field, for example. The stat you're probably looking for is range runs (RngR), for which he is second to last. Regardless, I still find it funny that the people who think he's below average/bad based solely on 1 or 2 Fangraphs stats conveniently ignore that Fangraphs also says he's the #8 defensive 1B in the league this year

It's so nice having one of the best position players in the sport on our roster. Other than a few one year flashes ('16 Eaton, '14 Abreu, '12 Rios, etc.), I can't remember the last time you could say that about one of our guys. Ordonez/Thomas?

Anthony Rendon hates baseball but is elite at playing it. Even if Moncada is similar (and FWIW, I think he likes it and just shows emotion differently than other players), I don't think it's too big of a deal

It's fair from a value standpoint, but in the same way that 12/650+ is fair for Trout instead of 12/428, or 10/350+ is fair for Machado instead of 10/300. I feel like the $/WAR calculations always end up being a little too optimistic in terms of what the player actually gets. I see Cole getting more like 7/225 but could be wrong.

I'm fine with something being "seriously wrong" if that's what he's getting...

It just really baffles me, because I'm definitely a pro-Sabermetrics guy, but the advanced metrics love Abreu's batted ball profile. So when people don't like Abreu, it's not really an advanced stats versus traditional stats thing. It's just a matter of whether the advanced stats people are actually researching him, or are just looking at one number (generally his WAR or his wRC+) for confirmation bias without actually diving into his contact profile

Just for the record, I don't think Abreu is a good defensive 1B, but he's the 8th most valuable defensive first baseman per Fangraphs

Wasn't about you, I was just responding to DA's last sentence about how this is such a "problem". My bad, I get why you would think I was talking about you based on how I quoted him.

If he didn't get injured, he would be on a 33 home run pace for this season though

What's really crazy to think about is that as high as his ceiling is, you could make a pretty good argument that Robert's is even higher. Imagine having 2 5+ WAR position players on the same team, plus a 5+ WAR pitcher in Giolito...

Basically exactly what you said. He should be a consistent ~5 WAR player with a few ~7 WAR/40 HR seasons at his peak. His baserunning value is already pretty good despite the lack of steals, but if it goes up and the power increases, he could even turn in an 8-10 WAR season as his true ceiling

That more people complain about Abreu than the actual garbage on this roster (Sanchez/Engel/Castillo/Detwiler/Osich/Santiago etc.) has always been amusing to me

Moncada

I really don't see the point in Steele Walker and Will Kincannon not being at AA

He’s at 4.8 fWAR now

Hey guys! Still think he’s a fluke, a #4, or whatever other hot takes you had?