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Post by jdb on Apr 22, 2014 11:23:15 GMT -5
After Cliff Lee got shelled opening day he has allowed 4 ERs in his last 30 innings with your typical 37-1 K/BB ratio. With our financial flexibility I can't wait until someone like him gets put on the trade market.
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Post by jimed14 on Apr 22, 2014 11:41:22 GMT -5
After Cliff Lee got shelled opening day he has allowed 4 ERs in his last 30 innings with your typical 37-1 K/BB ratio. With our financial flexibility I can't wait until someone like him gets put on the trade market. Yeah, I'd like to be in on that, but that moron Ruben Amaro will want 10 times as much as Cliff Lee has ever been traded for before along with no money included to reduce the $30 million salary. And we'd probably have to take Ryan Howard and Papelbon too.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 22, 2014 19:59:59 GMT -5
Albert Pujols just hit his 500th. More importantly, he's leading the league in slugging. I know it's still early in the season, but his injury last season was plantar fasciitis - not a wear and tear type of thing and apparently very painful to try to play through. We're never seeing 2003-2009 Pujols again, but I think there's a good chance that he's back to being an impact player.
Another interesting point: his BABIP is currently .224. It's possible that is skills erosion, but if it's bad luck then he is really off to a fantastic start this year.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on Apr 22, 2014 20:25:18 GMT -5
Pujols is going to be just fine if he can stay reasonably healthy. Hitters of that caliber don't just fall off in their early 30s.
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Post by grandsalami on Apr 22, 2014 21:00:14 GMT -5
“@jasoncollette: Umpires just went to instant replay to verify a count and still got it wrong. Escobar just struck out on a 4-2 fastball”
“@jasoncollette: There were 6 pitches in the at bat, no foul balls, and replay center said count was 3-2. Deduno apparently throws an invisible pitch”
Well done replay umps
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 22, 2014 22:15:10 GMT -5
Jose Fernandez goes 8 innings, gives up only 3 hits and strikes out 14 for the win. Following the game, Fernandez said catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia deserved credit for the way he helped keep Atlanta's batters off-balance. "He (Saltalamacchia) was just amazing back there," Fernandez said. "I can't explain how good he was. He was just amazing back there," Fernandez said. "I can't explain how good he was." I read somewhere on the twitter machine, and I can not find it now, that Fernandez is the youngest player to strike out 14 without issuing a walk since the Kerry Wood 20 K game. Meanwhile, Alex Wood can't get any luck at all. In his last two starts he has pitched 16 innings, allowed two runs, and taken two losses.
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Post by jdb on Apr 23, 2014 9:03:45 GMT -5
About time to pull the plug on the Kevin Towers experiment out in Arizona. Who would have guessed trading Upton for a super utility guy, trading a quality CF/leadoff hitter along with a top 100 prospect for a closer, trading a top 5 SP prospect for a glove first SS and trading a good LH SP prospect in Skaggs for Trumbo wouldn't have worked out.
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Post by jdb on Apr 23, 2014 9:06:00 GMT -5
That's a hell of a staff the Marlins have. Three days ago, Salty caught a 9 inning 2 hitter thrown by Henderson Alvarez. Maybe the Sox did Salty a favor by low balling him. He got to go home. He joined a team with a better starting staff. And, in three years, he'll still only be 31 and able to nail down another multi-year deal. Agree. I hope they can lock up Stanton and Fernandez and build around them. Lots of good pitching and a few more prospects on the way in Heany and Moran with the #2 pick in a deep draft to boot.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 23, 2014 9:44:02 GMT -5
About time to pull the plug on the Kevin Towers experiment out in Arizona. Who would have guessed trading Upton for a super utility guy, trading a quality CF/leadoff hitter along with a top 100 prospect for a closer, trading a top 5 SP prospect for a glove first SS and trading a good LH SP prospect in Skaggs for Trumbo wouldn't have worked out. Agreed. Almost every organization has adopted some sort of objective analysis in the post-Moneyball era, to some extent, but the Diamondbacks have sort of become of the Flat Earthers of MLB. And if incompetence in general isn't enough, advocating dirty, dangerous play should be. The one guy I feel for is Martin Prado, a good player who definitely doesn't deserve to have the "stupidly traded for Justin Upton" cloud hang over his head for the rest of his career.
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Post by taftreign on Apr 23, 2014 9:49:27 GMT -5
I think it would be an interesting debate between The Tampa strategy and Miami strategy for low budget team building. Tampa gets the praise for running a very efficient organization and deservedly so while Miami is at times the scourge of baseball for playing slash and burn economics. But last I checked Miami has two WS titles to Tampa's 0 (2 appearances to 1 so this could easily have been something other than 2-0) As a fan do you want an annual playoff contender who unfortunately for them hasn't gotten it done or an occasional competitor that has flashes of championship greatness. Can't you see another WS run in the works in Miami?
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Post by jmei on Apr 23, 2014 10:32:23 GMT -5
Honestly, if their owner wasn't such a scumbag, a lot more folks would be praising Miami's phoenix-like ability to rise out of the ashes again and again. Dave Dombrowski and Larry Beinfest have done a hell of a job developing the farm system and getting a terrific return for their expensive veterans.
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Post by jimed14 on Apr 23, 2014 10:35:45 GMT -5
Honestly, if their owner wasn't such a scumbag, a lot more folks would be praising Miami's phoenix-like ability to rise out of the ashes again and again. Dave Dombrowski and Larry Beinfest have done a hell of a job developing the farm system and getting a terrific return for their expensive veterans. It's really gotta be coming to an end. Teams can't be that stupid anymore, right? Every team has to understand how valuable good cost controlled players are now.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Apr 23, 2014 23:57:53 GMT -5
A second Tommy John surgery for Josh Johnson. He's out for the season.
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Post by rjp313jr on Apr 25, 2014 8:16:07 GMT -5
It's really gotta be coming to an end. Teams can't be that stupid anymore, right? Every team has to understand how valuable good cost controlled players are now. Were the Red Sox stupid when they traded Hanley and Anibal for Beckett? Half this board would argue a resounding "NO!" Every player is a commodity whose value is weighed not just in terms of long term value but also near term value. The Red Sox undoubtedly realized there would be a chance they'd look like suckers a few years down the road. But, they felt they needed an established ace to replace a then 39 year old Schilling. The funny thing is that in the last couple of years, the Sox had a legitimate chance to trade for or acquire in free agency both the pieces they traded for Beckett. Getting a chance to redeem oneself doesn't happen too often in baseball. Now though, one player was deemed to be a head case while the other had a fairly extensive injury history. So, you have to place values on factors beyond the talent and cost of a player as well. Would a Hanley and Anibal have contributed to or detracted from the Sox winning in either 2007 or 2013. That's debatable. What's not debatable, however, is that the Sox have two rings during the span 2006 to 2013, whereas none of the teams Hanley or Anibal played on during that time won any rings. Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell
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Post by rjp313jr on Apr 25, 2014 8:25:23 GMT -5
About time to pull the plug on the Kevin Towers experiment out in Arizona. Who would have guessed trading Upton for a super utility guy, trading a quality CF/leadoff hitter along with a top 100 prospect for a closer, trading a top 5 SP prospect for a glove first SS and trading a good LH SP prospect in Skaggs for Trumbo wouldn't have worked out. Agreed. Almost every organization has adopted some sort of objective analysis in the post-Moneyball era, to some extent, but the Diamondbacks have sort of become of the Flat Earthers of MLB. And if incompetence in general isn't enough, advocating dirty, dangerous play should be. The one guy I feel for is Martin Prado, a good player who definitely doesn't deserve to have the "stupidly traded for Justin Upton" cloud hang over his head for the rest of his career. Why is it so stupid that Upton was traded for Prado? A strong argument can be made that Prado has been a move valuable player than Upton the last few years. This coming from a huge Upton fan. The problem is, JUp is extremely talented but doesn't come close to fulfilling that talent. He also makes a lot more money than Prado. So Prado has been more valuable for less money... Seems like a good swap to me.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 25, 2014 8:58:16 GMT -5
The only time that Prado has been better than Upton was 2012, and Upton is four years younger. And, while Upton does make more money, his contract is hardly an albatross - at some level, paying more money for better players isn't so bad. Upton has been, I think, a victim of his own expectations, as he's been merely a very good player instead of a great one. He's better than Prado today, and the gap is likely to continue to grow. Additionally, the way the Diamondbacks handled the situation wasn't very good, with the whole trading Upton to the Mariners who were on his no-trade list. The problem with the Diamondbacks is that, all of their trades, looked at individually, don't seem quite so bad. But taking a longview and trying to figure out what the organizations strategy is (other than getting grittier and maybe hitting some dudes with pitches sometimes), and the organization has gone backwards. Jonah Keri details better than I would: grantland.com/the-triangle/arizona-diamondbacks-kevin-towers-kirk-gibson/
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Post by rjp313jr on Apr 25, 2014 10:17:23 GMT -5
I don't disagree but that particular trade isn't nearly as bad as it's made out to be. Last year Prado had 2 bad months and was excellent the second half. The gap between the two last year wasn't that big and in 2012 is was hugely in favor of Prado. Yes, I would take Upton before him with salary included etc, but like you said Upton isn't a great player but Prado isn't a bad player. In actuality they are both very good players. Upton had more "talent" and is younger. Prado does offer more positional versatility though.
That trade just isn't that bad is all I'm saying. It was handled poorly and I'm not trying to defend Towers as much as I'm trying to point out Prado is a much better player than people give credit for.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 25, 2014 12:18:30 GMT -5
Yeah, that was kind of my original point, though I may not have phrased it well. I like Prado a lot.
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Post by rjp313jr on Apr 25, 2014 15:45:05 GMT -5
Yea I came off as defending Towers when it's not what I meant. It was a bad trade regardless of result simply because he killed Upton's market.
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Post by jmei on Apr 25, 2014 17:50:04 GMT -5
So Houston is sending Mark Appel back to Extended Spring Training after his early struggles in Lancaster. He has a 6.23 ERA despite a 13:4 K/BB in 13 IP. I'm so glad the Red Sox don't have an affiliate at that launching pad anymore.
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Post by chavopepe2 on Apr 25, 2014 18:08:18 GMT -5
So Houston is sending Mark Appel back to Extended Spring Training after his early struggles in Lancaster. He has a 6.23 ERA despite a 13:4 K/BB in 13 IP. I'm so glad the Red Sox don't have an affiliate at that launching pad anymore. Why would Houston even put Appel in Lancaster in the first place? He seems like the perfect candidate to go right to AA.
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Post by grandsalami on Apr 25, 2014 18:53:13 GMT -5
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 26, 2014 0:41:19 GMT -5
Can you imagine if BJ really just needed glasses all this time? He's basically hit like someone who couldn't see the baseball ever since he joined the Braves.
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Post by Don Caballero on Apr 26, 2014 0:48:22 GMT -5
Can you imagine if BJ really just needed glasses all this time? He's basically hit like someone who couldn't see the baseball ever since he joined the Braves.FTFY.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 26, 2014 0:56:05 GMT -5
Except those GD 2008 playoffs.
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