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Post by webster7777 on Dec 4, 2017 23:06:12 GMT -5
New to the board but I have read this board for years but never had the courage to join up and give an opinion. I finally got the courage to join the board.
After all that I think I will get to the topic at hand and that is the first base opening. I think they should give Hanley a shot at first because I think the best way to improve the team is signing JD Martinez to DH for this team. The Red Sox need to build versatility through their roster after that.
I like the fact Swihart is trying new positions to build versatility. He was a shortstop in High School and I know that don't mean much when he was brought up as a catcher through the minors. I remember when the Astros converted Biggio into a second baseman and he became a Hall of Famer. I know Swihart isn't close to Biggio yet due to experience but I think he will be a fine Major Leaguer. That is my opinion but who knows what you get until you see them out on the field for a few seasons.
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Post by telson13 on Dec 5, 2017 11:33:47 GMT -5
New to the board but I have read this board for years but never had the courage to join up and give an opinion. I finally got the courage to join the board. After all that I think I will get to the topic at hand and that is the first base opening. I think they should give Hanley a shot at first because I think the best way to improve the team is signing JD Martinez to DH for this team. The Red Sox need to build versatility through their roster after that. I like the fact Swihart is trying new positions to build versatility. He was a shortstop in High School and I know that don't mean much when he was brought up as a catcher through the minors. I remember when the Astros converted Biggio into a second baseman and he became a Hall of Famer. I know Swihart isn't close to Biggio yet due to experience but I think he will be a fine Major Leaguer. That is my opinion but who knows what you get until you see them out on the field for a few seasons. Welcome...and congrats on taking the plunge!
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Post by jiant2520 on Dec 5, 2017 19:42:47 GMT -5
New to the board but I have read this board for years but never had the courage to join up and give an opinion. I finally got the courage to join the board. After all that I think I will get to the topic at hand and that is the first base opening. I think they should give Hanley a shot at first because I think the best way to improve the team is signing JD Martinez to DH for this team. The Red Sox need to build versatility through their roster after that. I like the fact Swihart is trying new positions to build versatility. He was a shortstop in High School and I know that don't mean much when he was brought up as a catcher through the minors. I remember when the Astros converted Biggio into a second baseman and he became a Hall of Famer. I know Swihart isn't close to Biggio yet due to experience but I think he will be a fine Major Leaguer. That is my opinion but who knows what you get until you see them out on the field for a few seasons. Welcome...and congrats on taking the plunge! Yes, welcome.
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Post by Guidas on Dec 8, 2017 14:15:26 GMT -5
ESPN Insider (wish casting) Article "Five Trades We'd Like to See at the Winter Meetings" featuring opinions of Dave Schoenfield and Bradford Doolittle. #1 is Abreu to Red Sox. Excerpt: Shoenfield: Dave Dombrowski should offer the White Sox any prospect from the farm system, including left-handed pitcher Jay Groome, the team's first-round pick in 2016, or power-hitting third baseman Michael Chavis. Doolittle: Groome and a lower-level prospect -- let's say 2017 draftee Brett Netzer -- gets it done.
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Post by sibbysisti on Dec 8, 2017 14:30:53 GMT -5
Both Bradford and Rosenthal are downplaying the RS/WS interest in pursuing an Abreu trade. Chicago seems content to hang onto him. Situation could change though as Meetings heat up.
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Post by larrycook on Dec 9, 2017 20:33:45 GMT -5
How do we feel about signing Vargas?
I know everyone thinks a big bat is job 1, but I still think we need more pitching. Price’s elbow may or may not be damaged. Rodriguez’s knee may or may be ready by mid season.
Counting on Wright seems like a Hail Mary and we are moving Johnson and Elias to the bullpen.
Porcello’s sinker may or may not sink. If it does not, then it’s meatball city again this year.
More depth in the rotation seems a must!
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Post by ericmvan on Dec 9, 2017 22:20:43 GMT -5
An update on the 1B market, with some increasing clarity, I think. There are seven players available (Hosmer, Santana, Morrison, Alonso, Duda, Moreland, and Adams) and five or six teams that will be shopping. Let's start with the Angels. Since Ohtani will get some DH time, Albert Pujols is reportedly losing weight in anticipation of playing some 1B. It would therefore be a surprise if they went after a full-time 1B. A LHB for a platoon would be a big upgrade over C.J. Cron, and now that they're contenders I think they'll be highly motivated. Logan Morrison seems like a perfect fit. I still think the Mariners will re-sign Alonso to be the big half of a platoon with Ryon Healey. The Rockies are the wild card; they have rookie Ryan McMahon. They're not going to sign an insane GB hitter to play half his games in Coors, and they're not going to sign one of the bottom trio of candidates to block their #2 prospect. But you could certainly see them going after Santana in a week market. The Indians want to re-sign Santana and it wouldn't shock me if they get him for a deal that's far below what's been speculated, like 2/$32 with an option. If they get outbid by the Rockies, they can grab one of the bottom trio on a 1-year deal and see how prospect Bobby Bradley comes along. That leaves the Red Sox and Royals, and Eric Hosmer and two or three of the bottom trio available. The Royals were recently ranked by Dan Szymborski at ESPN Insider as the team in the second-worst medium-term payroll jam (after the Marlins). There are reports that the Royals are aware that letting all three free agents walk and going into a full rebuild mode might be the smart thing to do. So I think this comes down to where Hosmer wants to play. He can play for a bad team in a ballpark he's ill-suited for, but in a very comfortable situation, or he can play for one of the five best teams in baseball in a park he's ideally suited for him, in an unfamiliar situation. I don't see either team spending anything close to what Boras wants for him. The Royals are perfectly comfortable with letting him go, and the Red Sox knows that. I'll be surprised if the deal hits the $100M mark. If Hosmer resigns with KC, what the Sox do depends on whether they've landed J.D. Martinez or not. If they have Martinez, I think they bring back Moreland (unless the Indians have already grabbed him, in which case I think they go with Adams). If they got outbid for Martinez by the Giants (or someone else, but they seem like the most serious player), you could see them making a play for Santana or Morrison (who could platoon with Brentz), and also signing Adams as a bench bat. More on the logic for that in the roster building thread. Finally, there are two teams that could conceivably get into the market just because it's so weak. The Twins could make a pre-emptive strike near the top of the market, since Joe Mauer is in his walk year and projects to be nothing special. And--less likely--the Mets may decide not to hand 1B over to Dominic Smith. If either team grabs one of the top 4 guys, it changes things thoroughly. Coming next: some eye-opening Eric Hosmer numbers.
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Post by ericmvan on Dec 10, 2017 3:05:50 GMT -5
Eric Hosmer has been famously inconsistent from year to year. I thought I'd look at his last two seasons to see what made them different.
Now, I firmly believe that most year-to-year variations in performance are due not to changes in hitting talent, but in the proportion of time a hitter spends "hot" versus "cold," which is to say, mechanically correct versus messed-up. We've seen this the last two seasons with JBJ. Travis Shaw wasn't any more talented this year than the year before; he got better results because his slumps were much shorter. Carlos Pena was the poster child for this phenomenon.
So I divided both seasons into distinct chunks based entirely on performance (adjusted for the apparent quality of the pitching that day). This was surprisingly easy. I got 20 chunks in 2016 and 23 in 2017.
You might think that a lot of this was just random variation. Some of it probably is. But take last year in mid-May, when he had a 1206 OPS over 4 games and a 481 over the next 4. His GB% went from .647 to .429, his Opp% went from .412 to .286, and his O-Swing went from .242 to .500. All three of these things are nicely correlated to how well he hits over a given period.
The biggest factor is indeed his O-Swing%, which explains 22.6% of his performance (as measured by linear weights runs per PA) in a given stretch (r = -.475. Note that all correlations are weighted by the sample size of each stretch). Here are his numbers in stretches were he was better than average versus worse than average:
O-Swing G PA BA OBP SA K% BB% HRC BABIP BR/600 O-Sw% O-Con% Z-Sw% Z-Con% < .337 157 653 .325 .406 .526 .155 .113 .059 .356 35 .282 .600 .637 .891 > .337 163 677 .262 .313 .410 .199 .061 .044 .299 -12 .390 .631 .684 .879
What's amazing about this is that the difference between having an O-Swing% of .282 and one of .390 amounts to laying off 1 fewer pitch per game (0.98, actually). And you obviously cannot go from being -12 batting runs per 600 PA to +35 by laying off one fewer pitch per game. It's a symptom, not a cause.
The next most telling split is his GB%, which explains 19% of his performance. As you probably know, more or less, Hosmer's .572 ranked 261st of 267 players the last 2 years (minimum 600 PA). How did he do depending on whether he was better or worse than that awful number?
GB% G PA BA OBP SA K% BB% HRC BABIP BR/600 GB% Pull% Opp% O-Sw% < .572 182 757 .337 .411 .562 .184 .100 .068 .379 41 .495 .305 .346 .319 > .572 138 573 .235 .290 .342 .169 .068 .030 .264 -28 .667 .375 .264 .361 This is amazing for two different reasons. First of all, the .495 GB% in his good stretches still ranks in the 16th percentile of MLB hitters. It's still pretty lousy. And the 69 Run / 600 PA improvement (close to 7 WAR of value) is based on hitting one fewer GB per every 2 games. Again, a symptom and not a cause. (The importance of the split to his success is smaller even though the split is bigger because the effect is less consistent.)
You'll also note that he hits the ball more to the opposite field when he's hitting the ball more in the air, and also chasing fewer pitches. The opposite field split is of course of interest to us. It explains 9.6% of the results (and is the last of the interesting correlations), but it's entirely driven by the following split. There is no correlation within the second line at all, which is to say that, on average, he got the same results in any stretch where his Opp% was over .400.
Opp% G PA BA OBP SA K% BB% HRC BABIP BR/600 > .400 46 193 .415 .466 .676 .140 .083 .067 .450 77 < .400 274 1137 .271 .340 .429 .184 .087 .048 .305 0 He had 29 games in this split in 2017, versus 17 in 2016. He had 96 games in the good GB split, versus 86. But the big difference is with O-Swing%, where he was better than his overall average in 101 games in 2017, versus 56 in 2016. And that's pretty much the difference between the seasons.
Plate discipline can come and go. There's no guarantee that, going forward, he can consistently lay off pitches as well as he did in 2017 (even though it was a career best). But the other data is, I think, very promising. He hits really well when he succeeds in going the other way, as he will try to do if he plays half his games in Fenway. And he doesn't appear to need a major swing alteration; just a slight increase in GB% could improve his numbers seriously.
Another very promising result: 85% of the good GB games were bundled into 6 long stretches averaging 26 games each (the average stretch in the whole study was 7.4 games long, but the good GB stretches tended very strongly to cluster together). Some of the shorter stretches were not good, because they were overridden by bad plate discipline (as in the second 4-game stretch in the opening example). But look at the numbers he put up when he got locked into hitting the ball more in the air, with his present mechanics:
Year Dates G PA BA OBP SA K% BB% HRC BABIP GB% 2016 4/23-6/10 44 181 .333 .398 .593 .193 .094 .085 .364 .523 2016 8/16-9/11 24 102 .307 .422 .614 .196 .127 .116 .311 .478 2017 4/26-5/13 16 68 .433 .485 .633 .147 .103 .039 .490 .460 2017 6/2-6/15 13 57 .358 .404 .585 .211 .070 .049 .436 .488 2017 6/24-7/25 27 112 .337 .402 .567 .152 .071 .080 .350 .437 2017 8/12-9/14 31 124 .390 .484 .629 .161 .153 .071 .443 .506 (He actually continued the first stretch with 12 more games with a .559 GB% but below average plate discipline (including a terrible high Z-Swing%, which was correlated in 2016 but not 2017) and a 519 OPS. But after 44 games locked in I don't think that argues against the evidence that the good GB% games are clustered in nice longer streaks .)
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1B in 2018
Dec 10, 2017 11:44:11 GMT -5
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Post by jiant2520 on Dec 10, 2017 11:44:11 GMT -5
An update on the 1B market, with some increasing clarity, I think. There are seven players available (Hosmer, Santana, Morrison, Alonso, Duda, Moreland, and Adams) and five or six teams that will be shopping. Let's start with the Angels. Since Ohtani will get some DH time, Albert Pujols is reportedly losing weight in anticipation of playing some 1B. It would therefore be a surprise if they went after a full-time 1B. A LHB for a platoon would be a big upgrade over C.J. Cron, and now that they're contenders I think they'll be highly motivated. Logan Morrison seems like a perfect fit. I still think the Mariners will re-sign Alonso to be the big half of a platoon with Ryon Healey. The Rockies are the wild card; they have rookie Ryan McMahon. They're not going to sign an insane GB hitter to play half his games in Coors, and they're not going to sign one of the bottom trio of candidates to block their #2 prospect. But you could certainly see them going after Santana in a week market. The Indians want to re-sign Santana and it wouldn't shock me if they get him for a deal that's far below what's been speculated, like 2/$32 with an option. If they get outbid by the Rockies, they can grab one of the bottom trio on a 1-year deal and see how prospect Bobby Bradley comes along. That leaves the Red Sox and Royals, and Eric Hosmer and two or three of the bottom trio available. The Royals were recently ranked by Dan Szymborski at ESPN Insider as the team in the second-worst medium-term payroll jam (after the Marlins). There are reports that the Royals are aware that letting all three free agents walk and going into a full rebuild mode might be the smart thing to do. So I think this comes down to where Hosmer wants to play. He can play for a bad team in a ballpark he's ill-suited for, but in a very comfortable situation, or he can play for one of the five best teams in baseball in a park he's ideally suited for him, in an unfamiliar situation. I don't see either team spending anything close to what Boras wants for him. The Royals are perfectly comfortable with letting him go, and the Red Sox knows that. I'll be surprised if the deal hits the $100M mark. If Hosmer resigns with KC, what the Sox do depends on whether they've landed J.D. Martinez or not. If they have Martinez, I think they bring back Moreland (unless the Indians have already grabbed him, in which case I think they go with Adams). If they got outbid for Martinez by the Giants (or someone else, but they seem like the most serious player), you could see them making a play for Santana or Morrison (who could platoon with Brentz), and also signing Adams as a bench bat. More on the logic for that in the roster building thread. Finally, there are two teams that could conceivably get into the market just because it's so weak. The Twins could make a pre-emptive strike near the top of the market, since Joe Mauer is in his walk year and projects to be nothing special. And--less likely--the Mets may decide not to hand 1B over to Dominic Smith. If either team grabs one of the top 4 guys, it changes things thoroughly. Coming next: some eye-opening Eric Hosmer numbers. I think SD is looking for a bat too and willing to move Myers to the OF to add a bat at 1B. Supposedly they met with or are meeting with Hosmer. Also, SF may be interested as they need hitting and Belt can move to the corner OF, if needed. So there are some other teams who may be willing to sign a few of these guys, and to your point, I don't see Hosmer getting anywhere close to what was being mentioned.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Dec 10, 2017 20:57:12 GMT -5
An update on the 1B market, with some increasing clarity, I think. There are seven players available (Hosmer, Santana, Morrison, Alonso, Duda, Moreland, and Adams) and five or six teams that will be shopping. ... Finally, there are two teams that could conceivably get into the market just because it's so weak. The Twins could make a pre-emptive strike near the top of the market, since Joe Mauer is in his walk year and projects to be nothing special. And--less likely--the Mets may decide not to hand 1B over to Dominic Smith. If either team grabs one of the top 4 guys, it changes things thoroughly. Coming next: some eye-opening Eric Hosmer numbers. I think SD is looking for a bat too and willing to move Myers to the OF to add a bat at 1B. Supposedly they met with or are meeting with Hosmer. Also, SF may be interested as they need hitting and Belt can move to the corner OF, if needed. So there are some other teams who may be willing to sign a few of these guys, and to your point, I don't see Hosmer getting anywhere close to what was being mentioned. Hmm. The Padres project to be the second worst team in MLB. They have Manny Margot in CF. In LF they have Jose Pirela, who came out of nowhere to post 2.0 WAR in a bit over half a season, so they have every reason to see just how good he actually is. And they got a terrible rookie season from Hunter Renfroe in RF, but he was a consensus top 50 prospect coming in, so they're not giving up on him any time soon, either. Meanwhile, Myers didn't look like he could play the OF while he was in Tampa, and was predictably awful in a brief trial in CF when they got him, after which they moved him to 1B where he's a plus defender. They've done some stupid things (like leaving themselves without a CF in 2015), but I'm guessing that this report is from a sportswriter or blogger who's stupider. The Giants are indeed desperate for a bat for LF, but Belt's a terrific defender at 1B and was very subpar in a brief trial in LF. He projects to be their second best player after Posey and a lot of that value is his defense. Meanwhile, there are tons of OF candidates: JDM and Lorenzo Cain in the top tier, Carlos Gomez and Jay Bruce in the next, and if they get shut out of the top 4 (which seems unlikely given their need and willingness to send money), Austin Jackson, Jarrod Dyson, Jon Jay, etc. They can get more bang for buck by signing one of the top 4 guys and keeping Belt at 1B than by signing a 1B and moving Belt to LF. (They'll also probably sign either Moustakas or Frazier for 3B.)
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1B in 2018
Dec 10, 2017 21:09:54 GMT -5
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Post by jdb on Dec 10, 2017 21:09:54 GMT -5
A few of the talking heads on MLB radio this week mentioned that SF could be wanting to ease Posey into more 1B time and trading Belt to sign a LH platoon bat could be an option.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Dec 10, 2017 21:18:41 GMT -5
A few of the talking heads on MLB radio this week mentioned that SF could be wanting to ease Posey into more 1B time and trading Belt to sign a LH platoon bat could be an option. If they're trading Belt and signing someone, that doesn't change the market at all in terms of available players relative to teams in need. They have a tough park for RH home run hitters, so that limits the number of players who would be a good fit there. I think the Sox system is so thin right now that they should be looking to fill all roster holes via free agency, so Belt doesn't seems to fit well.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Dec 10, 2017 22:06:19 GMT -5
I want to throw an out of the box 1b name out here as somebody I'd have interest in seeing the Sox possibly get - AJ Reed.
The Astros, I would think, are committed to Gurriel. AJ Reed has had a couple of opportunities and done nothing with them, but what minor league power numbers (and walks) does this guy have!
What would Houston want for him? Is he available? He's somebody I'd like to see the Sox get if they can get him cheaply enough (for a bullpen arm?). That's a great LH insurance power bat who could blossom into a productive player.
I like him better than some of these 1b bats being mentioned.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Dec 11, 2017 2:18:19 GMT -5
I want to throw an out of the box 1b name out here as somebody I'd have interest in seeing the Sox possibly get - AJ Reed. The Astros, I would think, are committed to Gurriel. AJ Reed has had a couple of opportunities and done nothing with them, but what minor league power numbers (and walks) does this guy have! What would Houston want for him? Is he available? He's somebody I'd like to see the Sox get if they can get him cheaply enough (for a bullpen arm?). That's a great LH insurance power bat who could blossom into a productive player. I like him better than some of these 1b bats being mentioned. He has two options left and was indeed once highly regarded, so I think he's probably a year away from being moved in a change-of-scenery trade. He's coming off a good but not quite great repeat season at AAA. Clay Davenport projects him to be about average for an MLB starting 1B at his peak. I have no idea whether he lost the extra weight that he carried in 2016, but he had his worst year defensively according to both Clay's metrics and BP's, so the guess would be no. I think they hang onto him (unless someone offers something stupid, which won't happen) and hope he has a huge year. Then it gets interesting for them. If I had to guess, he ends up in Japan after two more years in AAA.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Dec 11, 2017 11:46:56 GMT -5
Remember to take PCL numbers with an enormous grain of salt. The PCL was by far the most hitter-friendly of the full-season leagues in 2017, even measurably moreso than the California League.
The league slugged .433. For reference, the highest such mark of any league with a Red Sox affiliate was the Eastern League at .397. The International League slugged .394. Teams score a half-run more per game in the PCL and California Leagues than the other full-season leagues. It's just a different world.
Point being - I'd give up nothing of much value for Reed at this point, and agree with Eric that they're unlikely to trade him at what could be his nadir, as they're not going to get much for him. I wouldn't count on Reed as anything more than a nice backup plan.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Dec 11, 2017 13:41:06 GMT -5
Remember to take PCL numbers with an enormous grain of salt. The PCL was by far the most hitter-friendly of the full-season leagues in 2017, even measurably moreso than the California League. The league slugged .433. For reference, the highest such mark of any league with a Red Sox affiliate was the Eastern League at .397. The International League slugged .394. Teams score a half-run more per game in the PCL and California Leagues than the other full-season leagues. It's just a different world. Point being - I'd give up nothing of much value for Reed at this point, and agree with Eric that they're unlikely to trade him at what could be his nadir, as they're not going to get much for him. I wouldn't count on Reed as anything more than a nice backup plan. Understood. I wasn't thinking about Reed as the guy you depend upon. I'm of the mindset that the Sox have room for one big bat this winter and if it's Martinez they won't have much room to go before they hit the 237 mark (and I wouldn't think they'd want to exceed 230 as they'd want room for deadline acquisitions), and the addition of Martinez would make Hanley 1b and the Sox would need an insurance policy. I like Reed as the insurance policy as opposed to giving Matt Adams $5 million which they might not have to give. They could simply stick with Sam Travis in this situation but I don't think his upside is as good as Reed's. But yeah, the Astros will probably hang onto Reed a little longer, but at the moment I don't think they have him in their plans. I think Gurriel is the guy now. They certainly invested in him. The only way he really plays is an injury to Gurriel or if Marwin Gonzalez struggles, perhaps Bregman goes to LF and Gurriel goes back to 3b.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Dec 15, 2017 17:54:23 GMT -5
One thing I didn't do when I ran down the 1B market was, for each team, see if they might be moving their 1B to the OF. Glad I didn't, because them's a lot of mouse clicks. But of course the Phillies took everyone by surprise by doing just that and signing Carlos Santana.
So, how does that change the market? Not much. I thought the Rockies might make a run for Santana, so I now think they're set with Ryan McMahon at 1B.
I still have Morrison going to the Angels, who appear to be going all-in. Since they've already added a 2B and 3B, it does make me wonder whether they'll become a player for Hosmer. Morrison would seem to be the better fit, though. Alonso back to the Mariners hasn't changed.
I come back to Red Sox, Royals, and Indians in need, with Hosmer, Duda, Moreland, and Adams available.
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Post by umassgrad2005 on Dec 15, 2017 18:10:03 GMT -5
The problem with the Angels is they promised Ohtani a bunch of ABs at DH, so that means Pujols playing 1B. So I can see a backup bat, but not Hosmer. Adams makes some sense for them, platoon type guy. Unless Pujols can bounce back he is going to destroy that team. If he sucks again next year, they need to just pay him and let him retire. It's hard to watch him play like this, after him being so dominant for so long. At this point he needs to be a DH only also.
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1B in 2018
Dec 15, 2017 20:05:49 GMT -5
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Post by jiant2520 on Dec 15, 2017 20:05:49 GMT -5
One thing I didn't do when I ran down the 1B market was, for each team, see if they might be moving their 1B to the OF. Glad I didn't, because them's a lot of mouse clicks. But of course the Phillies took everyone by surprise by doing just that and signing Carlos Santana. So, how does that change the market? Not much. I thought the Rockies might make a run for Santana, so I now think they're set with Ryan McMahon at 1B. I still have Morrison going to the Angels, who appear to be going all-in. Since they've already added a 2B and 3B, it does make me wonder whether they'll become a player for Hosmer. Morrison would seem to be the better fit, though. Alonso back to the Mariners hasn't changed. I come back to Red Sox, Royals, and Indians in need, with Hosmer, Duda, Moreland, and Adams available. I don't see Cleveland signing Hosmer to be honest... I can see them going after Moreland, same for KC as well regarding Moreland.
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Post by nonothing on Dec 15, 2017 20:21:00 GMT -5
The problem with the Angels is they promised Ohtani a bunch of ABs at DH, so that means Pujols playing 1B. So I can see a backup bat, but not Hosmer. Adams makes some sense for them, platoon type guy. Unless Pujols can bounce back he is going to destroy that team. If he sucks again next year, they need to just pay him and let him retire. It's hard to watch him play like this, after him being so dominant for so long. At this point he needs to be a DH only also. Yup. This is why signing guys, no matter how good, to 10 year deals is unbelievably stupid, and nobody should ever do it. If Pujols has another catastrophic year, he will get released and paid a gazillion dollars to be retired. Too bad he left the Cardinals. Never the same player after. Even in his good years on the Angels, he ceased being the unbelievable player he was before the big deal and his move west. Total albatross deal for LAA and sad for him too. We need to stay away from a very long term deal at 1B. There is not a currently available player at 1B who justifies a deal longer than 5 years, and nobody other than Hosmer should get that. 3 tops was ok for Santana, which is what he got. Everyone else should be two years or one. I still think Hanley can hit. Votto, Goldschmidt and Freeman are in another class from Hosmer and the lesser guys. Those guys are franchise cornerstones. Hosmer is a great team player, but not a cornerstone. Abreu is a great hitter, but does not justify giving up top prospects for two years at near full market value.
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Post by umassgrad2005 on Dec 16, 2017 16:02:41 GMT -5
I think Cleveland signing Hosmer makes a ton of sense. They don't have many years till their top guys start leaving. Losing Santana and adding Moreland would be a big downgrade. Frankly I'm kind of shocked they let him walk when it only took 3 years. Tells me they thought he was declining and wasn't worth even a 3 year deal. That team needs another good hitter.
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Post by Guidas on Dec 16, 2017 17:28:50 GMT -5
I think Cleveland signing Hosmer makes a ton of sense. They don't have many years till their top guys start leaving. Losing Santana and adding Moreland would be a big downgrade. Frankly I'm kind of shocked they let him walk when it only took 3 years. Tells me they thought he was declining and wasn't worth even a 3 year deal. That team needs another good hitter. That or they already have the $20M a year player and can't afford another one.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Dec 16, 2017 18:11:18 GMT -5
Adrian Gonzalez now on the market after being traded to the Braves and released. He'd be a smart pickup for the Royals if they're really going into full-on rebuild mode. They can hope he comes back, and deal him at the deadline for whoever needs a bat (and a guy who will blame any significant losing streak on the will of God).
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1B in 2018
Dec 17, 2017 10:05:59 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by jiant2520 on Dec 17, 2017 10:05:59 GMT -5
I think Cleveland signing Hosmer makes a ton of sense. They don't have many years till their top guys start leaving. Losing Santana and adding Moreland would be a big downgrade. Frankly I'm kind of shocked they let him walk when it only took 3 years. Tells me they thought he was declining and wasn't worth even a 3 year deal. That team needs another good hitter. That or they already have the $20M a year player and can't afford another one. Thats exactly my thoughts... also why I don't see them going after Hosmer.
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Post by umassgrad2005 on Dec 17, 2017 14:44:33 GMT -5
That or they already have the $20M a year player and can't afford another one. Thats exactly my thoughts... also why I don't see them going after Hosmer. What if he doesn't cost 20 million a year? By all accounts the Phillies had to way overpay to get Santana. Sounds like they offered around 5 million extra per season so he would go to a crappy team. The Indians have like 17 million coming off the books from Shaw and Santana alone. They need to go for it because they won't be able to resign all of that pitching. No one thought they would sign EE. They have to do something more than sign Moreland and I think they will. Be it signing Hosmer or making a trade for another bat.
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