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Recent Posts
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Post by James Dunne on May 29, 2021 19:30:16 GMT -5
A couple catchers on the move: Jhon Nunez has signed a minor league deal with the Marlins, and Austin Rei was released by Arizona.
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Post by James Dunne on May 29, 2021 13:37:29 GMT -5
His motion is odd... he does this little off-balance jig after he lands. But he is massive.... I am still really hopeful he works out. That combination of his weird landing and his size is very, very concerning to me. Hopefully he can get it sorted because the drive and arm action are so effortless.
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Post by James Dunne on May 28, 2021 20:56:04 GMT -5
Groome off to another good start: Three shutout innings, one hit, three Ks, no walks. He's lost it in the fourth his last two times out, so this will be a good test. Maybe just fatigue. He really hasn't pitched much and might need to build up arm strength. That's the hope! There have always been very legitimate reasons for his struggles but there also comes a point where he needs to have some successes. Tonight was a good step. Looked like his control was getting wobbly in the fifth with the HBP and wild pitch, but he kept his poise well and allowed just the one run. The efficiency is what I'm happiest about tonight, needed only the 63 pitches to get through five, 41 strikes. Good start by any measure.
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Post by James Dunne on May 28, 2021 20:45:41 GMT -5
Throwing it out as a question to the masses, but is there typically this much uncertainty at the top of the draft? Certainly in years with a Harper or Strasburg I'd imagine no, but for other years, is there this much fluidity leading up to the draft? What is the typical net movement in player ranking from earlier mocks to later mocks? Someone like Mayer definitely seemed like a possibility a month ago, but that no longer seems like the case (though it may swing back in the next few weeks!). I'd be curious also in terms of MLB outcome, if there's any correlation to who 'made it' with helium for that player for their respective draft. While most drafts don't have a clear #1 like a Strasburg, Harper, Rutschman, I do agree that it's rare to have as many as like five guys who reasonable people think is the best player. That's why I think this idea that the draft isn't strong at the top and therefore the Red Sox should maybe go the signability route is off the mark--the guy they get at #4 may very well be the one who they think is the best player available in the whole draft. Like, Leiter isn't the prospect that goes at #1 most years but I think he's awfully good in comparison to #4 picks historically. I also think the uncertainty is in large part because there wasn't a season last year. Henry Davis was off to a good start and probably establishes himself a year earlier, but the 2020 season ended before conference play even started. Guys like Fabian and Del Castillo seemed like they'd be in the mix at #4 back in March. I really like the question about helium guys, it probably deserves a bit more research than I can give it right now. But Benintendi was definitely a guy whose stock rose dramatically in the month before the draft and he turned out to be a good pick.
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Post by James Dunne on May 28, 2021 19:53:32 GMT -5
Just getting the chance to check in now. Sandy Leon is the designated hitter?!?!
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Post by James Dunne on May 28, 2021 19:51:46 GMT -5
Groome off to another good start: Three shutout innings, one hit, three Ks, no walks. He's lost it in the fourth his last two times out, so this will be a good test.
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Post by James Dunne on May 28, 2021 19:32:13 GMT -5
I've seen similar a few times... just not above the Little League level.
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Post by James Dunne on May 28, 2021 18:47:51 GMT -5
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Post by James Dunne on May 27, 2021 22:50:48 GMT -5
I could see Rocker falling a long way. In the first place he's simply not very good. I'm at a loss to understand why he was ever rated so highly. Beyond that he seems like a sweet kid which kid of worries me. I saw a clip of him and he gave the impression his awful outing against Georgia was kind of funny. Now I don't want a pitcher who is shattered by a bad game but I do want a pitcher who is annoyed by a bad game. He also looks pretty soft physically and his dad is just huge which would concern me. He comes across as a happy-go-lucky kid from an upper class family who does not have the kind of killer instinct which benefits a pitcher. That is Kumar Rocker, a happy-go-lucky rich kid who doesn't get fired up and isn't very good. Not wanting Kumar Rocker at #4 is fine, there are certainly at least four players who you could prefer without anyone thinking you are crazy. But COME ON.
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Post by James Dunne on May 26, 2021 17:01:04 GMT -5
I would seriously consider batting Dalbec leadoff against a lefty. It would be a good idea to set things up where he's getting his third PA in (usually) the 5th inning. As far as the logistics of him hitting there, he's not a burner but he's not a baseclogger either and he's pretty smart out there.
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Post by James Dunne on May 25, 2021 16:26:32 GMT -5
So, as a counter to the oft-discussed point that the best hitters are at the top of the draft, but you can "find" pitchers. Here are the active leaders in bWAR. Top 15 position pitchers, Top 15 pitchers.
Pitchers -Grienke (6th overall pick) -Verlander (2nd overall) -Kershaw (7th overall) -Scherzer (11th overall) -Sale (13th overall) -Lester (2nd round/57th overall) -de Grom (9th round) -Wainwright (29th overall) -Price (1st overall) -Bumgarner (10th overall) -Kluber (4th round) -Strasburg (1st overall) -Cueto (International Free Agent) -Cole (1st overall) -E. Santana (International Free Agent)
Position players -Pujols (13th round) -Trout (25th overall pick) -Cano (International Free Agent) -Cabrera (International Free Agent) -Votto (2nd round/44th overall) -Longoria (3rd overall) -Betts (5th round) -Goldschmidt (8th round) -McCutchen (11th overall) -Posey (5th overall) -Gardner (3rd round) -Arenado (2nd round/59th overall) -Stanton (2nd round/76th overall) -Donaldson (48th overall) -Machado (3rd overall)
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Post by James Dunne on May 25, 2021 13:54:06 GMT -5
I just turned it on but evidently Davis has 2 HRs against Clemson in the ACC Tournament. Game is in the bottom of the 5th. That ball was smocked! Gotta appreciate the Mike Napoli-esque approach to buttoning his jersey.
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Post by James Dunne on May 25, 2021 9:16:18 GMT -5
Drafting by bowling score be:
A. An inspired tribute to Mookie Betts B. Maybe not a good idea C. A more analytical approach than whatever Dan Duquette was using in his drafts (post-Nomar, at least) D. All of the above
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Post by James Dunne on May 25, 2021 8:47:57 GMT -5
Chavis is a significantly worse defender than Renfroe and Dalbec, and if he's a better hitter it isn't by enough that it makes a difference. From there, it's a question of who between him and Cordero you'd prefer to see getting regular reps in Worcester and who you'd rather see as the last guy on the bench getting 6 to 10 plate appearances a week. The other advantage to Cordero is that he's a lefty - Chavis and Dalbec really just don't fit on the same roster, they're both right-handed batters with pretty significant holes, and Chavis doesn't mash lefties with the same authority.
If your bench is only three deep then you don't really have room for a guy like Cordero. Now that they're keeping four on the bench a one-dimensional LHB who will maybe run into a pitch and hit it 450 feet is fine.
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Post by James Dunne on May 25, 2021 8:11:17 GMT -5
A bunch of old friends in the BA minor league transactions: -Austin Rei and Henry Ramos have hooked on with Arizona. -Nick Lovullo and Deven Marrero to Miami -Williams Jerez to Seattle -Jagger Rusconi to the White Sox www.baseballamerica.com/stories/minor-league-transactions-may-5-24-2021/Would really be nice to see Ramos get a major league call at some point. Even after all those injury problems, he's now up to nearly 1100 Triple-A plate appearances, with a respectable .278/.325/.440 line (which is admittedly less impressive when you consider most of that time has come in the PCL).
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Post by James Dunne on May 25, 2021 8:05:04 GMT -5
If Duran is as bad in the OF as some of these posts indicate, then where does that leave him? This will sound like a snarky response, but it isn't meant to be: it leaves him in the minors, trying to get better at it. Duran was a second baseman in college and he's lost a season of games, so he's still at fewer than 250 games at the position, and he's been doing that while retooling his swing the entire time. At the other extreme, the Mookie Betts comps are ridiculous. He's played a lot more games than Betts did in the outfield and is much less of a natural at the position. Betts' ability to learn how to do seemingly anything at a star level isn't a learning curve we should project on any young players going forward. I really never want to hear a "well Mookie Betts did (insert some thing he learned to do in 20 minutes)." Yes, he did, because getting good at things that other people cannot is what makes him Mookie Betts.
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Post by James Dunne on May 23, 2021 15:41:16 GMT -5
Ridiculous splits update (through 5/23):
Vs. LHP: 48 PA .326/.354/.674, 4 HR, 2 BB, 14 K (29.2%) Vs. RHP: 93 PA .141/.215/.247, 1 HR, 7 BB, 35 K (37.6%)
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Post by James Dunne on May 23, 2021 15:32:23 GMT -5
Casas with the three-run homer, #4 of the year.
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Post by James Dunne on May 23, 2021 14:44:11 GMT -5
Duran is also hitless in 7 of his 17 starts, and is currently 0 for 4 today. His hits have come in bunches, and it's going to take a few more weeks to see if he can gain some consistency or if he's just building up stats beating on the worst of Triple-A pitching.
I also need to see him on the road a little more. Polar Park has been playing extremely hitter-friendly on some nights. His Iso is .130 on the road and .500 (not a typo) at home.
Also, too - there is a tendency with equating being fast with being a good defensive player. He has upside for certain but he is not there yet.
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Post by James Dunne on May 22, 2021 14:21:45 GMT -5
I'll add to that, versatility itself isn't an end. If you've got guys you can shift around the field because you want to platoon a right fielder and a first baseman, or maybe like the Dodgers have done where they have an offense-first arrangement and then a defense-first one, then that's great. But at some point, choosing players because of how many positions they play instead of how good they are and moving all those players around is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Keeping Chavis over Dalbec would be kinda that. You wouldn't want Chavis hitting instead of Dalbec when all else was equal (maybe if you have a soft-tossing RHP there's an exception). And, while Chavis can ostensibly play more positions than Dalbec, Chavis isn't better than anyone on the roster at any of those positions. Like Chris said, Marwin Gonzalez and Danny Santana can both do all of the things Chavis can do and complement the rest of the roster better.
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Post by James Dunne on May 21, 2021 12:41:17 GMT -5
From Keith Law's chat today: I wonder if that means they'd prefer college over any high school - as in they'd take any of those three over both Mayer and Lawlar - or if it just means they'd take any of those three over any of the HS guys that aren't universally regarded as top-4 picks. Yeah, I was thinking there are two ways to read into this: either he thinks Lawlar and Mayer are off the board at #4 and that Boston will go college (seems very likely if that's the case), or that they'd prefer Lawlar and Mayer to be off the board and that one of the top two college players will be there.
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Post by James Dunne on May 21, 2021 10:19:51 GMT -5
His whole stat line is interesting. Through 59 at-bats, he's barely striking out (6) or walking (3). Looks like he's just trying to put the ball in play and seeing what happens. He's also almost half way to his 2B total from 2019 (11 in 2019 - 5 so far in 2021). He's hitting the ball with a lot more authority.
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Post by James Dunne on May 19, 2021 21:51:47 GMT -5
The surprising part about this is the lack of no-hitters against the Tigers.
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Post by James Dunne on May 19, 2021 11:28:19 GMT -5
I don't really understand the anger over following the "unwritten rules." The way I see it, if you're putting a position player in to pitch, you're basically rolling over and showing your belly. "We don't think we have a chance to come back and win this, let's just get through it and move on to the next day." To me, the classy response to someone waving the white flag is to show appropriate restraint. Personally, my issue with the unwritten rules is how they are enforced. If you want to gently shake your head at a guy swinging 3-0 in a blowout, that’s fine with me. But the punishment is always to throw at a guy (sometimes a different guy than the one who broke the unwritten rules), which seems like a wildly disproportionate response. So there's always been a gamesmanship aspect of the unwritten rules that I've never had a problem with. Thinking of stuff like Jack McKeon complaining about a stolen base when the Red Sox were clobbering the Marlins, or Sabathia getting pissy about a player bunting on him in what wasn't really a sacrifice situation. There's a big difference between throwing a baseball at a person and going on talk radio and calling the other team bush league to get a rise out of them. And, of course, in those situations they are trying to get into their opponents' heads rather than undermining their own team.
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Post by James Dunne on May 18, 2021 20:05:13 GMT -5
This is not meant to discredit Zeferjahn's good work tonight, but Fredericksburg entered tonight hitting .167/.280/.222 as a team, and they are about to be 0-13.
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