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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 12, 2016 13:59:29 GMT -5
Back to independent ball I guess for Marban lol
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 12, 2016 13:41:54 GMT -5
Pablo's back and he's back big. Nice double off the top of the wall, would have been over the monster. Love how his leg almost buckled after the swing from the immense weight shift. I know the Panda hate train is moving at full speed, but it's shameful how exhausted he looked as he *slowly* pulled into 2nd. Ugh.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 12, 2016 13:25:53 GMT -5
Third baseman are hard to find. David Freese, a 2.2 WAR 3B in 2015 literally just signed for peanuts after getting little to no interest
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 12, 2016 13:21:20 GMT -5
Rusney ground ball to third watch: #102,938,271,783,818
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 12, 2016 4:28:31 GMT -5
Butterfield has even said something to the tune of "his range is what it is"
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 11, 2016 22:52:31 GMT -5
Since the Dbacks just sold the farm to build around Goldschmidt, I have a hard time believing they would trade him so quickly. I think your chances are better at hoping the Chisox implode and choose to rebuild. Perhaps they could pry Sale, Abreu and Robertson away for Espinoza, Benintendi and Swihart - with Marrero and Travis thrown in. Not sure how I feel about that, but it would take a huge haul to get those guys. I like the idea of getting Sale by trading Swihart, Owens or Kelly, and whatever else that we can spare that's reasonable. That's taking your excess talent (rather than a future potential franchise lynchpin) and using it to upgrade a position from good to great. They're not going to accept a plethora of 4/5 starters and Swihart for Sale. If you want Sale you better be ready to part with Betts, Rodriguez, and probably two high level prospects.
The White Sox are not positioned to sell. They've got good players under reasonable contracts. Sale for 4 years under good money, Rodon poised to take a step forward, Quintana under a great deal, Abreu on a great deal, Brett Lawrie with a few more years, Eaton under a reasonable contract, Garcia under control and looking AMAZING with his new stance and approach this spring. Heck, they just added a 35 homer bat in Todd Frazier.
They have a great core under reasonable money, there is no reason to sell them off. If they want, they can trade guys like Lawrie, LaRoche, Frazier, and Melky at the deadline if they blow and recoup some prospects, and figure out other things to do in the offseason.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 11, 2016 19:34:56 GMT -5
Since the Dbacks just sold the farm to build around Goldschmidt, I have a hard time believing they would trade him so quickly. I think your chances are better at hoping the Chisox implode and choose to rebuild. Perhaps they could pry Sale, Abreu and Robertson away for Espinoza, Benintendi and Swihart - with Marrero and Travis thrown in. Not sure how I feel about that, but it would take a huge haul to get those guys. That deal is insanely unrealistic.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 11, 2016 19:25:55 GMT -5
I used to have a subscription to Baseball HQ. Every year I get e-mail ads that basically calls himself the top service. I'm on their mailing list I never said Shandler was a scout. I said he adjusts his analysis by scouting reports. Whatever on your opinion and this sidetrack but my narrative was that we have to stop looking at the Sandoval projections and start looking at what we're seeing and adjust the expectations and what I'm seeing is a negative WAR player. We'll see this coming year which was the best way to evaluate Pablo. In general it's my opinion that sabermetrics is very good at looking at what happened but nowhere near as good as scouting at looking forward. Neither method is as good as combining the two. Last year, all the saber guys seemed to be very positive about the Hanley and Pablo signings. How did that work out for ya ?? That's my point-- you keep trying to push this sabermetrics versus scouting angle, and it's just not there. You've still yet to provide a source which suggests that Shandler meaningfully incorporates scouting information into his projections or that doing so makes his projections better. Plenty of saber guys, including myself, were down on the Sandoval signing at the time (though, admittedly, I thought the Ramirez signing was a good one). Moreover, I'm not sure that scouts are really all that down on Sandoval. Pablo's always been fat and overaggressive and a bad baserunner. It's not like Craig where it was obvious that he lost a bunch of bat speed and could no longer pull the ball effectively (which showed in his peripherals and spray chart). I haven't seen any scouting reports out there saying Sandoval is no longer athletic enough to be a productive baseball player. He was awful defensively last year, but a lot of it was balls clanking off his glove or throws sailing-- in other words, technique stuff that can be fixed (for instance, by playing back more). At times, he still showed the surprising quickness and agility that had made him a solid defensive 3B over the course of his career despite his size ( example one, example two). lol what? Panda had zero side to side movement last year. It wasn't simply "balls clanking off his glove". You've got blinders on man.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 10, 2016 16:24:53 GMT -5
Goldschmidt has a very reasonable $14.5m option ($2m buyout) for the 2019 season (the season in which he turns 32), which means that even looking forward to next offseason, the Diamondbacks would have three cheap seasons of team control left of a six win player in his prime. I think no matter what happens in 2016, the odds of them moving him are virtually zero. Generally, when is the last time a true star player on a below-market contract was moved with more than two years (or, hell, one year) of team control left? Off the top of my head, the guy who comes to mind is Josh Donaldson (which, boy, would have been a pretty nice get by the Red Sox), but I can't think of anyone else. It's the kind of nickles for a quarter deal that doesn't happen, even if you offer six nickles. Even besides that, the price tag would be insanely prohibitive.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 10, 2016 16:20:29 GMT -5
Panda has been in straight decline for 4 years now. His career has gone exactly how you'd expect an obese baseball player's career to go. His basically peaked super early, and cut out his entire prime years.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 9, 2016 18:08:37 GMT -5
Scott Lauber said this morning on twitter that Kopech is getting a 2nd opinion on his broken hand. Team still trying to determine the severity. Would think if it's a simple fracture the one look would have been relatively conclusive, then again, that's just wild speculation. We'll see what they end up announcing in a few days. Not at all. If it's non-displaced/hairline they may be hoping to avoid a cast. With all of the $ on the line, a second opinion isn't strange or concerning at all. Thought Bradford already saw him in a cast. Though maybe it was an aircast? Not sure.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 9, 2016 14:36:49 GMT -5
Well if that wasn't absolutely perfect. Panda, off balance, goes out to get an outside pitch and pulls it, dribbling it towards first. Shaw bats after, pitch on the outside, Shaw, balanced, punches it confidently into the opposite field.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 9, 2016 14:16:19 GMT -5
Scott Lauber said this morning on twitter that Kopech is getting a 2nd opinion on his broken hand. Team still trying to determine the severity.
Would think if it's a simple fracture the one look would have been relatively conclusive, then again, that's just wild speculation. We'll see what they end up announcing in a few days.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 9, 2016 13:56:57 GMT -5
I wish the Sox were more into drafting guys with sleeve hearts. I think it could be the next market inefficiency. Why not redesign the uniforms and sew one right on there? now you're thinking. And on a different and more serious note, Panda looks atrocious against anything off speed today.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 9, 2016 13:51:02 GMT -5
Pretty interesting stuff from Pirates broadcasters. Amazing that every single one of their players plays "with his heart on his sleeve" and "with an edge." Credit to the scouting department? Is this a joke? I wish the Sox were more into drafting guys with sleeve hearts. I think it could be the next market inefficiency.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 9, 2016 13:41:00 GMT -5
Pretty interesting stuff from Pirates broadcasters. Amazing that every single one of their players plays "with his heart on his sleeve" and "with an edge." Credit to the scouting department?
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 9, 2016 13:29:14 GMT -5
Damn, did not expect that defense from Moncada. Very tricky play, great transfer. Not overly complementary Pirate commentary when Sandoval was up. He was so late with his first swing that the Pirate defense shifted. Yeah he just flat out looks bad all around. I've come to accept it haha
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 9, 2016 13:26:05 GMT -5
Would it be crazy to add Votto to the list? If that were to happen I'd imagine we shed a little payroll. I think if Pablo or Castillo produce one could be dealt and replaced by the likes of Shaw, Moncada or Benny. Stanton worries me. That contract is back loaded after the opt out and he's having issues this spring on a knee he's already had surgery on. A small LF and DHing some could take some pressure off though. Either guy would take a very special, very unexpected, and powerball odds-esque set of special circumstances. Realistically, it's an absolute waste of time to think about either guy. Price for either would be so high, Red Sox would likely not be interested.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 9, 2016 13:19:52 GMT -5
Damn, did not expect that defense from Moncada. Very tricky play, great transfer.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 9, 2016 12:33:54 GMT -5
Well, punching someone could technically have resulted in assault charges. You're stretching it a bit. If everyone who ever got into a scrap with an acquaintance got charged with assault there wouldn't be enough jails in the world to hold them all. It's also not a planet where I would consciously choose to hang out. Got to say that Hazen really impressed me with his response, though. Coming to you from the great Northwest I'm not stretching anything. Punching someone in the face can technically result in assault charges. Fairly common. Never said anything about prison time. That was your stretch.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 8, 2016 22:39:10 GMT -5
I think it's a little early to declare Kopech the next Jon Denny or Andy Yount. Seriously. Unless you think he's lying about not knowingly taking the substance that led to the positive test last year (and given that it is for cutting weight, his story checks out...), I don't get it. It's a sigh-and-headshake situation, not one in which you fear his career is going off the rails. Well, punching someone could technically have resulted in assault charges.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 8, 2016 17:51:19 GMT -5
This is kind of the risk that you run into when you draft kids out of high school. That being said, Michael Silverman is way off in saying he'll be out the whole season. Bones heal faster than anything else really. The minor league season doesn't even start for another month. My guess is that he's back by early June. I'm assuming it's his pitching hand, right? I think commenting on his injury downplaying the severity or exaggerating it at the moment is all wrong. Just have no idea yet. Also, it depends on the bone. There's a slew of hand/wrist bones that are tough to heal that cause problems. For example, I've broken a bone in my lower hand and years later I can feel the effects of it every once in a while.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 8, 2016 17:35:17 GMT -5
Gonna go out on a limb and assume 8ABs is a bit too soon to start placing bets on that. I mean, sure, if Pablo looks terrible all spring and goes 1-53 or something, he might not be in the lineup opening day. Although that probably means he's not on the bench either as they would probably say there's something wrong and DL him to work on conditioning and mechanics. It's sad, but honestly I think Pablo's bat is a secondary thought at the moment. They know their in-house 3b options (Shaw and Holt) aren't great. They simply need him to pick it, even if he's the same .700 ops hitter as last year.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 8, 2016 17:14:29 GMT -5
If Pablo doesn't start looking better - how long until Shaw takes his job? Anyone think Farrel would have the cahones to bench Pablo opening day? I'm not so sure the leash is that short. Shaw's not exactly Machado at third.
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Post by pokeyreesespieces on Mar 8, 2016 17:12:14 GMT -5
From Speier's March 1st article on Kopech overcoming his PED suspension:
“I wouldn’t want to call it a blessing in disguise, but it kind of is. Having six, seven, eight months now to be angry, to be fueled about where next season goes, it’s all I needed. It’s another push. It’s helped – even though I would hate to give any credit to it, it’s helped me,” said Kopech. “I think this season will prove a lot for me. I know how hard I’ve worked, and I know what I need to do this season. I think it will prove a lot of people wrong and a few people right.”
lol
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