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Post by James Dunne on May 6, 2024 21:40:25 GMT -5
The innings have been quite a bit lower work and stress, though. He's only about 36 percent of his way to his batters faced total from last year, for example. Also, the things that limited his innings last year were a) effectiveness, and b) a line drive to the face. With the Verducci Effect quite well debunked, I don't think they'd hesitate to throw him out there for 160 to 180 innings.
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Post by James Dunne on May 6, 2024 8:20:19 GMT -5
Nobody was complaining when Lugo tumbled down the rankings last year and was left off the top 60 entirely before he got hot for a month. If you think a guy is good, advocate for him in the tough times.
He's been great so far this year, but he was also among the worst players in the system last year - he looked totally lost. The power spike has been impressive and is, indeed, why he's ranked again, and he's shown a willingness to work deep counts. He's always been young for his level, and it's very possible that he's just caught up to it. But he's now a LF-only who is riding a 30 percent strikeout rate and a .444 BABIP. If he continues to produce, he'll obviously move up, but we've always been pretty consistent about doing our best trying not to ping-pong a guy up and down the rankings based on how they're playing in the moment.
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Post by James Dunne on May 3, 2024 23:48:12 GMT -5
Mayer has gone an oddly consistent 1 for 5 with a double and two runs scored in each of his last three games.
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Post by James Dunne on May 3, 2024 15:14:12 GMT -5
Why do you feel the need to be so argumentative about stuff like this? Going to the scrap heap for the last guy on the roster, whether it's trading cash or making waiver claims or giving up a lottery ticket or whatever, is not, like, a weird little Chaim Bloom quirk that Craig Breslow has picked up. It's standard operating procedure for roster building and always has been . And the implication that doing so is the mark of the team's previous, unsuccessful baseball ops regime is just such a weird claim. "Oh, you're trying to fix the back end of the roster? You know who ELSE tried to fix the back end of the roster, don't you?" Come on.
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Post by James Dunne on May 2, 2024 12:28:37 GMT -5
Am I wrong that it looks like he was shaded heavily into the hole on that one? I see the same thing. Did not range far, had time to set his feet and did not, made a weak but accurate throw. Not trying to bust him because he's having an impressive season and he's better defensively than his reputation, but that play isn't a highlight to me.
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Post by James Dunne on May 2, 2024 9:16:01 GMT -5
Buxton pulled up limping from a SB attempt. It’s on his twice surgically repaired knee. I want to see a few healthy years for that man. He’ll gets scans tomorrow before the Red Sox series Complete with umpire Rob Drake yelling at Buxton to get off the field more quickly. My god.
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Post by James Dunne on May 1, 2024 13:44:02 GMT -5
At least they are doing something. They are not sticking with Kiki for months after it was apparent he couldn't handle being an everyday shortstop in the bigs. Casis gets hurt and they bring in a replacement. No way they can be responsible for the replacement getting hurt too. Reyes and Hamilton aren't cutting it at short after Story gets hurt, and Rafaela gets a shot. Now this guy gets a shot to be his backup. It may not work, but at least they are trying something to fix obvious problems.
Assume Hamilton will go down when the new guy arrives. Fix is a generous way to frame it. I'd say this move is adding more duct tape to the problem. ... Duct tape is a really useful tool to fix things. Fixes and marginal upgrades are good and necessary, both using figurative duct tape on your baseball roster and literal duct tape on your vents and whatnot.
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Post by James Dunne on May 1, 2024 11:03:48 GMT -5
I believe he's the only major leaguer ever out of Sacred Heart.
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Post by James Dunne on May 1, 2024 10:41:39 GMT -5
Not to speak specifically about the wisdom of not protecting Spence, but Downs was claimed by the Yankees from the Nationals on December 19, about two weeks after the Rule 5 and almost a month after the protection deadline. I felt I was owed a little bit of poetic license when talking smack about the Yankees. Sure, but every time someone makes a reference to Jeter Downs being a Yankee he goes 2 for 3 with a walk and a homer. You're tempting fate here!
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Post by James Dunne on May 1, 2024 10:02:41 GMT -5
Not to speak specifically about the wisdom of not protecting Spence, but Downs was claimed by the Yankees from the Nationals on December 19, about two weeks after the Rule 5 and almost a month after the protection deadline.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 30, 2024 16:56:49 GMT -5
I was really excited to finally see him play, this is getting to the point of absurdity A little tinfoil hat, but I don’t think Grissom has the flu. I think they’re intentionally trying to buy a day or two until they figure out what to do w/ Masa before they make any further moves. There would be no need to do this. The waiting period after being optioned is waived if there's an injury, so if Yoshida does need an IL stint, they could easily just turn around and recall whomever they're sending out.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 30, 2024 11:02:22 GMT -5
Imagine if the system had the pitching all along it just took the proper coaching . New fresh ideas . I wonder if they just caught up on looking at the talent here and said to themselves we have the answers in house. Or we might be ok with what we have . If that was the case, then more of the prospects would've succeeded when the moved on from the organization. But even the highly touted folks (Espinoza, Groome, Kopech, Kelly, etc) didn't turn into MLB starters.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 30, 2024 7:52:31 GMT -5
I was hoping for Votto but also very happy with Cooper. Votto's on the shelf with an ankle injury and hasn't started playing yet.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 29, 2024 14:16:51 GMT -5
Unless Meidroth is an awesome defender (and I don't think his scouting report suggests this) I still think Devers would get the lions share of playing time at third. I'm sure they would rotate him through DH more often though. He was the Sea Dogs defensive player of the year in 2023. www.milb.com/news/sea-dogs-announce-2023-team-award-winnersI wouldn't necessarily put any stock into minor league defensive awards - some pretty crummy defenders have gotten them - but I've been pretty impressed with Meidroth's glove. Good hands, okay range, mediocre arm that plays up because of good footwork and a quick release. He seems particularly good at going back and chasing those weird angle foul pop-ups.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 29, 2024 11:54:11 GMT -5
DFAing Pablo makes the picture crystal clear. Unless they sign someone else, Dalbec is going to back up 1B/3B and Hamilton is going to back up 2B/SS. Valdez is going to get sent down. Wouldn't be surprised if Pablo clears, especially with the May 1st castoffs looming. It wasn't a bad time to DFA him. Not a given that Valdez goes down with Yoshida's health in question. If Yoshida needs a IL stint, Valdez goes to DH and splits some time with Grissom easing him back. If Yoshida goes on the IL they can theoretically call Valdez back up to fill that roster spot without the waiting period.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 29, 2024 10:11:14 GMT -5
Pablo Reyes has been DFA'ed to make room for Garrett Cooper Given the current depth situation, this is a move I very strongly disagree with.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 29, 2024 9:28:03 GMT -5
Since the start of last season, Dalbec has 108 plate appearances, and he's struck out 55 times, and his Iso is .070. The all-or-nothing label doesn't apply anymore, there hasn't been any "all" for awhile now. I understand the mindset of talking yourself into the homegrown guy who is, by all accounts, a good guy, a good teammate, and a hard worker. But he's been among baseball's worst players really for three years now, and he doesn't particularly fill a need. It seems like I'm burying him and I feel bad about it.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 24, 2024 10:17:08 GMT -5
Double-A plate appearances for some of Boston's top-100 guys: Moncada 207 Betts 257 Benintendi 263 Pedroia 316 Devers 320 Ellsbury 325 Casas 329 Bogaerts 356 Swihart 387 Middlebrooks 401 Chavis 413 Lowrie 428 Rafaela 579 Youkilis 620
Moncada was physically advanced (and probably needed more time there, Betts is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and Benintendi absolutely annihilated Double-A.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 19, 2024 9:15:22 GMT -5
Given his versatility and proximity, Paulino sure seems to fit in the "very likely" category at an absolute minimum.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 18, 2024 13:57:18 GMT -5
I feel like the Astros are a good demonstration of how good rotation depth is mostly down to luck. They were fine last year because they got the equivalent of Brandon Walter and Chris Murphy giving them 215 innings of ~110 ERA+ pitching. This year, those two guys (JP France and Brandon Bielak) have been terrible so far. They’ll probably cycle through some more depth options until they find someone who can give them some stability. That’s just how it works, right? When you’re looking for a solution, you hope the guys who stink aren’t so bad that your bats can’t keep up, and once you find someone effective, you ride him until he goes back to being bad. The more options you have, the better your chances of finding someone who can give you 100 unexpectedly solid innings. Hector Velazquez and Brian Johnson were terrific in that role for the 2018 team, for example. Yeah, that's always been kinda my go-to example, Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez ended up combining for 184 1/3 innings of 3.71 baseball, then neither were good in 2019 and never pitched in the majors after that. That team got pretty good durability from its main crew of starters (Sale, Price, Porcello, and Rodriguez were able to make 113 starts) and the two of them were able to fill in the gaps, especially before the trade for Eovaldi.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 18, 2024 10:39:29 GMT -5
The Houston Astros are 6-14, and have allowed the most runs in the American League (and 2nd most in baseball behind of course, the Rockies). Jose Abreu so far with a .078/.158/.098 slashline, and Hader/Pressley with ERA's over 8. Verlander returns tomorrow. Sounds like Valdez will be back around the end of the month as well. Obviously they don't want to fall too far behind, but there's definitely reason to believe the pitching will be better. Blanco and Javier have been very good at the top of the rotation, and it's just been a total disaster behind them. Also, the offense has underperformed the peripheral stats - they're second in the AL in both OBP and slugging but are currently sixth in runs scored.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 17, 2024 13:58:20 GMT -5
Quick note. Through 15 games Enmanuel Valdez has 1 error and .983 fielding percentage Through 19 games Xander Bogaerts has 2 errors and a .969 fielding percentage Sample side is still very small and it is very early so do with this what you will. The sample size could be a quadrillion and fielding percentage, unless you're at like .870 or something, would still not be important.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 16, 2024 18:10:34 GMT -5
Last year, Gonzalez allowed 16 runs in 8 2/3 innings in four April starts, walking 16. Which is to say, he's started very slowly before and it is hardly a reason to write him off.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 16, 2024 12:36:58 GMT -5
Astros promoted Forest Whitley. I'm happy they all improved their defense in the past 3 weeks. Implying that Jack Leiter and Forrest Whitley were in the minor leagues to start 2024 because of service-time manipulation is a take.
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Post by James Dunne on Apr 16, 2024 7:46:13 GMT -5
I mean in a world where dudes as diverse as Jordan Hicks and Zach Littell converted from MLB relievers to MLB starters, you can’t rule out Slaten in that role. But unlike Whitlock, Slaten’s starter career in pro-ball was pretty short-lived. He was sent to the pen in AA, admittedly while being able to go multiple innings. He hasn’t started since: www.fangraphs.com/players/justin-slaten/25648/stats?position=PIn comparison, Whitlock was a starter through AA in the Yankees system before getting TJ - after which the Yankees infamously didn’t protect him in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft, and we all know the rest from there. For all the mania about “ruining” Whitlock, he had been a starter his whole pro ball career before being a reliever out of necessity as a Rule 5 selection coming off a major surgery. Big reason for that pen move was that he didn’t throw strikes- I could see them being intrigued in trying to stretch him back out now that he seems to be throwing strikes at a much more reasonable rate Def won’t be this year tho Yeah, agree with this. I'm skeptical that his control improvement is sustainable, but if it is then maybe it does make sense, yeah. He'll also have three option years, so they'll have the opportunity to get him a decent look in Worcester if/when they decide to try to convert him. Obviously it's tough to take a valuable reliever and send him to the minors to learn to fill a different role, but the Whitlock situation is definitely a hint of the benefit - he looks for all the world like a real-life mid-rotation starter.
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