Around Baseball 2014

[glory]

Anyway the word I'm hearing is that Oakland still might be dangling Zobrist to the Jays.

 

Well, it's probably easier getting Zobrist from Beane than it would have been getting him from the Rays, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Damn, Zobrist in this lineup would be incredible.

[ElNik2013]

Seems like Escobar was a throw-in.

[HERPDERP]

Decent article about just how good Stroman was after picking up his sinker.

 

http://www.faketeams.com/2015/1/9/7522791/marcus-stroman-2015-breakout-player

 

Quite a good article (although lots of broken gifs)

 

not bad for an article from a site called faketeams

[L54]

Escobar seems to have been more than a throw in, the A's had claimed him off of (revocable) waivers late last year.

[burlingtonbandit]

I don't think the Rays would like it for the As to turn around and deal Zobrist to a division rival. Obviously he's under their control and they can do what they want but I think TB's front office would be pretty mad and less likely to do deals in the future.

 

As for the Stroman article I was waiting for someone to write a piece like this. Just seemed to me by watching that the sinker was one of the best pitches. Stroman tweeted out the other day he is actually 5'8 despite being listed at 5'9. Crazy when you think about it, you don't even see position players that short Altuve being an exception.

[intentional wok]

I don't think the Rays would like it for the As to turn around and deal Zobrist to a division rival. Obviously he's under their control and they can do what they want but I think TB's front office would be pretty mad and less likely to do deals in the future.

 

I hope a MLB front office wouldn't think this. The Rays must know that the A's priority is to improve themselves. If that includes dealing former Rays to Ray rivals, that's just business.

[ElNik2013]

Apparently Escobar got the talking started. Silverman said that Beane had been asking for Escobar for over a year.

 

 

 

I shouldn't have said 'throw-in', it's just that the return seems light for both Zobrist and him. I just think several posters overvalue him around here in the sense that they don't realize the baggage he carries weighs down his true value within the baseball industry.

 

I've been wrong before though...

[ElNik2013]

Escobar seems to have been more than a throw in, the A's had claimed him off of (revocable) waivers late last year.

 

 

 

I just don't think the Rays got much for him in this deal. He just doesn't have much trade value because of the baggage he carries which is why the Jays couldn't get anything for him after the homophobic incident. Heck, I believe the Marlins took him off the Jays' hands instead of sending more $ to the Jays since AA had likely been told to release him.

[Deadpool]

I don't think the Rays would like it for the As to turn around and deal Zobrist to a division rival. Obviously he's under their control and they can do what they want but I think TB's front office would be pretty mad and less likely to do deals in the future.

 

As for the Stroman article I was waiting for someone to write a piece like this. Just seemed to me by watching that the sinker was one of the best pitches. Stroman tweeted out the other day he is actually 5'8 despite being listed at 5'9. Crazy when you think about it, you don't even see position players that short Altuve being an exception.

 

Dustin Pedroia is like 2'3, as you can see from this file video...

 

[HERPDERP]

I don't think the Rays would like it for the As to turn around and deal Zobrist to a division rival. Obviously he's under their control and they can do what they want but I think TB's front office would be pretty mad and less likely to do deals in the future.

 

As for the Stroman article I was waiting for someone to write a piece like this. Just seemed to me by watching that the sinker was one of the best pitches. Stroman tweeted out the other day he is actually 5'8 despite being listed at 5'9. Crazy when you think about it, you don't even see position players that short Altuve being an exception.

 

The Marlins did that to us in the original Escobar deal ;/

[glory]

I don't think the Rays would like it for the As to turn around and deal Zobrist to a division rival. Obviously he's under their control and they can do what they want but I think TB's front office would be pretty mad and less likely to do deals in the future.

 

Miami traded Escobar to the Rays right after the big Jays/Marlins trade.

 

Karma.

 

Send Zobrist to Toronto, Beane.

[Maahfaace]

Francisco was an above league average hitter for us last year.

 

not in the 2nd half he wasnt, he was historically awful

[burlingtonbandit]

Not really.

 

His 2nd half K% was 5.6% better than first half, while his BABIP went down .094.

 

He was lucky in the first half, and unlucky in the 2nd. Overall he was above average.

 

He also lost all of his power in the second half. I don't think you can always just look at the numbers for guys that don't have a track record. Teams consistently exploited his weaknesses once they got to see him. The player failed to make any adjustments once teams adjusted to the fact he could murder fastballs but couldn't hit a breaking ball to save his life.

[Maahfaace]

Not really.

 

His 2nd half K% was 5.6% better than first half, while his BABIP went down .094.

 

He was lucky in the first half, and unlucky in the 2nd. Overall he was above average.

 

he put a wRC+ of 53 with a K rate of 32.8%, how you could spin that any way other than terrible is nuts

[Maahfaace]

He also lost all of his power in the second half. I don't think you can always just look at the numbers for guys that don't have a track record. Teams consistently exploited his weaknesses once they got to see him. The player failed to make any adjustments once teams adjusted to the fact he could murder fastballs but couldn't hit a breaking ball to save his life.

 

not to mention the fact that all of his HR's were in low leverage situations, he put up a wRC+ of 8 in high leverage situations, which just indicates further that he can't hit for s***, especially when it matters

[GD]

not to mention the fact that all of his HR's were in low leverage situations, he put up a wRC+ of 8 in high leverage situations, which just indicates further that he can't hit for s***, especially when it matters

 

What kind of a PA sample was that in

[BTS]

What kind of a PA sample was that in

 

I kind of buy Francisco getting eaten alive by high-leverage pen guys with great breaking stuff or, god forbid, a lefty specialist.

[TwistedLogic]

I don't think Oakland would take Navarro for free.

 

Uhhh, I think the Oakland you're referring to is the same Oakland that just gave Butler 30/3

[TwistedLogic]

I don't think the Rays would like it for the As to turn around and deal Zobrist to a division rival. Obviously he's under their control and they can do what they want but I think TB's front office would be pretty mad and less likely to do deals in the future.

 

The Jays turned around and tossed Mike Napoli to the Angels, and the Rangers were still willing to give them Kinsler for free. I don't think this is a thing.

[canadiansportsjunkie]

Oakland once again a team that can be a bottom feeder or surprise me with a fight for the wildcard.

[GD]

The Jays turned around and tossed Mike Napoli to the Angels, and the Rangers were still willing to give them Kinsler for free. I don't think this is a thing.

 

Jays gave Napoli to the Rangers.

[burlingtonbandit]

Considering Francisco is an automatic out vs lefties and really has no position value he really doesn't have any value to a contending team. He will hit a HR here or there when a pitcher throws a mistake but the more info on him the easier it is for pitchers to exploit his weaknesses. Looking at his heatmap the guy swings at 40% of pitches in the dirt and has never looked like he will make the adjustment.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/zonegrid.aspx?playerid=6978&position=1B/3B&ss=2014&se=2014&type=2&hand=all&count=all&blur=1&grid=10&view=bat

[TwistedLogic]

Jays gave Napoli to the Rangers.

 

Im dumn.

 

*The Jays gave Napoli to the Rangers for free, and the Angels were still willing to talk to them about Kendrick.

[Boxcar]

Im dumn.

 

*The Jays gave Napoli to the Rangers for free, and the Angels were still willing to talk to them about Kendrick.

 

I don't feel like this is a universal truth. Some GMs would, some won't.

[TwistedLogic]

I don't feel like this is a universal truth. Some GMs would, some won't.

 

Yeah I don't think it's a universal truth either. There's always variables like RAJ that can't be compared to the norm, so I'm sure there's an ******* out there that would hold a grudge and refuse to deal with the team in the future because they flipped his player to a division rival, but I'd like to think that would be a pretty rare exception and most smart executives would understand that it's just business.

[Maahfaace]

What kind of a PA sample was that in

 

for his career he has put up a wRC+ of 72 and 63 in medium/high leverage situations respectively. Hes a big fat strong guy who when squares up to a fastball can crush it. His bat speed is his biggest asset by far but the fact that he can't recognize a pitch to save his life and has a uber negative impact positionally makes him a piece of s*** player. He's terrible, and anyone who argues differently is lacking in baseball assessment skills.

[Jimcanuck]

for his career he has put up a wRC+ of 72 and 63 in medium/high leverage situations respectively. Hes a big fat strong guy who when squares up to a fastball can crush it. His bat speed is his biggest asset by far but the fact that he can't recognize a pitch to save his life and has a uber negative impact positionally makes him a piece of s*** player. He's terrible, and anyone who argues differently is lacking in baseball assessment skills.

 

useful when roster expand in Sept, as reinforcement, or if the injury bug hits.... that's about it

[Laika]

Haren will pitch for Miami.

 

knew he'd cave.

[BTS]

Haren will pitch for Miami.

 

Damn. Was hoping he'd retire.

[TwistedLogic]

Re: Beane/Zobrist Trade

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/assets/images/3/1/0/106147310/cuts/111reddick_tweet_pttgdxup_yw86430l.jpg