Around Baseball 2019

[Brownie19]

Keston Hiura is real deal or just BABIPing his way to success?

 

Better ask tercet. He's probably seen at bats and spoken to his parents.

[glory]

Mets are making some awful decisions... Cano and d'Arnaud moves in particular

 

They hired a sleazebag agent as their GM. They deserve everything they are getting.

[Abomination]

It's kind of sad to me that Kyle Schwarber kinda sucks. The guy transforms his body to make himself defensively viable and now it's his bat that's in question.

 

I wouldn't say he sucks. The bat is above average, just not elite (so far). He just turned 26 though, and has the talent to really break out.

[Brownie19]

I wouldn't say he sucks. The bat is above average, just not elite (so far). He just turned 26 though, and has the talent to really break out.

 

I just mean compared to what we thought his bat would be. He was the 4th overall pick who was posting wRC+'s between 180 and 190 in AA as a 22 year old and A/A+ as a 21 year old and then a 131 wRC+ as a 22 year old in his first taste of the bigs. Perhaps I as off base, but I expected him to be a 130-140 wRC+ hitter - not someone who's struggling to keep it above 110 - down with the likes of Avisail Garcia and Starlin Marte on the leader board.

[Barkerfan23]

Ryan Goins is back in the majors

[Abomination]

Did the Mariners just utilize an "opener" by having them pitch to the first 9 batters in the lineup?

[Orgfiller]

Did the Mariners just utilize an "opener" by having them pitch to the first 9 batters in the lineup?

 

I mean that would be a perfectly valid and defensible use of one. Get ideally 2-3 innings and avoid hitters adjusting the second time around whether the pitcher encountered success or not.

[Abomination]

I mean that would be a perfectly valid and defensible use of one. Get ideally 2-3 innings and avoid hitters adjusting the second time around whether the pitcher encountered success or not.

 

Well, sure, if the guy who follows also only goes through the order once. I'd probably be inclined to call that a bullpen day though.

[P2F]

Pete Alonso just put this ball into the upper deck at Target Field!

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/pete-alonso-s-474-foot-homer-a-statcast-record

[Orgfiller]

Well, sure, if the guy who follows also only goes through the order once. I'd probably be inclined to call that a bullpen day though.

 

A game with an opener is implicitly a bullpen game, if the guy following the opener was good enough he'd already be starting the game. Otherwise, if this wasn't the case and it was purely strategy, it basically delays the TTO penalty by allowing one of those times through the order to be done with and starting over from scratch, which could have some benefit if the pitchers are different enough.

[Abomination]

A game with an opener is implicitly a bullpen game, if the guy following the opener was good enough he'd already be starting the game. Otherwise, if this wasn't the case and it was purely strategy, it basically delays the TTO penalty by allowing one of those times through the order to be done with and starting over from scratch, which could have some benefit if the pitchers are different enough.

 

Not really. The idea of the opener is to have the starter face the top of the lineup one less time, while guaranteeing yourself certain more favourable matchups. If you're not going to do that, then don't bring in a reliever with an xFIP over 5 to face the best batters from the opposing team while your 4.25 xFIP starter likely begins with his team already in a hole.

[Abomination]

There goes Paddack's no-no.

[5ToolPhenom]

Man, the Giants have been on a TEAR. Only 2.5 games back of the wildcard lead. Definitely didn't see that coming! Pillar's been hot and his numbers are beginning to normalize.

 

Will be interesting to see what they do as a team at the deadline.

[Abomination]

Goins with a big FU to all his haters out there.

[Nofunatall]

Goins with a big FU to all his haters out there.

 

Relevant:

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/royals-goins-reflects-time-blue-jays-return-toronto/

 

Essentially, the club reallocated the $2 million it would have paid Goins to a player who is currently their starting shortstop.

 

“It caught me off-guard,” said Goins. “The explanation that I received didn’t make any sense to me, still doesn’t, telling me that you need a more versatile team. I’m thinking, what’s more versatile than a guy who can play every position on the field? But it comes down to money and things like that, and they wanted to make moves they thought would make the team better.

[Jimcanuck]

Relevant:

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/royals-goins-reflects-time-blue-jays-return-toronto/

 

Jays should have been honest with him, "You suck"

[Spanky__99]

The youtube feed on MLB.COM is great quality, far, far, better than that FB ********. Cleveland @ Toronto is the game of the week, next.

 

[Spanky__99]

Watching Charlie Morton pitch is great.

[Orgfiller]

Watching Charlie Morton pitch is great.

 

Congrats, you jinxed him. He's completely falling apart here.

[Spanky__99]

Congrats, you jinxed him. He's completely falling apart here.

 

lol... 2 walks and a balk, wow! Now a another hit!!

 

Damn I really did hex him, he was cruising with a perfect pitch count and one mistake pitch on the HR.

[glory]

Man, the Giants have been on a TEAR. Only 2.5 games back of the wildcard lead. Definitely didn't see that coming! Pillar's been hot and his numbers are beginning to normalize.

 

Will be interesting to see what they do as a team at the deadline.

 

Yeah Pillar since the trade is pretty much the same guy he's always been except with worse defence (to be expected with age). Still going to end up being a 1 WAR player, give or take. Hasn't completely fallen off a cliff yet.

[bones10]

Have you guys seen this youtube channel, his analysis is short and pretty amazing sometimes, def worth checking out.

 

[Spanky__99]

Have you guys seen this youtube channel, his analysis is short and pretty amazing sometimes, def worth checking out.

 

 

Yeah, I run into these, funny for the most part.

[Brownie19]

Yeah Pillar since the trade is pretty much the same guy he's always been except with worse defence (to be expected with age). Still going to end up being a 1 WAR player, give or take. Hasn't completely fallen off a cliff yet.

 

Yeah I don't know about that. For a long time there he was posting negative WAR in SF too. He got hot in June, which has put him above replacement value and has been his 'norm' in July. He's streaky as f***. There's a chance he reaches 1 WAR and a change he finishes the season with 0 WAR.

[Jimcanuck]

Yeah I don't know about that. For a long time there he was posting negative WAR in SF too. He got hot in June, which has put him above replacement value and has been his 'norm' in July. He's streaky as f***. There's a chance he reaches 1 WAR and a change he finishes the season with 0 WAR.

 

He's a guy on the decline. Clock is ticking down on his MLB career. I'm glad I didn't have to watch him this season.

[saskjayfan]

He's a guy on the decline. Clock is ticking down on his MLB career. I'm glad I didn't have to watch him this season.

 

and your thoughts on Grichuk?

[BTS]

and your thoughts on Grichuk?

 

Keep in mind that Jim believes that Pillar is currently a worse player than Alford, McKinney, and Teoscar Hernandez, so his ability to evaluate mediocre OF talent would seem to be highly suspect.

[Brownie19]

Keep in mind that Jim believes that Pillar is currently a worse player than Alford, McKinney, and Teoscar Hernandez, so his ability to evaluate mediocre OF talent would seem to be highly suspect.

 

I don't really care to go back and verify this, but what Jim might be trying to say is that we know what Pillar is. He's decent and into the stage of his career where players like him typically decline - sometimes rapidly (as they rely on speed). There's a great chance that Alford, McKinney and Teo suck - but all 3 are still young players who are just entering their prime. There's a chance that one of them becomes a solid major league starting OFer that can help this team from 2020 to 2025 (which appears to be our window). It seems to me (this might just be a skewed perspective) that with all the technology we have these days - the chances of correcting some issues and turning talent a below average player (with talent) into an average or even above average player is much higher than it was 10-15 years ago.

 

So - I have no problem with the Jays moving Pillar and giving those guys a chance to play. Teo seems like the best bet right now to be that guy. He has the tools and seems to have worked a s*** ton to tighten up his defense.

[BTS]

I don't really care to go back and verify this, but what Jim might be trying to say is that we know what Pillar is. He's decent and into the stage of his career where players like him typically decline - sometimes rapidly (as they rely on speed). There's a great chance that Alford, McKinney and Teo suck - but all 3 are still young players who are just entering their prime. There's a chance that one of them becomes a solid major league starting OFer that can help this team from 2020 to 2025 (which appears to be our window). It seems to me (this might just be a skewed perspective) that with all the technology we have these days - the chances of correcting some issues and turning talent a below average player (with talent) into an average or even above average player is much higher than it was 10-15 years ago.

 

So - I have no problem with the Jays moving Pillar and giving those guys a chance to play. Teo seems like the best bet right now to be that guy. He has the tools and seems to have worked a s*** ton to tighten up his defense.

 

I still think Pillar was moved to save 5M and not to give those guys a chance to play. We had and continue to have whatever the opposite of an OF logjam is. I'm pretty sure our OF is sub-replacement level for the season.

[Ray]

I still think Pillar was moved to save 5M and not to give those guys a chance to play. We had and continue to have whatever the opposite of an OF logjam is. I'm pretty sure our OF is sub-replacement level for the season.

 

They ended up giving that $5M to Grichuk this season to front load his deal, so they’re actually not saving anything.