Dr. Dinger

*flashback to JP Arencibia catching Dickey on opening day 2014*

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but here's a fresh scouting report on Jon Harris: Jonathan Harris [TABLE=class: info, width: 354] [TR] [TD]http://www.baseballprospectus.com/card/images/headshot_106113.jpg[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=colspan: 2]Born: 10/16/1993 (Age: 22)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Bats: Right[/TD] [TD]Throws: Right[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Height: 6' 4"[/TD] [TD]Weight: 175[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [TABLE=class: mechanics, width: 62%] [TR=class: header] [TD]Mechanics[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Body: Tall, angular frame w/lanky appearance. Long, wiry limbs w/ flat chest across upper-half. Will always be lean, though he holds velocity into outings fine. Delivery: Full windup w/over-head break. Fairly easy out front, occasional modest fall-off to glove-side that looks like it can be cleaned up in time. Starter look overall. Arm Action: Arm works well through a nearly overhand slot; smooth, easy, fluid finish to arm-stroke out front. [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [TABLE=class: scout, width: 36%] [TR] [TD=class: header]Evaluator[/TD] [TD]Adam McInturff[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: header]Report Date[/TD] [TD]07/11/2016[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: header]Affiliate[/TD] [TD]Lansing Lugnuts (Low A, Blue Jays)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: header]Dates Seen[/TD] [TD]July 2016[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: header]OFP/Risk[/TD] [TD]55/Moderate[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: header]Realistic[/TD] [TD]50; 4th Starter[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: header]MLB ETA[/TD] [TD]2017-2018[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: header2]Video[/TD] [TD]No[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [TABLE=class: repertoire, width: 100%] [TR=class: header] [TD=align: center]Pitch Type[/TD] [TD=class: mid1, width: 8%, align: center]Present Grade[/TD] [TD=class: mid1, width: 8%, align: center]Future Grade[/TD] [TD=class: mid1, width: 8%, align: center]Sitting Velocity[/TD] [TD=class: mid1, width: 8%, align: center]Peak Velocity[/TD] [TD=align: center]Report[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Fastball[/TD] [TD=class: mid]55[/TD] [TD=class: mid]60[/TD] [TD=class: mid]92-93[/TD] [TD=class: mid]95[/TD] [TD=class: rpt]Fluid, smooth arm-stroke generates easy velocity. FB touches 95, sits 92-93 w/ some arm-side run. Easy arm out front jumps ball on hitters. Velocity plays down at present b/c of command within the zone; chance to be true 60 offering w/ projected improvements to pitching to spots w/ FB. Command: Stayed around the zone w/ more control than true command. Long arm in the back holds up command at present, though can be improved. Enough ability to get ahead w/ FB to start.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Cutter/Slider[/TD] [TD=class: mid]50[/TD] [TD=class: mid]55[/TD] [TD=class: mid]88-89[/TD] [TD=class: mid]91[/TD] [TD=class: rpt]Hybrid pitch that works well against RHH; late, darting glove-side action at best. Somewhere between cutter and slider, more SL depth at lower velo band, w/ one-plane cut-type action at 89-91.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Splitter[/TD] [TD=class: mid]45[/TD] [TD=class: mid]50[/TD] [TD=class: mid]87-88[/TD] [TD=class: mid]89[/TD] [TD=class: rpt]Hard 2-seam action on firm splitter 86-89. Sells the pitch at arm-speed at best, pulling the string well for solid arm-side turnover action. Overthrows it a little right now, velocity runs into FB somewhat; might need to push his grip farther back in his hand to take more off the pitch. Thrown mostly to LHH.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Curveball[/TD] [TD=class: mid]45[/TD] [TD=class: mid]50[/TD] [TD=class: mid]79-82[/TD] [TD=class: mid]83[/TD] [TD=class: rpt]True overhand CB 79-83. Tunnels the pitch well off FB; best CBs show late, w/darting 12-6 action. Thrown to both RHH/LHH; still getting consistent feel for maintaining arm-speed and finish pitch w/conviction. Worst ones show early w/ softer, rolling tilt.[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Control[/TD] [TD=class: mid]50[/TD] [TD=class: mid]55[/TD] [TD=class: mid][/TD] [TD=class: mid][/TD] [TD=class: rpt]Fairly advanced control and ability to limit walks, confidently utilizing a full four-pitch mix. Control stands to potentially improve a half grade as his arm-circle shortens, which will allow better location w/ FB and CB. Cutter/Slider and Splitter reliably around zone; strikes w/ CB the least developed at present, w/ more feel to expand the zone down than get ahead w/ breaking ball earlier in counts.[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [TABLE=class: overall, width: 100%] [TR=class: header] [TD]Overall[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]High-floor arm with little left to prove in Low-A. Might not have a dominant pitch at the end of the day, but knows how to mix four pitches and stays around the zone w/ starter's delivery and FB that touches the mid-90s. Ceiling is that of a lesser no. 3 starter if command takes half-grade step forward, and he can get more velocity separation from his FB on secondary pitches. Chance top 100 prospect who could reach Toronto in the next 18 months. [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

I was expecting a lot more irrational negativity here, but it seems like objectivity has mostly won the day.

Spanky? Is that you?

Under no circumstances do I want that hair on my team.

I hate that lazy-eyed plug as much as anybody, but backup catchers across baseball are equally gross and useless.

The same is true of any team. Who do the Giants have if Posey goes down? Who do the Brewers have if they trade Lucroy? Who do the Royals have if Perez gets hurts? Every team is an injury away from playing a bag of s*** full-time. Most teams don't even have an adequate first-string catcher: Only 10 catchers in baseball currently have enough PA to qualify for a batting title.

I didn't think Lindor would ever have 20 HR in a season, let alone in his first 162 games. He's better than I even expected.

I felt the same way about Mookie Betts though, so clearly I don't know f***ing s***.

Yep, he's having an unbelievable season, I just have a hard time buying into him as a guy who is going to post .200 ISOs on a regular basis in the majors. He's a good hitter who is currently hitting like a megastar, and I'm not convinced he's that.

That makes two of us, but I still think and hope that he isn't as good as he seems in this moment.

Yeah, Osuna is a boss with sick ratios across the board, and I don't expect Reed to steal a spot in my starting lineup from CCC or Kendrys this season, so I'm probably taking a bit of a now hit.

I've coveted Reed for a long time, so this seemed like the best opportunity to acquire him. He could bust hard, but I still have Kenley and Chapman to keep me warm at night, so I can stomach the risk of giving up Osuna. I think I needed to take a risk to get my hands on a potential 1B masher, which was a real hole on my team's future depth chart. That said, Adam Greenwood has repeatedly taken me to the cleaners on fantasy trades. He stole Hader for Montas, he stole Bregman for Arcia. Kepler for DJLM seems like a pretty even deal at the moment, but otherwise, he's gotten me good.

Confirmed.

He gives up a lot of home runs and doesn't strike a ton of guys out, so I surmise that the bad starts are just much more memorable than the good ones, plus it's very easy to hate him when we contrast it with Syndergaard's emergence as a legitimate ace. With our offence, a pitcher who gives us 7 IP and gives up 3 ER is probably going to get the job done more often than not.

Eh, I really wouldn't be comfortable paying him $14M+ on a one year deal, which is what the QO amounts to. No team is going to top that AAV anyway, I think it's too risky and the value isn't there at that price point.

Agreed on all points. It's not always pretty, but the end of season ERA does matter, especially when we're talking about an 800 IP sample. At some point you have to consider it more than his xFIP. He's a unique player and can't be evaluated in standard ways.

It's easy to find a pitcher who can give you a 4.5 xFIP, but the 200 innings are actually hard to replace. I won't get into the discrepancy between ERA/xFIP for knuckleballers, but it's been discussed and I think that difference is worth considering also, as well as the knuckleball effect for the subsequent SP in the rotation.

I have to say that I really, really, realllllly hate watching Dickey pitch. And when I have tickets to a game and find out that Dickey is getting the start, it's pretty depressing. But objectively, I think he could be a useful and cost-effective piece next year. He definitely will not be tendered a qualifying offer, so I don't want to hear anybody talk about "taking the draft pick and moving on."

Average age is meaningless, I would prefer to have our team be competitive next year.

Hear me out. I know we all hate watching him pitch, I know he's boring as f*** in interviews, I know we resent him because we traded Syndergaard to get him, and I know we all hate having Josh Thole on the roster. But over the last calendar year, here are Dickey's numbers: 216 IP, 3.41 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 2.43 K/BB, 9.4% SwStr Granted, the FIP and xFIP paint a less flattering picture (4.41/4.55), but the same is true of Estrada and we all love him regardless. Objectively, Dickey's been an adequate, mid-rotation innings eater. It might actually make sense to extend Dickey for one year (plus an option, perhaps) for something in the vicinity of $8-10M, and given his situation, I think he'd probably be open to it. When you consider how sparse the free agent market for SP is this coming off-season, I think there's an argument to be made to bring him back for another year.

Yeah, I don't give a s*** which cause du jour he's repping, I'm disgusted that he had the gall to change the lyrics of our national anthem on such a stage. It's heinous. I wonder what the reaction would have been like if he was American.

The rest of the band got out in front of the backlash and handled it appropriately. I would never listen to their s***** music anyway, but I wouldn't hold this against them.

Those guys are all in the AL.

What a f***ing stooge. I'm not even nationalistic, but that is utterly embarrassing to Canada as a nation. Good on the tenors for singling him out and immediately firing him, he should be blacklisted from the music business. Just a complete disgrace, and for such an ignorant cause. Get the f*** out.