Laika

Reports on MAG have been pretty bad. Shoulder soreness, very unimpressive stuff, disappointing results. He certainly doesn't sound like an impact fantasy pitcher right now.

How much is Max Scherzer worth? I am curious. Let me know guys. I just want names, probably won't respond to "what are you looking for". But yeah, considering trading Max.

Right. If I did it correctly that comes out to 86.11/80.09 projected for Sierra; 108.66/98.30 for Ruggiano. (wRC+, LHP/RHP) Manipulating wRC+ changes things though. Example Ruggiano's 127/92 split (35) = 33.3% of his career wRC+ (105) Ruggiano's .360/.309 wOBA split (.051) = 15.6% of his career wOBA (.327) I KNOW / strongly feel that I'm not manipulating wRC+ correctly here.

Francouer regressed platoon split plopped onto his .280 Steamer projection = .287 wOBA vs LHP .264 wOBA vs. RHP Sierra = .306 vs. LHP .287 vs. RHP Justin Ruggiano = .339 vs. LHP .314 vs. RHP Career +3.8 UZR/150 in the OF (298 games). Career -1.7 UZR/150 in CF (148 games). Shark + Barney + Ruggiano plz.

Why? That makes it worse for the Cubes and its probably already a homer tilt because I'm a Jays fan.

He could also end up GB-ing his way above generally meh peripherals thanks to great stuff, a la Justin Masterson. Drabek could do that too. Actually, they both probably will Everything's gonna be just ok, guys.

Absolutely. BUT - he would have gotten hurt and rehabbed and all that without having started his MLB clock.

Because rushing Alvarez, Hutch, and Nolin to the big leagues worked out so well for the Blue Jays, eh Mike?

Take a long drive out to the country, throw some cookies in the ditch, push him out the door, and then drive away all teary eyed?

AA's getting scouty whispers in his ear right now - "hey, it worked with Jose Fernandez..."

I completely just stopped trying with fantasy team names a year or two ago (in case you hadn't noticed). I think I peaked with Escobar_Mitzvah. There's nothing worse than a cringey pun based try-hard fantasy name.

stream? tv?

That's probably what it's all coming down to, yeah. The Cubes insisting on Stroman or Sanchez, the Jays refusing.

Aaron sanchez video feed for today plz

A Barney-Goins platoon at 2B could actually be very productive. Make the Cubes eat some money in the form of Mouser and Happ if they want the shiny prospects. If they want Sierra, f***, do it if they'll chuck in Justin Ruggiano. Probably hits lefties as well as Moises; can cover CF. Smardz (5.34M, last arb next year) + Barney (2.3M arb 1 this year) + Ruggiano (2M arb 1 this year) for Gose + Nay + Tirado + Sierra + Happ (5.2M) + Mouser (3M this year and next) That ^ is my endgame if I'm AA. Toronto adds very little 2014 salary. They add wins across the roster though: big SP upgrade, decent 2B upgrade + 2B insurance, small but smart platoon/reserve upgrade with Ruggiano. Players coming in will all be here for 2015 as well. The Cubes get the prospects they want for Smardz (swap out Nay or Tirado for other names if you want, it doesn't really matter). The Cubes get four young pieces. Two of them are coveted prospects, one of them is a major league ready controllable guy who may or may not suck, the other one is Sierra who is a piece of garbage. They eat some salary to make it happen, but really, Happ in the NL for 5M isn't even that gross (they just gave Jason Hammel 6M as a free agent). Being said, anything that KSaw has ever said he's been hearing on the grapevine has been complete ********. The grapevine for him is a bottle of merlot and the voices of retired umpires in his head.

I do not remember this, and I'm the other trade party. Why would you get raked over the coals for doing Ells for Scherzer straight up? Doesn't seem very rakeable in context or in hindsight.

Twitter: Brandon Beachy avoids second Tommy John Surgery, throws 96+ in bullpen session. Phew!

Who needs a 4 man bench when you're LF is recovering from a spinal tumor, your RF, 3B, and SS are all made of glass, your 2B is a no-hit rookie, and your CF and DH can't hit lefties?

Dude is gonna be in the majors for a long time, even if it's kind of disappointing how the Jays are setting him up to fail in his rookie season. Gift a 26 year old with a Darwin Barney ceiling a starting gig on a "contending" team, and you're setting him up for a big fall. Ease someone like Goins into the league as a reserve and in the worst case scenario you have a left handed John McDonald.

Does Salazar have a deep injury history, or just the one TJS a few years ago?

"1. Danny Salazar, RHP | Cleveland Indians Salazar was terrific in the 52 major league innings he threw this past summer, but this is the kind of small sample size we'd typically view with great skepticism. What the numbers don't reveal is that Salazar has "stuff" that's as good as that of any starter in the game, with a 96 mph four-seam fastball and a tremendous splitter. His performances in Double- and Triple-A in 2013 further reinforce our belief in his dominance -- adjusted for league quality, those performances translate to a 2.74 MLB ERA. Finally, we can look at xxFIP, a metric designed by Chris Carruthers that is based on pitch-level data (swings, misses, foul balls and strikes looking) and has more predictive power than traditional statistics for pitchers with limited history. According to xxFIP, Salazar's 2013 season was the best performance by any starting pitcher in the PITCHf/x era (since 2007, that is) who faced at least 200 batters. In short, based on the most granular numbers available, as well as his repertoire, we can't rule out the possibility that Salazar is the best pitcher in baseball right now. He might be about to show it." In short, we can't rule out the possibility that Salazar is the best pitcher in baseball right now. He might be about it show it. Thanks for inventing statistics that support my trades in hindsight, CC!

Billy Hamilton has pretty quickly gone from grossly overrated to severely underrated. .410 OBP in A+/AA at 21 years old is pretty dope. .383 OBP in Rookie ball at 19. Yeah he scuffled in AAA, but he was just 22 years old - still young for that level. He could end up being a plus OBP guy and a generational SB talent. That's an annual top 5 or 10 CF in this fantasy format (look at where Ellsbury is ranked right now. Take one grade off of his AVG skill and double his SB totals. That's probably Hamilton's ceiling). Being said, buddy probably should have shopped Strasburg. Better deals would have been out there.

Pretty f***ing good.

They haven't made the trade for Johnson yet in Yahoo.

My understanding of a challenge trade has always been similarly aged players at the same position getting dealt. I guess similar costs too. Most trades are influenced by salaries, positional needs, and age. A classic challenge trade is pure player vs. player