Laika

Yeah, the whole point of popping Bickford so early should be to open up a pool of money to sign a couple of guys like Brentz and Tellez. As if something like ~2 million isn't enough for Phil f***ing Bickford, who really wasn't even on the radar at #10. He was a kid that most thought would fall to the supplemental round.

Linear weights exist. Approximate values: 1B: 0.90 BB: 0.70 HR: 2.00 Something like that... Yes, a base hit is better than a walk. Yes, 0-1 with 3 BB is (most often) a better night than 1-4 with a HR. There is a big difference between the "AVG" skill and the "OBP" skill though. It's not as simple as "a hit is better, therefore OBP is overrated". In the modern game, it is fully possible to OBP well over .400, that is to say, not get out over 40% of the time. It is virtually impossible to do this via base hits alone, over any sizable sample. Players that want to maximize their offensive impact NEED to walk as much as possible. And players that want to be more consistent producers also need to walk as much as possible. Putting the ball in play makes your production subject to a lot of luck - batting average can be volatile, and swing up and down violently based on BABIP. If you walk 14% of the time, like Votto or Bautista, then you can still be a stud even when your average sinks to the mid .200's (usually). Walk 4% of the time like Adam Jones or Erick Aybar, and even when you hit .280+, you're barely an above average player (usually). When it comes to Bonifacio and Kawasaki, walk rate is the difference between being a useful bench player (Kawasaki: .212 with no pop and 11.7 walk rate = .280 wOBA, positive WAR) and a piece of s*** (Bonifacio: .206 with 3.9% walk rate and no pop = .239 wOBA, negative WAR). Now you have been enlightened. Go forth and preach the gospel of OBP.

Yeah. With lots of guys that aren't big names, they don't add them until after they've played a game.

I wonder if you could get a full one run ERA swing, for both guys, by transplanting these two pitchers onto the other guy's team: Guy we've been talking about Other guy edit - nvm it doesn't even look like a HR/FB thing between the 2. Does SafeCo even help pitchers that much anymore? What are the new park factors like there?

It's not so much that trading Lawrie was a mistake, I just think you probably could've got a more solid pitcher. Better or at least more reliable. You paid a lot for a sizable portion of ERA and BABIP.

I'd turn into a whiny jaded ******* too if 90% of my callers/commenters didn't even understand how pitcher wins get handed out.

Trade was Apr 23 Iwakuma was a stud for 8 of 9 starts between then and his recent stretch of gas cans. In May: 2.53 ERA, .265 OBPa, 4.63 K/BB. Then his first 2 June starts were 8 and 7 shutout innings. While he was doing that, Werth got hurt and missed basically all of May. Then his June wOBA was .366 and his July so far is .422. Still pretty much up in the air. ~4.00 FIP SP for a 34 year old injury prone CF eligible with across the board upside seems fair though.

Is crossing leagues Kosher? Probably not.

I'm just happy to see the Werth trade finally swing my way at least an inch or two. A 30 day ~7 ERA combined with a .~950 OPS for Werth will do that.

Oh god, I didn't even know it was this bad. Hisashi since BTS traded Lawrie for him: 29 IP 22 ER 10 HR 33 Hits 4+ ER in every single start

Meanwhile, on the Hisashi Iwakuma front....

DFA half the team. Studs and Duds doesn't get you there in baseball.

centrepiece

DFA Kawasaki. Sick of that Jap.

Hello Could somebody be so kind as to post this stuff: http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/midseason-prospect-update-best-players-biggest-leap-forward-and-biggest-disappointments/ Obviously for the Jays, but I would be interested in reading it for every team if possible.

My first round pick for next year is totally available for a SP. Could package with an OF that nobody wants. Or an All Star like Brett Cecil!!!

He's "Jeff Francouering", is what he's doing.

Farm Update: The corn died and the pigs are eating each other.

Dude bro, I have several OF available. They range from young to old; from good to meh; from CF to not so CF; from Asian to Mexican; from colon to semi colon to improperly utilized punctuation. Anything to suit your tastes.

Tiers would probably go: 1 - BALCO (probably ends up in 1st) 2 - Wrench, 2ndLeg, ButtStallions, Kats, B.Inge (probably end up 2,3,5,6,7) 3 - Slayers, T&T, TrueCards (probably end up 4,8,9 - one misses playoffs) 4- THB, Taijuan, ISO, Oppo (all need a push to get in, but still have good shots) Power rankings seem to call for T&T and ISO to climb; London Slayers to slip out of playoffs; 2ndLeg to climb into tier 1

Playoff Standings GB is overall/divisional 1. BALCO Pharm Team 120-64-12 ---/--- 2. A Wrench In The Plan 110-77-9 11.5 GB/--- 3. A 2nd Leg To Stanton 109-77-10 12 GB/--- 4. London Slayers 94-84-18 23 GB/--- 4th because winning Montre Cristo Division 5. The Butt Stallions 108-77-11 12.5 GB/12.5 GB 6. Jurrasic Kats 105-80-11 15.5 GB/4 GB 7. B.Inge Drinking 99-80-17 18.5 GB/7 GB 8. Twist and Trout 90-83-23 24.5 GB/12.5 GB 9. The True Cardinals 94-88-14 25 GB/2 GB 10. Triple Hawpe Brewed! 91-93-12 29 GB/17 GB 11. Taijuan On! 92-97-7 30.5 GB/7.5 GB 12. ISO Horny 90-96-10 31 GB/19 GB 13. Oppo Taco 85-92-19 31.5 GB/8.5 GB 14. The Lyon Tamer 83-100-13 36.5 GB/13.5 GB * BTS can jump from 9th to 4th by picking up 2 games on RJ * Six non-playoff teams are within 12 games of 8th place

Remember when Chris Davis was just that scuzzy fringe 1B hacker that Baltimore let pitch in the ~20th inning of some crazy game?

I'm still thinking about it going forward. As one of the guys who has to process all this stuff, I definitely don't want player loaning to become a "thing".

Chase Utley NEEDS to become a Blue Jay. Brett Lawrie desperately needs a proper gentleman to look up to.

Don't really care how noodly a guy's arm is or how often he K's, when he can run baseballs down like a gazelle and ISO .200+ I like Colby. He's an aesthetically pleasing player, it just looks like he was born to play baseball. It helps to focus on what he is and not what he could have been.