Laika

Is Rachel Luba's agent career over?

When your fetish is girls who will let you beat them up in bed, you will basically only attract psychos. He's reaping what he sowed I guess. Still not sure he did anything WRONG or worth cancellation even if that seems inevitable

Uh how the f*** is that clear

Lol he looks absolutely nothing like JD

Noooooo lol

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/illustrator?playerId=665489&playerType=batter&name=Vladimir%20Guerrero%20Jr.&tabSelection=0&shape=square&shapeName=Square%20(Instagram)&subTitle=&chartType=3d-birdsEye&chartName=3D%20Spray%20-%20Birds%20Eye&pitcherThrows=&batterStands=&plateAppearanceResults=[]&pitchTypes=[]&seasonType=[%22R%22]&pitchResults=[]&facingPlayer=[]&balls=[]&battedBallType=[]&years=[2021]&strikes=[]&outs=[]&selectedGames=[]&homeTeam=[]&awayTeam=[]&vsTeam=[]&exitVelocityGT=95&exitVelocityLT=105&pitchVelocityGT=0&pitchVelocityLT=105&launchAngleGT=-90&launchAngleLT=90 In the last month the guy has like, 2 or 3 flyballs in the 95-105 range that went to CF or RCF. They were not particularly close to being homers. It's a negligible sample. He does have three balls hit 106 mph + to CF or RCF that just died short of being homers in that timeframe. There is still really no point to be made there. (full link didn't work but you can click around and figure out how to work the chart)

I wouldn't do that as a Glasnow owner. Adell gives me Lewin Brinson vibes.

11-3 85 runs for 44 runs against

Here is what is "controversial" --> the fact that he has hit some 99 mph flyouts to straightaway CF in the last few weeks is almost certainly PURE RANDOMNESS and not any indication or measurement of skill change. When you say "100 mph flyballs to centre are kind of useless" it's like saying "110 mph line drives directly at the first baseman are useless". I mean sure, the fact is true but you are implying that the player is doing something wrong or needs to change. That's the dumb part. A player who is pounding flyballs 100 mph+ to deep centrefield will be absolutely fine long term because players don't aim their batted balls left and right and over a long sample their fair share of those will find the gaps or get over the fence.

I think the left to right direction of batted balls is not a concern. He has hit a few deep flyballs to dead centre but that's some very small sample size stuff and over time that kind of approach is good (not trying to pull everything). The up and down direction of batted balls may be a concern because that was a long term problem for him before 2021. When he is out of shape he stops squaring up baseballs, we already know this. If he is tired/fatigued we might see the same thing.

what?

Yeah let's just leave it. I don't see anything wrong with it being the last week of the regular season.

Not really

thank you? doesn't change the point his exit velos are not relevant. he always hits the ball hard even when he sucks.

Okay, but it's not a positive. He was an elite exit velocity guy last year and he was a replacement level player. He will always hit the ball hard. When he is playing poorly his launch angles will be off. In the second half so far his LD% is only 7.6%. It was over 21% in the first half. Interestingly, his GB% is not up. Groundballs were the problem in 2020 and 2019 but so far in the second half his nemesis is lazy pop ups and flyballs.

Not really. The bad version of Guerrero = hitting blistering groundballs all the time.

Murphy looked hopeless. His stuff just isn't that good. A bit of potential he could be a useful reliever but he needs like, an entire mechanical overhaul I think

Moreno

Puke gif

holy fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk

Berrios' "stuff" might compare to Lynn's but those other names would all be clearly above. And of course that means prime Scherzer/Verlander, not current versions.

Berrios' value is pretty well known, established, and projectable. He will be good for the next 1.35 seasons but not a true Ace. The value of Martin and SWR is not as easy to peg. They could bust, or be superstars. Teams will have varying evaluations too. At the time the trade was announced the cost seemed like a massive overpay for Berrios based on precedent. Martin was considered a top 20 prospect (based on offseason lists) and SWR was considered a top 50 or so prospect. That's a huge price for 1.35 seasons of a good but not elite starter. Marcus Stroman is a comparable pitcher and he was traded for substantially less. Historically teams just have not given up prospects of Martin's caliber unless they were getting back a massive star under control, or something like that. With the above in mind one of two possibilities has to be true: 1. The Blue Jays overpaid massively for Berrios. 2. The public perception of Martin and/or SWR was significantly too high. They were overvalued by fans and public prospectors, but not by MLB teams who have more info. So it's entirely fair to go looking for what is wrong with Martin at this point. It's not just about trying to justify a trade as a biased fan. It's more like trying to make sense of it all. Because if Toronto thinks Austin Martin has any reasonable chance of being Alex Bregman they are 100% not doing this trade.

I am an organizational apologist and extremely biased at all times. Here are three good things about the Grichuk contract. 1. It is a good educational event for how prudent teams approach deals. 2. It shows good process by the Blue Jays. 3. It was about more than Randal Grichuk and in hindsight has paid off. By #1, I mean to say that how Grichuk is now performing kind of shows the likely thinking of the Blue Jays at the time he was extended. Most teams would not think of these things as a simple matter of comparing the player's projection vs the cost. Rather, they think about these things via a range of outcomes. If the player really underperforms and only plays to say their 10th percentile, what does that look like? If they figure some stuff out and take off, hitting the 90th percentile of their projected outcomes, what does that look like? I think the Blue Jays obviously thought Randal Grichuk was capable of more, perhaps they thought he projected better than this or hoped he would play much better... but they probably had a sober thought that even if he were to underperform and really flatline, it would not look that bad. They would have based this on the size of his MLB sample pre-extension, his age, his ability to hit for an okay average with power even when he sucked, his ability to play decent defense. And that bottom of the barrel outcome is not playing out and it's really not that horrible. $10M each for the next two seasons for a bench quality player. The deal did not work out but it's not a sunk cost entirely and it's not the end of the world. Contrast this to the bottom of the barrel outcomes on things like the Chris Davis extension, or some of the mid-range contracts given out historically to starting pitchers (which always carry a downside risk of literally zero production) like Jordan Zimmerman, Homer Bailey. It's possible in baseball to spend $50M+ on player talent and get zero return. I guess #2 is already explained within the above. And #3 is obvious too. It helps to attract guys like Ryu and Springer, and some of the lesser FA pieces, if your team is not literally all children. As Toronto planned on cycling up their payroll they had to start somewhere. An extension for a veteran currently in the organization was a reasonable place to start. Perhaps a good signal to other players in the league that the team was committed to building around the kids coming up, committed to some level of monetary spending, etc.

So great to see Eloy actually return this year AND put up numbers right away. When he first got hurt I think the news was that he would probably miss the whole season.

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