Laika

Have I? I think when Donaldson was ahead of Trout I would have taken the position that Trout is still better. But looking at their seasons right now, how they ended up, everything seems basically true talent. Trout slightly more talented all things considered. Trout is an average CF and he hit to his talent almost exactly. Donaldson is a plus 3B who probably had a positive noisy offensive season that won't be repeated. Trout still edged him in WAR.

Well the Heyward trade kind of had to happen if they weren't going to have the money to extend him. But the Markakis signing helps your point. Who really knows what the f*** they are or aren't thinking. Clearly, objectively, they are making stupid decisions.

I'm not even sure that defense is noisier or more variant than offense. People just don't trust the measures as much - which is a different argument. You can find outlier defensive seasons in UZR just as easily as you can find outlier offensive seasons in wRC+.

Yes, I suppose. I was talking more generally. GMs will reference AVG and RBI to placate to casual fans; most of the time teams have nothing to gain and something to lose by being open and honest with the media about their thoughts and strategies. Specifically with these comments he's responding to fans who overwhelmingly hate the trade. Internally it probably has to come down to them not valuing defense like most people do, so he's not lying there.

There are so many layers on top of what GMs say publicly. Kind of hard to judge

FREDDIE FREEMAN approximate value, done like an extremely lazy ex-blogger who peddles mostly misinformation and false certainty. Age = 26 Projected WARz = 4 + 4 + 4 + 3.5 + 3 + 2.5 = 21 WARz Total Value = ~$170M, give or take $25M. Give or take $5M on that give or take, too. Cost = 12 + 20.5 + 21 + 21 + 22 + 22 = $118.5M Surplus value = like $50M - Roberto Osuna's value has a ton of variance based on whether or not you think he can start. If we say that he's worth as much as a pitching prospect in the top 26-50 range in baseball, then that's almost $20M. - Let's say Sanchez is worth half of that because I hate him and he's terrible. - Let's say Pompey is a hitting prospect in the same prospect range as Osuna, 26-50th overall. That's worth a few million more than Osuna. So that's a roughly equivalent package to Freeman's value! Pompey + Osuna + Sanchez. I used those guys because every trade parter wants cheap major league pieces or major league ready pieces. If you think Harris, Alford, Vlad Jr., Tellez, or SRF fit into the back end of a top 100 list then they would be worth somewhere around $10M, maybe the low teens. Similar enough to Sanchez. And obviously, specific teams would be much higher and lower on specific prospects. Also of note: - Devon Travis has immense value. He projects as a top 10 second baseman in baseball and is obviously still cheap for half a decade. We're talking about a hypothetical value that approaches Freddie Freeman's surplus value, all on his own. Actually the number would probably be higher than Freeman's on paper. Such a good trade... - Kevin Pillar has similar, sizeable value.

I wonder if that Kimbrel package would have been like 80% of the way to an agreeable deal for Freeman

That's a weird target. Why would he be available and why would you want him?

One of my favourite things about the offseason and the trade deadline is seeing reporters "confirm" things that teams have already announced, or being the 10th guy to "confirm" a trade. I always wonder how some of these people get their sources. Blackmail?

you smell like cheese

Cotillo is basically a reporter now. If you're wonder if you should believe the words that are coming out of his mouth, he's probably as reputable as, say, JP Morosi.

Yeah. He's sort of trying to be legit like Cotillo though. Not exactly sure if he actually has any sources or if he just rides various twitter waves by saying "source: this happened" exactly five seconds after someone else reports it. He didn't break this story, a Philly reporter did.

You've reminded me of the best tweet I saw this season: "Where there's Smoak there's #FireAA" This was when they were scuffling, of course...

This is absolutely false. The contract made him more valuable than if he were just under normal arbitration control. 1) It's not inflated at all. It's actually a great deal vs. market rates 2) It extended his team control by two seasons vs. what he would have been under arbitration control for

Maybe 2/$8 or 2/$10??? roughly

maybs!

I still don't understand why he would accept. Could have explored deals all winter and then got something like this in Feb. He's so talented

What are the biggest within AL East trades in recent memory?

Think about this for a second. Would Kimbrel replace Osuna on the roster? No...

Holy Toledo, that's a really nice trade for San Diego. !!! [Clapping emoji] x 10

Josh Timlin and Jesse Chavez Revere for Tomlin!

What did Wilner do wrong? He didn't @ Pillar. He was responding to fans on Twitter and he was right. KP should know better than to engage things like this on twitter.

Good. Estrada looks spiffy in a vest

What? No.

"These voters consider several offensive categories in selecting the winners, including batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage, in addition to "coaches' and managers' general impressions of a player's overall offensive value."