John_Havok

Houston clowning on Minne right now.

I agree with everything here except the part about Bo and Jansen being included in the declining player category. 116 wRC+ with 17 bombs and 2 fWAR in just a hair over 300 PAs I’ll take from my catcher any season. Ditto 125 wRC+ and 4fWAR from my SS. His counting numbers were only down due to missing ~90 PA from his injury.

I’m not really betting on it either, just saying it’s not crazy. Vlad and Bo being 4fWAR is a reasonable expectation. Davis Schneider? Springer? Jansen or Kirk? All of the above have shown they have the talents, its just a matter of health, age and experience there. I wouldn’t bet on any of those 4 individually but if I had to pick from a few guys who could get there, it would be between those 4.

I do t think anyone disagrees that having another all star calibre talent isnt needed. It's just that it doesn't necessarily have to come from this year's FA pickings. It could come via trade or by someone already in the fold stepping up. Would anyone be truly shocked if Bo, Vlad and one other position player already on the team were deserving all stars next season?

Yes, but some of that power has to come from the guys already here. Bo with 25, Vlad with 35, Varsho with 25, Jansen/Kirk combining for 30, all of those things should be projected reasonably. Not sure where Schneider would project as I haven’t looked that up but with full playing time, 20 would be a reasonable expectation. Rotation DH role should net 20+ give or take. Springer 20+ with health, (though he’d probably project higher) That’s 175 right there without thinking about who’s playing LF or 3b. Adding 40 or more combined there puts them in the top 10 in mlb. I don’t see them contending with Atlanta for the MLB lead at over 300. I suppose my overall point from not wanting Teo is…I want someone in the lineup who doesn’t just hit HRs and is patently useless the rest of the time.

i just don't think Teo is the kind of player the Jays need. Yes, he hits some HRs, but he does nothing else well. When he isn't hitting HRs, which is the vast majority of the time, he is hurting the team. He's bad on D, and worse than Vlad on the bases, which is saying something given Teo has far superior speed. I would rather bring back Lourdes than Teo, and I really don't want Lourdes back either.

If you're thinking switching to Latina women will make things less weird and more simple....I await your first report.

This is why I am actively rooting against Arizona, just to hopefully avoid the constant avalanche of uninformed ignorant whining about Moreno

Gravity is a bitch

Vlads value on plays where he had to come on, go to his right, go to his left, and go back. 2021- 0,0,-1,-2 2022- -1,-3,+1,0 2023- -2,-9,-2,0 He s*** the bed on balls hit to his non-glove side. Everything else was right around his norm of previous seasons.

I'd rather see him eating at any of those places over grandma's table.

Vlad would have inside outed that to Rf for a single, and Buck would have praised his oppo approach.

That’s encouraging

Who knows for sure? Could just be orchestrated chatter from his camp designed to create a sense of more competition than there really is. That said, there are 0 teams in MLB that wouldn’t benefit from an Ohtani signing. Except the Angels.

Gotta love opinion pieces.

AA wasn’t coming back no matter who they hired imo, unless the guy they hired was Friedman, who wasn’t available.

Wtf lol

7-0 DBacks now, Kershaws replacement just gave up an absolute nuke to Carroll in the top of the 2nd. 421 feet

What a different bottom of the 1st for The Dodgers vs the DBacks. DBacks all the hard hit balls fell in, Dodgers 3 bullets off bats, only 1 hit.

Both the letter grade and the + is very generous.

Well, if you recall the year prior to 2015, there were all kinds of rumours that seemed to have validity that Rogers was courting replacements for Beeston (specifically Dan Duquette, then GM of the Orioles and Kenny Williams, then GM of the White Sox) for when his contract ran out at the end of 2014 and that did not go over well with either Beeston or AA. The scuttlebutt at the time was that the 1 year extension that Beeston signed was done almost begrudgingly and AA decided right then he wasn’t going to extend past 2015 when his deal expired. Before 2015 even started though it was announced that Beeston would be retiring at the end of 2015. Shapiro offered AA an extension, AA turned it down. AAs quotes on why he left: “For myself, my next expedition in baseball, my number one priority will be who can I learn from. Where could I go and just be exposed to some things that I haven’t and just improve and come out a lot better whether it’s two years or three years from now.” “Two, key people you want to work with that you respect that you get along with certainly would be important.” “The third part, role and things like that, I wouldn’t really concern myself with that. Dollars, role; that would really be last on the list.” “It would just be where can I get better, where can I learn, where can I have some fun … and the rest will just take care of itself.” I suppose depending on the lens, those quotes could be used to support either explanation, but it was clear AA no longer wanted to be in Toronto once Beeston was gone.

Moreno just obliterated Kersahw for a 3 run HR for a 5-0 lead in the top of the first, Kershaw hasn’t even got an out yet. Everything being hit hard.

I don’t see it that way, and one must keep n mind Atkins said plenty of other things relating to this topic that are only being reported partially. He did mention the org philosophy a couple of times. But the clickbait headlines that work best are “Atkins blames Schneider” because that gets clicks and will fit with people’s pre-determined dislike of Atkins. Atkins said it was Schneider’s decision, Schneider said it was his own decision. I see no reason to think either of them are lying based on what they said and short of sifting through hundreds of pages of detailed meeting reports (if those are even kept) between Schneider and his staff and Schneider and Atkins, taking it at face value is the only logical course of action. I’ve been studying up recently on body language and the language of lying, and it’s quite interesting when you ask someone questions and they give direct answers vs someone who deflects and declines to answer questions directly. Both Schneider and Atkins answered questions with direct answers and clear wording, nothing that would indicate either of them is not telling the truth. People in general though, I’ll always read not what they hear based on their own pre-determined opinions of the person. A quick and simple example of clear answers vs deflecting answers that may seem pretty close to the same. Question is put to someone about whether they cheated on their spouse. 1 says “No, I never cheated.” The other says “I absolutely deny those allegations.” Person #2 is far more likely to be lying. Person #1 issued a direct denial while person 2 did not. It seems like they are saying no they didn’t cheat, that’s not what they said, they are denying allegations, not the act of cheating. It’s not a perfect science of course and there’s always exceptions, and anyone who has an agent or publicist will be coached on these kinds of things before they put out a statement, but when you’re on a press conference and it’s just you answering questions on the spot, your brain doesn’t work fast enough to know the difference.

Side question though, when you gave direction to the Mexico guy, did you tell him point by point and task be task exactly what he had to do? Or just give him a directive and it was up to him to make decisions locally that fit the directive and then report why he made the decisions he made? and then he just f***ed up the decisions, didn’t get the results and blamed someone else?

Yeah for sure, but in this scenario, not everything can be true that people are bitching about. It can’t be a dictatorship where Atkins calls all the shots , but it also it can’t be completely hands off either. Chances are it’s exactly what I said in previous comments, Schneider is 100% responsible for his decisions in game, is provided all info from the nerd they think is relevant, and that general framework exists that is meant to help or guide Schneider, even though the ultimate decision on what to do in game is his.