Terminator

Yeah he's nothing special with the bat. But with above average defense and base running if he can get his wRC+ to 90 or above he could be a 2015-2016 version of Melvin Upton which is definitely playable and could make him an average starting player.

Thanks. I'm kind of excited about Teoscar Hernandez. He kind of has a similar profile to the 2015-2016 version of Melvin Upton which isn't half bad. Above average defense and base running and a good enough bat to warrant playing time. Will he hit more like the 2015 version (109 wRC+ or the 2016 version (84 wRC+) though? The difference between a 4th OF and an above average starter.

King- What do you think of the new guys we acquired at the trade deadline?

Yep I think him being older makes the MLE more viable too. I read some reports where they said he could be a starter next year and they had him pegged for about a .260 average with 15-18 home runs and above average base running and defense. That's a pretty decent player for us. But I looked at his projections and they were all terrible. Basically an unplayable hitter. But he played alright in his cup of coffee last year in the bigs and with those scouting reports in mind I read about his changes at the plate and his drop in K-rate. He made the change in 2016 and went from about a 30% K-Rate in AA to 17%. This year his K-Rate was 20% in AAA but his walk rate is up to 11%. He seems like a new player that the projections aren't really picking up on yet.

Well for Hernandez I wanted to see his MLE because he has changed as a hitter since he switched up his stance. He's cut his K rate quite a bit. Does a projection take a new stance or approach into account? I don't think it does. At least with an MLE I could just see what he would have accomplished at the MLB level even if it wouldn't give me a forecast of what's to come. I guess the reason there isn't an MLE floating around anymore is because it's basically worthless with all these projection systems around but this might be a rare instance of where it could give some actual useful results.

The cop who arrested Winfield sounds like a Howdy Doody dumb f***. Why the hell would he sign the ball and why would he want to chit chat with you? lol https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2013/08/02/the_dave_winfield_seagull_incident_vs_toronto_blue_jays_at_exhibition_stadium_30_years_later_an_oral_history.html

Yeah I agree. I think everyone used that old web-based one but the link has been dead for some time. I was wondering what Teoscar Hernandez' MLE's were this year and didn't see anything that I could use.

The link for the one I used to use went dead.

Yeah for sure. Hernandez helps because he's free and he can also backup CF. If he can't get it done they have other options too. I'd just let him have the RF job to start. Nunez probably wouldn't be cheap. Kendrick wouldn't cost too much though. I'd probably go cheap on the bullpen. Make another 3 million dollar signing and some other depth moves and that's it for the pen. The real money is going to be spent on the rotation. We've got 3 slots filled and I don't think Biagini is that bad either. His xFIP as a starter is 4.06. But he's probably better for depth so finding 2 starting pitchers won't be easy.

It's a good question but I don't think we can. His defense is atrocious and turns a good hitter into an overall replacement level player. I'd love to make him the DH who plays LF and 1B sparingly. With Morales here that's tough so I'd try to deal him but don't think we'd be able to. But that's not so bad, Pearce gets hurt a lot and Morales isn't so good that Pearce can't take some of (or even beat out) Morales' PT at DH. Plus, it'd be nice to have actual major league talent on the bench for once, even if it's guys who don't exactly offer up good defense. And having extra OFers allows Zeke to stay in an actual bench role instead of starting for 2/3 of the year like he seemingly always does. I'd probably do something like this: LF: FA Signing (Nunez or Kendrick would be ideal, they could move to 2B or 3B in case of injury and Pearce/Zeke can man LF) CF: Pillar RF: Hernandez DH: Morales/Pearce Bench: Carrera Bench: Pearce(1B/LF)/Morales (1B) If we do carry both Pearce and Morales I think it's kind of imperative to get a versatile LF who can play IF. Sign a decent backup SS and we then have some depth that should actually give Gibby some bench options. It seems like every year he doesn't have pinch hitters and his pinch runners suck and only come in because they are replacing someone who runs like their feet are set in cement. It could also provide the depth that would prevent us from seeing the abortion that our bench has given us this year. Just a quick look at our bench guys and they seem to have combined for about -4 WAR. What a joke.

I think they can both play 3B to cover Donaldson as well. I'd like to get a good backup SS too. Sogard isn't bad and I'm sure they'll be some guys who get non-tendered who would be good fits as well.

It would be wise to pick up another OF but with all the holes we have I'm not sure if we will. I think getting a LF who can play IF like Kendrick or Nunez would be a great addition. When Travis inevitably gets hurt then we could slide Nunez/Kendrick to 2B and plug in one of Hernandez/Alford/Pompey etc.

Carrera is a tough call. He makes some bone-headed mistakes defensively but over the past two seasons he's gotten 547 PA and has been worth 1.6 WAR. Not bad for a bench player who doesn't make much. My main concern is that he's a LF only so one of our other OFers has to be able to play backup CF. Hernandez can play CF so if he's on the team we are covered. Signing Jarrod Dyson to play RF would also allow Zeke to be a 4th OF.

I'd love to dump him but hes replacement level and makes a good chunk of money. I don't know how we could move him. He'd probably get 1 year and 6 million on the open market. We'd have to take a bad contract in return probably.

I just tuned in mid sentence. Did Tabler really just say that the White Sox are one of the toughest teams to beat? Because you don't know what they have and they keep coming at you? lol

That would work. Fire Tabler and bring Bautista on. Buck and Bautista could do the road games and Schulman, Bautista and Buck could do the home games.

He's probably my all-time favorite player and watching him suck this hard isn't fun. I hope he retires a Jay after this season as well. Would beat watching him hit .200 for the Marlins next year.

While I'm at it I'd also like to make some changes to the booth as well. Dump Tabler, bring on Schulman full-time or close to it, move Buck to a commentator role and then sign a retired Jose Bautista as an additional full-time commentator.

Yeah that team kind of sucks. It will definitely be a mix of 1, 2 and 3 year contracts which probably isn't enough to propel them to anything more than 2nd Wild Card contention. I hope they are active though. We don't really have a ton of prospects who will ready to contribute out of the gate next year but for Hernandez who isn't a sure bet to produce so we'll need to make several signings to at least remain competitive. Nunez, Chatwood, Sogard, Dyson, Kendrick, Estrada and others like them all fit the bill to me and I hope we make several of those type of signings. Rene Rivera wouldn't be a abd backup C. Can't hit but his D is good and his framing is solid. I'd love to find a way to get Pearce out of the OF and in to a DH role who plays LF and 1B sparingly. Would mean eating some of Morales' deal which I don't think they'll do.

I don't think it's fair to say that Hernandez can't start and then you turn around and suggest Alford starting. I get that Alford is the better prospect but Hernandez is further along in his development. I'd bet money that Hernandez (with big league ABs and hundreds of AAA ABs) is more ready than Alford (who has no AAA ABs, a handful of MLB ABs, and less than 200 AA ABs). It could make sense to bring in Jarrod Dyson or another OFer who bats left handed. Then you have Dyson, Pillar, Hernandez and Pearce as your 4 OFers. Mix and match them all season long. Alford, Pompey and DSJ can provide depth in AAA. We really need to focus on the rotation and infield depth IMO.

So he's just an org guy in your opinion?

That's what I thought but a lot of what I read seems to think he could do it. Maybe he'd be better suited for the 4th OF spot to start.

Excellent thread. Good job guys.

Yeah I didn't mean a straight swap just highlighting that if deals like the Liriano one were to be had then surely they could have gotten something for an even better pitcher.

I'd like to know what they were offered but the Jays managed to turn a s***** starting pitcher in to a guy who should be able to start in RF next season. You'd have to imagine that the Astros would have done the same deal minus Aoki for Hand. They do have him for two more years but I'll be surprised if the market for him actually increases.