froston

I wrote this piece special for you guys: http://frostonball.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/on-the-value-of-worthless-wins/

Thanks for the, um.... input?

Scouts are vital where the numbers are misleading / not informative. In the amateur and rookie ball ranks, scouts are huge. In the Majors they are probably almost useless. What level is the tipping point at? I don't know.

Thanks for reading. I just finished my second post and submitted the thread here (moderator needs to approve it though). It takes inspiration from your "Reverse Standings Thread", and addresses the TankNation mentality.

The Blue Jays were supposed to be really good. Preseason World Series odds had them at the top of the pile, listed as something like 8-1 favourites to win everything in 2013. The Blue Jays should have been really good. Preseason projection systems like ZIPS and Steamer pegged them as a top 5 MLB team, prognosticating that they would win close to 90 games. (link) The Blue Jays are not very good. Whether this is due to a previously overrated roster, a terrible amount of bad luck, or a bit of both, is a subject for another post. The reason for ineptitude aside, the Blue Jays won’t even finish .500 this year, and they might be bad enough to finish with a top 10 pick in the 2014 draft (which would give them two protected picks in the top 11 of a supposedly deep draft, since they have a compensation pick at #11 for not signing Phil Bickford). This is that point in a lost year where lots of spectators will start cheering for losses from their favourite team. A win gets the Blue Jays nothing, aside from maybe a small amount of pride, while a loss gets the Blue Jays a little bit closer to a lofty pick in next summer’s draft, and hopefully, a premium impact prospect. A win is worthless and a loss has value. If you’re a fan of the Blue Jays that doesn’t suffer from extreme myopia, you should want the team to go into full tank mode. So by going 6-2 in the their last 8 games while giving regular playing time to four or five players that spent most of the year in Buffalo, the Blue Jays are seemingly finding yet another way to lose in the big picture. They lost all year long while they should have been winning, and now they’re winning when it’s probably in their best interest to lose. The team has already disappointed most of their fanbase, all that’s left is to let down the fans like this: (link) But it’s not that simple. ______________________________ Read more here: http://frostonball.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/on-the-value-of-worthless-wins/ I got 125 views on my first blog post (about Tom Robson), most of which probably came from here. Thanks guys! Follow be on the twitter for more stuff, if you want: @Froston_Ball

You probably know Tom Robson because he’s that Canadian guy that the Blue Jays drafted in the 4th round back in 2011. Coming into 2013, he wasn’t sexy enough to make any notable top 10/20 prospect lists for Toronto (John Sickels didn’t even give him an honourable mention on his top 20), but he’s having a really solid season this year. Split between Bluefield (rookie level) and Vancouver (A-), Robson has a 1.23 ERA, 6.8 K/9, and 2.93 K/BB in 58.1 IP. You don’t typically see an ERA that low when a pitcher has fairly average K and BB rates like that. So Robson’s just getting a bit lucky with the earned runs, right? Well, maybe not. You see, Tom Robson is a freak. ----------------------- Read more here: http://frostonball.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/tom-robson-is-a-freak/ First blog post, thought you guys might be interested. Follow me on the twitter for more (@Froston_Ball). I'll probably post some more around here too.