metafour

Espinal was only with the Red Sox up until A+, and he was 23 at the time. He was hitting well, but he wasn't seen as much more than an old over-achiever with average tools at the time. He spent considerably more developmental time with the Jays. Teoscar definitely made it up to the MLB under the Astros, but he was seen as a highly flawed prospect with unreached tools that they didn't have any more room for. The Jays did a lot of work to alleviate or fix some of the fatal flaws he had, which is what has made him an above-average MLB regular.

Even as part of a trade for a "star player", Groshans would be like a #4 or #5 piece. He's not heavily contributing to any trade for a star player.

Without improvements? Garrett Cooper has much better ISO's as a full-time MLB player than Groshans is sporting in the minors. The Jays have been very good at evaluating their own prospects and dumping guys that they perceive to be non-losses. They are also universally seen as being one of the best teams at developing hitters, thus the fact that they are giving up on Groshans should tell you something. I'm sure the Marlins hope to squeeze something out of him, but Groshans really looks pretty poop right now...and he's not young either.

Are you guys serious? Groshans is almost 23 has hit for zero power the past two years. It's not like he sports a .300+ BA either. If it's Bass and Pop for him, that's a great trade. Pop has lots of control.

Right, but the point is that when a player of this caliber is traded (Soto), the other team isn't going to compare these arbitrary numbers and perceive the returns as equal. They're going to look for certain traits/upsides/etc. in the players going back.. The reality is this: Abrams and Hassell are highly drafted ~Top 25 prospects with pretty safe floors because they have few flaws (Hassell is supposedly looking even better in CF than expected) . James Woods looks like he has MVP type potential and may be a Top 5 prospect in a year. Mackenzie Gore is a former uber-prospect who is at least already in the MLB (albeit hurt). The other pitcher they got is hitting triple digits and is one of the biggest breakouts in the lower minors this season. That package is considerably more enticing to most teams than Moreno + Tiedemann, reclamation project Nate Pearson, and Orelvis Martinez who's floor is basically non-existent because he's running a ~.200 BA with few walks, lots of strikeouts, and a swing that may not work at all in the MLB.

Stuff like this doesn't work in trades of this magnitude, regardless of what the "calculator" suggests. Pearson is basically a nothingburger right now and Martinez, while he has "value", is going to be perceived all over the place because his underlying metrics are pretty horrific. So now you're essentially talking about Moreno and Tiedemann? A guy like James Wood makes this deal, because he has legitimate freakshow type upside. I don't perceive those packages to be equal at all.

James Wood is an absolute monster. He looks like Aaron Judge so far. He was a ~Top 10 talent in his draft class before having an ugly senior season. The Padres still paid him $2.6 mill to sign. His tools are through the roof, and so far he's absolutely mashing.

I mean, it should have been pretty obvious that Pace was just a "lets draft this kid with our last pick so the kid can be happy he got drafted" pick when he stated that he didn't even know that he was drafted because he turned the draft off. Had it been a real pick/signing they would have called him beforehand to iron out the bonus and confirm with him that they had enough to get the deal done. And yes, Nolan Perry likely got the remainder of everything we had left - which would put his bonus around ~$200K (this makes sense for a 12th round HS pitcher). $200K obviously wasn't anywhere near enough to get Pace done. If it was, he wouldn't have lasted till the 20th round.

Brandon Barriera signed for $3,597,500.

Gunnar Hoglund made his Pro debut on rehab assignment in the ACL for the A's: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K I'm interested to see what his stuff is looking like this year.

Please remember everyone, we must also be welcoming to Trevor Bauer - so we should refrain from bullying the man. If this suspension holds true, he may want to join our forum since he will have free time on his hands - in which case I don't believe he will feel welcomed!

Yes, it's sort of like if you don't particularly like apples, you are by default anti-fruit.

What makes this deal s***** for the A's? All four guys they got back are legit prospects. Pache's star is falling because he hasn't hit, but Langeliers has all-star type upside and improved significantly with the bat last season (it's elite defense + arm + strong power output). Cusick was their 1st round pick last season (he was also one of our targets) and came out hot as a Pro + he has one of the strongest two-pitch mixes in the minors (he's up to ~100mph and has a strong floor as a high end reliever). The other pitcher they got was the biggest riser in Atlanta's system last season; like Cusick he has a high floor as a reliever, but he has even better current pitchability and starter qualities. They got #1, #3, #5, and #8 in Atlanta's system based on the ProspectsLive rankings.

Here's why Hagen Danner was added to the 40-man: https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-prospect-hagen-danner-progresses-on-mound-after-hitting-struggles/

You are essentially describing Alek Manoah. Nothing about Hoglund screams reliever. It's plus pitchability and plus command. The changeup flashes above-average and the fact that he doesn't throw 3-4 pitches in college isn't indicative of inability or lack thereof (as was the case with Manoah). Pearson looks like a reliever because he has no command of where the ball is going and he keeps getting hurt. That is a completely different scenario.

Can anyone post this BA article on our recent draftee? I'm interested to see what Collazo wrote:

Trent Palmer hasn't given up a single HR all season (in 63 IP) and has allowed just 33 hits with 83 strikeouts. It's pretty overpowering stuff by those metrics (and his pre-draft scouting reports) with control being the only obvious issue. He is a real prospect and we actually went slightly over-slot to sign him out of the 3rd round last season (he also had promising advanced metrics in college IIRC). This isn't a random prospect. His control has been a lot better in the 2nd half of the season.

Humans are 100% evolved with smaller stomachs and digestive tracts similar to other Apex-carnivores, which is exactly why One-Meal-A-Day (OMAD) and Intermittent Fasting works so well for those who can tolerate the adaptation period of switching from "3-4 meal per day" eating. Our undersized stomachs mean that we SHOULD be primarily eating nutrient and energy dense foods (ie: animal fats and proteins) which is what is/was observed in every tribal society on Earth (regardless of the culture or continent). Carb (sugar) and plant-based diets are a complete transgression of evolutionary biology and anthropology, hence why they result in complete energy crashes and zero sustenance (you eat, and then you're hungry ~2-3 hours later). Intermittent fasting is in obvious agreement with our evolution as hunter-gatherers. You would hunt, kill an animal, feast on it...and that would be your caloric intake save for a few berries or foraged fruits (which would be extremely small quantity and completely seasonal). That meal would power you through the entire day, giving humans the freedom to LEARN and GET SMARTER. That is what makes humans human, versus other primates which must spend most of their waking day eating low-energy plant foods.

Simeon Woods-Richardson tonight: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 2 K Yikes. He's pitched just 3 innings since being traded, and he has 6 walks. If he's not hurt, he looks like he's fallen apart.

Right, but doesn't what you just described kill the joy of the hobby from day one? If something is worth millions on day one just for the sheer fact that there is a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of pulling it, what is stopping a billionaire with nothing better to do from just buying up all the packs and hoarding all the ultra-rare cards? The chance of a regular collector pulling that Shohei Ohtani card will be virtually zero, as they will pushed out from competition entirely by those who can simply buy more packs. The fact that these are digital packs even takes out the physical challenge of acquiring cards that normally took place. Before, you'd need to at least put in some effort to physically obtain cards - even if you had money to burn, you'd have to physically drive around to different retailers to buy up stock, or establish connections that could get you boxes of sealed product. Now, is there anything in place that prevents a billionaire from pressing one button and buying up 90% of the released digital packs? The "magic" of physical card collecting comes from the fact that anyone can pull any ultra-rare card and do as they wish with it. They can experience joy in holding it from day one (as its rarity will still be known from day one), they can play the card if it's a playable trading card game and get joy out of it that way, or if they are ultra-enthusiasts they can hold onto their collected cards for 10, 20, 30 years at which point some of those cards may become pieces of collectible history, in which case that person's passion or determination is rewarded through the means of those cards potentially being worth a lot of money. The fact that it potentially takes ~20+ years of holding something that might one day be worth something makes these physical cards a market that ANYONE can enter and invest in; on the other hand if you just impose scarcity from day one and create an environment wherein a card is potentially worth a million dollars right away just for the sheer fact that it's pull-rate is astronomically low, then you just enable a money-laundering avenue for millionaires and billionaires who can box out the regular consumer from competing for that card entirely.

But doesn't this eliminate the entire point/purpose of high end collecting? Or are you suggesting that this "submarket" of the trading card hobby needs to be weeded out entirely? The fragility/deteriorability of trading cards is what ultimately gives them value or long-term collectability. Lots of people still have Base Set Charizard Pokemon cards sitting in their basement, but the fact that these were generally held by children ~20 years ago means that they are likely to be in subpar condition in 2021 and hence not special. Now, a PSA 10 Charizard is a completely different story - hence why it's worth what it's worth. The only way I can see maintaining this submarket of trading cards in a digital landscape would be to offer extremely low population cards which would be valuable by way of their predetermined low population count, but that isn't really the "point" of what makes collectable cards a cherished hobby: a Base Set Charizard isn't inherently impossible to pull; and any random kid could pull one out of any pack purchased - which means that it could be enjoyed by not just serious collectors, but the actual general target market as well.

Ok, and what? He was just drafted in the 6th round and has intriguing qualities. Juenger is easily worth watching as at least a relief prospect. This isn't some random that was drafted in the 18th round.

Otto Lopez: 2 for 4, 3B (his 2nd in 7 AAA games) Pushes his batting average in AAA to .308. Dude just keeps hitting.

Finally some dope on Samad Taylor: