metafour

So...just like Buehrle throughout his entire career LOL? I'm just finding this whole argument silly. He did what Buehrle did for virtually his entire career last year, but, "he cant be Buehrle"? His 97 IP sample is pointless to conclude anything on either way; but lets not kid ourselves here: the main difference between the two is that Borucki throws 5+ MPH harder and therefore should have much more leeway to get away with sub-optimal rates than Buehrle had, so its obviously entirely attainable. I'm just looking at this from a pure face-value approach: a LHP with above average velocity, an above average to plus secondary pitch, and good pitchability OBVIOUSLY has a much higher ceiling than "fringy 5th starter". Like, not even close.

Okay, you also seem to be extremely low on projecting a 4.5 to 5 ERA on a LHP with obviously above average stuff who also throws strikes. He was just at 92 mph average FB velocity last year and his changeup is a plus pitch. His HR/FB rate might not be sustainable, but why would you be so sure that his 6.17 K/9 and 3.04 BB/9 are true indicators of talent either? That walk rate is kinda high for a kid who threw strikes all throughout the minors, and his raw stuff is MUCH better than a ~6 K/9 would indicate.

He posted 1.7 WAR in 97.2 innings. Does that mean that he's a 4 WAR pitcher over 200+ innings? No, but I'm not sure what your argument is because I'd love to see what your definition of a "fringy" 5th starter is. Borucki's 3.80 FIP last year is better than Buehrle's career FIP.

That doesn't mean that they don't plan to use all of their money, which they will. They seem to alternate between using most of their money on one "big" signing and spreading it out between several high six-figure/low-seven figure signings.

This. He's a complete fake. Its obvious that he's trying to emulate someone like Michael Jordan. The problem is that athletes of that nature aren't putting on a front - their aura/projection is a result of their actions and is thus natural because it is validated by OTHERS. Stroman is like the guy who reads Jordan's autobiography and then thinks he can just "become" that persona if he talks enough. Michael Jordan wasn't a badass because he made sure to tell everyone every day that he was a badass.

Your lack of vision is comical. No prospect is "useless". Prospects are currency, which means that they don't need to actually even play for your major league team to provide some level of utility. We traded Dawel Lugo for Cliff Pennington, and then the Diamondbacks were able to move Lugo for half a season of freaking JD Martinez in a contending year. Was Dawel Lugo ever a top prospect? Absolutely not, he was a middle infielder with some intriguing (maybe) tools...kind of like the kid we just picked up. Here's the part you're missing: maybe Brito's power surge shows up even more next season, in which case even if he's a complete fluke he can be used as a piece in a potential trade elsewhere. Small deals like that over time build an MLB team. JB Woodman was a useless prospect who we were able to pawn off onto the Cardinals for a half decent MLB shortstop. Your stance is nonsensical because whatever value that Martin provides is completely irrelevant to a team in OUR position. I'm playing up your "mentorship" angle because that is literally the only semi-valid argument that you can make for why we should have considered keeping him. His 1-2 WAR does absolutely nothing to shift our team in either direction. His "versatility"? Why the hell does a team that has no chance of competing need a 36 year old who can double as a crappy third baseman? Again, this "value" is pointless on OUR team. The prospects, even if they turn out to be total duds, on the other hand ARE useful because we are in a point wherein we need to be hoarding as many prospects as possible. These minor prospects can be used in the future to make minor deals that can patch up a potentially competitive roster.

Dana Brown was here in a scouting-oriented role. He is apparently very well regarded as a scout. I hadn't heard anything about him "pushing" for MLB trades to be made.

Your stance is nonsensical. There is no quantifiable value to Martin "mentoring" anyone LMAO. Even if you want to play that game, you can have your choice of any number of scrub "veteran" catchers to play that role for the cost of next to nothing. Does anyone even have any proof that Martin possesses some magical "mentoring" quality that no one else does? Other than him being a likable Canadian lmao? Guys like Brito and Sopko ARE probably nothing, but you need to understand that the entire "ceiling" guesstimate in baseball has more or less been proven to be pseudoscience. Jose Ramirez was a 45-50 ceiling prospect until he suddenly became an 80 grade player...whoops. Its a best guess, which means that you can never have too many guys to roll the dice on. In this case we traded a player we had little to no use for, saved a bit of money, and picked up two prospects (one of which whom is at least kind of intriguing). That is a no-brainer trade, it had nothing to do with "optics" lmao.

Eddy Almaguer from Prospects Live just wrote today that Brito would have ranked #17 on his Dodger's Top 30 list. He also kind of took a s*** on his bat, but the point remains that Brito is a lot more intriguing than a guy like Abbadessa. I'm not going to pretend like I know how well the Dodger's system compares across the MLB, but a guy ranking in from 17-23 (or whatever MLB Pipeline had him) with supposed defense at a premium position is a pretty solid get for a 36 year old that we had zero use for.

You are underrating Merryweather and Thornton significantly. Those guys have much better stuff than Sopko. Both throw harder and both have more legitimate secondary pitches. Thornton was posting well above-average spin rates on his curveball in the AFL for example. Sopko is more of an "average across the board" type.

No, his line drive rate plummeted, his ground ball rate rose, and his IFFB% skyrocketed. His BABIP was s*** because he in fact hit like s***, not because he was rocketing balls right at defenders all season long. Even if you want to play your assumption that he'll go back to "normal" at age 36 after years of beating on his body, then he is what? A ~1.7-1.8 WAR player next year? That's not useless, but by holding onto him until the deadline you are eating half of that production yourself. Then you're back to the reality: no one is giving you anything more than we got for ~0.8-0.9 WAR of Russell Martin, and that is being optimistic. A player like Martin only declines in value, he's not going to do anything in half a season to convince anyone that they need to give up a legitimate prospect to get him. Not in today's MLB where no one wants to part with prospects.

A more beneficial return lmao? For half a season of a 36 year old catcher who can't hit at all anymore? You yourself just stated that he's a backup catcher on a team that has no chance at competing, so what exactly do you expect a contender to give you for half a season of a backup defensive catcher? A top prospect? The Marlins can't even find someone to match their asking price for Realmuto, an ELITE catcher in his prime. This is actually more than I expected to get for Martin: a legitimately intriguing young prospect with some pedigree and a swing arm that presents depth at worst. The thing with guys like Sopko and all these other pitchers we've acquired is that if you get enough of them, eventually you find one that actually surpasses whatever "marginal prospect" label they carry.

Yeah, because he went 1st overall LMAO. While things could change, Murray is more of a late 1st round pick at this point. His signing bonus in that range would be nowhere near $20+ million, in fact it would be in the ~$5-7 mill range which isn't drastically more than what the A's gave him. As a late first round pick, he'd be going to a team that would be "grooming" him to start...ie: he'd be a backup most likely. Is it better than being in the minors? Sure, but lets not pretend like he signs his contract and he's a day one starting NFL QB. Murray is even smaller than Mayfield and he has nowhere near the track-record of performance that Mayfield did. There is a BIG difference there. Murray has one year of performance, and NFL teams typically weigh that as pretty important in evaluation. Kyler Murray was NOT good in his other most-relevant season of play at Texas A&M. Mayfield: 45 career starts, 1497 career pass attempts Murray: 17 career starts, 519 career pass attempts

Rumors starting to trickle out that Kyler Murray wants to play in the NFL. What a stupid ass pick by the A's lmao. I'm pretty sure that they even paid him a bit above slot and STILL let him play football this past fall.

The dozens of people who are employed by this organization to see these prospects on a daily basis didn't feel that the two we lost were significant enough assets to protect. Whether or not they were right or wrong is to be determined, but don't be one of those morons who thinks he knows more about obscure prospects in the organization (that you've likely never seen for any significant portion of time) than the team itself. Newsflash: you don't, and neither does MLB.com, BA, or John Sickels. I can guarantee you that they didn't make a mistake and "forget" to protect Romano or Bergen; they didn't make the necessary moves beforehand because they didn't feel it was worthwhile to place them on the 40-man roster.

The inverted W isn't even a thing anymore.

Looks like we hired Carson Cistulli away from Fangraphs. Supposedly into a "newly created" role in the Pro Scouting department.

Who's the c*nt that was coming through with the condescending questions? "You were in the minor leagues for 18 years, why did it take so long?" "You're going to be losing a lot of games here, how do you feel about that?" Typical "empowered female in sports" attempt at projecting power.

The hockey forums are that way ------------->

Your definition of "superstar" is quite interesting considering that.... Encarnacion: 3.3 WAR total over 2 seasons since leaving. Bautista: 1 WAR on three different teams in one season since leaving. Donaldson: Missed a full season of games over the past two seasons, unlikely to play at a "superstar" level again given his age and mounting injuries. Osuna: Shipped out on entirely non-baseball related terms. The only guy on your list who is actually likely to continue playing at an elite level, but he's still a f***ing reliever you dolt. A closer can not and is not a "superstar" player LOL.

Nola was a late round guy and was a complete shot in the dark anyway, that one doesn't really count. We drafted his brother too and tried to swing a package deal, it didn't work. Singer was a fail as that pick turned into Woodman, and Singer ended up being a 1st round guy that could have been in the rotation next season.

No, we pick 11th because Atlanta gets a comp pick for not signing Carter Stewart.

They also had Khalil Mack going to Green Bay, so this isn't as foolproof as its made out to be. The Gibbons dismissal was leaked months ago. Within that leak, it was also reported that they preferred a younger guy who could speak Spanish. As far as I'm aware, Wedge fits neither of those criteria. Shapiro also fired Wedge in their first stint together in Cleveland, so I'm really not sure why its some foregone conclusion that this is "their guy" that they've been carrying around for 2-3 years now to eventually push into the managerial spot.