metafour

No, he wasn't. Since drafted he has added a strong cutter which is the main contributing factor to his upswing this past season. It is also the biggest reason as to why he has been able to lower his HR/9, which he struggled with in the minors.

No one, not even the Indians, knew what they were getting with Gomes. He's been exponentially better than expected in literally every aspect of his game...that s*** rarely happens. It sucks, but you just have to get over it. Gomes turning into a 4+ WAR player is an even bigger anomaly than Bautista turning into what he did in Toronto.

From your own link: UPDATE: It bears noting that the new study, which has not yet been published (it was presented at the annual Society of Neuroscience conference in November), is contradicted by a body of evidence showing actual cognitive benefits of the drug. Healthland’s Maia Szalavitz reported: How much were they dosed? For how long? You can skew data to prove whatever point you want. One pill isn't going to magically raise your test score overnight.

Oh lord... Placebo effect...for an amphetamine-class drug. I've taken it, as well as others in its class. s*** isn't placebo. The side-effects and risk of dependency prove that, if anything.

You don't see the advantage of a drug that grants its user god-like levels of laser focus in a sport where your success is 100% dependent on being able to analyze the ball out of the pitcher's hand in fractions of a second?

Are some of you serious? Not proven to be any more powerful than caffeine? LMFAO. Dont talk about s*** that you clearly have zero knowledge about. Go pop some Adderall and set your mind on mowing your lawn. There won't be a single blade of grass that is uneven from those surrounding it.

That works both ways. Since you know Baez is a huge free-swinger you can bet on him expanding the strike zone, thus you can afford to throw balls off the plate.

He's not. Only tards overestimate the impact of managers. The dork in Tampa suddenly looks a lot more average than he's billed to be...I wonder why that is.

Labourt and Smoral.

A poster from BB who saw him earlier this year said he was sitting 89-92 but had excellent control/command and was able to throw it to both sides of the plate, as well as the pitch having good life down in the zone.

...and? They throw different fastballs. Go compare the GB% between Sanchez and McGee, I fail to see why this is even an argument: who cares what his whiff rate is when he has the ability to induce groundballs at an elite level. Better yet, go take a look at the fastball swinging strike percentage of one Roy Halladay.

Its standardized to give the value over 100 pitches thrown. He's thrown 40+ curveballs. Obviously it would take a full season to get a consist value, but the point remains that his curveball is absolutely a weapon, and he's not just pitching off a fastball.

His curveball is sitting at 4.79 runs above average standardized per 100 pitches. That is an absolutely elite pitch value. His fastball is at 2.37.

One good pitch? His curveball has been dominant. He has a promising changeup as well that he hasn't had to use.

Yeah, but Alvarez is successful because his fastball is overpowering, which is why his low K-rates aren't a problem. Projecting Graveman's fastball to be anywhere near as valuable as Alvarez's is a giant stretch, which makes the entire comparison moot. If you look at FanGraphs' standardized Pitch Value ratings; Alvarez's fastball is tied for 8th among starters league wide. That is why he is successful despite low strikeout rates.

Alvarez averages ~93 mph on his fastball and tops out at 97 mph. Its not the same thing.

Did you seriously just compare a ~$1-2 million dollar investment to a $70+ million dollar investment? The 16 year old kid could turn into a star. The $70 million dollar guy could also turn into a star. If the 16 year old kid flops, you're out almost nothing...thats the difference, regardless of the fact that by nature they are much less likely to actually amount to anything. You cant even use $1-2 million to buy a bench MLB player. The $70 million on the other hand can bring a proven MLB player, even if it means trading away prospects to get him. That is how an Owner who looks at the bottom line sees it. Just because a person feels comfortable enough to go to a casino to spend $50 playing slot machines, doesn't mean that they feel inclined to go and drop $10,000 playing a game of poker at the same casino.

Changing front-offices isn't going to all of a sudden allow us to throw nearly $100 million dollars on a player who has never even stepped foot into an MLB stadium. If you haven't noticed by now; ownership dictates success. All these teams that are signing these Cuban transfers are owned by financiers that dont mind spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build a winner (Cubs, Dodgers, Red Sox, etc). You think AA wouldn't like to throw a pile of money at a guy? The problem is that Rogers sees this team as a money-making operation first and foremost, therefore when they choose to open the pocket books they want to do it by acquiring players that they know are at least proven on some level. Marketability also plays into effect, as its a hell of a lot easier to shoot commercials and sell merchandise of a guy like Dickey who just won a Cy Young than it is to do the same with some Cuban dude that the general general public has never even heard of. The power of a "General Manager" is a lot smaller than most of you want to imagine. Look at Loria who basically runs the Marlins, or Steinbrenner with the Yankees. Those guys are/were very open so its easy to see their impact, but a company like Rogers still operates the club in their own way just like those two.

He'll get better from what, to what? He's posting a sparkling .578 OPS this year with a 28.7% strikeout rate...last year it was .617 OPS with a 29% strikeout rate. At this point, he is VERY similar to Gose. Actually, Gose is younger, strikes out less, and walks more often. So why exactly do you want to trade for Bradley Jr...because he's got better minor league stats? Maybe we should pick up Brandon Wood as well.

Not similar at all? Both are defense-first left handed hitting center fielders who have shown big swing-and-miss problems and are below average hitters. Bradley Jr. will be 25 next April and he's nearing 450 career MLB at bats. Its nice that he has "better minor league stats", but that means dick all to the fact that he's not young, and to date he is no better a MLB hitter than Anthony Gose is.

Looks like 6 years $72 million with the Red Sox.

We just had two guys pretty much skip right over AA, and the transition in AA is a lot more significant than the jumps from Short A to A, and A+. Its aggressive promotion for Castro, but I dont think its anything mind-blowing. Remember that he came over later than most top Latin kids do, thus his jump through the GCL and such isn't as miraculous as you're making it out to be. He pitched 70+ innings in the DSL over two seasons...compare that to Yeltsin Gudino who didn't play a single game in the DSL.

Sure, but as you just said, the power is there for Nay. He also still plays a more premium position (3B) which gives him more leeway even if he's not blasting 25+ homeruns every year. In Smith's case, he is actually supposedly shorter than listed (I've seen 5'9) so he's really at his physical limits if he's not playing CF. However, I will admit that his increased walk rate this year makes him more interesting than he was going into the season...its still hard to see him as having enough upside to justify a Top 10 ranking.

No. Still doesn't bring enough tools for a guy who's likely not a CF. Should be a major-leaguer, but his upside is limited.