Brownie19

Remove the Top 2 prospects from any team (not named the White Sox) and the list is going to look significantly worse.

I get that. I thought Warmouth was a short little slab hitter (although I see Fangraphs lists him at 6'0 190 lbs) and thus it seemed odd he's put on a laser show in BP. Then again, I do recall people raving about the HR's that Ichiro would hit in BP...my conclusion is Warmouth = Ichiro. Awesome.

Often it's not what the prospects become, it's what their value is at the time when they were traded and what the return was. Most were upset that they traded prospects (with perceived value) for declining veterans with back loaded, expensive contracts - when those same prospects potentially could have been used to get more cost controlled, valuable assets. Also - you're suggesting that everyone knew Syndergaard would become one of the best pitchers in baseball, while nobody should be upset we traded Norris or Hoffman is pretty ignorant. We also dealt Anthony DeSclafani, who's a good pitcher, yet wasn't listed.

That's an odd thing to hear from a guy rocking an ISO of like .118 on the season. Does he reenact the last scene in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat or something?

Does it really matter how it gets scored in the book. 5-3, 4-3, 4.5-3. Who gives a s***?

Why do specific positions matter? (outside of fantasy baseball) The premise of the game is to get the batter out. Moving players into positions that optimizes your ability to do that is common sense frankly.

It would seem if he could improve his blocking, he could challenge Posey for the best catcher in baseball.

Shift story....I found it interesting http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/is-the-lemahieu-shift-the-boldest-one-ever/

That kid can throw it though.

Sept. call ups include Richard Urena, Teoscar Hernandez, Michael Saunders, Maile and I think I'm missing someone else.

Is the uptick in velocity because they are measuring velocity differently now? I'm still extremely unclear on how that's been dealt with. Verlander has 3 WAR this year - same as Stro. I think he'd be a great addition to any team that could afford to add him. Owed $56M on a 2 year committement for his age 35 and 36 year seasons? That's not bad if it could put you over the top. He only has to give you about 6 WAR and you're into surplus value.

I think that's fair. I mean a lot of us sacrifice money in our everyday lives - even when that money would actually make a difference. The you'll have a hard time convincing me there's a significant difference between $150M and $180M. I mean that might reduce the # of family members you can payroll for the rest of their lives, but in the players world, it can't matter much....certainly nowhere near as much as it would for one of us to take a $10K cut to live closer to home or something.

Who was bashing him?

He was also 37 that year. At age 39 he posted an even better 37.6% walk rate, 6.6% k rate, giving himself an even more absurd .609 OBP, 233 wRC+. He was intentionally walked 120 that year (after only being walked 35 times when he hit 73 HRs). Let that sink in for a second.

Ah - my reading not so good.

JD definitely strikes me as someone who will be testing the FA market and asking for the world. His arrogance is off the charts.

TIL Michael Morse and Billy Butler still played in the MLB.

It should be Altuve. The NL will be interesting. I'm curious to see if Anthony Rendon gets any recognition (currently leading all MLB hitters in WAR right now - above Altuve). I doubt he does. Goldy, Stanton probably land 1 - 2. Votto, Blackmon + Harper are right there too though. Great years. I love looking at the leaderboard these days and picking out the guys who really surprised me. Right now they include: - Eugenio Suarez (4.5 WAR - 130 wRC+) - Chris Taylor (4.7 WAR, 140 wRC+) - Tommy Pham (4.3 WAR, 143 wRC+) - Jon Schoop (3.9 WAR, 135 wRC+) Also love to see Alex Bregman up to a wRC+ of 127. Slow start, but he's on fire in the second half with a wRC+ of 166. What a stud.

Paul lives in Lisle, which is a very small hamlet next to Base Borden (and home to the Lisle Astros, who play in the league I'm in). Our team played against Paul's kids on the August long weekend and I assume he was there (I was on the boys trip down in Pitts/Clev/Cinn).

C'mon man, his K% was about 16% last year between AA/AAA and was 20% with the Astros in AAA this year. Let's not judge based on 99 PA's on a new team.

http://i.imgur.com/mFeSy3S.gif I'm going to disengage now thanks.

I've fapped to a lot worst man. A LOT worse.

Borucki's much more of a GB pitcher.

Wat? Why would the Jays acquire Neil Walker, who's owed another $4.7M this year and is a FA at the end of the year when we're not in the playoff hunt? The Reds would rightfully ask for a ton for Cozart, who's putting up a 4.3 WAR season. Beckham? Sure, although he's gone on an artificial tear (.449 BABIP) with the O's and clearly TB f***ed that one up. Lowrie - meh, whatever, career 101 wRC+ hitter who'll be 34 next year, can't play SS and will be owed $6M if you want him to be your backup IF in 2018 (while you'd still need someone to backup SS).

This whole argument is incredibly flawed. 1. Before their breakouts this season, Zach Cozart and Tim Beckham would have only been a mild upgrade (if any) from Barney (both are the type of guy I'm talking about that you'd take a shot at and hope he takes a step forward. You now have to find the "next" guy to do that). 2. Neil Walker is a starter in MLB. You're not trading for a guy making $17M to be a bench player (especially since he can't play SS). 3. Jed Lowrie might be your best example, but prior to this season you would have been trading for a guy who's set to make $6.5M, coming off a -0.8 WAR season when you already have Barney making $2.9M coming off a 1.5 WAR season. Oh and he can't really play SS either. As I said, if you want to find a better utility IFer for the 2018 season, you're looking to find the next Tim Beckham or Zack Cozart. That player is probably coming off a failed season or two with a team giving up on him. You have to trade for that guy and then hope he makes significant improvement. Or you could be looking for someone coming off a bad season, who's still owed some dough. Again, a risky move. These guys are not easy to find. The sure things are either on WS contending teams, or they are starters on other teams (or looking to be if they are a FA).