THANOS

I've read the comp a few times. In this article he's compared to Aaron Nola, Kenshin Kawakami, Hiroki Kuroda, and Hisashi Iwakuma. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/looking-for-a-kenta-maeda-comp-2/ http://thedynastyguru.com/2015/03/22/2015-npb-prospect-rankings-nos-1-5/ "Featuring a fastball that touches 95 and 3 above average to plus pitches in a slider, curve, and change up with exceptional command, he could be a No. 3 starter on most MLB teams as of this moment. Think a younger Hisashi Iwakuma and you get Kenta Maeda. Since his 2009, he hasn’t recorded a K/BB ratio worse than 3.78, and has tossed at least 175 innings."

Sign Maeda or Kazmir. Maeda could be Iwakuma 2.0 and Kaz is good lefty. Neither will cost us a pick.

Read this. http://www.bluejaysmessageboard.com/threads/5790-Breaking-Estrada-Extension?p=811966&viewfull=1#post811966

Thanks King, hopefully he's the reason that all of Cleveland's pitching prospects are getting developed to be saber strong. I would love to see that approach here.

I hope you're right and that's all it is. I have a good memory of what Navarro was calling last year to help Estrada be effective and it's all about calling pitches in unpredictable counts and locations (high fastballs to take advantage of spin rate, or down and away changeups). We'll see what happens I guess. I suppose he is, just not fun to watch, personally, and he also seems like a ticking BABIP timebomb.

Martin's issue is he seems to call far too many fastballs in terrible places, like in on a hitter who likes it in or away to a hitter who usually flips the ball oppo. I don't know why he does stuff like that, but I noticed it the entire year?

That's fair, but I would hate to see the development of Osuna wasted as a reliever again over the inconsistent Hutch. I'd rather Hutch be in AAA until he dominates, and let Osuna start the year as the 5th guy. Sanchez should just be traded if he's not going start in the minors, it's only a matter of time before his BABIP balloons and his ERA resembles his FIP with his current repertoire.

If Hutch has a great year, Osuna should start in AAA, and Sanchez should start in AA to completely refine his delivery and pitch selection (hopefully Shapiro's guys can work their magic).

Are you socially awkward? I provided evidence with Dalton himself stating that he tweaked his hands (mechanical change like I said), and I did read/hear that he looks to spray linedrives all around now instead of his old approach (it could have been from Dalton himself instead of Clapp but it exists and can be seen both in the numbers and with the eye test).

http://img.pandawhale.com/94408-Ice-Cube-HUH-wtf-WHAT-THE-FUCK-4pAG.gif Dense? There's also the Blair Show interview, I'll see if I can find it.

http://insidepitch.buffalonews.com/2015/08/28/minor-tweaks-yield-big-results-for-dalton-pompey/ This is more or less what I read/heard. Here's some notable quotes as well: “I pretty much have my approach and what I’m trying to do,” Pompey said. “From what I’m trying to do in the cage and in BP and then when I step into the batter’s box, I have a plan now. I feel good. I mean it could be better in every aspect but obviously I can’t complain with where I’m at. Not even just from a numbers standpoint, just from how I feel and how I’m seeing the ball and the way my at-bats are going.” “The first two months I was kinda all over the place. I wasn’t feeling good at all. My hands weren’t where they needed to be,” Pompey said. “It was minor tweaks, you know, but they made a huge difference. Obviously I’m reaping the benefits now but it took two months to figure it out. “And the goal is now that I’ve got it figured out is to keep it going. If I ever feel out of whack, what did I do to pull myself out of it this year? That’s kinda the thing that I learned and what I need to do to be successful and I just have to remember that. I wrote it down so I can look back on it.” Also it was Stubby Clap, the AA hitting coach, who I heard on the Jeff Blair show discussing Dalton's new approach and mechanical changes.

You asked if there was an actual "new approach", I told you there was, and your response is "horseshit"? You're one odd dude.

Is Freeman ARB eligible next season? That is one of the main reasons JD even hit the market.

I read it somewhere, probably sportsnet, or maybe I heard it from the AA manager on the radio, but I definitely didn't make it up. He went down to AA, made a mechanical adjustment and psychologically changed his outlook from "look to drive the ball" to "look up the middle and adjust to the pitch location". It caused him to become more selective than ever before (but he always had a great eye), and to spray line-drives all over the field instead of just pulling everything like earlier in the season. The downside was it shot his power numbers, but his OBP became elite. I believe overtime he could find a balance between both approaches and boost his power up to "Shannon Stewart" levels (since that was a comp someone said his power potential compared to).

It's obviously not FMV, but I think that Simmons trade just showed us that they may place more value in scouting potential than saber stats. Sanchez pretty much = Newcomb correct? Cola would be their new starting 1b + could really be anything (maybe SRF?) Would do you think Atlanta would fine desirable for Freeman given what they accepted for 5 controllable years of AS?

At this rate could Sanchez, Cola, +, and $ actually get us Freeman? That would be a monster get and afford us to let EE go after 2016 and move JB to DH in 2017 (if we re-sign him).

Shelby Miller for Sanchez, Cola and Caleb Gindl LOL I can only imagine if that worked.

Pompey's new approach could actually be better than Travis'. Averaging a OBP of 400 across AA and AAA since his 2nd demotion and providing a BB% of 12 is a pretty significant change from his Toronto numbers and even better than his career norms. I think the OBP will be much higher than what Steamer suggests.

I caught that to, that would be awesome and probably come out of nowhere to most fans/media. I wonder how big his market could be? Do you have any thoughts? I think grabbing Morrow and using him as a long-man/late inning reliever could be great. It would be cool to try and convince him to be a RP and if he's more open to it now.

I think he's much better than that just looking at his career norms, I don't think the drop-off will be that substantial next year. I can agree that the SLG and AVG could possibly be that low, but OBP should be much higher. I can't see it being lower than 340 with not only his new approach taken into account, but his career norms as well.

Financially: Shapiro won't commit that type of money to a pitcher at that age for that many years, when 2016 is the likely window of elite competition since both EE and JB's current contracts end. It doesn't fit his usual MO regarding value and the competition window. Non-monetary: Greinke is an odd duck who dislikes being in the public eye, and has anxiety issues with social pressure and attention. Toronto is not only a huge market but the media and fans are quick to jump don't someone's throat if they struggle at all. The book on Greinke says he would want no part of that.

This. People here are putting way too much stock into the small sample size in Toronto last year. Instead, they should look at the mean of his minors career and regress expectations to slightly less than that for what to expect in 2016. Pompey historically walks around 10% of the time and strikes out 13-17%, which are both signs of a pretty patient hitter. His approach improved a lot in 2015 from AA-AAA and I would expect that to continue next year, since it's not a dramatic jump from his career norms. I don't think a 275/360/420 slash line (possibly higher if the power plays up to his norms) is unreasonable to expect in 2016. I'll take the OBP, base running, speed, and great defense (as you illustrated) over Revere any day.

He made a significant change to his offensive approach in AA last year as well, which only improved in his return to AAA. It led to him averaging a .400 OBP, 12.2 BB% and 13.9 K%, while spraying line-drives all around the field. I think if that approach continues and translates to the Majors, it's reasonable to predict a slash line of 275/365/420 with great defense and elite baserunning/speed, which is more than acceptable imo, especially if he ends the season either as our leadoff hitter or hitting 9th.

LaCava just got even greater in my eyes. I now wonder what he thinks of Sanchez.

Ugh..