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No he really hasn't. Springer's best ever average sprint speed was 28.4 ft/second. Last season he averaged 28.1 ft/second.

I'd guess teams just didn't think the potential reward would be worth the multitude of headaches they would have to deal with.

Puig and Vlad seem to employ the same type of strategy on the bases.

I still think the Marlins made out like bandits getting out from Stanton's contract before he turned into a pumpkin.

JDM drastically underproduced his xwOBA by 38 points and saw his overall season numbers take a large dip solely due to a slump in September. He was almost certainly victimized by some awful luck on batted balls as he produced a .332 xwOBA for the month and was "rewarded" for his efforts with a .184 wOBA and .150 BABIP. I think he should have something left in the tank moving forward although he's getting old enough that he'll drop off dramatically sooner or later.

I wonder if the team would intend to use him out of the rotation as Hoffman was reportedly looking for a rotation spot. He has a nice pitch mix but it remains to be seen how the stuff plays out of the rotation vs out of the pen.

Manoah has 3 years of remaining control. He's still potentially a mid rotation if not slightly better arm once he returns to full health. He's far less expensive than Romano at this point as well so it's a pretty easy decision to hang onto him for at least another season. If he comes back from Tommy John a shell of his former self the club can simply choose to move on from him in the offseason so there is very little risk here.

That's certainly possible. I think he had a bit of a Halladay light package in that he could paint both sides of the plate with sinkers and cutters but I agree it's like he basically turned himself into an innings eater instead of a true top of the rotation guy. He's still had a very nice career at any rate although he may be reaching the end of it pretty quickly. Perhaps he can transition to a pen guy eventually to see if the stuff ticks up a bit in shorter (pun intended) outings where he can air things out a bit.

Seems a bit like karma biting him in the ass. I recall he trashed the Blue Jays clubhouse years ago when the team dared to trade him to the Mets instead of his preferred New York team in the Yankees. I loved watching that guy pitch when he was a Jay but the massive Napoleon complex and constant chip on his shoulder and associated drama got old in a real hurry.

I've made the observation that George seems to have maintained a lot of his athleticism in the field and on the bases, but despite still possessing above average swing speeds he's lost a huge chunk of his power output at the plate. He's gone from a player who was solidly able to outproduce his expected statistics year over year to one who has been underproducing the last few seasons as compared to xwOBA. I've presented a theory previously that the post season collision and subsequent shoulder surgery could be behind the sudden loss of ability to pull the ball in the air, but perhaps it's simply a case of slowing reflexes and more of a timing related issue. I think that it could be beneficial to make some sort of adjustment to either shorten his swing a tad to allow him to square up the ball more effectively, use a lighter bat if possible or to start simply cheating a little at the plate and starting his swing a little bit sooner.

I think you are placing entirely too much emphasis on a single bad season at the plate. In his 3 years as a full time MLB regular he's produced an elite season at the plate, one where he was basically league average, and one where he really struggled. He's still young enough to be able to make adjustments at the plate so it's far from a given that he won't bounce back to at least a certain degree. People were making exactly the same type of arguments about Varsho after a single bad season at the plate and he bounced back to right around his career norm to once again be a league average bat. His previous GM believes that Gimenez can make the necessary adjustments to once again be more successful at the plate. The Blue Jays have made the same types of comments as well so time will tell what the future holds at the plate. Gimenez is still a useful player if he continues to struggle with the bat somewhat as he's presented a 3 win floor based on his defense alone. If he simply bounces back to league average at the plate the Blue Jays have a 4 win player on their hands. Any more than that and he starts to look more like a star, it's a worthwhile gamble in my view.

There's likely a fine line between persistent fan and stalker you know.

L54 busting out the special moves.

I guess the big difference is that they are "all in" on Sasaki, instead of just sort of dipping their toes in the water.

Right, for a "friend"

You seem to misunderstand that xwOBA is not a measure of the actual result, it's more of a measure of the aspects of offensive output within a players control. Gimenez has managed to outproduce his xwOBA's in 3 of his 5 seasons in MLB. At the same time you seem to be ignoring the fact that he actually underproduced his xwOBA by a fair margin last season, and that by simply seeing this even out he would have been close to a league average bat.

That core would obviously include the guys you were discussing a best case scenario if they signed with the Blue Jays. Recall that I said that the best case scenario with a Bregman and Santander signing would *also* include a Vlad extension. A core of position players including Vlad, Bregman, Santander, Gimenez, Varsho and Kirk would be a very solid group.

Literally none of this should apply to the 2020 playoff game in question. It's not like peak Roy Halladay was on the mound. The initial starter was a journeyman type, and the second guy to come into the game was a sub replacement level pitcher that season who was walking the ball park for most of the year. In a high stakes playoff game I think it's infinitely preferable to apply the hook to mediocre pitchers in a fashion that maybe feels a little bit too soon at a glance vs waiting too long given how quickly fortunes can be altered with a single swing of the bat.

Best case scenario is the team also signs Vlad to an extension and the team has a pretty solid core for the immediate future.

That's exactly the same as his overall career wRC+ as well. And ZiPS has him projected for close to 4 wins which would just have to rely on bouncing back offensively.

In two of the last 3 seasons 86 wins were sufficient to earn a wild card spot in the AL so 82-84 wins wouldn't be that far out if the overall league is on the weaker side again.