jimedmonds

a completely stupid and subjective argument that i'm having with a friend - in terms of pure baseball talent*, who has more? A) Shohei Ohtani Mike Trout

I wonder what his family gatherings are like, especially if his grandparents are still alive

I definitely think 2017 was the year to rebuild and would have commended them for having the stones to have done so then (assuming it was their decision to make). They also received pitiful returns for key veteran players and could have extracted more value. This team would still be what it is in 2019 and with the same timeline, but have more high end prospects in the pipeline. Having said that, I still give Shapiro and Atkins a lukewarm thumbs up, if only by virtue that they didn't sign Bautista, EE, and Donaldson to those massive, lengthy contracts that the casuals were clamoring for. That buys them 3 more seasons in my books simply because I would have stopped watching the Jays entirely if they had a committed $55-70M committed to an injury prone 33 year old, 36 year old DH, and another 38 year old DH who isn't even playing baseball right now.

oh yes. thank you. Alex Rios. can't believe that that was well over 10 years ago. as for my inaccurate description of the events, lol yup - just watched the video. goes to show how recollection of events can also change over time.

do you guys find that as you get older (i.e. mid-30s onward), your once encyclopedic memory starts losing a few random pages such as your girlfriend's father's name, the name of the street intersecting the one that you live on, and which Toronto Blue Jay once struck out 4 times in a game before refusing a kid's autograph and then cursing out the kid's dad on video? trying to remember for the life of me who it was? for some reason, I think it was a Latino outfielder and a known hothead, but it doesn't seem like something Mondesi or Jose Cruz Jr would do. Definitely wasn't Bautista anyway, I don't mind watching hot trash because I find the epic struggle hilarious in a somewhat sado-masochistic kind of day. Like watching JPA and Pillar at bat is so grotesque, you almost admire the comical beauty of them flailing at a 0-2 pitch that everyone in the stadium knows is going to end up two feet out of the strike zone. the ones that irritated me were the guys who were pegged as having massive potential, failed massively to live up to it, but showed just an inkling of their ability to give you a false sense of hope. Funny how they were all outfielders with incorrigibly awful plate discipline - Jose Cruz Jr. - Colby Rasmus - Travis Snider

thanks so much, guys - this is awesome. really appreciated! once I get set up, will definitely my work with this board for feedback and perspectives

hi guys, I will keep this really brief but was hoping you guys could help me out here (mods: feel free to delete thread and warn/ban/permaban me if I've violated the R&R somehow). What's the best or authoritative source for baseball data in terms of downloading gargantuan data sets? I only know of Sean Lahman and just standard stuff kicking around on fangraphs and baseball-reference, but was hoping to find as many different and comprehensive sources as possible. Also open to any other sites in general that can get me up to speed on the latest tools, metrics, and analytics. long story short - I'm a Data Scientist/Data Engineer at a FAANG company and wanted to try out various technical alchemy and also share both my findings and my visualisations on the interwebz. I obviously can't use proprietary information so thought I'd work with data on a topic that I'm most interested in. At the very least, I'd be creating one additional website dedicated to baseball analytics with graphical interfaces - something that I noticed is severely lacking on fangraphs. Thanks!

he's not overrated, but he's definitely no Jim Edmonds.

truth. i actually don't eat ice cream - that comment was for effect. so much of general fitness is predicated on diet and discipline. hardest thing to cut out is alcohol, but in moderation it's ok. pescatarian diet, maximimze protein via fish and soy, and good balance of vegetables and nuts. not a believer in supplements or protein shakes - still skeptical about effect on long-term health.

I'm in my mid-30s and in peak shape (really, take my word for it). But each time I see Kapler's cut bod with bulging veins, I cry a little more into my tub of haagen-dazs

is there still a chance that Estrada can fetch anything of value at this point? Would happily take 2 Top 30-40 A-level lottery prospects at this point

does teoscar have a future on this team?

Upton and McKinney are as different from each other as night and day.

thank you - exactly that.

even if half of the Jays Top 20 guys don't make it the majors and three quarters of them don't become at least replacement-level players, I'm just glad that things have come so far in 2 years - remember when most of the chat revolved around guys like Ramirez, Tallez, and McGuire? admittedly, still a bitter taste in my mouth about no major trades this past offseason - yeah, the injuries and assault was unanticipated, but most of us knew that this team wasn't going to compete this season. If the stars aligned fully, they were a 2nd WC team at best, and even that was highly optimistic. imagine the haul for JD, Smoak, Osuna, Happ, Estrada, and even Stroman in deals last winter? I'd take a 2018 Baltimoresque season for a better shot to compete by 2021. In the current state, a lot more work will still need to be done in the years to come.

he should have studied maths in school. become a mathematician or something

i had a dream i was having dinner with Danny Jenssen last night at a chinese hotpot he passed the ladle and when i looked into his eyes i noticed that his face changed into jonathan lucroy

4.1 ip 7 h 3 bb 2 so 1 hr

help me remember - lindor was obviously highly touted, but ramirez was not, amirite? where did he come from? how did he become so MVP the minute he hit the majors? confused

where is Nazem Kadri

my guess is that he's out of baseball entirely and doing porn by the time he's 30

is there seriously any hope left that Alford will materialize into anything? next season definitely looks like a make or break, but he has been so pathetic this season that it might not be a mistake to write him off into the dustbin of prospect history. at least he'll have Dalton Pompey to hang out with

I was kind of thinking the same, to be honest. Only thing, it'll be tough for JD to accept as he'll be 34 come next offseason, but I highly doubt he'll get anything out there with term. Man, he and Bautista lost out massive by waiting a bit too long... If the Jays re-sign JD, where does Vlad Jr. go? 1B/3B/DH platoon with JD and Smoak? Not sure how I feel about not keeping Vlad Jr. on the field at this point in his career..

Questions. 1) let's assume that the Jays trade or keep Donaldson - but in any event, he plays 30 more games and replicates his 2018 stats to date, and his team doesn't make the playoffs. What do you think his offseason contract will look like? Probably something like 1 year, $10-13M AAV, right? 2) Any chance Pillar and Estrada will get dealt during the waiver period? 3) What would Smoak fetch right now? He's on a great, affordable salary, but his contributions won't help this team much over the next 14 to 26 months.

Inconceivable or Inevitable: when Vlad Jr. hits the open market, the Boston Red Sox will offer him a 10-year contract worth HALF A BILLION DOLLARS.