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the entire league is more fixated on profits than winning. Where did Manny Machado = winning? Certainly didn't solve the Orioles problems... Capitalism really sucks for a baseball player... I mean having to scrape by on millions of $ per month... /tears

The "Getter" part is the hardest part for me... Out Converter? Out Actualizer? Out Enforcer? Out Generator? Out Accumulator? Out Aggregator? Out Collector? Out Capturer?

This could simply be a case of kicking the tires from ultra-aggressive Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen. I was reading The Athletic last night and the Mets fans have been extremely vocal in calling out the Wilpons for basically running away with all the Mets profits and only faking interest in making the team competitive. Many of the same fans were very negative about Brodie Van Wagenen as just the latest fake face of the team to "pretend" they are trying to improve the team. This rumor actually fits a "damage control" approach completely as there is no reason to add a 2nd 2B... BTW, reading The Athletic comments section from members is refreshing... none of the mindless back and forth that makes reading most "boards"/comments section mind numbing... People actually respect each other and ask others to defend their position, I guess paying for the service reduces the trolling behavior...

Taking a discussion from the Madison Bumgarner trade proposal: As this approach develops you would expect to have an initial out getter who can go 5-6 innings, a second out getter who can go 2-3 innings and a final out getter of 1-2 innings. Three pitchers per game with the following estimates: Out Getter #[space][/space][space][/space]Ave IP[space][/space][space][/space]Season IP (per pitcher) Initial [space][/space][space][/space][space][/space]5[space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space]5.0[space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space]162 Second [space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space]4[space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space]2.67[space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space]108 Final [space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space]3[space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space]1.33[space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space][space][/space]72 Ideally you need a 12 man staff with 5 Initial Out getters that can go 5 IP (presumably your best pitchers the 1st/2nd time through a lineup.) These Iniitial Out getters would average about 160IP a year. You would need 4 pitchers that can go every 4th day and pitch 2-3 innings (average 2.67, with 108 IP per year). You would need 3 final out getters that can get you 1-2 innings every 3rd day or about 72 IP per year. None of those averages would put any stress on the pitchers arms or frequency of usage. With this approach you'd need 1/2 arms at AAA that can come up in a pinch if ineffectiveness/injury impacts availability. The Brewers pitchers align as follows (without looking at stats): Initial Out Getters Chacin Burnes Anderson Davies * Peralta Second Out Getters Woodruff *(could be swapped with Davies) Nelson Guerra Claudio Final Out Getters Hader Knebel Jeffress A FA SP/Initial out getter pushes either Anderson/Davies to Second Out Getter or for Davies to AAA (or Peralta). Nelson starts out in the 2nd OG depending on how he handles Spring Training, but could also break camp in AAA for rehab. The Brewers have 8 pitchers who could swap between the 9 Initial and second out getter positions). Due to uncertainty with Davies and Nelson I think we still need to add another FA SP to the mix. These are all best case scenarios that 3 pitchers per day would suffice, in many instances one of the out getters won't go the needed distance and another pitcher would need to be brought in. Having a 13 man staff could provide the necessary flexibility, but shuttling players between AAA and MIL could also allow for a 12 man staff. Edit: Depending on how Williams/Barnes develop they could easily replace Hader/Jeffress as Final OG and move Hader to 2nd OG (if/when Jeffress is less effective).

Fair enough. I still think the difference between what a PH can do and MadBum could is still enough that it wouldn't make that big of an impact in decision making, but you are correct he is a very good hitter for a pitcher. I think we'd see more AB for MadBum where he sacrifices (if the circumstances calls for it) were he with the Brewers, with the way the Giants are putting together a team he might bat cleanup for them.

And if you looked at his other splits you would have seen that his 3rd+ time through the order is pretty bad compared to 1/2 times through the order. He's clearly no longer the dominant pitcher he once was (velocity drop included). He will need to learn how to use his much more mediocre stuff effectively to be a good pitcher again, but the days of him putting up stud numbers are gone. . . . And the Verlander comparisons are way off, Verlander had a WAR of 5 the year before he was traded (Bumgarner = 1.4). Sure he could figure out how to pitch again next year or he could make an adjustment to get an extra mph from his fastball, but the smallest market in baseball can't take that risk. Keeping a prospect and spending $12M can be used much more effectively in the current FA market than trading for Bumgarner... And that's what Stearns is all about, maximizing assets/expenses...

In 603 career PAs he has a wRC+ of 47. If you can't get that out of your PH options, there's a pretty likely reason you won't make it into the playoffs... . . . We're less than a few months from releasing Schoop where we learned that there are always negative scenarios with any player performance, yet so many posters are sticking their head in the sand on Bumgarners performance trend (3, yes 3, years in the making - not last year) and hoping for him to return to his stud years... JosephC summed it up nicely above... Thank God Stearns learned a lesson from the Schoop debacle... And the reason we're leading the pack for Bumgarner is every other team is running away from his performance trend (even the big market teams that can afford to make a mistake)...

Believe it or not our Catchers were about average last year. If we have the flexibility to take on a 3/39 contract I would rather go with Jed Lowrie who can man 2B until Hiura is ready, platoon with Shaw at 3B, be a backup for Arcia if he sucks up all matter near him. He could also allow Shaw to slide over to 1B if Aguilar struggles. He has the versatility that we could almost use him as our zobrist... There's no guarantee Hiura will be ready this year or will be able to put up the same numbers as Lowrie could...

Fangraphs had an article on Bumgarner at the end of November with the ominous title of Madison Bumgarner Won’t Fetch the Giants That Much One of the more interesting comments was: So who here would trade Corey Ray for Wade LeBlanc?

The Sox are likely to resign Kimbrel so that will just add another $15M or so to their 2019 payroll. I think they'll go "all-in" for another year then worry about the luxury tax implications next year. I really don't see them moving Bogaerts just to clear ~$5M in actual cost.

Those OBP numbers are a significant upgrade and the main driver in the wRC+ increase. You can argue that Gamel has been equal to Braun the last 2 years (2.8 WAR/843 PA vs 2.9 WAR/872 PA). Not a bad pickup who is entering his age 26 season.

I can see the brewers starting the season with 4 "full-time" OF depending on how Spankenberg and Gamel look in ST (not that I encourage or approve of a few ST AB being weighted so highly). Thames, Spankie and Perez all can man the OF in a pinch. I expect them to go with a soft platoon of Braun/Gamel, with Cain and Yelich getting a majority of the starts at their positions. That, of course, is somewhat dependent on what additional moves the team does before the season starts. I think they are looking at adding at least 1 IF before the start of the season and that infield flexibility will lead to more IF manning OF positions late in games (mostly LF for Braun or RF when Yelich moves to LF). This is what I see right now: C: Pina/Kratz 1B: Thames/Aguilar 2B: Perez/Spankie 3B: Shaw SS: Arcia OF: Braun, Cain, Yelich, Gamel That's 12 position players. If they add another IF such as Dozier, that makes Perez/Spankie the backups across the diamond and 13 positional players. If they add Lowrie, then they could possibly either move Perez, or keep Spankie at AAA to start the season with minimal impact on flexibility as Lowrie can man most of the IF and go with 13 pitchers or add a 5th OF for depth. As I see it, as long as Thames/Perez are on the roster and they are targeting 2B candidates then we won't go with 5 OF to start the season... Of course it all becomes mute once Braun has his first extended tweak...

HOF voting is a popularity contest and as such is open to huge biases back and forth. Pick any award and you have plenty of undeserving winners and deserving losers. I couldn't care less who is in the HOF as I never intend on going to visit. Just like I never went to any oscar related sites when I lived in LA... Would anyone go to a party thrown by the "cool kids" from high school if you had to pay $20 to get in the door (not for charity)? I wouldn't if it was free. The great thing about advanced metrics and correction for age/era is that I can see who were the greatest players at any time by visiting bbRef and Fangraphs (BBpro too when they are free). I don't need to worry about a popularity contest by a bunch of writers who want to be part of the "cool" group... I'm certainly not going to make the voting into a morality play as it was never intended to be... As far as Bonds, Clemens, etc. I basically discount their performance given what information I have. The 10+ WAR seasons he put together aged 37-40 are clearly an anomaly, while his performance of ~ 7 WAR after that is likely steroid driven. I would take 32-34 WAR away from Bonds. That puts him at roughly 130 WAR for his career. That is still clearly a HOF career. He is still top 10 all time positional player and that I can live with. Mike Trout is 99th on the all-time list of positional players going into his age 27 season, barring a career ending injury or uncharacteristic decline he could challenge for top ten if not top of the list. There's a special player both on the field and off the field. Or should I wait for the BBWAA to validate that opinion?

Well Thames is still on the team...

Clearing OF space for a Bryce Harper signing.... Several upside prospects for Broxton is more than I expected...

nice. I would too and I think that is what he will eventually settle for after he waits for a multi-year deal to come... Still hoping they can get Lowrie on a two year. Seems like the perfect fit to me. Lowrie on a 2 year deal would be my preference as he can play SS in a pinch if black hole man returns to SS in 2019... Like Cain, I think some team will go an additional year (to 3 years) (like the Nats if they lose Harper), or the Cubs with Russell gone (deScalso isn't their plan A for anything)... I'd be much more inclined to sign both Lowrie and Dozier than Dozier/Moustakis as there would be plenty of AB to go around the infield with platooning, injuries, etc and Lowrie offers much more positional flexibility.

Several probable reasons: 1) Dipito is an idiot. 2) The season ticket sales have tanked since the trades and to try and appease an unhappy and $ important group they had to sign a FA to appease the "masses". 3) Dipito is a really big idiot. How this buffoon has a job is beyond me other than his propensity to spend most of his time 1 inch from the bosses ...

To refresh everyone, the Brewers defense saved 96 runs last year. The Phillies defense saved (gave away) -132 runs last year. That's a 228 run difference due to defense. A drastic swing like that can change a team ERA by 1-1.5 runs. Other teams whose defensive positioning made their pitchers look worse than they were last year: Balt -104, Tor -96, NYM -84, CHW -60 While I agree with your general point, I completely don't believe the magnitude. You are quoting a metric with no proven link to reality. Just as the first estimates at pitch framing estimated the value of an above average framer to Bobby Bonds in his prime, DRS is far way from being accurate to reality (it may be accurate across teams, but it may be 3-4x over estimating runs). I might be wrong, but I would expect there to be a broader separation of FIP and ERA for pitchers with a high DRS team and I'm not seeing it or at least to the magnitude we would expect if the defense really saved 96 runs. I do believe there is a benefit to the shifts/schemes that the Brewers employ, I just want to see some more data that DRS does get it "right" as far as the magnitude. And speaking of the Phillies, wasn't Kapler going to do out of the box things on defense like moving OF to different positions depending on the batter, etc. Well it's pretty clear that whatever he was implementing likely failed on an epic scale.

If we're dreaming... Trout & Pujols for Braun. The cost would be roughly $6.6M per WAR in contracts (taken and lost), but it would be so sweet to see Trout in a Brewers uniform for 2 years with the Brewers best chance to make it to a world series in decades... Heck we could just release Pujols or have him PH each night and DH. With the money saved the Angels can overpay for Bryce Harper...

Except the regression predicted for Chacin is falling off a cliff. Anibel Sanchez (bbREF top 10 match by age 30 to chacin) who is 4 years older has a better projection (significantly) than Chacin. Tanner Roark, who has 3 continuous years of actual regression in his performance and is a year older than Chacin, all of a sudden for 2019, is projected to barely get worse! Really? I won't say theirs a definite Brewers bias, but it's clear the adjustable metrics they feed into their projection system is caca... Edit: Kyle Gibson (same age) tiny dropoff. Mike Fiers (2 years older) tiny dropoff. Jordan Zimmerman (1 year older) small dropoff... I'm sure I can keep going on... They Predict Chacin to be significantly worse in his age 31 season compared to players who are similar or older - that ain't no age/profile adjustment...

I'm not sure they should even go back to the individual projections! Just look at the steamer projection for Chacin vs the previous actuals: 2016 1.7 WAR (1.181 WAR/100IP) 2017 2.4 WAR (1.333 WAR/100IP) 2018 2.6 WAR (1.353 WAR/100IP) 2019 1.2 WAR (0.642 WAR/100IP) This is just one example of why I shake my head in disbelief at these projection systems. For three years with 3 teams he has achieved a greater than 1 WAR/100IP, but in 2019 he's going to DECOMPRESS to 0.642 WAR/100IP. That's less than half what he's accomplished just the last 2 years... It's these types of complete head scratching projections that make me wonder why I can't sell my snake oil...

I'm old school and believe you win/lose games based on your offensive and defensive lines (plus OLB in 3-4) and the Packers have left both go to seed while addressing other areas. Rodgers clearly needs more protection and the WR/TE would be better if ARod had all the time in the world, or could open up holes for Jones/Williams to provide a dual threat. The DB/S/ILB play would be so much better with a consistent penetrating defensive line/OLB. That's where I think the emphasis on draft/FA/Trade efforts should be.

I would guess that 30 out of 30 GMs, if approached by the Jays that they would pay most of the remaining salary and want any body in return, that they would assume that the Jays were going to release Tulo anyways. I believe there is a limit to the amount of salary that can be sent along with the player (and I am sure it is much higher than the minimum salary in this case). No team was going to take a risk on Tulo for several million dollars and give up a player in the deal. So the Blue Jays just released him. You seem to be reading a lot into those action, so here's my take: Tulo was asked to take on a reserve/mentor role with Gurriel and Tulo said that he's still a starter and that he intends to play the final 2 years of his contract and several more years. Tulo/Agent told the Jays GM that it was best to trade or release him as he won't be a "fit" for the Jays rebuild nor would he take the "demotion" lightly and quietly (the nice version). The response from Tulo/Agent was more likely to include a bunch of swear words and threats of making the next 2 years a nightmare to the GM...

The press report from the source closest to the team: Yep, clearly the Blue Jays released him because he can't contribute at all in the majors... Their grand scheme is obviously to get some team to pay 1.46% of what he is owed...

The irony of this conversation is that Japan is the least racially diverse large developed country... Are there any good sushi restaurants in Milwaukee? Most of Japan is cosmopolitan and Milwaukee is a huge small town so I can see two issues that are probably driving the decision more than the diversity of Milwaukee... Is there even a direct flight from MKE to Tokyo?