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Thurston Fluff

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Everything posted by Thurston Fluff

  1. Thurston Fluff
    Thin air, small samples and lousy weather make it impossible to know anything through stats at this time.
  2. Thurston Fluff
    Therefore, if the new regime decides to pick up a $20M+ player, it would likely be a starting pitcher. $20 million in 2018 is going to get us a fine mid rotation starter.
  3. Thurston Fluff
    How useful are stats, even advanced ones, when certain pitches don't work right in the thin air? For instance how do you judge a guy who relies on a curveball as his primary offspeed pitch when it won't work like it should?
  4. Thurston Fluff
    If Segura lowered his hands during winter ball he was probably still with the Brewers when he started working on the change. That would lead me to believe it was the Brewers staff who suggested it.
  5. Thurston Fluff
    The best case scenario is if both teams win on the trade (but especially the Brewers). Teams are more likely to trade with you. Lets say the Astros need a catcher. If Gomez and Fiers are sucking, while Santana and the minors are doing great from our end, do we think the Astros would realistically want to trade for Lucroy and risk having another high-profile trade with Milwaukee blowup in their face? I don't think it would have any impact on future trades at all. it isn't like the Astros didn't know anything about the players they got. The Brewers didn't hide any health concerns or something like that. The Astros wanted the players they got more than the ones they gave up. To blame the Brewers on their mistake, if indeed it turns out to be a mistake, would be silly. To not make a trade they like down the road because they screwed up in assessing the relative value of the players involved in the last trade seems really stupid. The only time bad trade experiences matter is if one team hides something about a player or if there is some sort of bad faith involved. I could see the Brewers being hesitant about doing a trade with the Mets because they pretty clearly lied about a supposed injury to kill a deal. Even then if the Mets offered the most for a Brewer player I doubt the Brewers would take less because of it.
  6. Thurston Fluff
    While It's way to early to judge anyone I do think discussing the fact that Counsell hired someone with very little professional baseball experience is legitimate. Personally I think it's the perfect year to try something out of the box like this. He can learn the nuances of the job on a bad team and if he is really in over his head he can be replaced without too much being lost in the process. Low risk high reward. I don't think his ability to teach pitching is in question as much as is his understanding of how to handle a major league staff. I think that is something he can learn without hampering the young pitcher's progression. It's also way too early to make any judgments on how well the experiment is going. But Briggs isn't alone in that. People not named Briggs have been calling for moves to be made at several positions because of a handful of AB's for players in the majors and minors. I don't think any moves should be made for performance related reasons for a couple months at least.
  7. Thurston Fluff
    Do you think the CFer's performance or the team's better than expected start played a role in this at all? After all there isn't enough games to know anything about the players and the team is still below .500 and going nowhere this season. I think they just wanted an extra bench player and he was someone who could fill that role without forcing a younger prospect into a part time role. They also didn't have to expose anyone to waivers because they have a couple players who can be moved to the 60 day DL. Moving him to the 40 man was essentially a free move. I think it's possible the glut of talent that needs to be given playing time played a small role but certainly wasn't a driving force. After all those guys haven't had enough time to show anything at their current level either.
  8. Thurston Fluff
    Just read a couple of comments from Rob Manfred about unwritten rules and celebrations. He also addressed Goose Gossage's comments in particular. He seems like a very forward thinking guy. A good quality to have for a commissioner IMHO. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2634642-mlb-commissioner-rob-manfred-comments-on-celebrations-and-unwritten-rules
  9. Thurston Fluff
    We don't know what we have now though. All we know is they started out slow. Given the irregular playing time they had so far in their career at the major league level it shouldn't surprise anyone they are starting out slow. I get pulling the plug a little quicker in a competitive season but to start pulling the plug on these guys after 15 games, in a season like this, is counter productive. To potentially hurt an actual prospect's development, start their clock early and never find out if one of the fringe players has any use at all might be acceptable roster management for a competitive team. Though, even then 15 games is pretty much a knee jerk reaction. It would be downright malpractice for this team, at this stage of the rebuild, to do that.
  10. Thurston Fluff
    Got to do what you got to do to get his bat in the lineup I suppose.
  11. Thurston Fluff
    Tony Gwynn was supposedly a master at shooting grounders between short and third, but I wonder if there's evidence to back that up? Also, if there IS evidence to back it up, I suppose we just have to say he was one of those outlier types who is the exception to the rule. Maybe I'm way off on this but it seems to me guys who hit the other way tend to be able to hit to all fields. It isn't that they can only hit the other way but are just good enough to get a hit on pitches that cannot be pulled.
  12. Thurston Fluff
    I think we have to give him some time. He typically starts slow. He seems like one of those guys who has a lot going on in his delivery and sometimes has trouble controlling his emotions. Guys like that do better over the course of the season. They get into a grove and start reeling off a string of good starts. I realize he finished pretty poorly last season but keep in mind he was coming off the DL so he was sort of starting over and never really got into a rhythm. I doubt he'll ever hit his projected ceiling but he isn't as bad as he has been.
  13. Thurston Fluff
    Schwarber isn't versatile defensively. He'd be a below average defender regardless of where the Cubs played him, but he has such a big bat, they have to put him out on the field somewhere. His ideal position would be DH in the AL. A real versatile defender is someone who can play multiple positions without being a liability at any. Not instead, hey you have a monster bat and we know you aren't good defensively at any position, so let's find a place where your defense would do the least amount of damage. That was exactly what I was getting at when I first mentioned Prince Fielder. The bat makes up for the defense. I do however, disagree that being capable of playing multiple positions isn't valuable unless he can play at an average level. Sure it detracts from his overall value but it does allow them the ability to put two above average offensive players on the field at the same time. That is something players like Prince Fielder and Kris Davis could not do. That has to count for some value doesn't it?
  14. Thurston Fluff
    That has been noticeable hasn't it? I almost forgot what it was like to see hitters work the count. Funny how taking walks and being patient is more exciting than watching players swing for the fences.
  15. Thurston Fluff
    My only point with comparing him to Prince to begin with was as a response to someone saying his injury won't hurt the Cubs much because he was a terrible defensive player. Both players are very good offensive players who can't defend very well. One was slightly better on offense, the other more versatile on defense to make up for that slightly less offensive ability. I think the term offset as opposed to ignore is better. I get it's a net drag on his overall contributions. But to be able to play in a position where you can get an extra good bat in the lineup offsets that negative impact.
  16. Thurston Fluff
    It does matter when comparing twp players and ignoring one is getting penalized for playing a tougher defensive position. AS for the idea that it doesn't matter if they can play multiple positions if they can't play them well I disagree. It provides versatility to get a good bat in the lineup. Schwarber's versatility allows them to play him and Rizzo at the same time. I don't know about you but I think that matters. Problem is few people seem to use it like they know it's a flawed number or that using a single number in general is a bad idea.
  17. Thurston Fluff
    If it wasn't for Rizzo, Schwarber would be playing 1B. His "versatility" is out of necessity not ability. Schwarber was projected to be 2-3 WAR this season. In his prime, Prince was 4-5. They are not the same class of player. What do you think Prince's WAR would have looked like if he had to catch or play in the outfield? Just one more example of WAR being misused. Which is why I think WAR is worse than useless.
  18. Thurston Fluff
    Neither could Fielder. You can hide a guy at first. You can't really in the outfield and certainly not behind the plate. I don't think Schwarber is anywhere near the hitter Fielder was either. Being versatile enough to play multiple positions shouldn't count against him. If he was as terrible as Prince they would have had to hide him like we did Prince. Since he wasn't he can play in other spots where his offense offsets his defense at an acceptable level.
  19. Thurston Fluff
    I think the rule in this case is stupid. It was designed to prevent really late high slides by morons like Coghlan and Utley. I didn't really see what Rasmus did as dangerous or an intent to injure an opposing player. Also, DFA Freeman. How do you regulate that though? Asking the ump to decide intent is pretty hard to do. Especially when most players try to disrupt the throw to some degree.
  20. Thurston Fluff
    Neither could Fielder.
  21. Thurston Fluff
    Both Freeman and Pena have control issues. As for velocity, Pena is in the lower 90's, not high 90's. I'm not really comparing the two as much as I am looking at why Pena was given no chance at all this season. While I get Freeman isn't much better I think the reason they traded for him is he is left handed, didn't cost any players and they really didn't like Pena very much. Why they didn't like him I think boils down to control being something of a priority.
  22. Thurston Fluff
    I know it's not a lot of samples to go on so far but it seems like Stearns is more into control pitchers while Melvin was bigger on velocity. That would make guys like Pena less attractive to the team now.
  23. Thurston Fluff
    The Cardinals are on pace for a 0-162 record. We are not.
  24. Thurston Fluff
    I doubt he'd be here long enough to lose a year of service time.
  25. Thurston Fluff
    I think that is something we might see more of this season.
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