MrTPlush

Diaz is also the number #4 second base prospect in all of baseball. MLB.com won't list him there I am guessing due to how much he played at SS, but second base is his MLB position.

Fixed to remove condescension. Let's all stop with calling people ridiculous, and post more polite rebuttals if you disagree. I see nothing with the second thing you crossed out. They do indeed make the same amount of sense.

Oh right it was PEDs. The magical drug that makes you triple your homerun total. How many did Braun hit in 2011? It was like 100 or so right?

If you are traveling from the Milwaukee/SE Wisconsin direction you are better off just avoiding the tolls. It barely adds any time to your trip and you don't have to give money to the state of Illinois or in this case a broken I-PASS system. The drive is typically a lot better than dealing with idiots on the freeway too. Lots of 55mph roads to casually avoid the toll roads. Yeah...tried that once on the way home. Never again. I don't know...maybe it's the same time as using the freeway, but I have no patience for all the towns I had to go through and I really, really hate extended miles of busy two lane highways (I'm the guy you probably hate on the freeway). Seems like I had to wait at every light at least 2 or 3 turns before I got through it. I guess that largely depends on where you are going. I frequent Kenosha-Schaumburg Area and that drive avoiding the tolls is pretty easy. The only towns you hit are Gurnee/Mundelein, but neither do you really go into the city and the traffic is light. I think it adds 10 miles/15 minutes which I live with. Of course one must take specific roads to avoid all the traffic and for someone only going into the area occasionally it may not be worth it. For me it is enough where I don't have to pay Illinois $200+ in tolls every year so you won't see me on the toll roads.

Does it matter? Half the people doing those jobs are just retired professional players. And most are terrible at it. Exactly my point.

"Hey Gord, this is Mark. I just wanted to let you know you have just been given the general manager job. They are excited to have you in Colorado Springs."

His net worth is more like a negative worth.

If you are traveling from the Milwaukee/SE Wisconsin direction you are better off just avoiding the tolls. It barely adds any time to your trip and you don't have to give money to the state of Illinois or in this case a broken I-PASS system. The drive is typically a lot better than dealing with idiots on the freeway too. Lots of 55mph roads to casually avoid the toll roads. If your grace period passes just wait for something in the mail because it will probably never come.

Yah it is easy to look in hindsight at that pick. If one could go back I wouldn't be surprised if they went another route. You can't really pass up on a player like Brinson though just because you drafted Ray or vice versa. A very athletic OF with elite hitters at all three positions would be something wouldn't it though? Maybe Broxton gets traded for pitching eventually. There is a lot of time for guys to produce and be traded or for guys to just not develop. Long ways from it ever being a problem though I hope it will be someday.

I don't think how much Davis walks is the problem people have. If Davis was hitting .280/.337 would anyone be complaining? Probably not, but he isn't walking anymore with that stat line so what is the real problem? The real problem is when someone is only hitting .252 so there OBP% is just .307. Many want to see a player make up for a low average by walking. Personally I think Khris Davis makes up for a ton of that low OBP% with his extremely high SLG%. XBHs/Homeruns>Walks/Singles...so in theory one can deal with a lower OBP% if he is providing more in the slugging department. A lot on here want to preach OBP%, but then SLG% is a "one trick pony stat". End of the day OPS+ is probably one of the most accurate ways to really a judge a hitters overall production. Not perfect, but pretty good.

I mean it isn't irrelevant just because he is in the middle of the order. You expect your middle of the order bats to score runs too. I think Davis walks enough...not a lot, but enough to where it isn't a big deal in my mind. His AVG. and OBP% difference is about .055. The problem is his average isn't high enough to make his OBP% look respectable. Now where things get interesting is why you want walks. The basic premises of wanting walks is because it leads to more runs scored. Right now Khris Davis ranks #17 among OFers for runs scored(4 more and he is Top 10). A lot of this probably has to do with that extreme power. Hitting 40 HRs lets you score yourself a lot and not need all the walks. The other part of Khris Davis is how many runs he has driven in. Right now he is #3 among all OFers in runs driven in and #10 overall in baseball. Now before you jump on me for mentioning runs/RBIs I am just pointing out it doesn't really seem his lack of OBP% is really effecting his production. I don't see where a low OBP% is hurting him. Now I am not saying Khris Davis is a Top 10 OFer, but that being said he is the exact kind of player Billy Beane lives for and not surprising he traded for him. Honestly I think he is very underrated and more people should realize what we gave up. Khris Davis isn't exactly a flashy player and its not the end of the world we lost him, but he is mashing and getting the job done.

Using any example is pretty foolish if you ask me. Everyone is unique and just because you are more athletic and not fat doesn't exactly promise you anything. Ryan Braun has two chronic injuries to worry about(thumb and back). That isn't exactly something you want with a 30+ year old. Look I am not saying he can't be a 140 OPS+ player for the next four years...he very well could do that and I wouldn't be surprised at all. Has a lot working against him though to make that a bit questionable. Regardless I would probably still trade him even if I knew he would be that kind of player for the next four years. I would rather roll the dice on the prospects and whatever money we save. I don't think we compete in 2017, HUGE maybe in 2018, and I think best case we make some noise in 2019. That gives you two years with Braun...the two years on the end of the contract...ehh. Risks either way you go. If this team puts it together fast and we are competing in 2018 or putting together a division winner in 2019/2020 it would sure be nice having a 140+ OPS bat like Braun in the line-up. However you are then depending on him hitting like that years down the road from now.

In theory yes one should expect guys more advanced in the minors to fair better in fall/winter leagues vs. the guys in the lower minors. There are exceptions of course both ways. It is better to look at specific performances for hitters in my opinion. Some days they are facing lower level guys just there to build innings(like the guys we sent) and the next day they are facing a Josh Hader.

Does it matter? Half the people doing those jobs are just retired professional players.

Did you mean 2nd year of pre-arby? Guerra isn't arbitration eligible until the 2019 season

You didn't really answer the question though. If we pick #11 why would we go and sign a QO guy? Who is this can't miss guy this winter that we need to have? It isn't like we can afford a Greinke/Heyward. The kind of QO free agents we can afford are available every year. I really just don't see the concern. Attanasio isn't in charge anymore and Stearns isn't going to sign guys just to please him. Stearns would just say no and wait to be fired and go elsewhere. He is an up and coming baseball executive, I am sure there are teams that would love him to have full power if he comes to run their show. I am not trying to be one of those people that pretends to know Stearns in and out after a year, but this scenario you are concerned about seems like something Stearns would never even consider.

Louis even you know that is a ridiculous comparison. You mentioned why, but sort of brushed it off as no big deal. Ortiz is a DH and an extreme outlier. Such examples just hurt the point you are trying to make. No one is saying Braun will 100% decline. However I'm not going to bet he won't.

While eventually you need to start building a core is a reliever with only 3 years of control really apart of that? Thornburg has massive value I don't think it is worth the risk to hold onto him much longer. You risk him regressing or us never really competing with him. They dumped Smith/Jeffress pretty fast and Thornburg is controlled just as long. Thornburg will pack his bags by the end of the trade deadline next year if he keeps up this kind of performance. It really wouldn't be hard to get a Thornburg type reliever with full control left. That is basically what they did in the Smith trade though Bickford is still starting at the moment. Also you might have answered your own question.

The only reason this argument even gets rolling again is because people endlessly reply to you know who even though he never provides any new information. The people complaining are probably part of the reason it is even being talked about still.

Why the concern with the QO signing There is no reason we should be signing anyone major in free agency. At least we aren't the Phillies who despite having the worst run differential are sitting at #9. Simple. We have the salary space to fit in a QO type of player. We've been claimed to have the #1 Prospect system. While not perfect, having added Susac. There's reason enough to see offense being above avg. Depending on the return on Braun. A SP addition of Urias or DeLeon to mix with Nelson, Davies, Guerra + a 5th SP (the QO or Garza/Peralta/Hader) You have the makings of believing you can win 81+games. At least the makings to believe you won't pick top 10 next season so getting a QO player at a 2nd round cost now makes more sense than doing so the next offseason when it costs your 1st rd choice. So yes I have concern. 3 power bats I could envision worry on is Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, or Mark Trumbo. Don't really see a SP to be concerned about. But, trade Braun, replace with Puig/Trumbo or Bautista. Move Carter this offseason and you have space for Trumbo or Encarnacion. If the main motivator is to only give up a 2nd round pick vs. a first round pick next year(still a big stretch, but I will give you the fact it is at least possible) then I don't see why you are losing sleep over getting the #11 pick. At that point your theory of why to sign a QO player this year doesn't really make any sense so we wouldn't target any QO player because why wouldn't we just wait a year and do it closer to when we are competing and with what can't be any worse of a pick to lose? AND to add onto that all three of the examples you provided make zero sense. Bautista is way too old, Trumbo is similar to Carter, and Encarnacion is also way too old to be targeting. There is absolutely no way Stearns who wants a young controllable team is going to sacrifice the #11 pick for some aging expensive free agent.

I think this trade has focused on some of his successes and some of his question marks. I don't see anything wrong with that. We shouldn't just pat Stearns on the back for everything he does and shrug of every time he does something wrong.

"the Great Khris Davis" uhh...ok? Never once questioned his offense. All I said is that offense will really need to shine if he sticks at catcher even with huge defensive strides.

Depends a lot on the quality of stadium, but you'd expect to pay $10mil-$20mil for an A+ team. Some can go for single digits. If you want a AAA team they run $20mil-$30mil.

It would actually be pretty cool to win 75 games. Build on that a bit and suddenly you are .500 next year.

I think if someone offered a trade where they valued Guerra like someone that has two more ultracheap good (~3.75era for 175 innings) seasons left in the tank, he would be gone in a second. I don't think other teams would value him like that, so he will be back. But if you are a team that has to count the pennies, he would be awfully enticing. I think his value could be a lot higher than some might think. Everyone thinks "unproven and old", but then again look at Rich Hill. We could have a similar player in hand right now that brings back a nice haul at the deadline next year or heck even this winter. Guerra's stats aren't as flashy as Hill had last year, but still a pretty solid season. Wouldn't be shocked if we got a really nice prospect for him if a team wants hi this winter or if he keeps it up till next July.