OnTheBlack

I guess with the lower contracts dished out to these players you don't care about, the billionaire owners will totally be lowering the cost of everything from tickets to parking and concessions at the ballparks! This will definitely happen and the owners definitely WILL NOT pocket the increased profits. The one place I can see this impacting the fans(we agree, it's obviously not going to result in more lower costs for the fans as the piece of the pie for players has drastically been reduced over the last 20 years and prices have only gone up) is there is almost certainly going to be a work stoppage. I'm starting to think one of the area's that you're really going to see the players push for change is in team control. Either 4 years of arbitration, 5 years of team control...something. Most players aren't like Albies, Harper, Trout, Machado...they're not getting called up at 19 or 20 and producing, they're getting called up in their mid 20's. And as Boras told Harper, teams don't want to pay you when you're 34, much less 39. They're going to have to find a way to increase the pct of revenue the players are getting. I don't care if you like that or disagree with that, that's obviously going to be a huge part of what the players want, and last I'd seen they were under 40 pct of total revenue. So...I'd hope it would be salary floors more than something that makes the game tougher for small market teams, but I'm leery of what it could be. But bottom line, the Ocuna deal was bad, as many, many experts have said, this may be the worst contract signed in FA history.

Not sure if you were asking a general question, because I can't see where Albies is considered an elite prospect. Injury is one concern, but long-term success is another... Look no further than Jonathan Villar. The Brewers offered him an extension after his 1 very good year and he turned it down (he took the "guaranteed" huge salaries moving forward). How did that turn out for him? What if the Brewers signed Pat Listach to an extension after his rookie year... The dataset to look at is players who didn't match their initial performance either due to injury or they just were never good after 1+ early years and who did and did not sign extensions. Looking only at players with injuries and who signed a contract extension is only looking at a subset of the data. There's plenty of RISK for the team to offer these deals so early in a career and there's plenty of RISK averted by players when signing these. To ignore RISK is just foolish, but hey I can see the tendency to ignore it since there's always a resency bias and there hasn't been real risk in the USA for a generation like there was years ago with extended stock market/salary stagnation (like the inflationary 70's) or stagnant and devastating job losses like the 80's when heavy manufacturing disappeared from most of the "steel belt"... I can understand that many don't perceive risk, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Well, he put up 4 WAR as a 21 year old, and was the 11th rated prospect in baseball going INTO his age 20 season with the Braves in which he played less than 60 games, put up a .810 OPS and a 1.8 WAR. For context, Hader put up a 2.2 WAR last year. So in his age 20 season two years ago in about 60 games he put up a WAR near what Hader did last year. Not sure what it takes for you to consider someone an elite prospect, but I suppose you're right. At this point, off to a great start in his 3rd big league season now at age 22, he's not an elite prospect, he's an elite player. Don't compare him to Pat Listach and you don't need to lecture people on economic hard times. None of the times you've mentioned were as bad as the past decade and since you're apparently talking down to millennials, those born prior to 1978,(though not specifically, though this definitely read as a "I walked uphill to school both ways" type post telling us about financial hardship) do you have any idea how much student loan debt is crippling this generation? Or that this is the first generation that's likely to not do better than their parents, and if you really want to go down this road, it's the baby boomers who created this entire mess. What does this have to do with Ozzie Albies contract? Nothing, so less lecturing, lets stick to the topic. This is a absolutely terrible deal and I would certainly hope the fools who made such a deal for such a talented young 2nd basemen, find themselves losing clients in the near future to other actually competent agencies. The Braves did nothing wrong here. It's not their fault this young kid from a Latin American country was taken, and given such incredibly awful advice. The only way you can look at this deal and think it's not a complete joke is if you're looking at the total dollar value within the framework of your own personal life.

There's absolutely no truth to this whatsoever. Owners will charge whatever they can and they DO NOT lower prices simply because salaries go down. It's basic economics. Players salaries have nothing to do with what it costs you to go to a game. Imagine the Cubs didn't make the trades they made and didn't make some of the signings they made. They have a young budding superstar in Jason Heyward's place in Jimenez, a young future ace instead of Darvish(Cease), a stud SS and they were a better team, but they cut 100 million from their payroll. Their tickets would likely go up because they were a better team. In no scenario other than an owner running a team like a charity would it cost a penny less for tickets, beer or anything else.

I'm not confident in Jeffress, but his AAA results have little bearing on that. I think he's got to get into a big league game, get the juices flowing and we'll see where his velocity is then. He has actually developed into a pitcher, not just a hard thrower, so as important as it is that he works in the mid 90's is, if he's at 92-93 and feeling good, that's all that matters. Though you would have expected him to accidentally get a clean inning in AAA by now.

No it doesn't. It means he's trying to get his shoulder stronger and is rehabbing.

Starting to wonder if Pat Connaughton could be a really nice bench player for us. A glue type player. He has to shoot the 3 better, but he's athletic and plays like all out all the time. I don't think I've seen anyone block more jumpers from behind in a year than I saw him do this year. Basically what Dellvadova was supposed to be before he got overpaid by about 6 million dollars a year, but at SG off the bench. Either way, between him, Brown and the Jordan of Delaware, I feel like we could manage if Brogdon were to unfortunately get away.

If he was there in March, I think that would likely translate to 95 coming out of the pen. In any case, it is a strong possibility that Brown and Houser would be upgrades for the pen. Every report I just looked at had him topping out at 93. So sitting at 95-96, even moving from the rotation to the pen is probably pushing it.

I don't really need to be confident. There is time to let it play out over the next few weeks. If Jeffress doesn't look good, if Nelson doesn't make it back then they trade for an arm around the all star break or they promote some young guys like last season. This isn't a big concern right now because there are quite a few plausible ways that it fixes itself. The only big concern I have for this team right now is how crappy the rotation has been, that is something hard to fix. If even 1 of the 3 young guys looked good I'd be more comfortable but all 3 look terrible. There's no reason to wait though. That's the whole point. Even if BOTH things happen, Jeffress pitches like he did last year and Nelson somehow is able to come back and pitch like he did in 2017, we're still short in the pen. Either way, I'm sure Stearns if exploring any and every trade option...as well as staying in touch with free agents.

My impression was that he threw in the 92-93 range and relied more on command. Maybe he's just adding a couple MPH as often happens when a starter moves to the pen.

Brown sits at 95-96? Ok, that's enough power. I'd just read he didn't have the velocity that Burnes and Woodruff had(though he has very good stuff). Houser I'm skeptical on. Petricka is a power pitcher as well....hasn't really translated.

You have zero clue if either statement is true, and stating opinion as fact doesn't make it so. But saying something that's unlikely to happen isn't going to happen isn't really going out on a limb.

If Jeffress comes back and solidifies the 9th. Hader handles the 8th and sometimes the 7th I think the bullpen is plenty deep. Especially if Nelson is productive and moves one of the 3 young guys into the bullpen. Suddenly I think the bullpen is back to being a strength. How confident are you that Jeffress is going to do that though? I wasn't that confident he'd do that before he went down with a shoulder issue and then got lit up in AAA. I also haven't heard what his velocity looks like. But I am seriously doubtful that he's going to be anything close to last year's version and even then we're still down a couple arms. I am hopeful Albers can pitch well this year though. I'd feel better if we had power arms in the minors who could be up this year to help us out, but we don't.

I'd bet that Stearns inquired about him, but I'm with you. As good as he is, and that is much-much better than anyone not named Yelich that we have, didn't really seem like a need. He does seem like the type of guy who'll actually be a good player for most of his contract, but if Aggie can just stop pressing or over swinging, I think he'd be fine. He's so big and his swing is so smooth, he doesn't need to corkscrew himself into the ground to try to hit one out. He can go opposite field with a check swing. I still believe we're going to see him thrive though. Not like Goldy....but...

That lineup would have been murder. Man ... what could have been ... But could it of though? Was that ever a possibility? And...we're speaking hypothetically, which former D-back would you rather have on this team, Corbin or Goldy? Roughly the same price for both...both changed teams. Corbin was likely never going anywhere but the East Coast, but still...

Probably not April 15th. April stats mean very little in the big picture of baseball other than the Wins and Losses sticking with you all year obviously. It isn't until May that everyone starts to really come into their own skills. If you take a baseball season and chop off April and September you get a better picture of a player than using the full season imo. Those two months are just complete outliers. I agree with you 100 pct, but at the same time, there are plenty of spots that you know you have holes with or without waiting. I'm not even close to getting ready to jump ship on any of the three young arms, on any starter, but you know you need BP help. It's frankly a miracle we're where we are. We probably should have lost about 3 more games.

True, but you do know [sarcasm]there's absolutely zero reason to do anything about the pitching until everyone else is trying to at the trade deadline.[/sarcasm] Stearns is watching the same games. If there's something to be done, something reasonable, he'll be looking to do it no doubt.

Have you ever caught and had someone throw a fastball when you’re expecting some sort of off-speed? My guess is that’s what happened. So it is a common thing for a professional catcher to have happen. ok, thanks for the insight. Didn't see it, but if you're expecting a off-speed pitch and you get a fastball, it's pretty easy to get crossed up. Plus...Grandal just isn't that good defensively.

Well he's certainly more deserving than either. And the fact that he hasn't been signed and is still holding out should only make it surprising he's asking for "just" a Wade Davis/Britton type deal.

This is a little surprising, isn't it? I saw him as a late first/early 2nd round pick and I'm not sure how much he can really improve his stock. I guess if Marquette goes on a run and gets to the elite 8, maybe he shoots up 8-10 spots potentially. Either way, really good news for Marquette.

I can't think of one. Rocco Baldelli is the closest example I can think of when it comes to a "can't miss" type of elite talent that didn't really pan out. Still, he had two very good years at 21 and 22, got hurt and missed his age 23 season blowing out his knee, but came back to put up another 3.0 WAR season, but then developed a rare disease that ruined his career and he still fought his way back to come up with a couple of huge hits in the ALDS vs the Red Sox, including the game winning hit. But if he doesn't suffer that illness, it's a different story. I don't like this deal and I'm kinda shocked people are defending it so strongly. We're talking about a 22 year old kid, and the struggles these kids have coming to a new country is well documented. Comparing this to the Ryan Braun signing an extension(for a MUCH-MUCH better deal) as opposed to Prince not signing and instead opting for free agency is a little disingenuous. One is the son of a former big leaguer who was very familiar with how the business side of the game worked, and the other was from an upper middle class family in Southern California. Not quite the same as some kid here on his own(and yes, I do consider a 22 year old a kid) from Latin America. I think he got taken advantage of. There's no question that he signed the deal, that both sides agreed...but I think he got taken advantage of. This is a terrible deal BEFORE you get to the two option years the Braves have. When you throw those in, you can see why so many people are talking about this being one of the worst deals ever. I really hope ridiculous deals like this don't lead to a significant change in service time or compensation for players before they get to free agency. This is a 22 year old kid who was an elite prospect, has a 4 WAR season under his belt, has great power, speed, defense, a good arm and a great hit tool at a premium position. You can always come up with a worse case scenario to justify arguing that his was a reasonable deal for both sides, but it's just kinda insane to me. This deal is as bad for the player as the Chris Davis deal is for the team(Baltimore). Just one last note, to those who are arguing that he ran the risk of walking away with nothing if he had a devastating injury..one that he couldn't come back from...whatever that might be for a guy with all his tools, if he was with a decent agency, I'm sure he had an insurance policy that would pay out ~10 million dollars if he had such an injury and then never played again. This is just horrible. This is like a David Bote type deal for a Machado like talent(that part may be hyperbole, but he's a big time talent).

Philly certainly has a great starting 5, but they don't have much depth. Obviously given how rotations shrink, that may not be a huge factor, but they don't have much of a bench, so I'm assuming you mean they have 5 guys who are extremely talented and can score the ball. Boston on the other hand goes as deep as anyone, and seems to be a real tough match-up for us. It should help that Smart is likely to be out through the first two rounds. That guy doesn't have real pretty numbers, but he can be a terror on the defensive end. Maybe Indy will pull off the upset and we can get Brogdon back in the 2nd round, he can get back in the flow for what would inevitably be a tough series either way. I have a feeling that Golden State's gonna get knocked out in the West this year. They were so close last year to losing to Houston, a healthy Paul and they win one of the final two most likely..and even then, if they just hit a couple of those 27 missed 3's it's a different game 7. But with Durant looking like he's on his way out, the little bickering that has gone on....I sure wouldn't put money on it, I just have a feeling Golden State could lose.

Now if we could just see Nathan Kirby get back on the mound for one of the teams, that'd be two lottery tickets, two guys who were talked about being top 5-10 picks who the Brewers ended up with due to injury concerns in the fold. The more guys with the type of upside those two guys had and hopefully still have, better chance one or two will make their way through obviously.

https://twitter.com/jrjanis/status/1115417319872839680/photo/1 So much for Jeff Janis being part of the Rodgers bashing train. As of now I see Finley who as I said I have very little respect for anymore, Jennings who appears equally as sensitive, and KGB who said Rodgers was Arrogant and Favre wasn't as arrogant as you'd expect given all he'd accomplished when Rodgers first came in as the starter in 2008. I think this pretty much sums up smear piece that Tyler Dunne did with tabloid like anecdotal pieces of "evidence" like how McCarthy would "sneak" the massage therapist up the back way like he's talking about some prostitute or some really shady dealings. Football coaches are known for having bad backs from working insanely long hours. So basically, this stuff is largely made up and Finley's a moron for being surprised that the QB actually won't throw to you if you don't know the playbook or your routes. Again, Rodgers absolutely has his faults and I do think it's obvious with young WR'ers. It'd be cool if he was like Brady and was working out with MVS and St. Brown in particular during the off-season, but hopefully the new offense will make for some easier completions, some quicker completions and then their speed, size and play making ability will just help them get some yac yards and then Rodgers will start trusting them. Hell, he's gonna have to if he wants to win. It's very possible he's got a rookie RB, WR and TE who are all expected to contribute significantly this year, plus 3 young WR'ers from last year if you're still counting Moore, which I'm sure most are.

Finley had nothing but positive things to say about Rodgers back when he was playing and right after the injury. This was in the same article where he talks about how he's rather have Aaron Rodgers. Remember when Finley came back to the Packers for I think 2 years and 14 million when he wanted a much bigger deal? This just seems to be jealousy to me. Nothing he says has any validity to me. It's almost exclusively about his "200 million" when in fact it's actually 134 and it's not the Packers were using their cap room before to get him the weapons Rodgers is talking about or for that matter like the Pats spend money on their WR core. They trade guys before they're due big money(Cooks last year one example). I also remember Finley, after he retired complaining about all the coverage that Tim Teabow was getting when Aaron Rodgers should be getting it because "he's the greatest to ever play." I also wish to hell I could fine the quote where Finley talks about what Rodgers expects out of his receivers. It was something along the lines of "He expects you to know every route, every audible, it's crazy." What can you even say about that? He's the one guy in this whole drama that I just think is not a real bright guy. I don't buy MM has a low football IQ...not sure if Arod said it or not, but not buying that. Jennings points to a single incident as has been repeatedly pointed out, a comment during a game as the point of his contention, they were good before that. Aaron Rodgers is uber-sensitive, he's arrogant and he expects his receivers to be exactly where he expects when he expects them there. Are any of these things really issues that prevent the organization from winning a Super Bowl? And for the record, I believe Favre was those things and far-far worse early in his career. At least Rodgers isn't married with kids doing the things Favre was doing.

Nobody does...but what's the alternative? Taking a team that should compete for a World Series and letting it lose games when it should be winning them? And I'd argue there are not 25 teams looking to trade for relievers right now. That suggests there are just 5 teams who've decided they're in a rebuild, and it's not accounting for teams with loaded pens like the Yankees. Or the teams with talent but waiting to see how it works out(the Cards) or teams like the Rockies who've dedicated a ton to their pen already. So...yeah, nowhere near 25 who would seriously engage in trade discussions. These trades absolutely happen in April, but they are rare. Good teams address these issues earlier rather than later. That said, you can't force a team to trade with you. I asked what people thought about a particular trade and the debate is now if there is a reason to make a trade now(of course there is a reason, it's ridiculous to suggest otherwise) or how often trades happen in April..actually the question of if they ever happen at all. If a team that's not contending doesn't want to trade two relievers for a good CF prospect, fine. But there is so OBVIOUSLY a reason to trade for relievers, it's comical to argue otherwise.