Wahoo Maniac

Got it. Because I wasn't born with MLB athleticism and gifts I'll just keep my mouth shut. Great way to approach life in general!

Arcia WAS a problem last year, but he is performing better this year offensively. If his defense matched previous seasons, he'd be having a good year as a SS. The question is, what happened with the D? Clearly, he didn't lose the ABILITY to play good defense, so I'm sure the org is trying to get the message home that he needs to play his position better, which is very possible for him to do. It seems counterintuitive to bash Arcia and his.5 WAR this year while defending Ryan Braun and his .6 WAR, when one is in the decline of his career and the other still has potential. First off, my statement that you quoted you're taking completely out of context. Just like the other guy. That was in regard to multiple posters calling my opinion "silly" and "nonsense" because I'd improve a deficiency with an internal option, one I believe is ready to take over and outperform, regardless of the number of wins the team had. Those posters essentially said nobody would do anything and nobody would complain about Arcia if several others on the team were performing to their ability (ie Chacin, Cain, Shaw, Aguilar) because the team would be doing better. My statement, which you quoted, directly contradicts their take and I used the Brewers decisions since last year as examples/proof - the team was performing well offensively and ended up winning 96 games and in the process they demoted Arcia TWICE. It doesn't matter if Arcia is performing better this year over last year, which he is but only from an offensive standpoint. That doesn't automatically mean he's performing just fine. He's not. I've already showed the numbers break down proving his continued inconsistencies. That's not good. He's about to be 25 and he's still all over the place offensively after 400 MLB games. And his defense is not only average this year it's a sizeable regression. If you put any weight into DRS he's regressed from 6 to 4 to currently -1 this year. DRS definitely isn't the be-all-end-all but the eye test pretty much confirms it, which is why Saladino is up taking starts from him. Which has also been confirmed by Counsell that his defense is an issue. I've stated plenty of times over the past couple days that if Arcia's defense was what it was over the past 2yrs he'd still be starting every day and people would overlook his offensive inconsistencies. But that's not the case. He's a below average bat with average defense right now. That's not bashing him. That's just the reality of it. Just because he has month long good stretches offensively doesn't mean he's performing offensively. Since you brought my take on Braun into it, maybe you should go back and watch the AS game again and let me know how many times Buck discussed pitchers or batters stretches (both negative and positive) to paint a picture of their ability. I'm not saying completely ignore Braun's worthless 10 game stretch - I'm saying his overall numbers don't reflect the season he's actually had because his brief (13% of PAs) worthless stint was so bad that it dragged down his numbers from 300/352/830+ to 271/320/774. Not sure why that's so difficult to comprehend. If Braun was consistently performing at his current overall stat line there'd be nothing to say because that's what he'd be doing but that's not the case. When you're garbage 33% of the time like Arcia that's not good unless you're a plus glove. WAR ignores plenty of variables/qualities players possess that aren't measured by one's overall stat line that impact the game. WAR is for lazy people looking for a quick answer to back their stance. I'm not bashing Arcia. I have no problem with Arcia and said earlier today I think he figures it out on both sides of the both moving forward but it'll probably happen at the end of his rookie contract or shortly after. If Dubon wasn't ready I wouldn't be having this discussion or hold this opinion. I'm saying what I'm saying because we have an internal option who's MLB ready who I believe will outperform Arcia. It's pretty straight forward. But Arcia lovers are taking offense to every point and taking what I've stated out of context and have done so several times already.

Disagree as I'd still care. The number of wins a team has is irrelevant to me. If a change needs to be made you make it. If Arcia was playing plus defense his inconsistent bat can be overlooked but this isn't the case. You upgrade where you can, when you can. Really? So you don't care if a team has 116 wins or 69 wins? Hmm...I suspect that's nonsense! And Arcia is absolutely still playing plus defense, hitting for power, though he is very inconsistent. But this is a good question. "You upgrade where you can when you can." Well, Brandon Woodruff is not one of the top 5 starting pitchers in baseball! I don't care how good he's doing, they need to upgrade? Seriously though, OBVIOUSLY OldschoolSnapper is right. If Cain, Shaw and Aguilar were performing like they did last year and Chacin, Burnes were meeting expectations, and our BP wasn't hit by the injury bug...or really just any one of those, NOBODY would care about our glove-first SS who's on pace for about 25 Hr's and has an OPS around .700. Especially since I don't think anyone wants to give up the assets it'd cost to actually find a real improvement. Huh? The Brewers won 96 games last year and TWICE they demoted Arcia to AAA because he wasn't getting the job done. This year they're on pace for 84 wins and are currently 1/2 game out of first in the division and they just removed Arcia from his every day job. I don't even have to make the argument for it to be true because the Brewers have been doing it for over a year for me. Seriously though, OBVIOUSLY the Brewers didn't care last year that the offense was performing great and the team was winning when deciding to demote Arcia TWICE. If Arcia was "absolutely still playing plus defense" then he'd be the every day SS still instead of sharing time with Saladino and Perez might still be on the MLB team. Counsell literally stated that they're unhappy with Arcia's defense, which is exactly why Saladino was up taking half his PT. The Brewers themselves just keep proving you wrong, don't they. "You upgrade where you can when you can" was clearly in reference to someone performing like Arcia has (ie someone who's replaceable) and not someone who's actually performing (ie Woodruff, Hader, Yelich, etc). Mod Removed

There’s a big difference in trading Hader at 4.5yrs and “potentially” trading Yelich at 2yrs depending what 2021 could look like. He’ll most likely get traded after 2021 Goldschmidt style.

Yelich will command a price we can’t and won’t pay. He has 3yrs left. So he’s either traded after 2020 or 2021 because you don’t sell him with 2 months control nor do you keep him and let him walk. Yelich is signed through the 2022 season. The last year of the deal is a $15 million team option. I could understand perhaps dealing him after the 2021 season, but it makes next to no sense to look at doing it after 2020. Sure. But I’d say it depends how 2020 plays out and what 2021 could look like but we won’t know that for a bit. 2yrs left of Yelich will bring a larger haul than 1yr.

But do the Brewers currently think Arcia is going to be “really good”? Brewers don’t have a replacement? Dubon was literally replacing Arcia last May before he had a significant knee injury. The Brewers won 96 games last year and Arcia was demoted twice. Talk about silly statements. He’s essentially splitting time with Saladino at the moment. What exactly is it about Dubon that people see the next Perez and only that???

Huh? You have an MVP signed to an affordable long-term deal, and you want to deal him in his athletic prime with two full seasons of control remaining? Who's crazy "likelihood" are you living in? Yelich will command a price we can’t and won’t pay. He has 3yrs left. So he’s either traded after 2020 or 2021 because you don’t sell him with 2 months control nor do you keep him and let him walk.

Disagree as I'd still care. The number of wins a team has is irrelevant to me. If a change needs to be made you make it. If Arcia was playing plus defense his inconsistent bat can be overlooked but this isn't the case. You upgrade where you can, when you can.

Yes, I'm more than willing to let Dubon start the rest of the season. He's about to turn 25 and he's mature. The team clearly believes in his ability since he was replacing Arcia at SS last May before the injury. They wanted him back in AAA this year to regain his footing after the injury. He's been grading out at 55 hit, 60 run, 55 arm, 55 field since 2016 when he was in A+. SINCE 2016. He's a pure hitter. And he's improved his power annually while maturing physically over that span. Never once has any scouting report ever said he might have to move off SS. Everything has always been quick hands, quick feet, solid arm, steady defender. In case you're wondering those grades are the exact same as Turang (also now in A+), who everyone is drooling over. Right now, Arcia is a dime a dozen performer who's inconsistent. I wish that wasn't the case because he's more talented than that but it's reality. I guess I find two things strange: people thinking it's super difficult to replace average defense and below average offense at the SS position and people overlooking Dubon while he grades out like a borderline Top 100 over the past several years with the performance to match it.

This is a good point. The break-out guys are typically the ones who are traded at this time of year. Guys who are injured or are underperforming are sometimes added as PBNL types, but are rarely headliners. Of course the Top 100 lists are for the fans but they're not comprised based on opinions of whoever the writer is. It's based on market intel gathered from scouts/teams and what they're hearing out there. They're updated every 6 months I think so of course they're not fluid like internal rankings by each org. That doesn't negate the point that Ray being on it heading into the season means he actually is valued out there regardless of teams internal boards having him ranked 2nd or lower for our org. There's no way teams currently have Grisham ranked 30th for our system.

I see Arcia as someone who's not going to figure it out and be consistent until the final year of his rookie contract or shortly after it similar to Andrus.

And it's clear as day. Also clear as day is Arcia isn't remotely close to being an elite defender. If he was than Saladino wouldn't have been called up with Perez being DFA'd. You can live with Arcia's insanely inconsistent bat if he's playing elite defense. But he's not. Prior to Dubon tearing his ACL (May 2018) his grades were 55/40/60/55/55. It mirrors his performance at every level as well. That's easy Top 150 but because he wasn't a 1st/2nd rd pick or touted international signing he gets looked over. It's fair for his power/run/fielding grades to drop this year given you have to wait and see how the injury affects his play but it appears that he's right back where he left off. Since May 9 he's slashing 336/373/938 (124 wrc+) lowering his K rate to 12.7%. Dubon has 6yrs cheap control and is ready to take over at SS. Arcia has 3.5yrs left, was sent to AAA twice last year and 2.5 months into this season Saladino was called up to take away half his starts thus far. I still think Arcia is a starting MLB SS. I just don't think he should be our starting SS moving forward given Dubon is ready. I just don't see Arcia as being the problem with our offense this year. He's a SS who plays good (not elite this year) defense and has an OPS over .700. Though possible, I doubt that a rookie middle IF not named Hiura is going to outproduce that in their first big league stint. If Arcia was playing good defense then Saladino would still be in AAA. People need to start dealing with the reality that Arcia is an average defender at SS at this point. And a 700 OPS is a very low bar, especially considering he's very inconsistent. It wasn't long ago that Perez was exceeding 700.

It is Turang and it isn't even remotely close after him. Then after that it is probably Lutz and Dubon...then it really falls off. In the minors, yes it's Turang for sure. I would argue Burnes/Peralta still hold more value than Turang at this point...and both are young enough with enough team control that they can easily be considered young controllable talent with upside. I'm also obviously not a scout, but maybe scouts would like the changes Grisham has made and could view him in the Lutz/Dubon category. Reminder he's only 22, I think scouts would need to like what they see though considering his struggles the last couple years. Maybe a team still dreams on Ray's upside, but unlikely. Also don't forget Supak, his numbers have been incredible. Burnes/Peralta for sure have more value than Turang. Top 100 lists are mainly compiled based on scouts/teams opinions and Ray was back in it heading into the season. Sucks that he was injured in ST and then didn't say anything. Grisham, Nottingham, Brown aren't far behind Lutz/Dubon. Quality MLB talent is and always will be the best spot in the system to trade from but we're still not landing Thor

And it's clear as day. Also clear as day is Arcia isn't remotely close to being an elite defender. If he was than Saladino wouldn't have been called up with Perez being DFA'd. You can live with Arcia's insanely inconsistent bat if he's playing elite defense. But he's not. Prior to Dubon tearing his ACL (May 2018) his grades were 55/40/60/55/55. It mirrors his performance at every level as well. That's easy Top 150 but because he wasn't a 1st/2nd rd pick or touted international signing he gets looked over. It's fair for his power/run/fielding grades to drop this year given you have to wait and see how the injury affects his play but it appears that he's right back where he left off. Since May 9 he's slashing 336/373/938 (124 wrc+) lowering his K rate to 12.7%. Dubon has 6yrs cheap control and is ready to take over at SS. Arcia has 3.5yrs left, was sent to AAA twice last year and 2.5 months into this season Saladino was called up to take away half his starts thus far. I still think Arcia is a starting MLB SS. I just don't think he should be our starting SS moving forward given Dubon is ready.

It is? The age a player is relative to what level he's at is "irrelevant?" Huh. You may be the only person that believes that. I think the age you're at each level is rather telling. But maybe I'm weird like that. I literally stopped reading your entire response after your first sentence because if this is how you're starting it then the rest is a waste of my time. Just wow... What matters is how many years young you are for the level and not your actual age at that level. My example above is clear as day. TigerUppercut said Dubon was 2yrs older for every level than Arcia. I disagreed and stated why. The problem is you seem to think that Arcia being 20 at some level is more important than what his age is relative to the others in that league that particular season.

It's just as obvious we're not giving up 4.5yrs of Hader as he's more valuable than 2.5yrs of Thor. Plus it wouldn't make any sense on our end to ever make that swap. If you're offering several of Arcia, Burnes, Peralta, Turang, Lutz, Ray, Brown then there's really no centerpiece. It's just a quality package across the board lacking a true headliner. Hiura is the only actual centerpiece we have that's realistic value wise but we're not giving up 6yrs of him for 2.5yrs of Thor. Mets won't trade him this deadline.

I'm on episode 4 right now. Started watching today and I loved the first 2 seasons

Novel drops this Fall

How is 2 months of a 4.7 ERA starter worth those prospects? I know you have your ways of coming up with these calcs, that just seems like a crazy price to me. I'll also at baseball reference has him at 1 WAR this season so far, not sure how you project he'll post 1.7 WAR in less starts unless you're assuming he'll be way better in the 2nd half. I don't really like those deals either, giving up anything of real value for a rental, but the answer to the first question is simply that he's not a 4.7 ERA starter. He's at 3.88 for his career, and this year he has the highest strikeout rate and lowest walk rate of his career while HR rate is only moderately up. His FB velocity is also the highest of his career. He's not helped by having one of the worst defenses in the league (30th by DRS, 28th by UZR) behind him, and I don't imagine that bullpen is doing him any favors either. So he's pitching a lot better than is reflected by his ERA. And as far as the Brewers go, him simply averaging 6.26 IP/start would do wonders for the bullpen even if it was at the current ERA. Which it likely won't be. He'd improve this rotation by a lot, no question about that. It's simply a matter of price. Wheeler is a pitcher that analytics guys will like. But 42% of his starts this year aren't good. Last year 31% of his starts weren't good but went on a tear the final 2 months to cut it to that 31%. The consistency hasn't been there. He's still a solid pitcher but I think whatever the Mets get for him will be in overpay relative to his performance and I'd personally shy away from him.

This is false. Arcia was not 2yrs younger per level than Dubon. Dubon's first exposure to A+ he played half a season at 2.7yrs young while Arcia was 3.7yrs young. His first exposure to AA he played half a season and was 3.4yrs young while Arcia was 4.1yrs young. His first exposure to AAA he played half a season and was 4.4yrs young while Arcia was 5.5yrs young. Also, Dubon's bat profile is much better than Arcia's. Arcia was, and still is, a glove first player. Dubon is the opposite. He's a high contact, low K, high BA hitter with a great understanding of the zone while offering much better base stealing/running. He'll hit more doubles/triples just not HR. Dubon will most likely be a solid SS while having a solid arm (plenty good to play SS but not great). The way Arcia is playing defense this year I'd bank on Dubon not being worse. Dubon has the potential to be a plus bat he just won't have the over the wall power. You realize that Arcia was born in August of '94 while Dubon was born in July of '94. So Dubon is older. You also realize that the -3.7 or whatever is just relative to the other players at a given level? So you have to actually look at the players age HE was at each level, not just the average ages of the other players during the time he spent at that level. Arcia at 18 played in low A. Spent the whole year there. 19 he moved up to HiA. 20 AA 21 AAA/55 games at the big league level. Dubon-18 he played at Rookie level. 19-1/3rd of a year at low A. 20-spent half the year in LowA and HiA. 21-Again, half the year at HiA and AA. 22-Half the year in AA then moved up to AAA. 23-AAA 24-AAA-Now called up due to injury. Arcia minor league line-.284/.342/.407 OPS of .749 Dubon-301/.348/.424 OPS of .772 So it's not really false, Arcia is 4 years futher along than the OLDER Dubon and their lines in the minors are similar. Plus, Arcia's a superior defensive player. Probably by a wide margin, but we'll have to see as it's pretty tough to accurately compare minor league defensive stats to big league defensive stats, But I'm just curious, what do you think Arcia would have done if he'd have been able to spend an additional 4 years in the minor leagues? You think just maybe his offensive production would be better if he was facing minor league pitching instead of big league pitching? Just something to keep in mind before we write off a 24 year old SS who's already proven he's a very-very good defensive shortstop despite being an up and down offensive player. So, one player has spent the last 4 seasons playing in the big leagues and the other has spent the last 4 years playing in the minor leagues. And you think it's equal to compare those players based on their minor league stats? Isn't "high contact," and "low K," redundant? And again, given that Arcia was playing in the majors for the last 4 years while Dubon was improving his offensive line in the minors, I think it's pretty fair we throw this out. Yes, those extra 2 weeks Dubon's been breathing longer than Arcia is a massive difference maker. You're right! TigerUppercut I assumed was referring to age relative to level because one's actual age at a certain level is irrelevant so why even refer to that? For example, if Arcia was 20yrs old in AA and the league average age was 20yrs old while Dubon was 20yrs old in AA but the league average age was 22yrs old then what would you conclude? You "should" conclude that Dubon is facing tougher competition from older, more experienced/advanced players on average and factor that into the evaluation process. You do realize that's how it works, right??? Arcia is a glove first player, always has been. His bat profile was always he "might" be an average hitter with some pop but he he's a plus SS having a plus arm whereas Dubon's bat profile has always been above avg to plus (hitting for a high BA) playing average+ defense at SS with a solid arm (he'd be better at 2b though given how his range/arm plays). Get the difference? That being Arcia was most likely going to be a below-average hitter (spoiler: he is) but could be average if reaches his potential while Dubon profiles to hit for a high BA being an above avg/plus bat. Profile (approach is part of that) and production at age relative to level are things that matter. Also, Dubon was playing HS ball in the states when Arcia was playing pro ball in Venezuala, which allowed him to head straight to A ball to start the season whereas a guy like Dubon enters rookie ball - that's common. That difference played a role in each player's development. Not every player develops at the same pace either. Not every team pushes their prospects forward at the same pace. Not every org has other/better players who will move quicker ahead of them taking a spot (Dubon's played same positions alongside some great talents in Boston as well as others who've made it to MLB while Arcia had nobody around him). If Arcia had a solid glove instead of winning the GG in AA he most certainly wouldn't have been up. But when you have the defensive ability he does you're going to be called up early regardless of whether or not the bat still needs more development, especially when he was able to walk right into the starting role in MLB. To answer your question, if Arcia repeated each level (A+/AA/AAA) where he was now at the age relative to level that Dubon was at, which you would have seen is 0.5-1yr difference, I've no idea if his numbers drastically improve. Given his profile, which has been spot on, I doubt it. Maybe he hits the same, maybe he hits slightly worse, maybe he hits slightly better. Ever think Arcia was just overrated? He went from being unranked after A ball to just sneeking inside the Top 100 after A+ to Top 10 after AA. He went from a "below average" bat projection to an "average" bat projection after he posted his 120+ wrc+ being 4yrs young for level in A+ and AA. Think about that - 4yrs young posting good numbers offensively and scouts still said he was going to max out as an average hitter in MLB. And even with him winning the GG in AA that doesn't mean he was going to be a GG caliber player. He's been a plus defender until this year but everyone keeps saying he's been elite - no he hasn't. No analytics we have access too nor the eye test says he's been elite at any point. Plus defender? No doubt. Additionally, you can keep saying Arcia has 4yrs of MLB experience but he actually doesn't. He played 2 months in 2016, all of 2017, most of 2018, half of 2019. That amounts to around 2.75 seasons worth of MLB baseball. Also, you're intentionally refusing to mention that Dubon was going to be our starting SS LAST May, when Arcia had a grand total of 1.5yrs MLB experience then lost an entire season with the ACL injury. So you can continue to harp on the 4yr difference when in reality, if there was no injury, it would have been 1.5yrs - you can stop trying sway people into thinking he's just been sitting in the minors the past 1.5yrs padding his stats when he missed all last year due to injury then of course they're going to keep him in AAA to get reacclimated due to the injury. Dubon, to start AAA last year at 3.5yrs young for level, posted 343 BA with 922 OPS. Arcia, when sent down to AAA last year was 3.5yrs young for level, posted a 341 BA with 911 OPS. Almost identical. So you and others on here are now going to think that validates your opinion that they're similar bats, right? Except lets now factor in that Arcia posted those numbers already having 1.75yrs straight MLB experience while Dubon spent the previous year splitting AA/AAA. Doesn't speak to highly of Arcia's bat compared to Dubon's, does it? And, no, saying high contact/low K isn't redundant. High contact refers to the ability to not only put the ball in play but also put the bat on the ball to foul pitches off. Arcia is a relatively high contact bat and always has been but he still K's 20% of the time. His bat to ball/contact skills don't match Dubon. His K rate also rose every level he advanced in the minors while Dubon's stayed the same with advancement. Arcia will walk more than Dubon, most likely, but part of that is Dubon's approach. If he sees a pitch he likes early in the count he's attacking and due to his high bat to ball/contact skills he's typically putting it in play so it's difficult to draw more walks when that happens. No, you don't ignore Dubon's minor league numbers because Arcia was in MLB. That's straight absurdity. You might as well say we should ignore Hiura as a prospect because he was in college while Arcia was in MLB.

I didn't know MLB owns the company that manufcaturers the balls. Manfred isn't truthful. The individuals who are handmaking these baseballs year to year aren't choosing themselves how they are going to make the ball. They're instructed on how to make the ball. And those instructions come from all the way at the top.

Part of the reason the focus is on Arcia over Braun/Cain is that we can't move or option the latter two even if we wanted to. Whether they see less playing time or not, they're going to be with the team the rest of the season (at least). Arcia has options remaining, and while not having a lot of value is someone who could be traded if they decide to go that unlikely route. So it's a roster spot we can theoretically improve upon, while the others aren't. Unless they release Braun, but that's not happening. And while Braun's numbers are poor for a corner OF, there is most certainly a difference between their numbers; .271/.320/.454 (Braun) for a wRC+ of 100 vs .239/.300/.406 (Arcia) for a wRC+ of 80. Braun was hitting 281 with a 900+ OPS until his utterly worthless 10 game stretch (3-34) in mid-April. Since then (April 20) he's slashing 299/351/832 (116 wrc+). On the season overall, minus that junk stretch, his numbers are going to be very similar to that but with a slightly lower BA/OBP but higher OPS. That's 87% of his season's PA he's posted those numbers. Arcia had a 2 month stretch from April 2 to June 5 where he slashed 278/346/800 (106 wrc+). That's 67% of his season though. The other 33% he's been garbage. This is one reason I'd trade Arcia at the deadline. He's never consistent. He hasn't been consistent this year. He was terrible most of last year as well as 2016 (I cut him some slack there since he was super young and a rookie but he didn't show much either). There's a reason they acquired and started Saladino early last year - there's a reason they brought up Saladino to give him starts at SS over a week ago. Defense is part of it but consistency is a main bullet point. Braun's consistent at least even when he's aging. He'll have a couple junk 1-2wk stretches over the season but otherwise he's consistent. 13% garbage vs 33% garbage. That's a major difference. Again, it goes back to consistency. Also, Cain's probably had that thumb issue for longer than they've said so he's most likely played injured most of the season. It's difficult to pound on him when he's playing through nerve damage in his thumb but I've learned that's what this site does apparently. The lack of objectivity is astounding to me thus far here. The only conclusion I can draw regarding Braun is people don't like him because of what drew him a suspension/how he initiatlly handled it and they're just tired of him as he's been here forever. I'm sure his salary vs production is part of it as well but that's how baseball has worked in the past so it shouldn't even a valid point. There's a place to have those opinions but one can still be objective when speaking about a player still. LF isn't going to be addressed at the deadline. Won't even be thought about unless Braun gets injured and is out for an extended period of time. 1b won't be addressed either as Thames has been good all year and Aguilar's power is coming back (his BA/OBP have been fine since the start of May). Neither will backup Catcher. I highly doubt they address CF given Cain can still play defense and is a team leader so they'll just have to deal with his inconsistent play.

You have to wonder why Supak is not being promoted more aggressively. He's made 34 AA starts. Is it his low K rate? Is he the guy they are using as bait to get an established arm? He's allowed a mere 10 HR in 196 AA innings. You'd think that's a huge plus and that he'd be able to be useful in the big leagues keeping the ball in the park. I thought I read him say he's been focusing on pitching to contact more and not worrying about a K. Just worrying about attacking each hitter. I wouldn't be shocked if he's part of a package this deadline. His stuff doesn't seem to mirror our top 3 young guys in MLB but he's had success at each level thus far

You can't take out a 10 game stretch. Every player would look a lot better if you took out their worst 10 game stretch. And if you want to break it up like that you can say he's been bad two out of the three months this year. March/April: .196/.250/.381 May: .363/.427/.588 June/July: .275/.302/.422 Except he hasn't been a bad month. He's had a brutal 10 game stretch within a month causing the overall numbers to drop hard. CONSISTENCY is the name of the game. Game logs matter the most. What are they doing from game to game and week to week. The month and full season is what it builds up to but those numbers don't tell the story. Like else anything numbers related, you have to play in the weeds to figure it out. THIS GOES FOR EVERY PLAYER, including pitchers. A starting pitcher can have 5 starts in a month and pitch great in 4 of them and toss up a season's worst outing making that entire month look nothing like it actually was.

You can't just look at one's entire season and say that's exactly how that player has performed. It's like looking at a pen arm with a 4.21 ERA and saying that's exactly the type of pitcher he is but when you look at the game logs you see they have a 2.52 ERA through 25 innings of work so far this season but had 2 brutal outings spanning .2ip, 5ER - which is why the ERA is 4.21 and significantly higher. Disregarding 97% of this player's performance this year and chalking them up to the quality of a 4.21 ERA pen arm is utter nonsense. It's baseball. There's ups and downs for everyone. It's about consistency. And Braun had a worthless 10 game stretch in mid-April otherwise he's been around a 120 WRC+ performer this year. I can't believe that needed to be explained.