VV and Villar really sting right now. VV's numbers are legit, and he looks good. I guess the health concerns are real, but right now it looks like I'd rather have VV straight up over Giles. I think Giles is legit, and the good news is we have him for a while. He will figure it out at some point, and will hopefully be a good closer. But we already have a great BP regardless of Ken, and so badly need some quality starting pitching. Tough one. Villar is tough for me to figure out. The fact that he has never hit as well as he is hitting now in minors, coupled with his insanely high BABIP (.402, highest in MLB) leads me to believe he is due to regress. But, credit to him, he has just kept plucking along. He is also first in stolen bases in the entire MLB (36!) and walks at a decent rate as well. Almost what we hoped Gomez would be. Decent power too. Ugh.
Villar seems to have worked out all his stupid base-running mistakes. When he was here, he was always good for at least one bone-headed play a series.
I was surprised that the Braves released him so quickly, but the Rangers actually traded for him instead of him being released. Been pretty good across his 5 starts with the Braves.
He was pretty much a throw in. The other relief pitcher they got was the gem. Dario Alvarez has 28k's in 15 innings of work. From the numbers he seems to have some nasty stuff. Man, how far weve come. At one point, we thought Harrell shoudve started the season opener instead of bud norris. Wow.... Strailey also put in work tonight against the giants. 7 2/3 of 1run ball w/ 5ks. All against bumgarner. Maybe congressjerko mightve knew something. :grin:
And to make room for their new players, the rangers DFA'd Matt Duffy. Poor guy...get's DFA'd twice in a couple of weeks.
He has ridiculous talent and I've said it for a couple of years, I got laughed at last year for saying I liked him as a bench player. If we didn't have Marwin Villar would be an Astro.
Villar's stats this so far this season are pretty ridiculous. No way he keeps up the pace. Hard to fault the FO for cutting ties, but I'd take these numbers all day: .297 avg/.818 OPS/ 8HR/ 38RBI/ 36SB [360AB]
This is true and interesting. It's clear we'd all rather have Villar long-term, given his cost, age, and potential. But, given that it's a tradeoff, in a year where we're contenders, who would you want for this season (and maybe next) as a utility man, knowing Bregman/Gurriel are here to stay? I think I still prefer Marwin for that role (and Gurriel, if you want to say we wouldn't have gone after Gurriel if Villar were here and playing over his head). Which makes it seem like it was just an inevitability to let Villar go see what he could do elsewhere. I only wish we could've gotten more for him. But good luck!
I know this will come as shocking news, but salary dump Jed Lowrie is out for the year. http://www.csnbayarea.com/athletics...g-toe-surgery?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo&yptr=yahoo For the cost of $7.5M this year, the A's got back -0.5rWAR or -0.8fWAR. They also owe him another $7.5M for 2017 (including the $1M buyout of his 2018 option).
Given that McCurry has looked good and will probably reach the majors (and could even turn into an effective 8th inning guy), gotta say Luhnow won this trade. Especially since he used the money he saved to sign Fister, who has been worth more than his contract.
My guess is that if McCurry reaches the majors, it will be for another team. I question whether he will get a 40 man slot, and therefore, gets exposed to the Rule 5 draft this year. Hypothetically, if I am right does that mean that Luhnow lost the trade?
