What does "load up" mean though? Demote Fisher, trade Jake and sign these guys to 200-300 AB roles? Will they sign? Is that smart in thinking about next year, etc with Fisher?
Having played games in the OF doesn't mean he belongs in the OF. Lance Berkman played 166 MLB games in CF, do you think he belonged there? Duda was a terrible OF in his 20s. He hasn't started a game there in nearly 5 years. That would be a hell of a stretch to stick him there now. You might as well be willing to put Gattis in LF.
What exactly makes him a bad LF? Range? Arm? Routes? Play him in LF at home when he would have the platoon advantage. That’s probably ~60 games. He gets another 25 at 1B to platoon/rest Gurriel, another 25 at DH, with 10 pinch hit games. That’s 120 games and uses his elite bat without exposing him. Jake Marisnick’s career FP in LF is .987. Duda’s is .988.
I meant it as add players that make us better. Who that may be ill leave to the FO. Just saying we dont have to be done yet.
[ESPN] Scott Boras: Franchises losing to win later is destructive to MLB "We have to get rid of the noncompetitive cancer. We can't go to our fan bases and sell the promise of losing to win later. That is destructive to our sport because it has removed one-third of the competition."
Boras does what he can to maximize profits for his players, but complains when teams do the same? He doesn't care one bit about "our fan bases". If he wants more teams to compete, he should steer more free agents into taking less money in smaller markets so they can compete and have reason to invest more in payroll. As is, there's no reason to invest a bunch of money to go from 60-102 and 75-87. He, of course, would never do that - and, similarly, teams aren't going to throw money around for no reason. If you want to fix the system, there has to be a salary floor/cap or something of the sort - but Boras would go nuts if MLB tried to do that. In terms of selling the promise of losing to win later, pretty sure the Astros have made his life hell with more teams likely to follow that model in a copycat league - and more fanbases are going to be OK with it as well.
Either way the new CBA goes, teams will still not spend luxuriously whether it’s with a cap floor/ceiling or now
With the reduction of spending on free agents, my bet is that the players start campaigning for less team control time, so they can hit free agency earlier. This will be an interesting CBA negotiation.
The vast majority of the league doesn't have the financial resources to be competitive every year. The choices for those teams are some blend of the following: 1) Try to win every year, but succumb to the heat death of the universe. Maybe get a short window once every 20 years or so (see Mariners); 2) Try to make most of it when you can knowing that there will be long rebuilds between windows. This strategy is characterized by high highs and low lows (see Pirates). Often these teams end up being stars and scrubs. If done wrong, see Pirates; 3) Play to the middle. Try to be at least around a 0.500 team every year. When they get a good team together, they put some more resources into MLB team without going all-in. Better payrolls will be over 0.500 more than smaller payrolls. These teams typically have depth and can be as good as anyone when they get some stars to go with it; 4) Don't choose. Lose. (Marlins) Boras wants teams to pick Option 1. Heat Death of the Universe is not pretty for fans. Some mixture of 2 and 3 is where most teams are. While the Astros burnt down the team like Option 2, I think they are more Option 3 going forward. They'll keep some prospects so they have a some what steady stream of cheap talent coming to the MLB team. They'll make trades when they can.
I will be shocked if they’re able to avoid a loss of games due to lockout/strike. The players’ only avenue to achieve equitable revenue sharing is either via a salary floor or shorter pre-free agency time. I’ve long thought the idea of 6-7 years of fractional earnings with the average guy not reaching free agency until age 30+ was ridiculous.
Agreed. The owners could always promise a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, i.e., when a player hits free agency at age 30. But that seems to no longer be the case.
I haven't rewatched any of them yet... for me, it's like a favorite movie... its sweeter when you give a good amount of time between viewings...
Not sure this was posted anywhere. Kind of offseason stuff. Apologize if it’s not or in the wrong place. I think it’s awesome.
Ehhh...he's played 3 innings (1 game) there since 2013, and his stats before then were pretty cringeworthy. eta: this is from '12... https://www.politico.com/states/new...2/06/defense-in-the-time-of-lucas-duda-067223 Lucas Duda has been awful in right field, but the Mets need Duda's bat in the lineup, and there's nowhere else for him to go. First base is occupied by Ike Davis. Duda would be just about the identical liability in left field. So Duda, for better or worse, is in that lineup to try and outhit his glove. So far, he has, though not by a lot. But it's ugly out there in right field. If you google "lucas duda defense" you get lots of similar stuff, apparently he's a butcher at 1B too.
Boras is salty AF. I really have no side in billionaires vs millionaires, but I can't help but feel the union is completely deserving of this after years of selling their young players down the river.
I don't know much about the prospects the Brewers gave up for Yelich (OF Lewis Brinson, OF Monte Harrison, INF Isan Diaz and RHP Jordan Yamamoto), but I wonder if the Astros could have put together a better deal. That's their #1,#6 and #14 prospects, so for us that would be Tucker, C. Perez, A. Sierra + an out of the top 30 guy.
Man, Lorenzo Cain has averaged 6.6 WAR per 650 PA over the last 4 seasons, and he only got 16 million per year for 5 years. Even is his glove falls off, he should easily be a 3-4 WAR player for the next few seasons. Even the "big deals" seem so much more reasonable these days.
