2019 Spring Training Thread

[squally1313]

Almora has never, even in the minors, shown anything that should encourage a team to call him an everyday player. He sucks against RHP and has shown absolutely no sign of improvement.

 

He's fine for what he is - a platoon guy who's decent against lefties, above average defensively and average on the bases. Unless some GM wants to overpay for him there's no compelling reason to trade him, unless you're that worried Maddon is going to outsmart himself (as usual) and play him every day.

 

Not to call you out on what was otherwise a perfectly good post, but this has consistently been one of the worst/most frustrating parts of his game.

[d_money]

Almora has never, even in the minors, shown anything that should encourage a team to call him an everyday player. He sucks against RHP and has shown absolutely no sign of improvement.

 

He's fine for what he is - a platoon guy who's decent against lefties, above average defensively and average on the bases. Unless some GM wants to overpay for him there's no compelling reason to trade him, unless you're that worried Maddon is going to outsmart himself (as usual) and play him every day.

 

Not to call you out on what was otherwise a perfectly good post, but this has consistently been one of the worst/most frustrating parts of his game.

Other than advancing from 1st to 2nd in game 7 on Bryant’s flyout in the 10th - I agree.

[David]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[David]

It's Jesse Rogers but there are some decent quotes in here

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

"It [PECOTA] gives us something to challenge our players on, I think it's a positive thing," Theo Epstein said. "I just think their particular projection system doesn't really match up on how we put our teams together. It also hasn't been particularly accurate, so we're not losing sleep on it."

 

...

Epstein explained why he thinks it's down on the Cubs this year.

 

"Part of the reason [for the PECOTA projection], we've developed bats and brought in pitching from the outside, and our pitching is skewing older than our bats, and that system is really harsh on aging pitchers," he said. "[Whereas] I like pitchers that know what they are doing. Let pitchers figure (things) out somewhere else, then bring them in once they're good and know how to pitch."

The good news for Cubs fans is the team's internal projections over the past few years have been nearly spot on. The front office predicts a win total just like PECOTA, though they don't reveal the process through which they come up with their total.

 

"Our internal projection system is a lot more accurate," Epstein said. "We've been within a game or a game and a half just about every year. Our system [this year] has us exactly in the right place in the division."

Epstein explained further: "Nate Silver created that system and it used to be really accurate. Since he's left, there's questionable accuracy in that system. For instance, we've outperformed it over the last four years by 35-plus games."

[UMFan83]

 

"Our internal projection system is a lot more accurate," Epstein said. "We've been within a game or a game and a half just about every year. Our system [this year] has us exactly in the right place in the division."

 

I'm not sure I believe their system spit out somewhere between 90.5 and 93.5 wins going into 2017 (though he did say just about every year). Even its just lip service, its nice to hear though.

[David]

 

"Our internal projection system is a lot more accurate," Epstein said. "We've been within a game or a game and a half just about every year. Our system [this year] has us exactly in the right place in the division."

 

I'm not sure I believe their system spit out somewhere between 90.5 and 93.5 wins going into 2017 (though he did say just about every year). Even its just lip service, its nice to hear though.

 

why would you not believe that?

 

93.5 wins would be a very high projection. by steamer (zips?) it would be the highest in the NL this year.

Edited February 21, 2019 by David

[imb]

what he didn't say: our projections have us in first place

 

what he did say: our projections have us in the right place (third place)

 

we suck again

[Brian]

 

"Our internal projection system is a lot more accurate," Epstein said. "We've been within a game or a game and a half just about every year. Our system [this year] has us exactly in the right place in the division."

 

I'm not sure I believe their system spit out somewhere between 90.5 and 93.5 wins going into 2017 (though he did say just about every year). Even its just lip service, its nice to hear though.

 

why would you not believe that?

 

93.5 wins would be a very high projection. by zips it would be the highest in the NL this year.

 

yeah i'd say the unbelievable projection for them to get right would have been 2016.

[Sammy Sofa]

 

"Our internal projection system is a lot more accurate," Epstein said. "We've been within a game or a game and a half just about every year. Our system [this year] has us exactly in the right place in the division."

 

I'm not sure I believe their system spit out somewhere between 90.5 and 93.5 wins going into 2017 (though he did say just about every year). Even its just lip service, its nice to hear though.

 

why would you not believe that?

 

93.5 wins would be a very high projection. by zips it would be the highest in the NL this year.

 

Why would we not believe things said by the organization at this point?

[David]

 

I'm not sure I believe their system spit out somewhere between 90.5 and 93.5 wins going into 2017 (though he did say just about every year). Even its just lip service, its nice to hear though.

 

why would you not believe that?

 

93.5 wins would be a very high projection. by zips it would be the highest in the NL this year.

 

yeah i'd say the unbelievable projection for them to get right would have been 2016.

 

yup...and 2015

[UMFan83]

 

I'm not sure I believe their system spit out somewhere between 90.5 and 93.5 wins going into 2017 (though he did say just about every year). Even its just lip service, its nice to hear though.

 

why would you not believe that?

 

93.5 wins would be a very high projection. by zips it would be the highest in the NL this year.

 

yeah i'd say the unbelievable projection for them to get right would have been 2016.

 

True, I was basing off the premise that 2016 was accurately predicted, but I guess you are right, its even more implausible that it spit out 101.5-104.5 wins

[David]

 

Almora made some pretty big changes to his stance and apparently is hitting the ball hard and far and in the air a lot more than before.

 

Who knows if it's anything, but his biggest problem (just ahead of his patience) has always been hitting the ball too weakly and on the ground, so who the hell knows?

 

sharma wrote about it

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

“It’s more of a base,” Almora said of his new stance. “If I’m upright and I have a leg kick, the timing has got to be perfect for everything to click. I’ll still have power if everything’s perfect. But if I’m a little wider, I have more leeway with having my bat through the zone longer. I just want to feel strong with every part of my swing.”

 

Did Almora notice a difference in how hard his contact has been since making the change?

 

“Oh yeah, absolutely,” Almora said. “I’ve been seeing it all offseason. It’s not like I came to Arizona and it was a brand new thing. At first, when I was in Miami and I saw a difference in how the ball was carrying, it’s a good feeling. It brought me back to my high school days. I was like, ‘Man, I’m hitting the ball hard again to all parts of the field.’”

[Sammy Sofa]

That looks goofy as hell.

[David]

That looks goofy as hell.

 

alou-esque (stealing the comp from Tim IIRC)

[UMFan83]

Almost certainly how this is going to turn out for Almora:

 

[David]

Almost certainly how this is going to turn out for Almora:

 

 

lol my mind absolutely went here

[Transmogrified Tiger]

...that clip does not at all look like he's swinging with a wider base

[Bluescale]

...that clip does not at all look like he's swinging with a wider base

 

His feet are wider apart, hence the wider base. I would think the knock-knee aspect of that would sap all the power, but what do I know...

[Brian]

Our outfield projections may be grim, but look at this...

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[David]

accidental decimal on eloy Edited February 21, 2019 by David

[UMFan83]

Our outfield projections may be grim, but look at this...

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

I just don't understand why Machado wouldn't take less guaranteed money and no opt outs to join them.

[imb]

Our outfield projections may be grim, but look at this...

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

holy horsefeathers that is dark

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I don't know if I've ever seen so many negatives in one of those graphics before. 25 wins worse than the Cubs projection, yikes.

[Tim]

I was told that Rodon / Lopez / Giolito / Fulmer were going to destroy AL hitters.

 

No, really. A white sox fan I know said that to me.

 

He was being serious.

[imb]

i hope you wrote TINSTAPP on a piece of paper and handed it to him