Tracer Bullet

I just got an offer from raw that worked, so nm on the points issue. Added Castellanos without giving up Wilson or Cespedes which is all that mattered.

Who is the mystery owner? Vance again?

Well if cespedes and Morse came off the DL today as expected, then my team is illegal. I don't have time to check or make moves today. Since I can't work out a trade (with the couple of people who've actually responded to offers), you can just take today's points away. It doesn't matter how many, I'm getting slaughtered and truffle only has like 3 uninjured players. I'm not sure how you did this whole "play for next year" thing truffle. It's boring as [expletive].

So is there a rule that every trade has to include Tim?

No

And this is where Kyle gets to argue semantics until the thread explodes. Nice work everyone.

Lots of 5-3 teams atop the east. Anyone need a little help?

We're not going to do this.

Castro's obp is .322? Ugh.

No one. Shifts benefit the 3b that's shifted bc he's credited for making more plays than his 3b counterparts that aren't shifted. Similarly, pitchers are penalized for IBB that the manager forces them to throw. In both cases, the credit/fault lies with the manager more than the player (though I think Wyers points out that Pena has bunted to the vacant 3b spot a couple times and those balls count against Lawrie bc they're in his zone and not fielded).

Yep. A lot like Ryan Theriot in that respect. Without the noodle arm. Or the stupid attitude.

Tango tiger asks the question of whether the shift should be viewed in a similar way as the IBB. Do you penalize a pitcher bc his manager made him walk a guy? It's good that metrics are trying to figure out how to deal with it. The more teams that start using the shift, the more relevant the data will become.

Wyers article on the various metrics and how they're taking into account (or not) the effects of the extreme shirt the Jays use. Interesting read. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=17183

Of course it is. It only happens to 2 teams a year and Theo was handed a steaming pile of [expletive] by his completely inept predecessor.

The stats say what they say. He's regained a respectable amount of power and cut his K% down from nearly 30% to 19%. That's real improvement. Oh, I know you're reasonable. Just wish everyone in the thread was. being reasonable now, of course, doesn't mean he was being reasonable about stewart before. as is almost always the case, in TT we trust.

I generally value other people that I don't know on the basis of their beards. so i'm like a god to you, huh

No, and most things can be attributed to Ricketts. He's cutting payroll! He's letting the Dodgers be the mid-tier but big market team to make the rise to the top (with Ned Colletti)! He's the reason I've watched three seasons of three different shows this week. That's got to total 24 hours, easy. You do realize that Ricketts offered Epstein a virtually open checkbook and he was the one to chose this direction, right? And complete autonomy, so don't blame anyone but the boy genius. I'm sorry, but your act is tired.

There's quite a difference between "Theo doesn't want to go past 5 years" and "he won't ever go past 5 years". The next question is whether Theo is ready to spend that much money next year on what could be a mediocre team or is he going "all in" (Upton, Hamels, etc.) to contend next year. Then post the quotes you based your statement on.

Someone make me an offer for howie kendrick. Or Bud Norris. Or really anyone on my team.

No. Sry

didn't he get 4/36? and don't we assume 5 million per WAR? unless one of those is wrong, he'd have to flame out pretty hard to not be worth the money. That forgets two things: 1) Free agency is necessary, but inefficient. 5 million per WAR compares to other players who were bought in free agency. And every dollar spent in free agency is not spent on pre-FA players, who are a lot more efficient. 2) The scale starts to break down as you get to worse and worse players because they become more and more replaceable. There are lots of players who will likely be 1-2 WAR players if just given enough playing time that can be gotten from clubs for next to nothing. For example, that is what the Cubs have in Tony Campana. So not only does Cespedes (if he's a 2-2.5 WAR type of player) not give a 2 WAR upgrade from his minimum salary replacement, but he also complicates the team's ability to acquire a true star for that position if it ever becomes available. And the 7-14 million average to above average types of players have more trouble being traded for any value as the Cubs have seen with several players the last few years. So if he's going to take time to figure it out, he better become a star or he likely isn't worth it. This is a really great post.

Upton seems like the perfect player for the Theo regime to pursue. Still in his prime, great defensively, good speed, undervalued skillset, likely to come for a slight value price (as other teams chase the bigger named Hamels/Hamilton/Ethier/Greinke). If they pass on Upton and instead go after Hamilton or Ethier, I'll be pretty disappointed. Especially after passing on Cespedes last year. "Passing on" Cespedes? I agree on Upton.

if the two of you can't control yourself, we'll just kick you out for a while. jesus. enough.

He's trying to say that bad players are better than good players did not say once anyone was better than anyone. I did talk performance and higher POSSIBLE upside he refuses to admit that he's wrong or even simply walk away. It's hard to be wrong on an opinion. The problem was that many posters kept posting their opinion as FACT. I said I don't think it's bad luck, I think it will not turn around. I'll happily admit that if he posts an.800 ops for the season it would be solid. I did feel that the rest of his stat would show that would fall in a bigger sample size, especially with a severe dip over the last 2 weeks of his hot month. I seriously do not see a player with a .245 average, 3 2bs,3 hrs and 5 rbi for 21 games as good. A nice ob% but he did get hit twice, and intentionally walked twice- can we count on that each month? I didn't think so. he's criticized others for failure to comprehend the incomprehensible Yes, because as with this post you still do not comprehend what I said, If you did you would not say the above posts his posts either contradict each other or logic in general. I don't think saying a 6 year career vet who has a career average of .233 will probably not hit better than that and very well may hit worse than that, especially coming from colorado defies logic He's turned two threads into his own live chats of insanity that would be the other way around He's been downright condescending toward those pointing out the obvious flaws in his arguments No I am downright condescending to posters who choose to insult rather than engage, I had excellent give and take with cubcolt pacer, who actually made his points rather than talk down or say put farts in a jar From what I see the biggest bone of contention is the fact that I point out that a ops or ob% for 20 games is pretty meaningless. Stewart had a couple of nice games, that in my opinion were not an indication of coming around but just the fact that he is a major league hitter and is bound to hit sometime. His ops has dipped since and I think that shows he is returning to his norm. I fully understand that it could be just a blip downward because those happen also. It's just my opinion based on: his history, history of players leaving colorado and what I have seen from watching him. It's my opinion. Many times when you look at stats, they can go either directions. Many of you guys look at his babip and see tough luck and feel that he is due to turn around. I look at it and think, there is a reason that so many balls in play are being caught. Unfortunately most posters decided to attack me personally rather than intelligently state their thoughts BECAUSE no matter what, right now, they are only your thoughts and opinions because no one knows what is actually going to happen. We are looking at data and formulating opinions. If you actually "know", then you are wasting time on a message board. There is big money to made with that skill. Outside of cubcolt, the top argument that was put out was a 20 day stat line continually being posted, with no explanation, just the meaningless stat line for 20 days. This could have been a very good thread but instead it snowballed into "boers and bernstein attack mode" junk. Let's not pretend that you didn't participate fully in the tone of this thread. You've been condescending from the beginning. So let's not be so quick to point and gasp at the posts of others.

In 2018 he'll be just 28. Jeepers.