sneakypower

Javy's spray chart, courtesy of MLBfarm: (spoilered for size)

now hoping Lake gets brought in to pitch

could be precautionary; McDonald is probably considered the better fielder

hahaha wtf

Gyork Store

Rosscup must be amazing if he struck out Memphis' Mike O'Neill (33 K in 527 PA)

sweet catch by Lake

whoa Castro FIRED that relay throw in there

fun start.

damn, i was hoping Lake would beam a laser right into Navarro's glove and make Lombardozzi rightfully question his existence there

he's the youngest position player in the Southern League; he also has the league's highest wOBA (min 150 PA), at .465 the next highest is/was Yasiel Puig, at .433

he's had more than a half season straight (last 83 G) of this performance: .308/.382/.637 69 R, 25 2B, 27 HR, 78 RBI, 16 SB (9% BB, 23% K) if you're curious about the full-season pace, just double those things

i'm not broken up about it, but he was definitely my preference there

a late-20s top of the rotation lefty? how could we ever acquire one of those without trading all our best young players? oh, yeah

very nice.

his slider's been the (tied for) 3rd-most unhittable pitch in baseball http://cdn.fangraphs.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/StropSL.gif.opt_.gif

put this image on the rock http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_K5ls3SJu5Qo/SedCKQckiCI/AAAAAAAAAl4/eQo381ktzG0/s400/john-madden.jpg

so i guess Rusin has usurped some of Wood's sorcery

i don't know about setbacks specifically, but Desmond's age 24-25 seasons and Castro's age 22-23 seasons are remarkably similar of course, now Desmond ('12-'13: 9 WAR) is one of the best SS in baseball, so i guess anything's possible

looks like the 247 consensus have a chance to redeem themselves

started watching all the related videos that came up and lo & behold i found this classic Miggy singles on attempted intentional walk

UPDATE Marte: 4.7% BB, 23.7% K, .161 ISO, .361 BABIP, 11.6% HR/FB, .344 wOBA, +21.7 UZR/150 (LF) Lake : 4.5% BB, 22.7% K, .161 ISO, .389 BABIP, 12.5% HR/FB, .361 wOBA, +23.4 UZR/150 (LF) plate discipline numbers are similar, except Marte is better at making contact on pitches out of the zone; he just needs to get in front of more pitches (21[!] HBP for Marte)

http://i.imgur.com/CMe0YxQ.gif

DeJesus has played at a 2-win pace for the last two seasons with the huge benefit of having shielded ABs; that's all well & good, but finding a capable RH half of a platoon has proven easier said than done (Sappelt, Borbon, Hairston have combined for -1.4 fWAR) so if you feel confident Lake can stay healthy for a full season, he would easily match the combined 1.5 WAR you're expecting with even just a .300 OBP/.395 SLG like ZiPS projects and slightly above-average fielding & baserunning, albeit with more volatility (and upside)

Yeah, this is worrisome in terms of going into 2014. Some of the potential implications you can make from this: - The Cubs were bearish on DeJesus being productive in 2014. Not entirely crazy given that he'll be 34, is a defensive asset only in LF, and while he has a great eye, his ability to get hits has diminished post-prime(.251 AVG the last 3 years). - The Cubs are bullish on Lake and/or Sweeney(and relatedly, their ability to bring back Sweeney). Sweeney's career numbers are actually a very close approximation of what you might expect from DeJesus in 2014, and given his age(29 next year) and 2013 success, he may be just as likely to put up that production with less investment. Which is important if you think that... - Money will be tight this offseason, or relatedly, that there's a hard cap that they have very specific plans on reaching. You could reasonably conclude that the payroll may take a dip lower next year, and swapping DeJesus for Sweeney in next year's plans could be a good way to shave off upwards of 5 million without much trade-off. Similarly, if they have designs on making a big splash or two, making that swap makes a lot of sense so they can make every dollar count. Especially if they have eyes on grabbing Choo or Ellsbury(making OF less a need), or if they want to bank as much 2014 money as they can for a posting fee for Tanaka. Chris B Young 1y/3.5m Sweeney 3y/15m 1y/2.5m seems a good bet to out-produce DeJesus (and Sappelt?) for the same cost next year, imo but yeah, this has to ensure Lake is '14 opening-day LF, which i'm perfectly ok with