sneakypower

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

Mark Gonzales ‏@MDGonzales Bogusevic will take roster spot of dejesus, who was traded to Wash for PTBNL

Mooneyham?

yes because it will mean one of our top 5 has died

we get the point

alas it is the Brewers who are reaping all the benefits of his negative WAR play, and not us :bye:

by then he'll be too old to hold onto his BOY GENIUS appeal

Javy Baez's first 37 G of the year 162 G pace: .243/.275/.459, 92 R, 36 2B, 27 HR, 97 RBI, 14 SB, 22 BB: 202 K Javy Baez's 76 G since then 162 G pace: .295/.370/.600, 135 R, 45 2B, 50 HR, 148 RBI, 32 SB, 62 BB: 169 K or, if you'd prefer full-season...

didn't we already do this dance before when Kyle said Brandon League must obviously be worth $23M (!) because the Dodgers said he was?

Is it not our front office's job to be more right about the future of baseball players than their 29 competitors? in every situation? i wouldn't say that's a very realistic expectation

i'm having difficulty comprehending the point of it; it's about as useful as looking at the lottery balls after they're drawn

Liriano's pitching on a deal which guarantees him only $1M, i'm sure he's still experiencing some regrets he was a miss, and i don't have an issue with anybody stating that; the Puig/Soler hindsight's really [expletive] dumb though

In retrospect, I'm not sure why I bothered. i thought it had been implied that we should use some level of intellectual honesty in this exercise i defy you to find one solitary reputable opinion/source who thought at the time Puig was the better bet than Soler; so, in this alternate utopia, this becomes a what-if of the FO making every correct move (fine, whatever) and also a few of the wrong moves which somehow worked out wonderfully anyway? i don't understand the point, unless the argument is that there was indeed an infinitesimal chance of being serious contenders by now/next year had we used the correct dozen-acquisition permutation