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davell

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Everything posted by davell

  1. davell
    Well, they have the opportunity to fix Castro. Which they need to do. I'm not sure they would have passed on this offseason, if Tanaka had been posted much earlier. That said, the fact they're saying they saved money this offseason DOES create the expectation it will be spent soon. Next year at the latest, in my mind.
  2. davell
    I think that there is a general group of good GM's and that Theo/Jed fall in that group. Friedman likely gets my vote as the best of that group, but I think they're all close. Which DOES make it hard for our group to rebuild, as others are likely going to be just as proficient at it. McLeod is the most important guy we've got, considering the path we've gone. If he's right on the picks, he'll get more credit from me than anyone else, once we're winning.
  3. davell
    If there is no money to spend, how in the [expletive] is Theo the main one at blame here? You think he's lying about payroll? Nothing Ricketts has done has made me think they are just sitting on wads of cash.
  4. davell
    Theo had no clue we'd still be waiting on renovation money at this point. If our payroll has been as high as he's been given allowance for it to be, each year until now.....The rebuild was unequivocally forced, whether he wanted to or not. Darvish wasn't even a realistic option, if you look at our season opening payroll in 2012, versus the moves we made that offseason to hit that number.
  5. davell
    Possibly. I remember hearing David Hale's name from ABTY. But I think that may have been what we asked for and they just said no. If we were offered that, it's a mistake-we should have taken that and ran.
  6. davell
    How do you reconcile this post with your later one that shows how [expletive] a return Tampa did give back. You think they would've given us a top 30 pick, but since they were dealing with the Nats they just said "here, take our garbage?" No excuse. I thought Tampa gave up a bit more than what they gave the Nats. I went to look up who they DID give up and I laughed actually. The guy is a nothing. It kind of proved my point that we didn't make a mistake by just letting him go. The return probably wasn't and won't be worth the 1.3 mill saved by letting him go. Adding that dude to our system means nothing. DeJesus had no value.
  7. davell
    Awful lot meaning Navarro and broke-ass Scott Baker? Kevin Gregg? Half a season of non total suck didn't wash away the total suck of prior Gregg. Plus, he was a damn non-roster invitee, I'm not blaming anyone for not being able to deal Kevin Gregg. Would you have given up a top 30 prospect from our system if you needed a reliever? Or would you have maybe paid a bit more to get someone you could count on? Baker? Took a risk, didn't work. I liked the idea anyway. Navarro? The Cards wanted him, I think, right? Backup C brings what as a return? Is a top 30 prospect worth it to watch him helping them win a World Series with a game winning hit or some other crazy [expletive]? As if we really wanted to see everyone going "The Cards have beaten the [expletive] out of the Cubs so much, the Cubs decided to join in and help." If they miss out on dealing someone that costs an elite return, that's one thing. No one bats 1.000 when dealing in rent-a-players or comes even close.
  8. davell
    I think the guy most likely to be dealt in Spring Training by us is Villanueva.
  9. davell
    When did we waive these two guys? I would imagine one was to clear space for Hammel? The other is to give James McDonald a 40 man spot. That intrigues me, as we must feel he's healthy.
  10. davell
    How many interested teams does it take to get something for a guy? Well, that was TWO. One of which just wanted to intercept us once they saw a possible opportunity and had no reason to be interested in him beforehand. I really can't believe you care about this. http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=spann-001mat That is what DeJesus was worth. It's definitely plausible to just want the 1.3 mill in savings than that guy.
  11. davell
    I'm not kidding at all when I say this is Papa Joe's money and the kids brought him one thing to invest in, while it's turned into something else. The kids do NOT have the cash available to do this without him relenting. And considering he's not even a sports fan and he likely sees the end result in them eventually getting their way-He's not going to.
  12. davell
    So? It still doesn't mean someone was willing to trade for him. He's just a guy. I can easily see teams waiting to see what comes across the waiver wire in two weeks than giving up something remotely substantial for DeJesus at that point. I can't even see it a little, tiny bit. He's a useful MLB player who apparently multiple teams wanted at his salary. There's no way there wasn't some sort of trade market for him two weeks earlier. Thru the waiver process, he basically went thru the entire league. Considering Tampa was a playoff team. So yes, 2 teams out of 29 put a claim on him, thats not a robust market and it says teams certainly were willing to see what else was out there.
  13. davell
    I referenced 552 AAA PAs. How much hit tool does he need? The average MLB LFer hit 252/320/399 last year. Average game power and a decent-enough hit tool are more than enough for me to want to see him get a chance. Especially over Junior Lake, whom he was clearly better than at AAA the last two seasons. You realize Lake had 170 AAA at bats altogether, right? Over one season, not two. And it's not like he struggled there, posting an .803 OPS himself. His versatility makes up for that difference. And whether we like it or believe in it, his major league numbers put him ahead of Vitters by a mile. At least he did some positive things while up, Vitters just looked lost. No one believes in Lake as a long term answer, just people believe even less in Vitters. Do you actually think Vitters has more trade value than Lake does? Because while it's likely neither is even on the Cubs in 2 years, it's much easier to see a Vitters DFA and a Lake trade than the other way around.
  14. davell
    He's injury prone, he's considered too laid back, he has no true position, and it's been mentioned by most that major league pitchers are smart enough to get him to swing at their pitches, resulting in weak outs.(which is exactly what happened, other than when he was K'ing 30% of the time. He's considered to have average game power and his hit tool has declined in reputation because of his penchant of swinging at bad pitches. You're stuck on 109 ML at bats, but yet you're evidently lending credence to his 100 AAA at bats from 2013. I prefer to call them BOTH aberrations and see him as a guy that doesn't have the power to play a corner OF spot, nor the hit tool or plate discipline to make up for what's a very average package to work around.
  15. davell
    So? It still doesn't mean someone was willing to trade for him. He's just a guy. I can easily see teams waiting to see what comes across the waiver wire in two weeks than giving up something remotely substantial for DeJesus at that point.
  16. davell
    The people making the decision. We're supposed to be smarter than being dazzled by a great cup of coffee or burying a guy for a bad one. He'll probably pull his hamstring like two weeks from today and make it moot, though. Yes, because other than our FO, everyone in baseball is SUPER DUPER ENTHRALLED with Josh [expletive] Vitters.
  17. davell
    All of which could have been avoided by trading him two weeks sooner. He was hurt and just coming back. You can't make a team trade for a guy.
  18. davell
    But Vitters does? What's the "dream" on him at this point? Solid short side of a platoon guy? To me, that's the epitome of "I don't give a [expletive] if we lose the guy". I'm already planning to be mad when Vitters doesn't win the starting LF job. At who? He looked beyond pitiful in his one major league shot. He's going to have to play ridiculously well in ST or have multiple injuries happen, before he is your Opening Day LF.
  19. davell
    But Vitters does? What's the "dream" on him at this point? Solid short side of a platoon guy? To me, that's the epitome of "I don't give a [expletive] if we lose the guy".
  20. davell
    I'm all about bashing Ricketts, but this was just a case that a smart team put us in a bad spot. No one thought the Nats were going to claim him, my guess is we WERE expecting Tampa too and would have received a top 30ish type guy to add to our system. When the Nats claimed him, they were our ONLY option obviously. They didn't want to give us anything, so the question becomes "Why keep DeJesus?" We wanted to give Lake and Sweeney AB's and it wasn't likely we were going to pick up his option. So, do you let him walk and save a bit of money or do you play out the string with him and receive nothing. We chose option A, which I admit, I would have done the same.
  21. davell
    Yeah, I thought Pineyro sits around 89-90, but has amped it up to 93-94 on rare occasions. Black has the higher upside, which is why I have him higher, but they aren't separated by much, in my mind.
  22. davell
    Blackburn, Zastryzny, Black.
  23. davell
    Buxton doesn't have a single AA at bat yet. Ranking Polanco's expected ML contributions in 2014 higher than Buxton's doesn't seem at all to be a stretch for me. That's a ranking by projected career WAR. Oh. That's [expletive] crazy then.
  24. davell
    Buxton doesn't have a single AA at bat yet. Ranking Polanco's expected ML contributions in 2014 higher than Buxton's doesn't seem at all to be a stretch for me.
  25. davell
    I'm pissed that it's even looked at as news honestly. I don't care if we had to pay him 4.4 or 6.2 or anything in the middle. The tone of some pieces prior to him signing acted like this was a "major" commitment. If a 5ish mill salary is a "major" commitment, it's pitiful. But, in fairness, with our 85 mill payroll, I guess it is.....
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