SABR Gamer

He's got the upside without the risk. But Baez may be the Neo to Bryant's Agent Smith.. I think Bryant will end up with the better wOBA, but the WAR numbers will be similar due to positional value.

Aww man, so damn close.

That works too, same result. Now the Papi-slam.

Walk and then Papi-slam please.

LOL, loving this.

Probably not, but if everything goes how we hope it will, he SHOULD be up at some point next year. So him not being up could be disappointing in terms of how much he developed.

Love the guy coming in here acting like we have no idea what we are talking about, while being wrong about half of what he's saying.

As will Javy. I'd love that. Those two are so awesome.

Bryant is going to be the [expletive] MVP of the National League one day.

sweet whut Hendricks was 2nd in the fan vote. CJ was the staff pick and 5th in the fan vote.

No, we need to start signing all the really boring players because we will get them cheaper.

Doesn't seem too far off to me if Trout continues his pace (which would make him one of the greatest players of all-time at the age of 26). As good of a pure baseball player as Trout is, I don't see him being the iconic marketing superstar and revenue magnet that someone is going to pay half a billion dollars for. Nice kid, but not exactly dripping with charisma and personality. If you sign him through his age 41/42 season and he continues on his relative path you presumably have him while he's chasing 500-600+ career HR's, 3,000+ hits, and becoming one of the all time WAR leaders (which should be a bigger/more known and widely accepted metric by then). There's plenty of marketing potential in there. Not to mention you have one of the best players of all time during most or all of his prime, I'd hope/think there are a few winning seasons/deep playoff runs in there that obviously increases revenue. If you have one of the best players in your sport you are going to get endorsements even if they aren't overly charismatic, look at Rose. Of course you're going to get at least some endorsements if you're good enough, the question is if you get enough to recoup a half a billion dollar contract. No player alone is going to provide a half a billion dollars worth of baseball production. Mike Trout's teams have stunk the last two years. If you're paying a half a billion dollars for a player, you're going to expect to get an iconic personality that people personally pay to come to the ballpark to watch and who TV broadcasters are going to want to pay a lot to money for the rights to broadcast. Right now, Puig is more of that guy in the LA area than Trout is, even if Trout is the vastly superior player. Dude, you are just really wrong on this one, like REALLY wrong. Why don't we have a bet on who will get paid more between Trout and Puig, lol, because your logic suggests Puig will.

Pick 2 WR (I'm assuming James Jones is hurt) Vincent Jackson vs CAR Hakeem Nicks @ PHI Rueben Randle @ PHI Denarius Moore vs PIT Pick 1 RB Andre Ellington vs ATL Maurice Jones-Drew vs SF Pick 1 left for Flex.

Tanaka's posting + first year might be a push. Damn, that was my thought as well. After what Darvish got and what Lincecum just made... yeah. I expect multiple teams to throw $50+ mil at the Tanaka posting fee. Given the lack of good starters and the influx of money to a lot of big markets, Tanaka and his posting team are going to get paid handsomely. I could see posting + first year being anywhere from $70-$80 million. The payroll better be higher than that.

It's not a matter of having to let him go. I don't see it as very likely we'll contend in 2014 and I'm not at all confident Shark is ever going to be more than he is right now. I'll take the very solid prospect package and the extra 15-20 mill he'll be getting in a few years to spend elsewhere. To not spend elsewhere I actually think we will use it to spend on signing some of the prospects to contract extensions (Yes, this is assuming some of them pan out), which is the plan I like better anyway. Free agency pretty much blows and is not the way I want to build a team. LOL, good for you man. http://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/554/facepalm.jpg

This is kind of pathetic, guys.

I'm 5-2, but really annoyed because I drafted MJD in the 3rd round, just an awful pick. Had I picked someone good there, I'd be a juggernaut. Annoyed.

Enjoyed reading that and it makes a lot of sense. So if recent history holds true we can expect about 5-6 of those guys to ML caliber and contribute (~3 will play above average). Would have no problem hitting on either Baez or Bryant (although I think it will be both), Almora, 1 of Edwards or Pierce. For fun, an example. Could easily switch some of the names around: GOOD/ABOVE AVERAGE GROUP Baez Almora Pierce Johnson Alcantara AVERAGE AT BEST GROUP Bryant Soler CJ Edwards Bryant is going to be the best player of them all.

Just came to post this as well. It will be interesting to hear his reasons. Could it be stress/health related? Leyland is a smoker, could possibly think that staying in that job is shortening his life.

I hope it continues this year.

Right now I do, too. If this series ends up a repeat of 2004 I may commit multiple homicide. Wouldn't a sweep of the Cardinals be ideal? I hate the Red Sox, but if it's them or the Cardinals, this isn't even a debate.

And the nightmare becomes a reality.

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lh6iio3oCS1qd6npmo1_500.gif

Is his hit tool really not elite?