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Transmogrified Tiger

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  1. I've been thinking about the answer to the question "what would it look like if the Cubs really believed in Montgomery and wanted him to be the 5th starter?" It'd probably look a lot like this, getting an insane amount of bullpen depth, not going big on a SP to bump him out, and then adding an optionable/MiLB 6th/7th starter (TBD).
  2. No-man's land is a good description. Their problem is the same as it was last year, they have a remarkable amount of depth with decent players, but nothing in the way of star power. Last year their top fWAR-getters were Martinez at 3.3 and Carpenter at 3.2, and they're hurting Carpenter's value by moving him to 1B. For reference, the Cubs had 8 players with > 3.3 fWAR, and Contreras played a half season at a 4+ win pace too. Fowler doesn't really address the core problem either, and the FO appears to be tentative to make a decisive move that could backfire on them, which is kinda what they need if they're going to be a consistent playoff team over the next 2-3 years. Reyes and to a much lesser extent Diaz offer a little bit of hope for that starpower, but if they don't come through then they're going to be in 85 win purgatory with as good as the Cubs, Nats, Dodgers, and Giants are.
  3. Yes, the competitive balance picks are still around. I believe I saw the Cardinals were in the 'B' class this year, which means they get the worse of the two types of picks, but in the new CBA they also get 500k more to spend internationally than the 'A' class(and a full million more than the rest of the non-poors).
  4. Any argument that Wisler is a better short term option than someone like Nova is a bad one. Wisler is a guy who topped out in the middle of Top 100 lists, doesn't have really dynamic stuff, and was outright bad in an extended MLB sample. And not fluky bad either, he just got hit around. He showed signs of this happening at upper levels too when he started giving up more hits and K'ing fewer hitters at AAA. The valuation for young pitchers is not linear, pitchers who appear hopeless to their current team get cast aside all the time, and the Braves especially aren't exactly chock full of opportunities for Wisler to straighten himself out. They might not even have a AAA rotation spot for him come midseason. As counterintuitive as it might be to spend a paragraph tearing down Wisler, I do think he's an attractive option *because* he has little trade value. He throws strikes, he has some pedigree, and he's been durable as a pro. Maybe he's Chris Volstad, but that's why you only give up Candelario and don't guarantee Wisler even a long relief role at the MLB level, you give the new instruction a chance to take hold.
  5. They've probably been waiting for the new CBA to be in place(check) and for free agency to finish to evaluate what the right draft pick punishment is.
  6. If you sold the tickets for 80 of 89 games, then it seems a reasonable interpretation that the primary purpose was to re-sell them. If you thought using StubHub meant there would be no problem then that makes sense, but "I went to 9 games including playoffs" doesn't seem to be a compelling point.
  7. Addendum: hahahahahahahahaha
  8. For my sanity could Giovinco at least pretend to be interested in scoring before frantically falling to draw fouls
  9. Terrific work davell. Candelario for Wisler remains almost too obvious a match. Edit:. Probably zero chance the Rays consider that Odorizzi deal.
  10. [tweet] [/tweet]
  11. Maybe I should clarify the assumptions I'm making. - I think the only reason that Schwarber is considered at leadoff is that Maddon/the front office feel strongly that Bryant/Rizzo should be 2/3, and that the best hitters should hit 1-4. Since hitting Schwarber 4th would put back to back lefties, he hits first. - Russell is trusted more than Contreras or Baez, and will hit in front of either until it's proven otherwise on the field - Heyward will hit 6th because Jay is gonna hit 8th and they don't want back to back LHP. If Heyward, Jay, and Almora all suck then they'll have to cross that bridge, probably by acquiring a CF or something like promoting Happ. - Jay is gonna hit 8th because if they were serious about Heyward playing CF/Zobrist playing RF then they wouldn't have paid Jay 8 million. Jay and Almora are going to play the majority of the center field, with Almora hopefully earning a near-full time role as the season progresses.
  12. [tweet] [/tweet]
  13. I don't make the rules I just make the guesses.
  14. Probably Schwarber Bryant Rizzo Zobrist Russell Heyward Contreras Jay And if Schwarber struggles against LHP Zobrist Bryant Rizzo Russell Schwarber/Baez Contreras Heyward Almora
  15. Signing EE or Trumbo would really double down on that 'defense is for cowards' persona they started cultivating last year. With Carpenter at 3B and Diaz at SS they might need to shift every right handed hitter just to have an average amount of range.
  16. [tweet] [/tweet] Reading between the lines: BUMGARNER FOR 5TH STARTER
  17. I love this as much as it's possible to love a 1 year deal for a 42 year old pitching middle relief.
  18. Polanco was about +7 runs defense and baserunning, the Def value on Fangraphs' dashboard is confusing because it's not a WAR component.
  19. I think Nightengale made another typo, this time about the position of one of the White Sox players. Judging by the replies he confused Robertson and Frazier.
  20. Same Rule 5 rules apply to Smith on the Cubs. I haven't seen what was traded, but in most cases it's a small amount of cash.
  21. Wow, those reverse splits are bizarre. I bet that's what makes him a decent target, he's already pretty good at the hard part so if they can find a way to tweak his slider or something to help him against same sided hitters, that's a pretty decent option.
  22. Even with an 8 man pen I'd be surprised if he and Duensing both make the roster. Does anyone know how hard he throws? Some brief searching didn't turn anything up. Per a Pinstripe alley post he's got decent changeup.
  23. There's just not much precedent for closers as dominant and as young as Chapman and Jansen hitting FA. It won't happen, but imagine if the Cubs swooped in on Jansen now. You could basically have hockey lines of elite relievers.
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