Transmogrified Tiger

that is not a sentence

That makes sense but I've seen Terry Collins manage so I have like 10% confidence that is the logic he's actually using

I just wonder what the reason is. Is it an "I don't want to poison my body" type situation? Or maybe a history of alcoholism in his family that makes him overly cautious? I mean, I don't drink much...but it's mostly a taste aversion...and I certainly can't say I've never had a drink... I don't know how applicable it is to Bryant, but as someone who also has never drank, it's a combination of things. Upbringing(my parents didn't drink at all), picky tastes(I don't try a lot of new food/drink regardless), personal conservatism/willpower(I have a hard enough time not eating all the Oreos the same day I open the package, no need to risk that portion control with alcohol), and social circles(my friends either don't drink or do so rarely).

Rats, you beat me to the Araujo post by 2 minutes. 9/2 K/BB in 8.1 IP at Myrtle Beach, all but one of his outings there have been multi inning too.

The celebrity softball game is one of the few things I religiously watch even though I know it's bad just because of the nostalgia. If the announcers are going to scream their way through it, I might have to reconsider.

Proud day for the Stanton family, Giancarlo's dad must be very proud http://i.imgur.com/Gg6wa3S.gif

Jay Bruce is on the all-star team, huh well I guess he's 4th in the NL in fWAR oh sorry not the NL, the Reds oh sorry, I mean Reds outfielders

So there's no pictures of Stanton as a kid, right? He's like v0.1 of the Terminator species.

Jonathan Martinez has 7 K's in 11 outs, which seems like a Gameday glitch

[tweet] [/tweet]

Contreras was in the list of honorable mentions in the Fangraphs list: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2016-trade-value-honorable-mentions/ I think a Cubs list would be fun to put together. If I have time before the break ends and no one has beaten me to it, I'll try to put something together.

I can see the argument for CarGo more than someone like Reddick, because that is a true and meaningful upgrade. It's still not what I'd probably do given CarGo's age/injury history/contract/asking price, and it's worth noting that his ZiPS ROS wRC+ is *only* 114(105 for Reddick and 102 for Soler), and I'm not sure the FO would be over the moon about Schwarber/Heyward/CarGo as a future defensive OF, but I get the appeal.

You keep writing a number of guys off as lesser/unworthy players, and I think that ignores both the way that Maddon likes to manage(which is also where MLB is trending), and brings back up that Reddick isn't a terrific player so the bar isn't high. The days of having 8 set starters who you'd like to play for 150 games are going the way of the starting running back in the NFL. Having a variety of players to cover a spot is a strength more than a weakness, so long as they aren't in the Kawasaki/Herrera pile of getting playing time by default. Szczur is not a first division starter by any means, but he's got a near .300 IsoP against LHP this year and can play a capable LF. Almora is an all world defender and 6 of his 8 hits against LHP are XBH. La Stella and Baez are infielders, but that distinction doesn't matter much when Bryant can move from 3rd to LF to RF with ease. Contreras isn't a 150 game left fielder, but he's got a great bat(and no platoon split thus far) and is guaranteed not to be catching at least 40% of the time. Just because it's not a singular person getting you to the outcome doesn't necessarily mean that option is less optimal or reliable. But hey, forget all the other guys for whatever reason(not good/not outfielders), here's ROS ZiPS: Soler: .253/.327/.438, .328 wOBA Reddick: .266/.332/.431, .327 wOBA I think once Soler gets back you're going to see him get the bulk of the playing time in LF as long as the bat is there, with Almora as a defensive replacement and Contreras filling in on particularly bad matchups(e.g. high K RHP). Baez and La Stella will play less, but I also anticipate more off days for the infield as the season wears on too.

From my POV that does not seem like much of an opportunity cost - most definitely not having to DFA a Coghlan or Szczur. They're not demoting Contreras as he's the one guy on that list with an outstanding bat backed by periphs - all that other stuff is noise in the way of the ultimate goal in getting that first WS out of the way. Maddon still gets to do what he does with a Reddick or Gonzalez (who I prefer thanks to an extra YOC) on the roster, just it's a better roster with more of an emphasis on winning than PD for a little bit. "Noise in the way of the ultimate goal in getting that first WS out of the way" is logic that can be applied to almost literally anything, it's as uncompelling in that direction as you find the argument that adding Reddick would stunt the development of Baez/Almora/Contreras/Soler. Cubs LF have been quite good on the whole this year, even if you swap Bryant for his 3B replacements they're still on the other side of a .750 OPS. They have multiple Top 25 prospects in Contreras and Baez who are doing just fine in filling in that hole. If they aren't a good matchup or are filling in elsewhere they have La Stella and Almora who make for a solid platoon themselves. And they have another platoon of options behind them in Coghlan and Szczur. AND they have Soler, a top prospect in his own right, coming back from injury soon. He's got a .263/.355/.452 line in his last 300 MLB PAs. Plus, if you hate all of those guys, Schwarber is around next year to further disincent anything but a rental. There's way too many options and future implications for a marginal upgrade to be worthwhile here. I feel like the same logic that got applied to some of the trade negotiations for pitchers applies here. The Cubs didn't go out on a limb to draft Schwarber and then see how successful he's been just to trade him for a reliever when he got hurt. Similarly, the Cubs didn't stock up on bats for all these years just to block them when they're playing well at the MLB level to get a potential incremental improvement.

Strength in numbers is exactly why I think they should add another bat, and quality of the quantity matters given that there's only 25 roster spots. I don't normally agree with Dave Cameron but he wrote a solid piece on why the Red Sox should add another bat this deadline and it included this bit: Reddick's .330's wOBA may not get you hooked, but his 117 wRC+ would be good for 6th best (5th among players with 200+ PA) on this roster as would his WPA. Between the Baez/Almora/La Stella/Soler/Coghlan/Szczur group there's probably a good bench player apiece for the IF and OF, but those guys belong on the bench and out of the starting lineup for a team hunting a WS. Reddick on this team is better for the season's output than the player he'd be replacing, but then you start getting into the opportunity cost. The player cost to get Reddick, the literal player you have to DFA(Coghlan, Szczur, TLS?) or demote(Almora, Baez? Contreras?) to fit him on the roster, the lost MLB plate appearances for future development(Almora, Baez, Contreras, Soler). I don't think the most likely outcome for any one of the individuals is Reddick(aside from maybe Contreras), but I do think the most likely outcome for the group for this season is Reddick or better. I'd also add this is why you pay Joe Maddon 5 million dollars a year, to optimize playing time to get results so you get the best of all worlds(production, player development, and preserved trade assets).

Does most of that group not being very good play a part in any discussuon? Outside of Fowler and Contreras, a C, the majority of those guys getting significant playing time is more baseball nepotism than merit based. There's strength in numbers. Individually I'm not terribly optimistic about them, but using the best of those guys and maximizing platoon advantage and matchups is likely to lead to similar or even better production than an acquisition. Almora, Baez and Szczur have been lefty killers in their brief time, Coghlan and La Stella can hit RHP, Contreras looks like he's getting the Schwarber treatment of plenty of LF time and he's hitting everyone, and we still have Soler who had an .834 OPS in the month (74 PA) prior to his injury. I like Reddick personally, but he's also a guy with a .330s wOBA, so we're not exactly setting a super high bar to clear here either.

I think stuff like UZR is updated less frequently than daily, so it could be yesterday's offense and a week or so of defensive value.

When Fowler is healthy, the Cubs will have Almora, Soler (also when healthy in a week or two), Coghlan, Szczur, Contreras (the ~half of games he's not catching), and Baez/La Stella (via Bryant) for one starting spot. Two of those guys are getting demoted or DFA'd for pure lack of roster space. I have a really hard time seeing the front office adding a bat unless there's a serious injury.

Just to be contrarian, I wouldn't be surprised if the team foots the bill. One charter gets any and all players from their team to the game, and their team is guaranteed to send at least one person to the game, so it's a predictable one time per year expense.

Yes, Hendricks, Hammel, Lackey to start after the break.

CJ CJ CJ

Someone has to go when Soler comes back too.

PNC National Forest strikes again

Was Bell back tracking to second before Baez took extra steps? If so then that's a decent decision on Baez's part, and even if it wasn't his part in that play made it very likely they could've gotten both lead runners. Zobrist is more at fault for thinking they can get Marte after Baez took steps with the ball.

unlucky high bounce, man