Transmogrified Tiger

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Entered. Thread titled "Jason Heyward just gave a pitch a heyride." http://i.imgur.com/XujHL.gif?noredirect That's from our own BCVM22: [tweet] [/tweet]

Having our three best hitters from last year(by a significant margin) hit 4-5-6 isn't ideal, although Heyward and Zobrist's likely output is in between Fowler and the worst of the 3(Schwarber) which isn't *terrible*.

Possible I underrate Wood, he's got some similarities to a JP Howell-esque reliever and that's good, but looks to me like he's a good bet to give up more HRs this year. That's a possibility, but I think the alternate causation is more likely. Wood doesn't have a big 4 seamer so he doesn't get thought of as an end of game option(also because he's only been a reliever for < 1 season), but this is partially by design. While he's not going to hit 98, he's also less likely to give up HR because everything he throws darts around, and he's more effective than as a starter because the velocity does tick up in short stints.

That's basically the one spot(aside from C where Molina is already hurt) where they don't have a decent contingency. Gyorko might hit a bit but he's a slightly below average career defender at 2B to say nothing of SS, and the other alternatives(Diaz and Garcia) are not certain to be MLB bench caliber, nevermind start at SS on a contender.

Yeah I think I saw May for Torres coming back? I'm not very knowledgable about MLS's convoluted salary stuff, but my understanding is that as a DP, Martins' money operates mostly outside the cap. They could still use some of that savings to add some depth, but roster spots(since you still want to add another DP too) become a consideration. Downside of a capped league for a team like Seattle that would spend more if they were allowed. That could be 100% wrong though. All that said, they won't spend 55% of the season down a man, so I imagine the spotlight won't be so brightly put on the center backs moving forward. And even then, they didn't have too many dangerous situations, the goal was the ghost of Robert Green inhabiting Frei.

They really need to get Torres back so they can use Evans' flexibility more. Right now the alternative to Evans is Zach Scott, which is to say there is no alternative. They probably need to use the DP spot vacated by Martins sooner than later too, getting a two way midfielder would go a long way to take pressure off Alonso that Friberg and Roldan cannot relieve. Agreed on Jones, he looked really good. Fisher looked really good defensively before he got sent off too.

Food for thought: Player FIP K%-BB% HR/FB BAA FB Vel McGee 2.33 27.2% 7.3% .196 94.4 Smith 2.47 25.4% 8.9% .218 93.3 Logan 3.62 16.1% 8.1% .274 92.6 Wood 2.53 18.7% 3.7% .207 ~91

well, that settles it, then. goofy as hell as it looks, there are several guys who wear those You conveniently left out the part where I suggested that he's going to be sitting more than 12 games. Why not 12 where there's a chance he's worse? I recognize the small sample size. Small sample size doesn't mean the opposite of what the sample suggests is true, it just means that the suggestion is not NECESSARILY true. So even if the sample is wrong, he's going to be sitting more than 12 games, so I'll ask it again, Why not those games? Soler was 8 for 34 with a .551 OPS during Ramadan last year. He was 6 for 34 on dates that end in the number 9. Those examples are intentionally ridiculous, not because the idea of Soler being bad in the cold is ridiculous(I can definitely see him being below the already low average there), but to point out that 12 games worth of PA is literally nothing, and also that when you start looking for indicators in samples that small, you have to weigh a lot of indicators. If the Cubs face Kershaw or Bumgarner on a 45 degree night, does it make sense to steer clear of Soler and set up Schwarber(or Heyward or Montero) to fail against an elite LHP? If Fowler has a gimpy ankle do we send him out there on a cold night just to shield Soler from a situation where expectations clearly shouldn't be all that high of any outfielder? Soler also didn't have a terrific season regardless of weather either, he had a .638 OPS in 92 PA in July. The team has higher expectations than his 2015 line(otherwise he won't play much at all), and expecting that improvement to only come in certain temperatures doesn't strike me as super logical. So yes, all things equal, I can entertain the idea that Soler should not play in cold weather if we can help it. The takeaway is that all things are never equal, and given the reallllly limited sample of Soler's cold weather play, it's a really small factor that has to be weighed with dozens of really small factors, like how many days in a row has Schwarber played, or what is Fowler's career line against the starting pitcher.

Soler struggled in the early cold weather months last year, but that's also a more universal problem for outfielders. http://www.hardballtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/P1-Position.png

http://i.imgur.com/tvUnO1y.png

incredible http://polo222.org/home/IL07122200004/images/marcoman.JPG

Cahill and Wood are locks in my mind, Brothers isn't. So 2 spots open, one of them almost certainly going to another LH reliever since neither Richard and Brothers are locks.

in favor of whom? The best of Edwards, Ramirez, Brothers/Richard (one of them will be the 2nd LHP), Acevedo, Riefenhouser, etc.

┻┳| ┳┻| ┻┳| ┳┻| ┻┳| ┳┻| ┻┳| ┳┻| ┻┳| ┳┻| ┻┳| ┳┻| ┻┳| ┳┻| ┻┳| ┳┻| ┻┳| ┳┻| _ ┻┳| •.•) the Bulls were never beating the Cavs last year, even if they had won game 4 ┳┻|⊂ﾉ ┻┳|

Brett Anderson out 3+ months with back surgery. This means that someone like Bolsinger or Zach Lee is going to be in the Dodgers' rotation to start the year.

I am going to make a fool of myself with how much I'll watch the Bryzzo commercial

Their mascot is the Hatters, no joke.

Russell's Minor League OPS against LHP is .893 if my math is right, against a total OPS of .897. .928 if you don't include his first season that was mostly in rookie ball anyway. Gonna need a lot more than 120 PA to be convinced that Russell is remotely needing of platooning, against opposite handed pitchers no less.

It looks like they basically landed on 'what's the most games we can suspend him without giving the Yankees another year of Chapman as a reward'.

Their situation was a bit like the White Sox, in that they had gaping holes so even non-ideal acquisitions are a big improvement. I think they'll be a bit like the Cardinals in that they'll be solid all over the diamond and throughout the rotation, but the lack of starpower keep them from being easy division winners or top of the NL. Of course, if their infield puts up 18 fWAR again I'll look stupid, but I imagine there will be some plexiglass effect for anywhere from 2 to all 4 of those guys.

lol at 96.5 wins from ZiPS, that is delightfully absurd

There are good reasons not to have Schwarber catch, but that article did not do a good job of articulating them. 'Catching is hazardous' followed by Mauer(who had some knocks but also played a ton of catcher for many years before truly breaking down) and Posey(hurt on a freak play that was legislated out of the game) is not very compelling. Even if Schwarber is not good enough defensively to catch more than a backup's share of games in a year, that flexibility is extremely valuable. Plus if he's only catching 20-40 games a year then the wear and tear argument is hard to take as an imminent threat either. Let him keep trying to catch, let his performance(and those around him like Montero and Contreras) dictate how much he catches. If he proves able to handle it full time then cross the bridge of avoiding wear and tear at that point.

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Soler Baez Ross Do you want another two infielders instead? LaStella and ?? Think we'd do better for a PH bat from an OFer. Also, one of our outfielders is going to catch sometimes. e I g h t r e l i e v e r s