chopsx9

Next!! Someone see if they can find Carlos Marmols contact info.

"I wouldn't trade him for anything less than a perennial All-Star, preferably an elite catcher, plus an exciting prospect. " Just to be clear you are suggesting a reasonable trade return for a player that has never made a MLB All-Star Team is a PERRENIAL All Star AND and an exciting prospect?

"We'll See." said the Zen Master. Obviously that applies to all parties involved. Hey, I have no issue with Busch but if this was Busch's best season, would it be earth shattering? Fangraphs has the Cubs projected 23rd in 1B Value in 2025 (all from Busch) - take with as many grains of salt as you like. I think the Cubs are pretty pleased with what they've seen from Busch but I think they expect him to continue to improve. The more concerning part of the trade is were the Cubs remiss in their assessment of Hope. Maybe they weren't - maybe the Dodgers were just lucky. Maybe Hope is selling Fords by 2027. I believe Ferris was assumed to be the bigger piece. I believe the feeling was that it stung a bit to give up Ferris but The (correct) feeling was that Busch could step in and man 1B right away.

Wait, Hope is a Dodgers top 10 prospect or Top 10 in ALL of Baseball? It may be a defensible trade from the Cubs prospective but it certainly is looking like a BANGER from the Dodgers perspective. Ferris looked like he at least held his own as well. The rich get richer.

D'Oh.

I'm fine with Paredes and Hayden going. Feel Smith is a little heavy but...what are you going to do. It is certainly better than some of the suggestions that had multiple top 10 prospects going + Suzuki I guess I'd prefer him going to Horton, Shaw or Cassie. Feel that Smith has the chance to be a BEAST and while Tucker is a BEAST now - will he be here in 12 months? What's the Yankees view on the Soto trade now? Exciting to see this bold of a move. In any case hopefully they can sign him. Fire it up!

Yeah...nope. Not for 1 year of Tucker. If there is some pre-trade agreement on an extension maybe. The Cubs didn't flame out in the Championship series; they're not one player away.

Hopefully he doesn't Heyward.

The Jays would certainly have an equalization pay plan that would neutralize any tax differences. The players who are fighting about their taxes are all concerning schemes - certainly presented to them by their tax lawyers/accountants - to avoid paying taxes by funneling money into specific investment vehicles that the tax authorities have called horsefeathers on. Not to say that tax situation isn't more complicated but regardless of whether they are in the US or Canada their tax situation is complicated - they have to file tax returns in each state they play in not to mention the European and Mexican games that are getting more common - so they all have teams of accountants to sort this stuff out. None of these guys are downloading Turbo Tax.

LOL Sorry yes Pat I can take or leave.

I'm the opposite; I think Coomer is excellent - I could take or leave Ron. The third guy is brutal though.

IMO I think international leagues should be designated as major or minor. I would think Nippon should be designated as a major league - not sure if any others would - and any time played in a designated major league would count towards rookie service time.

Suzuki's stats are remarkably similar to last year - he is within 10 (of whatever applicable unit) on every stat except strikeouts which increased by 30.

Maybe if we agree to take Javi back. ....and just to be clear I'd be all in!!

Where are you able to see that?

A

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WAR is a perfectly fine concept but, as with most things in life, it is peoples misuse of it that causes problems. It's a great concept BUT it's an incalculable number. Both Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus clearly state that it's an approximation. That's not my interpretation - that's not me spinning it - it's on their websites in black and white. https://library.fangraphs.com/misc/war/ "WAR is not meant to be a perfectly precise indicator of a player’s contribution, but rather an estimate of their value to date. Given the imperfections of some of the available data and the assumptions made to calculate other components, WAR works best as an approximation. A 6 WAR player might be worth between 5.0 and 7.0 WAR, but it is pretty safe to say they are at least an All-Star level player and potentially an MVP." For emphasis - A 6 WAR player might be worth between 5.0 and 7.0 WAR. There is similar language on Baseball Prospectus and any other credible organization that makes similar calculations. The problem arises when people insist that the difference between a 2.8 and 2.5 WAR season total is absolute in its meaningfulness. There was a suggestion that HOF should just be based solely on career WAR totals...but WAR is a calculation whose components and method of calculation have been tweaked repeatedly. Are we going to kick someone out of the Hall when when one of those tweaks drops them below some predetermined threshold? Will there be an Exit Ceremony? WAR is perfectly fine for what it is but too many people wield it like a straw sword in their battle to demonstrate their enlightenment over those who question it. It's a meaningful and useful...very useful stat it's just not the be all and end all and too many people choose to ignore that the organizations that calculate it bluntly tell us that.

The problem is those teams are still playing other teams in contention.

Suzuki looked like he was slowing down around third to pick up a quarter before remembering where he was.

Davey looking a little tubby.

This game is working out very well so far for me. Comfortable lead, lots of offense - Shota's 3 ernies have dropped the leader in my fantasy league to only .5 pts ahead of my team.

He, Cruz and De La Cruz are all over 6'5 - that's a potentially terrifying All Star line up at some point. Judge is 6'7 - any other 6'5+ position players currently? That's got to be some kind of record. Edit: Bryant is 6'5 , Joey Gallo 6'5.

We have a guy on our Sunday Softball team that has paid $150 2 years in a row - nobody has ever met him in person and he has never shown up for a game. The current running theory is that the team is some how a cover for an affair.