Brock Beauchamp

Yeah, no single miss hurts. But when combined... Just missing on both Jay and Stewart stings. And then there's all those other picks.

Heh, I did a search on some of my De Leon posts from last offseason. Here are a few: "I think De Leon's performance in 2017 very much matters, as he's entering his age 24 season and will likely spend most or all of 2017 on an MLB roster. To put it differently, does Jose Berrios' 2017 matter? Of course it does, and Berrios is a full two years younger than De Leon. If either player stumbles badly in 2017, does it mean their career is over? No, definitely not... But if a 24 year old pitching prospect posts 100+ really bad innings, that prospect's future is rightly called into question. As for Dozier, his 2017 performance isn't about drawing fans (well, probably not, anyway), it's about establishing future value. Another 5 WAR season out of Dozier and we'll no longer be squabbling whether he's the 7th or 9th best second baseman in the game, we'll be arguing whether he's the 2nd or 3rd best second baseman in the game. The only knock on Dozier right now is that he's coming off a career year. If he storms out out of the gate in 2017, that's no longer in question and no one will be able to deny he's one of the best middle infielders in all of baseball. And that means Dozier is worth a hell of a lot, even if he's down to 1.5 years of controlled service time." "That's why I added "Final judgment on De Leon will take time." at the end of the statement. But a bad start to his career at 24 years old drops his stock and it drops it a lot. De Leon is somewhat old-ish for a top 50 pitching prospect graduating to MLB. http://www.baseballa...hjziGkwLKoQD.97 On BA's preseason prospect list from last season, only three prospects in the top 50 were 24 years or older. Seven in the top 100 were 24 years or older. Plenty of people have questions about Berrios because he pitched 55-ish bad innings as a 22 year old." "One thing I think we all can (or at least should) agree on: This is the first test of Falvey and Levine. The trade, for good or bad, did not happen. Now we get to see if they were right or wrong. - If Dozier is a 5 WAR player in 2017 (or on his way at the break), Falvey was right. - If De Leon is a negative WAR player in 2017 or back in the minors, Falvey was (likely) right. Final judgment on De Leon will take time. - If Dozier is a .700 OPS player in 2017 (or on his way at the break), Falvey was wrong. - If De Leon is a 4 WAR player in 2017, Falvey was wrong. Of course, there are combinations that muddy the situation (a good/good or bad/bad outcome) but overall, the scouting and decision-making acumen of Falvey and Levine should make themselves apparent in relatively short order. That will not definitively declare whether they're awesome or terrible at their jobs but they'll be the first real indications of what to expect in coming years."

So you're advocating the Twins trade away a guy they paid $1.2m per win in 2017 (!!!!!!) so they could take an oft-injured pitcher in a lopsided deal. Wow.

I'd like to hire you for a job. I'll pay you $1,000 a year. I bet you haven't gotten another job offer today. This is the best offer you've received, you should take it.

I think this is kind of picking nits, Parker. While some overrate Dozier's defensive value, it should also be noted that he played more innings than a couple of the guys who were in the negative but "above" Brian in those listings. When we're talking the difference of 1-2 runs over the course of 1300 innings, whether a guy finishes with -1.3 or -0.6 doesn't really matter (even more so when the lower player put in more innings at the position). Overall, I think Dozier falls into the nebulous area of "average". Sure, he was slightly lower than Joe Panik in UZR but also played 120 more innings. He was slightly below Hernandez and Lowrie in DRS but played up to 220 more innings of defense to get that lower rating. I think too much attention is given to the exact placement of a player and whether the number is negative or positive. A 3 run swing in DRS or a 2 run swing in UZR doesn't really amount to much in a full season. It should also be noted that Dozier's overall Fangraphs' Def rating was slightly in the positive (0.9).

I think it’s wrong-headed to believe the closer is the top of the bullpen pecking order in the first place. I hope the front office feels the same way. Find a good reliever for the ninth but he shouldn’t be the best reliever in the pen.

I still maintain that your closer should be your third best reliever so no, I don’t believe the Twins need a “dominant” closer.

You always try to find the next Arrieta but that doesn't impact you acquiring more reliable, above-average players. Searching for the next Arrieta is a side job, one every GM should spend a little time working on every offseason.

As I've said what seems to be a thousand times, every pitching prospect is a risk. Some are so risky that you just stay away and it appears De Leon is one of those guys, particularly if you have to give up one of the best second basemen in the game to get him. I'm not sure if you're trying to argue the Twins should have agreed to the De Leon deal here... but in hindsight (though for reasons many of us pointed out), it was the correct non-move and that shouldn't even be up for discussion. The guy didn't even cross 50 innings this season. Without Dozier, the Twins likely finish under .500 on the season. And given how De Leon would have contributed absolutely nothing, I'll take that 85 win season every time, thanks.

So you give up a borderline elite player for a hope and a prayer? There are more reliable pitching prospects out there, go find one of those. It's not as if the Twins were getting De Leon for fifty cents on the dollar. They were asked to pay a premium price and it appears they made the right decision.

Neither is Dozier's.

To frame it differently: At this point, what's the difference between De Leon and Alex Meyer? And while I wasn't a big fan of the Meyer trade, he was almost an afterthought in the system when he was traded because he had crossed age 25 and couldn't pitch more than 130 innings a season. Talent only matters if you're on the field and an oft-injured stellar player can actually be a detriment to a team if his replacement is way below average (which is usually the case with starting pitchers).

Yes, this. As I said at the time of the trade discussions, maybe De Leon isn't an injury risk... or maybe he is. But he gets a knock for never pitching more than 115 innings in a season and this season was even worse. If he was in the Twins org right now, people would be screaming bloody murder, and rightly so. All pitching prospects are questions marks. Pitching prospects who have barely crossed a half season of MLB innings at age 25, even moreso. Remember that De Leon is one year older than Berrios except the Minnesota Jose has pitched more than 115 innings four times in his career (and came close a fifth year).

How I feel about this is very complex. I'll just leave it at that.

While it's possible Grossman needed work with routes, what's more likely is that his 2016 was simply inexplicably bad. His 2017 numbers align with his pre-2016 numbers: mostly meh, maybe a touch on the subpar side. But if you look at the statcast data posted, what killed Grossman last season was the strange botching of 1- and 2-star plays on a regular basis.

Except for the part where Ortiz was better in the minors and had a breakout season at age 26, sure.

Putting Jose into the second inning of a postseason tie game is a good way to see how many Yankees fans in the 18th row you can kill with a 103mph fastball.

I disagree. Put him out there for one, maybe two, batters. Let him catch his breath and see if the yips are gone.

Seriously, everybody, I’m on the verge of tears.

THIS ISN’T ****ING HAPPENING OH MY GOD I MIGHT DIE

OH MY ****ING GOD I’M GOING TO HAVE A CARDIAC ARREST

One beer for each Yankee batter through three innings. You may want to run to the store.

I assume no one is posting in this thread because everyone is currently throwing up in their toilet.

I’m twitchy and slightly nauseous. It’s official. Postseason baseball is back in Minnesota.

Due an hour ago, I believe.