Brock Beauchamp

Is there precedence for a 1-1 draftee not signing? What's he expect under that scenario? To go as the 0-1 selection the following year?

Wowwwwww Kansas City.

No arguments from me there. The original Hughes deal was smart management and a steal. Then they doubled down.

Yeah, I don't get the Wimmers over Tonkin thing. A new face is not the same as a better face. Wimmers' newness to MLB doesn't mean he's good. If someone wants to bitch about Chargois, have at it. But Wimmers? Nah, man.

It was the ten year term of the contract that floored me at the time. Sure, pay Pujols $30m a season for 7-8 years. That's too much money for anyone at that age but whatever, it's the going rate. But ten years? No, man, no.

Another way to put it is this: do we consider Francisco Liriano broken down because he has too many miles on his arm? Of course not. But... Francisco Liriano has pitched 600 more professional innings than Phil Hughes. So let's loop around to the original comparison in this article: CC Sabathia. Sabathia, through his age 30 season, had nearly double the MLB innings of Phil Hughes. A whopping 1150 more innings on his arm. Nearly six full seasons of additional innings by the time he was 30 years old. If you want to talk about a worn-down arm, there you have it. Phil Hughes' arm is not worn down from overuse.

My point is that Hughes hasn't pitched that many innings. There are "injury prone" guys who track not that many innings behind Hughes when adjusted for age. The "too many miles on that horse" arguments don't hold much weight when you look at Hughes' arm mileage. As for Gibson, he broke his arm while pitching in college. I believe it may have been discovered later but there were question marks about his pre-draft college pitching performance and it was due to the fractured arm.

Woof, what a terrible contract that we all saw coming a mile away.

Brett Anderson can't walk to the mound without hurting himself yet has managed to log 990 professional innings through his age 28 season. This is kinda fun.

Another example to really illustrate the innings: Kyle Gibson. Gibson broke his arm in college. He later had Tommy John surgery. He's been injured quite a bit in the majors. Gibson is basically the poster boy for not pitching innings. Through his age 28 season, he has just shy of 1000 professional innings. Through Hughes' age 28 season, he had a little over 1300 professional innings. Phil Hughes was pitching MLB games for the Yankees at the same age Gibson was drafted (and Gibson didn't pitch professionally until the following season). Jose Berrios is 22 years old. He has a little over 600 professional innings under his belt. If he pitches just 100 innings a season through his age 28 season, he'll still match Hughes in professional innings pitched.

I wasn't using Halladay as an example of longevity, only in response to the argument that Hughes has a lot of miles on his arm. He really doesn't. Another random example: Ricky Nolasco. Through his age 30 season, he had 2000 professional innings under his belt to Hughes' 1550 innings.

I think he can bunt more often than that. Ten attempts is once every 15 games. Given his speed, I think he can bunt more in the every 4-6 game range and keep defenses honest against him. That's one bunt attempt every 16-24 plate appearances.

Eh, yes and no. While Hughes has been around for awhile, he only has 1200 career IP. And he came to the majors at a very young age. Is there a significant difference between throwing MLB and MiLB innings? I'm sure there's a small difference but it's not like MiLB guys throw 2-3mph under their limit to save their arm for the bigs. I just grabbed a pitcher randomly and looked at his stats: Roy Halladay. Despite Halladay not becoming a full-time regular until age 25, he already had 1500 IP by the time he finished his age 30 season. And Halladay threw 650 MiLB innings. Hughes threw only 340. A drop in velocity is to be expected as a pitcher crosses 30 years old but an immediate 2-3mph drop due to injury cannot be predicted.

I'm two episodes from finishing Iron Fist. Thankfully, it gets better and the characters smooth out a bit. IMO, this show is a lesson about the importance of understanding your characters from the moment they appear on-screen and the importance of starting strong. The Marvel Netflix shows have lulled at some point in the middle of every series, yet we all hold them in high regard because they grabbed us from the beginning and we were committed when the shows hit bumpy patches. Iron Fist's first two episodes were horrible. Every character was scattershot and their motivations were all over the place. Even though the show pulls itself together somewhat in later episodes, that audience trust was already broken and hard to repair. Danny's first 15 minutes on-screen infuriated me. He's completely clueless and naive but smart enough to circumnavigate the globe without a penny to his name and smart enough to sneak into Rand Corp. The first half of the season is full of characters doing stupid things just to move the plot forward. It's bull**** and lazy. I went back and watched the first season of DD again just to uncover whether I was being unfair to Iron Fist. I'm not. The first few episodes of DD are wonderful, exactly how a series is supposed to start. The characters are smart but inexperienced, the dialogue is snappy and informative, and plot points move forward because they make sense, not because they're convenient. Upon seeing the script for Iron Fist, the producer should have replied "This is a fine first draft. Now do it again and this time, it needs to make sense. Move some of your later plot points to the beginning and don't piss off the audience. Get rid of the first two episodes. Everything about them."

Heheheheh, a fair and accurate analysis that isn't 100% down on the team.

Yep, another reason to love T-Mobile.

And it's hard to predict a guy will lose 3mph on his fastball at age 28.

What's the over/under on Buxton triples this season if he plays 150 games? My first thought is 12 but thinking about it more, it could be around 15. The modern record was set by Curtis Granderson with 23 in 2007. Buxton has the potential to break that record, though he'll probably have to make more contact for it to happen. Any ball to the gap has the potential to be a three-bagger with his speed.

Yep, the Democrats need to reel in their joyous celebration over Trump's misfortune (and possible criminal activity) and work on bringing moderate Republicans into the fold. Hang the far right teabaggers out to dry but coalition-build with the reasonable people across the aisle. People don't seem to realize that some of the biggest heroes of Watergate were Republicans. They joined the Dems in bringing down Nixon and if Trump committed a crime here, we need that kind of coalition again.

Yeah, I don't really understand any of it.

I was speaking primarily about Chargois. I don't really agree with the decision but I can understand why you want that guy pitching regularly in Rochester and ready to come up the moment one of the existing bullpen pieces falters. You don't know which bullpen piece will falter but you're damned near guaranteed at least one of them will stumble badly. What grates me about the Park/Vargas thing is that the Twins removed both viable DH(ish) players from Minnesota at the same time. Park playing the role of insurance policy in Rochester is fine, it protects you if/when Vargas fails... but if both of them are in Rochester, I don't see the friggin' point.

Polanco is my sleeper guy on this year's roster. He's quietly been a good player for quite some time now and I expect him to transition to MLB better than other prospects have in recent years. I'd be happy with a .730 OPS and thrilled with a .770 OPS.

I get that rosters need to be built for 30-35 guys, which is why I accept the bullpen decisions. I don't like it but I accept it. But the Park/Vargas thing really grates on me.

I'm not really sold on 17 home runs but that's a minor quibble. Those numbers look about right to me.

Terry Francona's style of bullpen management would drive me up the wall over 162 games but he's a damned fine manager. The reason he'd drive me up the wall is because it's boring baseball. It's also winning baseball but that doesn't mean it's fun to watch.