ashbury

You probably want to change "Granite is" to "Granite was." From the article: "It incorporates age, offensive performance, defensive performance, and other characteristics from the past two seasons." I am going to stick my neck out and guess that incorporating 2018 stats into this methodology has dropped Zack's projection a little.

Brian Navarreto sure put a charge in the ball when he hit it over the Southern Green Monster late in the game.

"What was your favorite Xavier Moore moment?" Mine is that one time.

Certainly no apologies are needed, and I could be wrong. I just didn't want someone getting excited over what is possibly a reporting anomaly. Buxton was quoted elsewhere as saying he was paying particular attention to being more selective on the first pitchh, making this statistic especially strange.

Maybe someone will fill in the facts, but I think it was stated (last year?) that Gameday feeds are not with full detail in many cases, so a lot of plate appearances will look like they were of the 1-pitch variety.

Probably. Although, it's unlikely he even gets the chance to bat "all spring" with the big club. A non-roster invitee, even a highly touted one, is usually one of the early cuts, for a variety of reasons. Currently .400 is his OPS, not his BA. So this eventuality isn't especially likely to come to pass anyway. Sincerely, Captain Buzzkilliroff

Socialism? When the gubmint gets involved, I mean beyond the Antitrust Exemption to owners, I'll pay attention to the rest of your argument. This is a capitalistic negotiation between partners in an asymmetric business relationship. Somehow, you've bought the billionaires' story that the millionaires are the bad guys.

Sounds a bit rushed. How about with men on base?

Do you have corresponding growth rates for revenue, operating income, and franchise values?

Unless they can opt for free agency from the start of their careers, whatever number of years they are tied to their team amounts to guaranteed contracts (complete with opt-outs!) in the team's favor. I think it's a fair symmetry to allow players to ask for similar in return, when that time finally comes.

In 2018 across the majors, OPS with RISP was .753, while with bases empty it was only .710. I'm not saying Castro isn't clutch, just that the situation lends itself to higher production ... for at least a couple of reasons I could think of but which aren't a tangent probably worth pursuing in a thread about catchers.

Interesting reaction.

I don't believe anyone is advocating that Astudillo be the one removed from the 40-man roster, and thereby risk being lost, to make room for Marwin. However, once the 40-man is back in balance, Astudillo is one of the choices to be sent to Rochester for the start of the season, because he does have minor league options remaining. (Jake Cave likewise, also Mitch Garver if you really like Astudillo behind the plate.) Because, at that point, you again have to deal with exposing another player to waiver claims, if you try to stash someone at Rochester but they don't have any remaining minor league options - a player has 3 for his career. You might even send someone to Rochester who you like slightly better than a guy you bring north with the big club, because you can try out both if you do it that way, otherwise you are 100% committed to the one guy if you lose the other on waivers. It's an aspect of asset management by the front office. Make sense?

Minor league options matter when cutting down the 40-man list to the 25 active players who are available to play in a given regular season game. The option is exercised but the player stays on the 40-man. If your 40-man is full and you want to add someone, as is our situation here, then someone needs to be either released, or else exposed to waiver claims before they can be assigned outright to the minors, or else traded (presumably for someone not on another team's 40-man).

Churrasco silly question, chugetta silly answer.

It was a good run. Wait 'til next year.

If Marwin was a serious 4-WAR candidate we wouldn't be having this discussion. For one thing, Houston would have worked out a contract extension.

Darn. My unpaid front office internship using Out Of The Park 19 lets me down in countless little ways.

You didn't work for these guys, then.

When does the 60-Day Injured List become available again? I think it's sometime early in spring training - maybe already. That could be the solution for whom to drop from the 40-man when Marwin is added - retroactive to when the surgery occurred - defer the decision, in other words, since other injuries could arise.

If I got to know 'im, I'd expect to take away something to remember about 'im from the experience. Smart guy (Duke being academically selective), not yet very experienced, knows what the minors are like... a profile that fits a lot of people, one that gives him a chance to succeed but not a guarantee. So far, so good, from his perspective.

Yeah, those road trips to Houston and Eduardo's mysterious "visa problems" preventing him from making the flight... both from Venezuela... the pieces are starting to come together.

In basketball, you often see players who are termed "tweeners". Talented but not supremely so. A little tall to be a guard and lacking the quickness for the position or the deadly three-point range, but not quite strong enough to play forward. Or, similarly, a tall guy who lacks the muscle to play a purely inside game, but isn't quite quick enough to give the guys on the wings trouble defending him if he plays outside. Marwin Gonzalez is a tweener, in my view. Unless he has another 2017 in him. If you put him where his glove is an asset, such as LF or 1B, his bat really doesn't shine in the company of other players at those positions. If you put him where his bat is an asset, like at SS, his glove gives away about as many additional baserunners (compared to more gifted defenders) as he gains at the plate. At third base, his bat's a little light. At second base, the glove probably isn't quite what it needs to be. Houston is a hell of a team, but still there are 7 positions aside from catcher and pitcher, and Marwin (in several seasons now) never was viewed as a guy who should be penciled in to any one of them on a permanent basis. Free agency is an expensive way to acquire talent. $11M for a 2-WAR type of player is about the going rate. Marwin's a very good backup, where often the backup is a 1-WAR type. Those who suggested that signing Marwin didn't improve our ceiling very much, but did raise our floor quite it bit, are on the right track. And I think John Bonnes said it best, that Marwin is a solution to a problem that we don't know about yet. Again, if 2017 Marwin still exists, then he's not a tweener, and he needs to play every day.

Followup: ha, I brought up Eduardo Escobar's b-r.com page while checking something for the above post, and guess who shows up #2 in the Similarity Score career rankings, and #1 through age-29 seasons? Marwin. Small world. Maybe this was already been brought up?