biggentleben

True, but he was claimed by one of the first teams eligible to claim him this time. He would have a good chance of being claimed by someone as a 5th outfielder/pinch runner type. The Braves needed him to be more, and he wasn't able to be that.

My point was that the Twins would have to carry him all winter and offer him arbitration in order to have him in spring training. For a team rebuilding, they should either figure out he's part of the future the rest of 2014 or let him go. It doesn't make sense to clog the 40-man. I have a feeling if they cut him loose, he'd have plenty of interest because he has a legit MLB skill on the basepaths.

If he's around in spring training, the Twins had to pay him arbitration, so I would guess the shot is August-September, and then if he doesn't do it then, he's gone.

Before the A's, he was a flyer by the Phillies. These guys sometimes don't work out as well. And Moss has flourished mostly because he doesn't play every day now. That's allowed his power to play up because his .255/.335 line wouldn't acceptable without slugging over .500.

Seth, he debuted with the Atlanta Braves and came up through the Braves system. He was part of the trade that brought Michael Bourn to Atlanta before Atlanta acquired him via waiver claim before the 2013 season. He's a CF in speed only at this point as his instincts in the field are terrible and simply have not gotten better. The only thing worse than his first step is his routes, so not exactly the guy you want to rely on for covering a spacious outfield. His best defensive asset is his arm. His speed does allow him to make up for his first step on quick shots, but on long runs, his poor routes often bite him, and he misses a ball most center fielders can make. Schafer was once a tremendous offensive prospect with good patience, okay power, and blazing speed - the prototypical leadoff guy. Then he got busted in the minors for PEDs. He's never found that patience again since his suspension, though his MLB walk percentage was good, he's often been cited for going after way too many first pitches, but that is an issue of many Braves hitters, so that may be something he's done more with Greg Walker as his hitting coach. Schafer has had an absurdly low BABIP this year, hovering around .215 last I checked, so there's some hope for improvement, but I know the Braves aren't hurt in letting him go after giving him two chances at the big league level and attempting to stand by his side during a suspension. In the clubhouse, he rides that line between cocky and arrogant, and he really irked Chipper Jones and Tim Hudson when they were around. Last season he publicly called for more playing time as BJ Upton struggled, which isn't the greatest "team guy" thing to do. All that said, he's never been mentioned as one that was causing any upheaval in the clubhouse, and the Braves have had issues with that the last few years from Uggla, McCann, and others. Not a bad chance pick up for a team like the Twins. If his BABIP bounces back, he's a .230/.300/.350 sort of hitter that will steal a ton when on base if he has the green light. Not a long term piece, but worth the nothing given up for him.

Puke.

Had one proposal to me for Kinsler straight up for Mookie, but it was retracted before I could respond. I offered a pick swap in compensation because I feel they are very similar in value - and the quote I got back was "I'm not moving Betts for someone I'm only going to get two years out of". Yep. A 32 year-old has two seasons left. Yikes.

Detroit did pay a fairly steep price in moving Jackson, Smyly, and Adames. However, the return that Seattle got total wasn't that, it was Nick Franklin instead of Jackson, and that's a drastically lower return for the Rays. I think for Price, they could have gotten much, much more.

Heard Ausmus on the ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast, and he said that there was no confirmation on the deal when the inning began. He sent out the entire team for defense not knowing what was going on. He found out when the inning had started and intended to tell Jackson when the inning was over, but the inning drug on, and he realized he had to pull him to adhere to the MLB rule that all players must be out of games before trades can be considered official. That sucks for Jackson, but it at least makes sense.

It's happened a number of times mid-game. It was odd to see Jackson pulled mid-inning, though. Often they simply wait until the player returns to the dugout and then inform him, but this could have also been an attempt by Ausmus to get Jackson a well-deserved round of applause from Tigers fans for his contributions to multiple WS teams.

That was very frustrating for me last year with Brian McCann, and he's continued the same thing in New York this year. A smart hitter will never have a problem with the shift. Even if you're a pull hitter at your best, you lay down just enough bunts and/or squib hits to the opposite field to keep the defense honest. Williams was smart enough to change his swing, per his report, when he saw he was being shifted against, and simply hit it over the shift, attacking with line drives over the head of defenders. My great grandma was a huge baseball nut, and she once told me that Ted Williams would have beat Babe Ruth before Hank Aaron did if he wouldn't have fought in the wars and if he didn't change his swing for the shift. She told me once that Williams could have hit 700 and .400 if he wouldn't have changed his swing for the shift. As amazing as he was, she said he was even better before those adjustments (made just before he left for Korea, per her report).

David Ortiz should be illegal?

I believe Arizona has the highest pitching duo, so I'm going to guess them, especially since they have some 200+ years of Mark Reynolds.

Or El Oso Blanco, aka Evan Gattis

I hope baseball is paying attention to the indy league that Pat Gillick (sp?) is part-owner of. They are going toward speeding of the game, and a big part of their strategy is a pitch clock. They're also going to limit the number of catcher visits to the mound per inning, among a few other things to help speed up the game.

Okay, was just curious! Thanks for all your hard work, Brock. Very impressed by the whole layout!

No, I'm not in favor of it. The shift has been around for over a century. It comes and goes in waves over the history of the game, and each time, someone figures out a way to beat it, everyone starts doing that, and the shift goes away for a while again. The shift should be outlawed just as quickly as the knuckleball and hockey-style catcher's masks should be, which is to say never.

So were all warning points removed? I still seem to have a 7-month old one...

Maddux could tell some great stories. He's known for his locker room hijinks, including infamously walking up to rookies and chatting them up while urinating on them in the shower. It's a really fun weekend for me. A lot of my teen years were spent cheering on half of the class going in Sunday, and that's pretty cool.

Absolutely. If I don't get solid value for guys like Ruiz or Kinsler, I'll just keep plugging them into the lineup and enjoying solid production year-in and year-out until they hang up the cleats. I went through a rebuild on another squad that was perennially in the middle of the pack in another dynasty league, and turned Mauer, Beltran, Pedroia, Beltre, Shields, Garza, D.Robertson, and Jansen into Wilson Ramos, Lucas Sims, Jose Peraza, Mike Foltynewicz, Josh Donaldson, Lucas Giolito, Domingo Santana, Jurickson Profar, Jameson Taillon, 3 other 150-200ish prospects, and 7 additional draft picks in 2015/2016. It was a good swing in the organization, but I'm noticing that there's almost no way to do something like that in this league.

It's entirely based on process. According to the reports I've seen on the grievance, players names were not mentioned at all, just the process utilized.

A-Rod is definitely the two-time guy. That one I'm certain of. Looked it up to be sure.

I've put up Kinsler multiple times, but no bites yet. At least no bites other than someone offering waiver fodder for him. That's not going to work. At least offer me a prospect if you know I'm looking to tear down and rebuild.

Yep. Basically a PR thing for Clark, and it will surprise me if they really are willing to make a stand in CBA negotiations on this issue or a medical combine.

The union doesn't represent drafted players, so they cannot file anything on their behalf. Even if they signed, the MLBPA doesn't represent them until they're in the major leagues the way the current CBA is drawn up. This smells of Tony Clark trying to get good PR for the MLBPA in spite of their own greed putting these players in this situation.