biggentleben

I see it more that they believe they can Jay as a backup, but they also could have the idea to have him around as they give Almora the job.

It's Biblical, but it's not exactly the message many feel it is.

On my Facebook the last few years, I've started on the first Sunday of Advent and posted a song each day. They're primarily vocal groups, but I usually work in classics as well - Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, John Lennon's "Happy XMas", etc. I continue through Epiphany, so it's a good amount of songs to get there. I decided Tuesdays would be my "silly seasonal songs" day this year, and this was my first one: https://youtu.be/oyWiDLMe2BU

Now, getting into Whalen and Povse. I'm not as high as most on Povse because I've seen a lot of him, and the stats lie on him. He keeps it in the zone, sure, but he has the issue that most guys have at his height of repeating his mechanics. When he misses his spots in his mechanics, he drags his arm to keep the ball in the zone, but that kills any movement he has. He got lucky this season in that he seemed to have a TON of balls hit right to fielders (not to mention in AA having one of the two "outfield of no falling hits" in the Braves system). Whalen hurts. I had a great DM convo with him last night where he thanked me for the kind words over the last year and good conversation. I want guys like Whalen on the Braves. Guys who put in the time, the effort, above and beyond, to get on the field and do what they can to help the team. His entire offseason (which started last year in SEPTEMBER, not November like most) was spent working hard to be in the best physical shape of his life and to bring more to the table than just his physical tools. He talked about watching milb.tv all offseason and studying hitters. We laughed about how I scout that way, and he gave me some great player perspective on what I can catch that a scout at the game doesn't through my way of scouting and where the holes are in my scouting. Whalen is a guy whose mind is absolutely his best tool. Great work ethic, great attitude, thinking on the mound about how to attack each hitter and plotting his plan starting as soon as he's done with his previous start through video work and study on the lineup of his next opponent. He's worked with coaches on how his grips can produce different movement, effectively giving him 8 pitches to use, 2 types of fastballs, 2 variations of his curve, 2 variations of his slider, and 2 variations on his change, all based on his grip. He was also working on a pure cut fastball this offseason to add into things. Rob told me when Joseph Odom got to Mississippi, he met with Whalen and asked about what he threw. When Whalen kept going and going, Odom said, "Rob, I only have 5 fingers to put down!" I'll admit if/when I'm wrong on Whalen, but we saw with Kyle Hendricks (who honestly has lesser raw stuff than Whalen, but sequences and locates to play his stuff up well as well) how a guy with Whalen's profile can have elite-level success even in the modern game. No one's calling him Maddux, but there's plenty of room in the game for guys who know how to pitch rather than just throw, and Whalen is absolutely one of those.

I know you all were on pins and needles awaiting my reaction. There's really two levels to this trade. The first is Jackson. From a Braves perspective, I'm not exactly enthralled, though at the same time, this is the sort of deal they need to do - getting guys developed to the point of the cusp of the majors and flipping them for high-upside talent if they're not "needed" at the MLB level. Alex Jackson makes Austin Riley look like he has a quick bat. Jackson has good bat speed once his bat is in the zone, but he's had extremely long load and over-exaggerated follow through, attempting to add loft that was added since high school, when he did legit have an incredibly fast bat. He's added significant build from the time he was in high school in his legs due to his ability to do such while being in the outfield. That will be a ROUGH thing to transition to catcher. That move would likely end up a very long-term process to first get his body right, then to learn the nuances of professional catching, then get the bat at a point of being major league ready. You're not looking at seeing him before 2020 on that plan. If you're down on Braxton Davidson, you should absolutely not like Alex Jackson. Same draft class. Braxton is 6 months younger. Braxton has played two years in full season ball, finishing in high-A this year. Jackson has never made it above low-A. Braxton: .224/.344/.360, .136 ISO, .120 OBP delta, 0.39 BB/K in high A at 19 (turned 20 in June) Jackson: .243/.332/.408, .165 ISO, .089 OBP delta, 0.33 BB/K in low A at 20

Mike, while looking at some stuff on the Mariners system, I found this tid bit from three years ago on the evaluation of the Mariners J2 class. Right in it, Baseball America discusses a trainer getting convicted of sexually assaulting players.

Or buy eggnog protein powder....

Holy crap was the last episode great! I had multiple gasp moments in the show.

But they first have to find their Ferentz

Yeah, Buxton's pretty good, too.

That's basically what this was, but due to Black Friday deals, I got it for under $40 with 101 games pre-programmed. You can buy a few of the more "name" games like Donkey Kong online and add them as well. I looked into the NES, and then I found out that I can basically pay for a download of all the games on my current Wii after the first of the year, I believe it is.

Hey, I wasn't in that group, so what's that tell ya?

I got an Atari this weekend. I'm in heaven.

Gattis also got extremely good reviews on his catching this season after working hard with Astros brass to improve on his pitch calling, blocking, and pitcher management. His framing doesn't grade well, but is visibly improved, and he's got a big arm, and with his footwork taking a big step forward in 2016, if he took a similar footwork step forward in 2017, he'd be an above-average defensive catcher. I just look at it and laugh to think of McCann and Gattis paired behind the plate. I swear this has been tried before somewhere....

This is a common behavior on the showcase teams that these guys play on before getting signed, but it hasn't really hit mainstream media before. Jeff Passan was talking with a retired Angels coach who said there was similar stuff going on as hazing at the AA level among Latin players as it's been their nature as they came up, so it does still occur after they're signed at some point. It's not an indictment without fairly overwhelming backing in the people I've talked with that work and/or scout in Latin America, and quite literally, MLB (or an MLB team) has funded the defense funds for coaches that have sexually abused hundreds and possibly thousands of young boys. Once again, I'm not in favor of the draft on a wide economic theory sense, but if it means that MLB's dealings in Latin America are blown up, I'll take the draft every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

So,here's a conversation I had with a scout in talking about the Yankees system this weekend. We got onto the subject of the Rangers issue, and he has been scouting in Latin America for nearly two decades after failing as a minor leaguer from Latin America. He told me that growing up in Mexico, he followed two American sports - college football and major league baseball. He was a big fan of Penn State football, because Joe Paterno looked like his grandfather, apparently. In this country, we went ballistic on not just Joe Paterno, not just Penn State, but also the entire NCAA for not having better oversight into this horrible issue. His comparison: take Penn State, multiply by it by a factor of about 3 million over an additional 30 years compared to the Penn State scandal, and add in that not only was MLB aware of the issues, but actually in some cases provided legal defense for the trainers and coaches who had committed the abuses, and you start to get a BASELINE for the depths of the black eye MLB has in Latin America. It's such that this guy, who is an independent scout not affiliated with any team, pushed his wife to move to the US so his son wouldn't be sought out by the academies.

Yeah, not disagreeing, but Brooks had the ability to get 8-10 yards a pop in the way he runs in the first half, which at least keeps the defensive second level honest. The line simply could do nothing in the run game, which meant the second and third level had to give no credence to a fake, and that allowed them to key in purely on their coverage. Once again, that doesn't excuse the throw itself, but you can do a lot to set up a mediocre QB to have success.

Leidner had clear throwing paths all first half long. Not saying he didn't on any of the INTs, but he was scrambling from pressure nearly every drop back in the second half. That leads to much worse passing, and we all know that Leidner cannot afford any downgrade in his passing quality.

A draft in and of itself isn't going to change what's going on in Latin America, but the talks to change to a draft has started those talks, and that's the important part. Right now, that is by far the biggest black eye on the game is the lengths to which they will abuse and mistreat teenagers in order to get talent for their big league club.

So, I'm an O-lineman, and that's how I see things, no apologies to that. I watched that first half, knowing the talent on the other side of the ball, and I was very impressed by the way the Gophers o-line was playing. Then, the second half came. Help blocks were missed constant. While they couldn't get a 0-1-2 hole run going in the first half, they were having very good success with chipping and turning the interior guys to find success in the 3-4 gaps, but those chips were either missed or simply not done in the second half, and the run game went nowhere, which allowed the D-Ends to just pin their ears back and go nuts on the tackles. I think the Gophers have an extremely talented offensive line. There's a reason they hadn't given up multiple sacks in something like 2 years before today, and it's not JUST a mobile QB. However, whether it was coaching, poor play, or a combination of both, the Gophers simply did not show up as an o-line in the second half, and it cost them the game.

Tyus Jones = Savior?!

I found it interesting to read the NY Times article on the guy who tweeted the fake story about protesters being bused in for anti-Trump protests, and that it was an assumption on his part that got shared by one of his 40 followers to the right site that blew it up, and it was treated like real news because there were pictures of buses. Nevermind that the bus company that is prominently featured on the pictures told the NY Times that they were the second reporter who had actually contacted their corporate offices, in spite of contact information for media being easily accessible right on their website and their bus name being easily notable in the pictures. The photos were of buses in town for a convention, which the guy would have found out with one call before tweeting, but his excuse was that "he doesn't have time to fact check all that stuff before I post it"...

Marte's not very good for sure. Segura is incredibly talented, but he had injury and an incredible personal tragedy that really killed about a year and a half. He's a premium player for sure.

That Hrbek only won one of them is the upset here.

One of my favorite words to use.