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TheLeviathan

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Everything posted by TheLeviathan

  1. It doesn't solve all your problems, but reddit streams are a beautiful way to say "screw you" to sports leagues and get to watch your favorite teams.
  2. I'm for the pitch clock. Universal DH needs to happen. There are only emotional arguments for having pitchers bat (like, "that's how it's always been", "I like it better") whereas it's an objective fact that having pitchers hit leads to terribly unathletic/non-competitive moments in games. Any arguments about "strategy" really boil down to one thing - in the NL, you try really hard not to have those moments happen. All you're strategically doing is avoiding the thing you say you want to keep around - pitchers hitting. So just do away with it. AL managers still use the hit and run and (too often) the bunt. They just use those strategies in an effort to score runs rather than desperately avoid some hack with a .150 batting average.
  3. I really want to know what the deal is with Gurley. His usage made no sense at all.
  4. The chunky milk commercial for wireless made me laugh. But yeah, I don't blame the NFL. Some games just don't turn out thrilling, if anything that's what makes me the most confident that NFL outcomes are legit. (Unlike, say, the NBA) Championship weekend was probably the best any of us will ever see, it's not shocking the Super Bowl was a step down.
  5. Brady was mostly bad too. It's like they were all hungover or half asleep.
  6. It was more bad offense than good defense for sure.
  7. I wish we had a right-handed Jake Cave.
  8. I'm not saying you are doing anything wrong spycake, but I do question the way the stat is used broadly. But best left to other threads.
  9. Seems like you laid out the problems just fine. Sure, it makes sense to incorporate it, but remember all those problems when you use the stat too. Your convictions behind the stat should reflect the flaws in the ingredients. If I bake muffins I don't get to frame them as healthy because they have blueberries as I conveniently forgot the tub of sugar i put in it too.
  10. The fact that it's impossible without it in no way weakens my point. The problem is the nature of the adjustment itself.
  11. Yup, that's sorta my point. Despite the fact that the positional adjustment sorta makes it apples and oranges (or, at the very least, weakens the comparison considerably) - the stat is still widely used that way. I understand people want it to be a good comparison tool, but really what it can be used for is a very rough approximation of value. And in the cases of WAR totals driven by defensive calculations, it becomes pretty sketchy altogether. When I said the vast majority of people use it more forcefully than it is warranted, I'm speaking about just about every time it's used on Fangraphs. MVP arguments are rarely made with the very nuances argued in that link. For example, rarely when there is a large disparity (say, 6.0 vs. 3.0) is any mention made of how much the defensive component makes up each player's total. Certainly, here on this forum with Byron Buxton, this is true but you also see it on Fangraphs. I appreciate how they try and caution the use of the stat and they do a nice job laying out the limits of it, I wish they followed those outlines more frequently to set a better example.
  12. Except, it goes beyond just being a hardliner about 3.5 vs. 3.1. It's also about people comparing a 3.5 WAR in CF to a 3.5 WAR at 2B. That isn't a particularly responsible use of the stat either. Frankly, WAR is a fairly limited stat for accurate comparisons used too broadly IMO. There are better stats for assessing value (on offense and defense separately) and it may be best if we stop pretending we have a good measurement for both offense and defense that can be compared across positions or too rigidly.
  13. I wish people understood this, but I think the vast majority of people do not employ the stat appropriately.
  14. Things change quickly in baseball though. I agree with much of what you say, but I bet there are trade targets out there more appealing than this. And if there aren't....then I'm ok holding off. I don't want the team to make moves for the sake of it either. Kiriloff and Graterol are pretty valuable chips. If I'm pushing them into the middle of the table, I want to feel really good about what I'm getting back. And, frankly, I'm pretty ok with Castro/Garver/Austidillo. That's not where I'm pushing all-in to help. There are other places we can gain more from making a splash.
  15. If the price tag is Kiriloff and Graterol, I think I'd prefer to look elsewhere. I feel like that kind of package could land a pretty damn good pitcher and I'm more interested in that anyway.
  16. Citing the Oakland A's as a bullpen strategy is curious. A quick glance at how those players were acquired indicates the Twins don't actually understand it. Trienen was a buy-low trade acquisition who had a lot of hype in the past. The Twins have no such player. Also, the Yasmani Grandal offer indicates this team has money it could spend, but is choosing not to.
  17. Let's hope he has 500+ ABs. That should be the best sign of all.
  18. Extensions do nothing for me. By and large, I'm not a fan. Maybe they'll shock me with one, but I doubt it. Long term retention does nothing for me if the team isn't willing to buy-in.
  19. This. Wait and see only tells me that you don't have much confidence and you're too reactive. I don't want a reactive front office. I guess it's better than the Ryan approach of "Bet you wondered if I still had a pulse?" GMing, but it's still a bad way to operate. Be forward-thinking and a move ahead of the results.
  20. There is an even more direct quote I believe. It's floated around here many times in the past. They do not use excess profits in future seasons. They've said so themselves.
  21. You can also "bet on the core" but supplementing them with more talent. As I'm typing this, I can't see how you think this strategy is betting on them. This is playing the middle - it's giving them a little bit of help but not over-committing because you still don't trust them. You could further help this core without replacing them. No one is suggesting you bump any of those guys out of their spot. I'm ok with Cruz and Schoop as buy low options. But Cron at 1st? He's literally the closest thing to discarded you can get for an MLB player. They could have seriously upgraded that spot. They could've added a serious starting pitcher. Or several relievers. They didn't invest in the core. They waded in halfway and decided to play it safe.
  22. The FA signings have been (justifiably) hammered a lot, but little mention has been made of this: Why not make freaking trade? There are guys available for a song (like Sonny Gray, Zack Grienke, etc.) that could help this team and you'd get tremendous value. The lack of spending exists in several aspects. Ultimately, I'm just disappointed they haven't added more to this core with the resources and options available. As the data shows, good teams build through a variety of avenues. It'd be nice if we were exploring more of them than the "Who will sign a one year deal with us at a below market price?"
  23. The key to an upside signing is that you are banking on them turning things around from a rough patch, so Pomeranz fits that. Perez hasn't done anything to show there is upside to be had in a long, long time.
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