Cap'n Piranha

Given that the Angels have exactly as many MLB playoff wins in the Trout era as my beer league softball team, perhaps it is right to consider handing him record-setting deals inefficient.

For the life of me, I'll never understand why 70-80% of April games aren't played in Tampa, Toronto, Anaheim, Oakland, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. That's 13 teams with either a controlled environment, or lower chances of inclement weather.

Teams not trying don't spend $26M on Nelson Cruz and Marwin Gonzalez. I'm not saying Falvey is "going for it", but they clearly want to be at least competitive this year. Teams not trying can't say the same thing.

Except that if that data turns out to be less outlier, and more harbinger, and the NL decides against going to the DH, defense becomes a very important part of the picture for Mr. Harper. He's already not an option in center, so he has nowhere else to go except first.

I'm not fluent in Nationals moves, but are any of those moves possible because Harper turned down their offer? If so, in a way, they did go up by losing Harper.

Because the entertainers have entered into a contract with an employer wherein they are compensated for their time, but have no other investment obligation. Therefore, since the entertainers have not entered any of their money into the operation, it remains the money of the operator. If the players wanted to own their own teams, or instead of signing contracts for set dollar amounts, opted for a percent of revenue/profit, then it could be considered their money.

There is no one solution to the economic issues facing baseball, but there are a number of individual solutions that could help. In no particular order; Teams must spend 75% of proprietary revenue as a salary floor, else face a 10 to 1 fine for every dollar under that level, while also being ineligible for revenue sharing. Revenue sharing will be made available to any team in the bottom 15 of proprietary revenue A hard salary cap is instituted, with teams not allowed to exceed it for any reason. This will narrow the gap between the top and bottom of the league, meaning more teams have a realistic chance to make the playoffs, providing the incentive to improve Add 2 more teams to the league (Las Vegas, Charlotte, Nashville, New Orleans, Montreal, Vancouver are all possibilities), which provides more demand for players, meaning teams will need to pay more to get them, as well as eliminating the need for permanent interleague play Expand the playoffs to 8 teams from each league, with no play-in games. First round series are best of 3, second round is best of 5, and LC's and WS are best of 7. It creates more revenue, more division races, and more incentive to be competitive All players become restricted free agents 6 years after being drafted (4 if from college), and unrestricted free agents 8 years after being drafted (6 if from college). International players hit RFA after 8 years, and UFA after 10 years. Arbitration starts after 4 years for HS draftees, 3 years for college, and 7 years for internationals The year in which a player is signed/drafted does not count as a year. If a player is injured and undergoes surgery, his "clock stops" and he loses one year of service time. If the player is hurt, elects against surgery, but after rehabilitation needs surgery, he loses one year of service time, plus another year if he misses more than 50% of a second season The prior two rules would incentivize teams to bring players up when they think they're ready--no more service time games. Minor league pay would further be set at 10% of the rookie minimum for short season leagues, 20% for A/A+, 35% for AA, and 50% for AAAI'm sure there are more that could be implemented, but I'd love to have a debate on the perceived efficacy of these rules.

If this season is viewed through a two year lens—that is, how many games should a team win if two years ago it only won 59–78 seems like a very realistic number. The question is whether last year’s win total was a fluke, or this year’s was suppressed by injuries.

Based on those quotations, it seems like Mr. DeJong likes himself some Chase.

I don’t get the Grossman disdain. He is not replacement level—he has .9 WAR this year and a 109 wRC. He’s certainly not a star, but it’s not his fault the Twins try to use him for more than they should. Let him start a couple of games at DH, maybe one in the outfield every week, and bat him in the lower third, and he’s perfectly acceptable.

I like Grossman a lot—as a bench/platoon hitter for a team with a stacked lineup. He’s not so great if you’re relying on him to be an every day kind of guy. But then, that’s not on him, that’s on the organization for not using him properly.

I don’t understand having an opener go more than one inning. If the theory behind the opener is to have him pitch to batters 1-3 (or 4) in the first inning, allowing the primary to begin his day with 4 or 5, and thus start his third time through the order with batter 4 or 5, getting two innings from an opener defeats this purpose. Since most pitchers have whips over 1, statistically speaking, if the opener goes two innings, the primary will start with batters 9,1, and 2, therefore negating most of the supposed benefit of the opener.

Keep losing, and get some better draft picks (translation; more slot money). Can Belisle be the opener for primary pitcher Gimenez?

Chief is absolutely correct. You know what else is factual and incontrovertible? Byron Buxton can’t hit major league pitching. Clearly, we should leave him in AAA until his options are exhausted, and then some team can take him in the rule v draft, if there is a team out there foolish enough to ignore the factual and incontrovertible evidence.

It’s baseball. Everyone knows, and has known for years, that teams with sub-.500 records and double digit deficits in the standings move players come the end of July and August. Players who don’t want that to happen to their team should ensure the team isn’t in that position.

Will some of the newcomers be added to the top 20 rundown at some point?

I think Falvine was convinced that if they extended a QO, Dozier would take it—if it’s 18M, he’d be crazy to turn it down. Therefore, this is the only chance to get anything for him. I also think that with some of the moves other teams have made, the Dodgers may have been the last game in town, so they took what they could get and called it a day.

Gotta give credit to Falvine for committing. Now get Rodney done.

Zack Duke would have been a hindrance to this team had he remained in the roster for the final two months. He blocks Moya/Busenitz/Reed/Curtiss/Bard, so I would gladly have given him up for nothing. In that sense, it doesn’t matter whether De Jong or Castello ever do anything in the majors. And while international money is fine, that’s no guarantee either—Amaurys Minier, anyone?

The good news is that since Belisle only three two pitches, he’s available for tomorrow!

If we are selling, and thereby giving up on the season, there’s definitely not point to let Belisle have a kid’s roster spot, right? Right?

Maine was made a state in 1820 in order to keep the balance in the senate between free and slave states, due to the impending statehood of Missouri.

Garver in his last 30 games has an OPS of .932; that’s great for anyone, let alone a catcher. The problem is, those 30 games comprise only 80 at bats, which suggests he’s only actually started 20 games, and pinch hit in the other 10. Those 30 games start on June 7, a total of 42 Twins games. In those 42 games, the Twins are 21-21; how many more wins would the Twins have if they had Garver’s elite production for more of those games, instead of Wilson’s .475 OPS?

First comment is not meaningless, it refers to the reduced margin of error for college first basemen. Every player in the majors was (barring a stacked HS team) the best, most athletic player in their high school team, and probably played shortstop. College first basemen aren’t at first because they’re not athletic, it’s because everyone else is more athletic already. That only intesifies once they hit the majors, so if they’re coming in with no lesser defensive position as a fallback, they HAVE to hit. Think about Buxton. Even with his offensive struggles, when healthy his floor is defensive specialist fourth outfielder/pinch runner—he’ll be on a roster. Now imagine he’s not fast enough or athletic enough to play anywhere but first base; Buxton struggles to stick in AAA, let alone MLB. That’s the problem with drafting a college first basemen; you better be convinced they are a future above average MLB hitter, otherwise it’s a completely wasted pick.

WCCO still has Buxton intros coming back from commercial breaks. Seems weird.