Jack Parkman

No, they all suck because they're not Lindor and Jose Ramirez. Two examples of middle infielders who can both field their position and hit. I realize that players like Lindor and Jose Ramirez don't exactly grow on trees, but that doesn't mean you don't stop looking. If you think that your boss isn't looking for someone who could do your job better and cheaper than you, then you're lying to yourself.

Defense matters. Positions don't. Relief pitchers have a different job than starters. That is how I look at it. What is their job during a baseball game? Starters job is to pitch 5-7 innings and get outs. Relief pitchers job is to pitch to 1-3 batters and get them out. Similar, but different.

No being able to athletically play a defensive position matters. It doesn't change the fact that most players who play MI/C suck offensively. It has been that way for years and probably always will be that way. I get it. It doesn't mean you don't keep trying to find one that doesn't suck offensively.

because I use all hitters at all positions as a baseline. Most catchers and middle infielders suck offensively. Most are there as placeholders, until someone is found that is better. It is one of my gripes about the Baseball HOF. Players shouldn't get in because they were great for their position, they should get in because they were great among ALL positions. It shouldn't matter what position they played, the standards should be the same. So what if you played catcher or middle infield? You want to be a HOF hitter? Hit like one. To me, there are 3 categories for baseball: Position Player, Starting Pitcher, and relief pitcher. I don't buy the QB/WR argument in football. Their jobs on the field are completely different. The job between a SS, 1B, and OF are exactly the same. Hit the ball and catch the ball. If you can't hit the ball that well, you damn better be among THE VERY BEST at catching the ball. Otherwise, you're not good enough. IMO, .265/.330/.770 is roughly average across all positions. I use this as a baseline.

Nope. If you actually look at aging curves, on average, a hitter is at their peak when they're first called up from the minors, and they get worse from there. Exceptions exist for players that struggle to figure it out, and do eventually, but they usually never exceed that first breakout season. Hitters, once they get to the Majors, generally don't get better. They get worse. https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/hitters-no-longer-peak-only-decline/

That's a really good comp for Rutherford. If he becomes like Yelich that would be a huge win.

This is incorrect. The tiebreaker is the previous season's standings. Detroit picks before the Sox if they end tied.

No, I was talking about Dunning, and that was when the reports were that he was sitting at 90-91. We now know that he was having elbow issues, which explains a lot. It's really hard to be successful as a RHP at that velo these days. I've seen reports that when healthy, Dunning sits in the 93-94 range and tops out at 96 which is fine.

JD Martinez is probably the best comp for Eloy, both offensively and defensively. He should be passable as an OF until his late 20s, after which he shifts to DH.

I created this thread because my discussion about Anderson's OBP/OPS sucking kinda hijacked the Giolito thread. Hopefully everything gets moved here. To sum up my thoughts: Anderson's OBP and OPS, while league average for a SS, still suck. That doesn't make him good, it means the league average SS sucks as well. I think that Anderson is fine as a 9 hitter until they can find someone better. That may or may not happen. If it does, and Anderson is still under contract, he should become a super sub(2B/SS/3B/OF) for 130 games/ season.

Yes. I think we need to split this thread into the Anderson OBP Thread, and the Giolito thread. Surprised it hasn't been done yet. I'm going to create a new thread.

There are A LOT of really good young SS in the bigs right now. Anderson is nowhere near one of them.

Because both a .291 OBP and A .709 OPS still suck, even if they're not historically bad.

OPS is the simple math of OBP plus slugging %. Yes, the combination of XBH and OBP typically score more runs. OPS and OBP have the strongest correlation with run scoring. OBP is part of OPS, so I don't know what you're looking for. What's Anderson's OPS? .710? That still isn't good. EDIT: Anderson's OPS is .709. Not good.

No Shit Sherlock. There is a stronger correlation with run scoring for OPS and OBP than any other stat. Typically, the teams that have the highest OPS/OBP score the most runs. Teams that get on base and get the most XBH, score the most runs. All of the other stats don't correlate as well as OPS/OBP.

OBP is the heart of offense. The goal, as a hitter is, you know, not to make an out.

Was reading Kiley McDaniel's chat today and fangraphs STILL thinks Cease is a reliever. Their stance on both Cease and Medeiros is baffling.

Actually, the hard cap is something the union should want at this point, as long as it comes with a hard floor. A de facto hard cap with no floor is a dream scenario for ownership. As long as they get a floor that is 60-70% of the hard cap, staying where the luxury tax is in 2021, it would actually be a win for the players because the mid-tier FA are getting squeezed currently on salaries. This would ensure that the mid-tier FA get paid for their time. There almost has to be a strike at this point, because the players got bent over on the last CBA and ownership has everything they want other than an international draft. That is the only leverage the players have. Be prepared for 1994 to repeat itself in 2021. It's going to suck. The players should be prepared to give up the international draft in exchange for a cap and floor system and increased salary for minor leaguers and pre-arb players.

I really hope they bring him up for tomorrow's game vs. the Sawx. I'm going Sunday and would love to see him play. I agree with both of these statements. The CBA in 2021 is a huge wild card that nobody is talking about. Bring up Eloy now, deal with it later.

Please Oakland, panic and take him off our hands. Pretty Please.

+1. The Tank is over. That said, I'd like for the Sox to start going for high upside HS talent starting in 2020. The upper levels are full of prospects, they should start looking for guys that could help fill in spots and be trade chips 2-4 seasons down the road. This season, I'd like them to target some LHP with the ability to start. They're pretty thin there. Medeiros/Pilkington is a good start, but they could do better.

It could be a hell of a scouting job by Sox brass. It wouldn't surprise me if Medeiros started to sneak into the back end of the T100 midseason 2019.

Yup. He's been unlucky on BABIP recently as well. As it normalizes, he should start to go on a tear. Every time he hits a ball hard it seems to go right to a defender.

He has learned how to get wicked movement on the four seamer as well. Look at that swinging strikeout he got a start or two ago where he threw a 4 seamer at 94 mph to a LHB that ended up the RH Batter's box and they swung one of those half hearted swings that you love to see.

I don't think he stinks per se, I think his on base skills are dreadful. He's useful in other ways, his power/speed combo is awesome, he plays good defense. I just think his OBP is so bad that he should be a 130 game super sub rather than an everyday player. For the time being, he's fine as a 8-9 hitter on a contending team. He's Alexei Ramirez with a worse OBP. Ramirez's OBP was on the "Mendoza line of OBP" that I created of .300. If .200 is the Mendoza line for BA, we need to find some punch and judy hitter with a .300 career OBP and make it his line. If they could teach him to play 3B and OF then he'd fill the super sub role perfectly.