turnin' two

The fascination with Cubs here is insane. Betts is way better. He could play 2B or OF. Pretty much every other guy there is a better OF than Bryant. And his contract status is among the worst on the list. Or you could take Arenado and play him at third, or Matt Chapman. Bryant is a tremendous player, but not among the top 10 guys I'd take. For the record, I voted Trout. I have no idea why you wouldn't want the best player in the game. Why would you intentionally chose someone, when you know there is a superior player available. BPA right?

I don't understand why anyone would expect the Sox to sign Cole. Yeah, he would fit the team and fill a need. But in my opinion, he is about as unlikely a signing as there could possibly be.

Neither am I, I'm just saying that it isn't surprising that a guy that hasn't delivered on results is dropping in rankings.

He just hasn't hit enough. Obviously the tools are there, but he just hasn't hit enough. Simple as that. The tools only carry you so far. He is advanced and old enough where the results matter.

Why do people always want to take on the cubs shitty problematic players? Russell? Heyward? I'd rather literally give players away than get those 2 back.

They'll have plenty of guys that can hit homers. All Madrigal has to do is hit and hit and hit and hit. And play defense, and steal bases.

Absolutely. He even has hit for the average you'd want. All he needed was the power, I was skeptical, especially for the Barons, but he has been great the last 2 months or so.

Sure hope so. His power surge is so encouraging. Especially in the barren offensive wasteland that is Birmingham.

Sorry. I meant the Shields thing as a joke, and the dude part was wonder at Luis Robert. It wasn't meant as a shot at you in anyway.

You tell that to Palka.

Like Shields? Holy crap, this dude...

Well, yeah. Moncada is looking like a star, and Eloy could be a monster. But even with those guys progressing, Abreu could still be a dangerous part of the lineup in 2-3 years. A bat like his, even diminished a bit for age, would be a heck of a hitter hitting 5th or 6th.

The way I look at Abreu, is first, I think he is a perfect mentor for the younger players on the team, chew notwithstanding. He is a professional hitter. Works every AB. He seems to be very professional in the way he carries himself and how he approaches his business. He is consistent and reliable. He seems to work hard. He hits. He hits good pitching. He is an XBH machine. But let's leave that aside. It doesn't matter for the analytics. The question that needs is does Jose Abreu make this a better team. I think the answer to that is clearly yes. With Anderson, Moncada and Eloy, Abreu is the best hitter on the team. The most dangerous hitter on the team. He is the anchor in the middle of the lineup. I think he clearly makes this team better. The second question, is does keeping him around make the team better? I think yes. Now, obviously there are some caveats here. First of all, the question becomes with whom would they replace him. There doesn't seem to be an in house option at the ready for next season, and maybe the season after. When you look at the list of FAs for next season, I don't think there is anyone close to as good as Jose at 1B. In terms of a DH, there could be JD, but he is really the only clearly superior option. Guys like Cruz and Encarnacion are there, but if people have am issue with Abreu's age, those guys are dinosaurs. I think the team would be better in 2020, with Jose Abreu. Especially if they plan on contending, which I think they can, it would be a huge risk to replace Jose with someone like Sheets. The FA list for 20/21 is equally uninspiring. For the most part the names there are older and worse than Jose. But, by 2021, maybe guys like Sheets and Vaughn are ready to contribute. The good news, is the Sox should have 2 spots in the lineup for Jose, 1B and DH. Now there could be other extenuating circumstances, but I think for the most part, this team looks better this year, next year, and the year after with Abreu in the lineup. He certainly fits for the next 2 years. And if the price of keeping him for 2 is signing him for 3, then I take that. If it is 4 years, I think that still makes sense. Abreu will decline with age. That is certain. But he doesn't look like he is going to Ryan Howard and completely fall off a cliff. But I see this as a better team with Jose than they are without him. Now and for the next couple of seasons.

Dude. Cmon. He had irregular ABs. And 22 of them. He is also 24 and was in his first taste of MLB baseball and didn't get a chance to get in a rhythm at all. This is completely bonkers.

On the topic of Reed, I don't see much difference between him and Palka other than it is trying someone else with basically the same profile, with out the smidge of MLB success that Palka has had.

I seem to remember that Dam couldn't help but to say Madrigal was Altuve at every point leading up to the draft.

See, this take confuses me a bit. Eloy's value is entirely his bat. Just like Vaughn's. Robert and Moncada can both provide huge value with the glove and their legs. Eloy is a bat. Vaughn is a bat. In my eyes, at least, there isn't much difference between what a lumbering 1B can provide, and the value a lumbering LF can provide. Even if Eloy becomes a good fielder, it is hard for a LF to provide that much excess value. He'd have to be Alex Gordon.

Yeah, he walks more and K's less. He is also 1 year and a half older and played 3 years of big time NCAA baseball, so... he should really BB more and K less right? You're right that Walker is improving, and his numbers right now are incomplete and SSS. I didn't write that, because I thought it was inherent to the conversation. Rutherford had a terrible start and maybe it was due to bad luck. He is hot right now and maybe that is good luck. So, he is normalizing. In a terrible hitter's park. In a league that is a very challenging jump from A ball. That doesn't seem all bad.

Yeah, it is unlikely. But the point is, if he mashes, he can certainly be one of the best players in the game. Matt Carpenter was a 5 WAR player last season. Max Muncy was over 4, and he had negative defensive value. Vaughn's bat seems like it pretty highly regarded. If he hits like people think he can hit, his position won't matter at all. Heck, Pete Alonso is at 4 WAR right now. Who wouldn't love to have him in the middle of your lineup. Does anyone care that he is a butcher in the field?

So based on this comment, is it your opinion that none of Frank Thomas, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols or Paul Goldschmidt were ever top 15 players because they were limited by position/athleticism?

I think it is easy for people to forget this and perhaps be a bit worn out on Rutherford. Rutherford's OPS was higher in WS last year, than what Walker has put up this year. WIth that said, they are very close. Like .005 close. But Rutherford turned 21 while he was at WS, and Walker will turn 23 this month. They seem to be similar types of hitters with similar types of production but Rutherford is younger and more advanced. Hopefully his recent surge is a sign that he has adjusted to the AA crucible. Hopefully Walker gets there soon and continues to hit.

Good grief. You kill joys are no fun and too serious.

In the sense that he had 2 great starts against the cubs. ? Nothing more. Thought that would have been obvious today!

Without fail I have been critical of the move, but at this point I have to say it. The Nova acquisition was absolutely worth it.

Over the last 10 years, the AL Central has had the AL team in the World Series 4 of those 10 series.