Dominikk85

Narvaez is a decent hitter for his position (although last year isn't his true talent level) but it seems the Sox don't believe in his defense enough to at least make him a backup. Framing is king in these days and if the team thinks you can't help the pitchers behind the plate you are gone quickly.

I could see Vaughn falling to 10-12 if he "only" hits 320 instead of 400 but not much lower. To hold the top5 he needs to repeat last year.

Fangraphs still has Vaughn at 6 https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2019-mlb-draft?type=0&team=

Yes. According to fangraphs one 60fv (top10 overall) is worth 2 50s (50-100 on top100) or about 10 45s (org 8-15). You would need 20 40s (worth 3m) to match one 60 in projected dollar value. That is why the quantity packages that fans love to suggest usually don't work to get a top target, teams want the top prospect rather than big quantity.

Thomas was a better hitter by a little bit due to the walks comparing their prime but don't forget that young Pujols was a great defender and base runner. Pujols would get 2-3 war from defense and base running compared to the average 1b. Thomas on the other hand was really bad in the field which is why he topped out at 7 war and Pujols at 10.

I think his true talent is hitting around 260-270 with around 15 Homers.

Yeah, I wonder why they didn't try some stuff in the rebuild like the rays did with the opener. The six seem to be rather conservative and only follow trends if they are sure that it will work and others do it already.

You can't keep him on the 40 really as he is nowhere ready. Problem is that last year even his control - supposedly his strength wasn't good with 4 bb/9 which is essentially the same as cease and kopech last year with the difference that they have stuff and don't need command like Kershaw to make it work while clarkin needs to walks less than 2 to be a big league option even as a spot starter/rescue relief innings eater. Now clarkin probably still has better command than kopech and part of the walks was him avoiding the zone and trying to get batters to chase but this is because his over the plate stuff gets shelled and he has to live essentially on the "black". Against big league hitters that will be worse even because they will just wait for him to throw over the plate and crush it. Now if he really developes 70 command he could be a mediocre back end innings eater but he isn't there yet.

Don't quite get it. Winter ball makes sense if you miss two months with injury to get a few more reps. I think eloy was on the dl last year but it only was a short stint and he did have 500 PAs. He doesn't need the extra rest.

podcast https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2019-white-sox-top-mlb-prospects-podcast/ They explain the ranking. They comped eloy to be jd Martinez (offensively and defensively). Put walker in the top10 due to amateur record and said he had an oblique strain at the end of his amateur career which might have caused him not hitting at all in the pro debut.

The only thing that could turn it into a playoff team is 3-4 young guys taking a big step forward and several rookies making an immediate impact. Not impossible but unlikely.

Good Move by the braves who have a top30 prospect waiting in Austin riley but probably not quite ready.

Cleveland could use Avi. He still is projected for a 106 wrc+ and 1.5 WAR next year. Eat half the money and get an ok prospect back.

Nice, thanks

Btw you have to expect to make considerably less than in normal business if you do coding in baseball. Teams are abusing that many want to do it just to work in pro sports.

Maybe the I want to stay at short thing was to get a better contract. In the end his defense became a little better because the Dodgers positioned him better. Still this could of course be a red flag as the Dodgers great analytics crew might have hidden his lack of range a little. But I could see him being ok to stay at third once he has the big contract in his pocket. Could be wrong of course.

Btw I don't see a fit here. Sox are not a real contender unless something braves happens and several rookies have 3 plus war seasons and others overperform and at some point Cruz is going to decline. Cruz value is that he likely still mashes in 2019. Btw I don't think Cruz is wanting to do that either, this is likely his final two years of play and he wants to make money but also probably play some playoffs. He probably would much rather play for the Astros or so who are bad at 1b/DH and could need him.

The upside is he has a good April and May and then gets traded for a decent prospect. Apparently the Astros were offering a real prospect until they knew his physical condition. Yeah he costs 10m but it only is a year and even if the sox somehow manage to sign machado for 35m per year their 2019 payroll will be barely over 100m for 2019 so it is not they need financial flexibility for 2019. Play him 2019, hope he bounces back so you get a good 45 fv prospect for him and if not you can still release him in late may to make room for eloy when he comes up.

Also the union doesn't like players giving hometown discounts. The other players don't look favorably at you if you don't take the highest bid because you hurt the market (the same happens among owners, if an owner decided to pay minor leaguers better the other owners would hate him). Of course they don't burn you at stake but there is a pressure to take the highest you can get because the players already feel getting ripped off and nobody wants to give away even more ground to the owners for no reason. So if machado signed a 7 year, 200M deal because he likes the city instead if taking 10/350 with two opt outs the others will that see as the owners winning another fight.

The idea is nice but most of those people were probably privileged people who had their parents pay for college and of course they were very successful making 150+ k per year. For a normal person making 50-70 k a year, having student debt and having kids this will be almost impossible to do. This is really a thing for a very small, mostly white elite and not something the average person will do. Definitely interesting but more of a curiosity rather than a life model for the future. Also even for those elite guys it could crash if economy is cooling off.

Btw there actually is a trend towards working on lowering Ks now. The probably most cutting edge of the data driven hitting coaches has worked with the Astros on that and wants to do it now with the cards too https://theathletic.com/672009/2018/11/23/cardinals-aim-to-improve-contact-rate-in-2019-and-have-innovative-new-hitting-coach-to-lead-movement/ However it is not the old "just put it in play and hit a hard grounder the other way" but the goal is to elevate the ball and still improve contact. If you can improve contact without sacrificing power it is a big win. But you don't sacrifice power for more contact anymore.

Cable will die, the future is internet streaming like netflix. This will be a big challenge for the clubs because the streaming means more individual marketing as people want more tailored packages instead of subsiding shows they don't like. This could drive down the prices as you can't as easily justify high prices from the customer. Streaming revenue will grow but sustaining the cable prices won't be easy, netflix is way cheaper than most cable networks for example because competition in streaming is high.

This is true. Attendance is getting lower but TV deals more than offset that. With billion dollar tv deals they can afford 10k empty seats. And it is true that people don't act according to what could happen in the future, just see the real estate bubble or the stock market. Business people say make money now and deal with the loss/crisis when it happens especially because the very richest tend to get bailed out if something bad happens.

He was still rated the best prospect but he had that big struggle in his first call up and reportedly the sox wanted him and not benintendi to go. His stock was still very high and he was rated number 1 overall but it was not like with vlad jr right now were nobody doubts he will hit right away. Had moncada started in Boston like acuna did in Atlanta this year he might not have been available or at least not with a super good secondary piece like kopech.

For the same reasons teams manipulate service time and argue about every penny in arbitration. Neither teams nor players are loyal to each other, it is a business.