CaliSoxFanViaSWside Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 5 minutes ago, caulfield12 said: I hear you. Was shocked to see Muncy playing second base with pretty decent mobility the other night. Not only do the Dodgers hit with their draft picks, but guys like Muncy, Chris Taylor, Turner, Kiki Gonzalez, it’s uncanny. But they can do it with consistency. It’s almost like Madrigal and Robert played so well this year that it’s making Hahn falsely believe he can get away with his “incremental augmentation” plan of Type B/C free agents because we have a bigger base or foundation of young talent than just four players (Eaton, Sale, Q, Abreu). We’ve doubled it to eight, essentially. But those final “over the top” pieces...or even supplemental moves to upgrade where you’re getting 1.5-2.5 fWAR out of RF, DH, 2B, etc., those remain especially elusive. After all this “tryout” time, three full seasons, the only useful pieces to come forth (after the obvious headliners) are Leury Garcia, maybe Fry, Bummer and McCann. Hardly guys who matter much. It's not like they are elite starting pitchers or 3-5 WAR types . I'm surprised you didn't mention Walker Buehler since I saw you bring him up in another thread. I'm no expert on who has found these hidden gem types in the draft or through other means but guys like Muncy and Buehler are difference makers. Hahn's idea of thinking outside the box was to draft and or acquire relief pitchers. You know those guys with the wildly inconsistent careers who all of a sudden contenders didn't want to pay much for in the recent trade period. Who needs every day position players or a good starting rotation when you have relief pitchers ?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 1 hour ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said: Hardly guys who matter much. It's not like they are elite starting pitchers or 3-5 WAR types . I'm surprised you didn't mention Walker Buehler since I saw you bring him up in another thread. I'm no expert on who has found these hidden gem types in the draft or through other means but guys like Muncy and Buehler are difference makers. Hahn's idea of thinking outside the box was to draft and or acquire relief pitchers. You know those guys with the wildly inconsistent careers who all of a sudden contenders didn't want to pay much for in the recent trade period. Who needs every day position players or a good starting rotation when you have relief pitchers ?!? Yeah, we got hit with that “superpen” idea where it was supposed to be visionary (really started in 2014-15 and with Royals and usage of A.Miller) but now every team has 6-10 guys between the mlb and milb rosters that throw 96-103. Not exactly extracting surplus value. (And you just know when we actually need Colome to save games that matter, his conversion rate will be in the 60’s or 70’s instead of 85% and above.) Of course, half of those guys in our minor system were wiped out by injuries or underperformed. Not taking advantage of the Robert overspending year, not following up in the two years since with anything besides fake Tatis. Dominican operations still in shambles. No Asian talent in a decade. it just goes on and on, and all adds up to mired in mediocrity, if you can even describe that as close to a .500ish ballclub. Watching Buehler sucks, just knowing that scouts were looking at all the Commodores games that spring and summer. Predictably, Hahn would argue ten other teams missed as well from where Fulmer was drafted to the Dodgers’ spot. That he was simply the best college pitcher/hitter their scouts bird-dogged that season, not unlike what we have heard about Collins, Burger, Madrigal and Vaughn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 6 hours ago, caulfield12 said: Even then, if you just put up big power numbers and have nothing else to your game (high OBP), like Palka’s 2018 season...you’re also not of much use, either. In many ways, Madrigal is the exact opposite of this entire trend, which is why it’s not surprising some are already hoping to trade him and move Moncada back to second and sign yet another (injury-plagued) free agent in his early 30’s to the biggest contract in team history to play 3B. It's kind of weird baseball GMs decided the analytics of all vs. nothing is the way to go: Homers and strikeouts from all hitters 1 through 9 are desired. It's very bizarre because eking out runs here and there seemingly still seems like a decent way of scoring runs. For example, Madrigal leads off with a walk or single to right and takes third on a base hit by Anderson. First and third nobody out. Too much work. If you have enough guys hitting home runs you score 5-8 runs a game and that's enough to win allegedly. No need to risk pitchouts and out stealing while trying to go first to third. The ONLY weird thing about all this is some managers like Ricky still believe in the other stuff. How can the Sox brass EVER allow him to bunt when the new organizational philosophy is apparent. Just like all other teams it's lift and pull and hit 3 or more homers a game good for six or more runs. Very bizarre how relics like Ricky are allowed to bunt without being fired on the spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Allen Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 One nice thing to see yesterday was Robin Ventura was there for the Harold ceremony and he got one of the biggest hands when introduced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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