2016 MLB thread. THE CUBS HAVE BROKEN THE CURSE! Chicago Cubs are your 2016 World Series champions
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by proshares,
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It sounds like they plan on getting someone else to close.
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It sounds like they plan on getting someone else to close.
I have a feeling it'll all blow up in their face. Yea Melancon is OK but I think Bard going to the rotation has bad news written all over it. I would have thought they'd at least give him a shot to close. He wasn't all that great as a starter coming up. Pay Scutaro $6 million and trading Lowrie, as injury prone as he is, feels like a mistake too. Rather have a proven guy in a hitters park like Madson and keep some infield depth. We'll see.
I have a feeling it'll all blow up in their face. Yea Melancon is OK but I think Bard going to the rotation has bad news written all over it. I would have thought they'd at least give him a shot to close. He wasn't all that great as a starter coming up. Pay Scutaro $6 million and trading Lowrie, as injury prone as he is, feels like a mistake too. Rather have a proven guy in a hitters park like Madson and keep some infield depth. We'll see.
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So when the hell is Prince Fielder going to get an offer already?
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So when the hell is Prince Fielder going to get an offer already?
Red Sox come up short in Melancon deal.
Spoiler [+]
Jeff Luhnow's first move as general manager of the Houston Astros wasn't a huge one, but it's a great deal for them and shows just how badly the club was mismanaged under Ed Wade over the last few years.
Where Wade never seemed to get enough value in return for his tradeable assets -- how he sent half his roster to the Philadelphia Phillies without ever getting Domonic Brown is beyond me -- Luhnow converted a fungible, high-risk reliever in Mark Melancon into an everyday infielder in Jed Lowrie and a back-end starter/good reliever in Kyle Weiland.
Melancon had a violent delivery that already led to one Tommy John surgery, but has been healthy over the four years since then with a cleaner arm action that still requires a lot of upper-body effort. His success in 2011 was largely due to a new cutter that keeps hitters from squaring up on his very straight four-seamer; the pitchers' velocities are very close, with the four-seamer staying up while the cutter breaks down and slightly toward a left-handed hitter. Melancon's cutter has also helped him become a strong ground ball pitcher, but his below-average changeup led to a moderate platoon split last season, especially in terms of keeping left-handed hitters off base.
Yet even in a year when he threw 74 innings, a relatively high figure for a reliever under today's highly specialized regimes, and walked only 20 guys unintentionally, Melancon was worth under a win above replacement per FanGraphs' WAR. Lowrie alone will double that in 2012 just by staying healthy -- he's a fringy defensive shortstop who can stay at the position but will probably be slightly below average, excelling on the transfer but suffering from a relative lack of lateral range.
Lowrie's a switch-hitter who has struggled from the left side in the majors -- .635 career OPS as a lefty compared to .919 as a righty -- although that wasn't helped by a fractured left wrist he suffered in 2011. His swings are similar, short to the ball from both sides, with more power hitting right-handed. He's also had a shoulder injury and mono keep him off the field, but a full healthy season from Lowrie in 2012 would, given the state of shortstop around the majors, be worth a couple of wins to Houston.
As a starter, Weiland is 90-94 mph with his fastball without much life, along with a mid-80s slider, a hard curveball and a mostly-straight changeup in the low 80s with just a little fade. His command and control are fringy, and he'll have to work on keeping that fastball down, but he has enough ways to miss some bats that he could be a cheap fourth starter for the Astros for a few years, with the downside of an above-average reliever if he becomes too homer-prone to stay in the rotation.
Unless the Red Sox know something we don't about Lowrie's medicals, this looks like a real loss of value for them. They've given up more production than they've received, and the ripple effect, pushing Daniel Bard to the rotation, is a high-risk move that I don't believe is going to work. Bard will have one of the lowest arm slots of any starter in baseball in 2012 -- Justin Masterson is lower, and Chris Sale (another conversion I don't see working out) is as well -- and as a fastball/slider guy with a pretty fringy changeup, he's going to have trouble against any team that can load its lineup with left-handed hitters. Bard might get by because, even as a starter, he'll probably be 94-96 or so with some sink, but he doesn't command the fastball as well as Masterson does and the arm slot/platoon issue is going to be a real problem. Letting Melancon set up Bard, or Bard set up Melancon, would be the better option, but this deal seems to signal the Red Sox are determined to push Bard to the rotation for the first time since he failed there in Class A in 2007.
Where Wade never seemed to get enough value in return for his tradeable assets -- how he sent half his roster to the Philadelphia Phillies without ever getting Domonic Brown is beyond me -- Luhnow converted a fungible, high-risk reliever in Mark Melancon into an everyday infielder in Jed Lowrie and a back-end starter/good reliever in Kyle Weiland.
Melancon had a violent delivery that already led to one Tommy John surgery, but has been healthy over the four years since then with a cleaner arm action that still requires a lot of upper-body effort. His success in 2011 was largely due to a new cutter that keeps hitters from squaring up on his very straight four-seamer; the pitchers' velocities are very close, with the four-seamer staying up while the cutter breaks down and slightly toward a left-handed hitter. Melancon's cutter has also helped him become a strong ground ball pitcher, but his below-average changeup led to a moderate platoon split last season, especially in terms of keeping left-handed hitters off base.
Yet even in a year when he threw 74 innings, a relatively high figure for a reliever under today's highly specialized regimes, and walked only 20 guys unintentionally, Melancon was worth under a win above replacement per FanGraphs' WAR. Lowrie alone will double that in 2012 just by staying healthy -- he's a fringy defensive shortstop who can stay at the position but will probably be slightly below average, excelling on the transfer but suffering from a relative lack of lateral range.
Lowrie's a switch-hitter who has struggled from the left side in the majors -- .635 career OPS as a lefty compared to .919 as a righty -- although that wasn't helped by a fractured left wrist he suffered in 2011. His swings are similar, short to the ball from both sides, with more power hitting right-handed. He's also had a shoulder injury and mono keep him off the field, but a full healthy season from Lowrie in 2012 would, given the state of shortstop around the majors, be worth a couple of wins to Houston.
As a starter, Weiland is 90-94 mph with his fastball without much life, along with a mid-80s slider, a hard curveball and a mostly-straight changeup in the low 80s with just a little fade. His command and control are fringy, and he'll have to work on keeping that fastball down, but he has enough ways to miss some bats that he could be a cheap fourth starter for the Astros for a few years, with the downside of an above-average reliever if he becomes too homer-prone to stay in the rotation.
Unless the Red Sox know something we don't about Lowrie's medicals, this looks like a real loss of value for them. They've given up more production than they've received, and the ripple effect, pushing Daniel Bard to the rotation, is a high-risk move that I don't believe is going to work. Bard will have one of the lowest arm slots of any starter in baseball in 2012 -- Justin Masterson is lower, and Chris Sale (another conversion I don't see working out) is as well -- and as a fastball/slider guy with a pretty fringy changeup, he's going to have trouble against any team that can load its lineup with left-handed hitters. Bard might get by because, even as a starter, he'll probably be 94-96 or so with some sink, but he doesn't command the fastball as well as Masterson does and the arm slot/platoon issue is going to be a real problem. Letting Melancon set up Bard, or Bard set up Melancon, would be the better option, but this deal seems to signal the Red Sox are determined to push Bard to the rotation for the first time since he failed there in Class A in 2007.
Red Sox come up short in Melancon deal.
Spoiler [+]
Jeff Luhnow's first move as general manager of the Houston Astros wasn't a huge one, but it's a great deal for them and shows just how badly the club was mismanaged under Ed Wade over the last few years.
Where Wade never seemed to get enough value in return for his tradeable assets -- how he sent half his roster to the Philadelphia Phillies without ever getting Domonic Brown is beyond me -- Luhnow converted a fungible, high-risk reliever in Mark Melancon into an everyday infielder in Jed Lowrie and a back-end starter/good reliever in Kyle Weiland.
Melancon had a violent delivery that already led to one Tommy John surgery, but has been healthy over the four years since then with a cleaner arm action that still requires a lot of upper-body effort. His success in 2011 was largely due to a new cutter that keeps hitters from squaring up on his very straight four-seamer; the pitchers' velocities are very close, with the four-seamer staying up while the cutter breaks down and slightly toward a left-handed hitter. Melancon's cutter has also helped him become a strong ground ball pitcher, but his below-average changeup led to a moderate platoon split last season, especially in terms of keeping left-handed hitters off base.
Yet even in a year when he threw 74 innings, a relatively high figure for a reliever under today's highly specialized regimes, and walked only 20 guys unintentionally, Melancon was worth under a win above replacement per FanGraphs' WAR. Lowrie alone will double that in 2012 just by staying healthy -- he's a fringy defensive shortstop who can stay at the position but will probably be slightly below average, excelling on the transfer but suffering from a relative lack of lateral range.
Lowrie's a switch-hitter who has struggled from the left side in the majors -- .635 career OPS as a lefty compared to .919 as a righty -- although that wasn't helped by a fractured left wrist he suffered in 2011. His swings are similar, short to the ball from both sides, with more power hitting right-handed. He's also had a shoulder injury and mono keep him off the field, but a full healthy season from Lowrie in 2012 would, given the state of shortstop around the majors, be worth a couple of wins to Houston.
As a starter, Weiland is 90-94 mph with his fastball without much life, along with a mid-80s slider, a hard curveball and a mostly-straight changeup in the low 80s with just a little fade. His command and control are fringy, and he'll have to work on keeping that fastball down, but he has enough ways to miss some bats that he could be a cheap fourth starter for the Astros for a few years, with the downside of an above-average reliever if he becomes too homer-prone to stay in the rotation.
Unless the Red Sox know something we don't about Lowrie's medicals, this looks like a real loss of value for them. They've given up more production than they've received, and the ripple effect, pushing Daniel Bard to the rotation, is a high-risk move that I don't believe is going to work. Bard will have one of the lowest arm slots of any starter in baseball in 2012 -- Justin Masterson is lower, and Chris Sale (another conversion I don't see working out) is as well -- and as a fastball/slider guy with a pretty fringy changeup, he's going to have trouble against any team that can load its lineup with left-handed hitters. Bard might get by because, even as a starter, he'll probably be 94-96 or so with some sink, but he doesn't command the fastball as well as Masterson does and the arm slot/platoon issue is going to be a real problem. Letting Melancon set up Bard, or Bard set up Melancon, would be the better option, but this deal seems to signal the Red Sox are determined to push Bard to the rotation for the first time since he failed there in Class A in 2007.
Where Wade never seemed to get enough value in return for his tradeable assets -- how he sent half his roster to the Philadelphia Phillies without ever getting Domonic Brown is beyond me -- Luhnow converted a fungible, high-risk reliever in Mark Melancon into an everyday infielder in Jed Lowrie and a back-end starter/good reliever in Kyle Weiland.
Melancon had a violent delivery that already led to one Tommy John surgery, but has been healthy over the four years since then with a cleaner arm action that still requires a lot of upper-body effort. His success in 2011 was largely due to a new cutter that keeps hitters from squaring up on his very straight four-seamer; the pitchers' velocities are very close, with the four-seamer staying up while the cutter breaks down and slightly toward a left-handed hitter. Melancon's cutter has also helped him become a strong ground ball pitcher, but his below-average changeup led to a moderate platoon split last season, especially in terms of keeping left-handed hitters off base.
Yet even in a year when he threw 74 innings, a relatively high figure for a reliever under today's highly specialized regimes, and walked only 20 guys unintentionally, Melancon was worth under a win above replacement per FanGraphs' WAR. Lowrie alone will double that in 2012 just by staying healthy -- he's a fringy defensive shortstop who can stay at the position but will probably be slightly below average, excelling on the transfer but suffering from a relative lack of lateral range.
Lowrie's a switch-hitter who has struggled from the left side in the majors -- .635 career OPS as a lefty compared to .919 as a righty -- although that wasn't helped by a fractured left wrist he suffered in 2011. His swings are similar, short to the ball from both sides, with more power hitting right-handed. He's also had a shoulder injury and mono keep him off the field, but a full healthy season from Lowrie in 2012 would, given the state of shortstop around the majors, be worth a couple of wins to Houston.
As a starter, Weiland is 90-94 mph with his fastball without much life, along with a mid-80s slider, a hard curveball and a mostly-straight changeup in the low 80s with just a little fade. His command and control are fringy, and he'll have to work on keeping that fastball down, but he has enough ways to miss some bats that he could be a cheap fourth starter for the Astros for a few years, with the downside of an above-average reliever if he becomes too homer-prone to stay in the rotation.
Unless the Red Sox know something we don't about Lowrie's medicals, this looks like a real loss of value for them. They've given up more production than they've received, and the ripple effect, pushing Daniel Bard to the rotation, is a high-risk move that I don't believe is going to work. Bard will have one of the lowest arm slots of any starter in baseball in 2012 -- Justin Masterson is lower, and Chris Sale (another conversion I don't see working out) is as well -- and as a fastball/slider guy with a pretty fringy changeup, he's going to have trouble against any team that can load its lineup with left-handed hitters. Bard might get by because, even as a starter, he'll probably be 94-96 or so with some sink, but he doesn't command the fastball as well as Masterson does and the arm slot/platoon issue is going to be a real problem. Letting Melancon set up Bard, or Bard set up Melancon, would be the better option, but this deal seems to signal the Red Sox are determined to push Bard to the rotation for the first time since he failed there in Class A in 2007.
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[h3]Trade 2. New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners[/h3]Yankees acquire RHP Felix Hernandez
Mariners acquire RHP Ivan Nova, C Jesus Montero, RHP Dellin Betances
Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik says he’s not going to trade Hernandez, but if the Mariners eventually want to become legitimate contenders they might have to. A blockbuster four-player deal with the Yankees would point the Mariners in the right direction. Nova and Betances would go right in a young rotation of Michael Pineda, Danny Hultzen and Jason Vargas a formidable five that should develop into a quintet of 15-game winners. Montero would give them a long-term middle-of-the-order bat they would control for the next six years. And with the money saved on Hernandez, they could put that towards signing Prince Fielder. The Yankees on the other hand would have one of the best 1-2 punches at the top of the rotation in C.C. Sabathia and Hernandez and instantly improve their chances of getting back to the World Series.
Hope the yankees DO NOT do this.
Mariners acquire RHP Ivan Nova, C Jesus Montero, RHP Dellin Betances
Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik says he’s not going to trade Hernandez, but if the Mariners eventually want to become legitimate contenders they might have to. A blockbuster four-player deal with the Yankees would point the Mariners in the right direction. Nova and Betances would go right in a young rotation of Michael Pineda, Danny Hultzen and Jason Vargas a formidable five that should develop into a quintet of 15-game winners. Montero would give them a long-term middle-of-the-order bat they would control for the next six years. And with the money saved on Hernandez, they could put that towards signing Prince Fielder. The Yankees on the other hand would have one of the best 1-2 punches at the top of the rotation in C.C. Sabathia and Hernandez and instantly improve their chances of getting back to the World Series.
Hope the yankees DO NOT do this.
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[h3]Trade 2. New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners[/h3]Yankees acquire RHP Felix Hernandez
Mariners acquire RHP Ivan Nova, C Jesus Montero, RHP Dellin Betances
Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik says he’s not going to trade Hernandez, but if the Mariners eventually want to become legitimate contenders they might have to. A blockbuster four-player deal with the Yankees would point the Mariners in the right direction. Nova and Betances would go right in a young rotation of Michael Pineda, Danny Hultzen and Jason Vargas a formidable five that should develop into a quintet of 15-game winners. Montero would give them a long-term middle-of-the-order bat they would control for the next six years. And with the money saved on Hernandez, they could put that towards signing Prince Fielder. The Yankees on the other hand would have one of the best 1-2 punches at the top of the rotation in C.C. Sabathia and Hernandez and instantly improve their chances of getting back to the World Series.
Hope the yankees DO NOT do this.
Mariners acquire RHP Ivan Nova, C Jesus Montero, RHP Dellin Betances
Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik says he’s not going to trade Hernandez, but if the Mariners eventually want to become legitimate contenders they might have to. A blockbuster four-player deal with the Yankees would point the Mariners in the right direction. Nova and Betances would go right in a young rotation of Michael Pineda, Danny Hultzen and Jason Vargas a formidable five that should develop into a quintet of 15-game winners. Montero would give them a long-term middle-of-the-order bat they would control for the next six years. And with the money saved on Hernandez, they could put that towards signing Prince Fielder. The Yankees on the other hand would have one of the best 1-2 punches at the top of the rotation in C.C. Sabathia and Hernandez and instantly improve their chances of getting back to the World Series.
Hope the yankees DO NOT do this.
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Deadline to post bids on Darvish passed at 5 PM today. Jays and Rangers were considered faves to land him, but Olney reporting Yanks did post offer.
Edit: Mariners and Giants apparently placed bids as well.
Edit: Mariners and Giants apparently placed bids as well.
- 4,201
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Deadline to post bids on Darvish passed at 5 PM today. Jays and Rangers were considered faves to land him, but Olney reporting Yanks did post offer.
Edit: Mariners and Giants apparently placed bids as well.
Edit: Mariners and Giants apparently placed bids as well.
- 4,201
- 141
Deadline to post bids on Darvish passed at 5 PM today. Jays and Rangers were considered faves to land him, but Olney reporting Yanks did post offer.
Edit: Mariners and Giants apparently placed bids as well.
Edit: Mariners and Giants apparently placed bids as well.
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Well, when you put it like that.
Was against them trading Felix, but that looks like a mighty fine package.
- 58,762
- 30,163
Well, when you put it like that.
Was against them trading Felix, but that looks like a mighty fine package.
Hiroyuki Nakajima: Sign-and-Trade Possibilities.
Spoiler [+]
On Tuesday, we took a look at the New York Yankees surprise acquisition of SS Hiroyuki Nakajima via a $2.5M positing bid — the lowest bid for a position player since 2000. Now, it sounds increasingly likely that the Yankees will explore trades for the 29-year-old infielder.
According to Ken Rosenthal, the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants are both interested in Nakajima, and — frankly — I am surprised there are not even more teams rather interested in one of Japan’s best hitting shortstops.
Rosenthal got some quotes from a rival scout that are somewhat illuminating on the defensive makeup of Nakajima:
According to Ken Rosenthal, the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants are both interested in Nakajima, and — frankly — I am surprised there are not even more teams rather interested in one of Japan’s best hitting shortstops.
Rosenthal got some quotes from a rival scout that are somewhat illuminating on the defensive makeup of Nakajima:
Hiroyuki Nakajima: Sign-and-Trade Possibilities.
Spoiler [+]
On Tuesday, we took a look at the New York Yankees surprise acquisition of SS Hiroyuki Nakajima via a $2.5M positing bid — the lowest bid for a position player since 2000. Now, it sounds increasingly likely that the Yankees will explore trades for the 29-year-old infielder.
According to Ken Rosenthal, the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants are both interested in Nakajima, and — frankly — I am surprised there are not even more teams rather interested in one of Japan’s best hitting shortstops.
Rosenthal got some quotes from a rival scout that are somewhat illuminating on the defensive makeup of Nakajima:
According to Ken Rosenthal, the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants are both interested in Nakajima, and — frankly — I am surprised there are not even more teams rather interested in one of Japan’s best hitting shortstops.
Rosenthal got some quotes from a rival scout that are somewhat illuminating on the defensive makeup of Nakajima:
- 58,762
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Damn. Cuddyer put together some pretty good years in Minnesota. Wouldn't be surprised if he found himself in Seattle.
- 58,762
- 30,163
Damn. Cuddyer put together some pretty good years in Minnesota. Wouldn't be surprised if he found himself in Seattle.
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Really interested in who wins this Darvish bid.
- 1,862
- 10
Really interested in who wins this Darvish bid.
- Status
