The MLB Thread

In further Braves-related news, Andrelton Simmons (and a catching prospect) are going to the Angels for Erick Aybar and two top pitching prospects. I wonder what the over/under on the Braves trading Freddie Freeman is now.

Gold Glove winners

Silver Slugger winners

I don't see an upside on the Simmons deal for the Braves, that's for sure. Looks like the Braves are committed to the pattern of winning a World Series every 4th decade, at this rate.

Meanwhile, Carlos Correa (Astros) and Kris Bryant (Cubs) are the Rookies of the Year for their respective leagues. No surprises there.

edited 17th Nov '15 8:57:17 AM by TotemicHero

I think the same. All along, the Braves have said that their plan is to be back in contention later this decade. But now they’re trading away players whom they’d still have later this decade, and would be the no-brainer nucleus to build a contending team around.

This suggests one of two things: a) the front office has lost any grasp of strategy and is going full Amaro, or b) they’ve privately decided to put off winning until much, much later than they’ve been telling the fans.

edited 17th Nov '15 8:25:48 AM by Jhimmibhob

And I was just about to type a joke about the Braves trading Shelby Miller just a year after they traded Heyward for him.

My reaction:

At least with the Simmons trade you could see the plan (stockpile lots of pitchers, trade the excess ones for whatever they think they need), even if it was a bad idea. This, if true, tells everyone that they have no plan at all.

edited 17th Nov '15 9:28:36 PM by TotemicHero

In their defense, they were trying to get AJ Pollock, one of the best position players in the game... and someone who's slightly older than Heyward and Simmons; stuff like this makes me continually confused on whether the Braves are actually trying to compete in 2017 or not. I mean, at least they were trying to upgrade their offense?

Also, it looks like Ortiz is gonna retire a Red Sox after the 2016 season.

edited 18th Nov '15 2:04:03 AM by UmbrellasWereAwesome

Keuchel wins the AL Cy Young.

Arrieta wins the NL Cy Young.

The NL might have had the greatest top 3 ever. In any other year, any of them would've been the unanimous winner.

While I didn't really care about the NL Cy Young, I did want Keuchel to win on the AL side. Anything that takes away from too many pitchers being taught to throw hard young (and set themselves up for Tommy John pain) is a plus. And given he never hits 90 with his fastball, I'd say that's an important first step.

Now, if MLB can find a way to follow it up...

And in the biggest plot twist of the offseason so far, Greinke is now a Diamondback.

I guess that's what you get when you hire someone like La Russa to help manage your team.

Where's that even-year magic now, huh?

Given all the potential solid, middle-of-the-rotation starters the Giants could go for, the FO decided to go for a #5 innings eater notable only for giving up the most ER's in the league this year and then pay him middle-of-the-rotaion dollars he will never, ever be worth. Leake, Kazmir, Chen, Iwakuma, and Maeda are all available for similar prices, but the FO thinks Samardzija is worth wasting a single dollar on. If they wanted a #5 innings eater, they should've just gone for Colon on a 1-year deal. He'd be dirt cheap and put up similar numbers without tying up 18 million for 5 damn years. Oh, and it cost us a draft pick.

Worst FA signing our FO has pulled in years. We're gonna need magic to even make the postseason in 2016.

edited 5th Dec '15 4:47:55 PM by Millardkillmoore

Don't discount that he's going from pitching in front what was just about the worst defense in the majors to the second best. (The best being, by the measure I was looking at, that of the champion Royals). And he's also moving into a division with three pitcher-friendly parks, including his new home field. I expect those together could easily drop his ERA by over one.

And 200 innings to the tune of 3.50 ERA is nothing to sneeze at. Sure, it's not the best deal, definitely not on par with landing Greinke, but it's hardly horrible. I could see this working out for the Giants.

And even if it doesn't quite work out, he could always pull a 2012 Barry Zito (not that I'd want him to, speaking as a Cards fan).

He can't blame his sudden drop in K's on his team or park. He was always mediocre, had 1 good year, and then was one of the worst starters in the game. Even if he bounces back to mediocre, he's getting paid too much for too long to be a #5 innings eater, especially if the Giants are contending and the market is overflowing with #3's that will command similar salaries.

There's also no way his ERA is under four next year. It'll probably be over 5 by the end of his contract, which is just not acceptable with the Giants infield and AT&T for a guy getting paid that much.

Ben Zobrist has joined the Cubs, and the Dbacks got Shelby Miller from the Braves in exchange for giving up Ender Inciarte, Aaron Blair, and 2015's #1 pick Dansby Swanson. Also, Cubs stalwart Starlin Castro is off to the Yanks in exchange for Adam Warren and Brendan Ryan. There's also been some legal issues with Aroldis Chapman, to say the least.

Finally, another member of the 2011 Cardinals has left St. Louis; Jon Jay is off to San Diego in exchange for Jed Gyorko. Glad we got him that ring, because I doubt the Padres'll give him one.

edited 8th Dec '15 7:17:55 PM by UmbrellasWereAwesome

Youtube apparently recognized my interest in baseball...in the wrong way. Today's ad:

"Need more velocity? Release your pitching potential! Get velocity cheat sheet -> Paul Reddick Coaching"

Given my feelings on the overemphasis on pitching velocity, my response is predictable.

Cueto to the Giants for 6/130 million.

Looks like the Giants FO decided to go with a healthy innings eater who's usually bad and occasionally brilliant... and an injury-prone guy who's generally brilliant and occasionally awful.

I guess both strategies can't fail, right?

In all honesty, I'm cautiously optimistic. When healthy, Cueto is phenomenal. I'm just worried about that elbow.

In "I swear this isn't the Onion" news, the Mets' Player Development and Scouting VP Paul DePodesta has been hired by the Cleveland Browns. I'll just say that when you consider most of the teams DePodesta has worked for (A's, Padres, Mets), nobody should be worried about his ability to work under a salary cap.

edited 5th Jan '16 11:51:23 AM by UmbrellasWereAwesome

Well, the Mets managed to resign Cespedes, so they have a good shot at making the playoffs again.

That rotation is insane. They'd probably make the postseason even without him just on the strength of their pitching.

I really don't expect Cespedes to be as good next year. He had a 2015 BABIP far above his career average and is going to be on the wrong side of thirty. But he'll still probably be a 3-4 WAR player. Very good signing.

edited 28th Jan '16 3:08:16 PM by Millardkillmoore

I was very pleased to see them manage to resign the big man, especially given some of the bad decisions of past management and their penny pinching ways in recent years. Definitely adds some solid impact in the middle of the lineup.

I doubt the Mets will face much serious contention in the NL East, but this certainly doesn't hurt their chances of advancing.

Well, Pete Rose now officially has company in the banned for life club.

I believe Steve Howe and a couple others have also joined that rarefied club. If so, maybe they can start a book clu— Oh yeah, Pete Rose: never mind.