Around The League Thread

[Kerb Hohl]

The Braves just made another amazing trade.

Traded Kimbrel and Upton for Maybin, Quentin, Wisler, a 20 year year old outfielder that was a 2nd round pick in 2013 and the 41st pick in the draft.

I was just talking with a friend about this. The Padres have improved but they seem to be like your friend who casually follows baseball trying to build a fantasy roster.

-Trading for Will "stud prospect because he had a hot month for the Red Sox" Middlebrooks and not realizing that he is a pile of **** hitter.
-Putting Wil Myers in CF in Petco.
-Taking on Melvin Upton and dealing away prospects to get a closer (they're so important!)...one that will probably have his arm fall off soon.
-Slotting Brandon Morrow into the rotation who was throwing under 90 MPH...but he was once a known commodity!
-Targeting "All Star" Derrick Norris who, by his splits, will be a much worse hitter than Yasmani Grandal this year. Norris' numbers were over-inflated by being platooned and mostly facing lefties in Oakland.

[El Duderino]

I don't recall another team making as many sizable trades in an offseason as the Padres did. Imagine being a Padres fan and seeing one big trade after another happening like that.

[Kerb Hohl]

Can anyone explain to me why everyone was mad about Theo leaving Kris Bryant down to save a year of free agency? Is it just that they weren't aware that it has happened to several hundred other players over the past few CBAs?

[ReasonablySober]

Arod just hit a 471 foot dinger.

[El Duderino]

Can anyone explain to me why everyone was mad about Theo leaving Kris Bryant down to save a year of free agency? Is it just that they weren't aware that it has happened to several hundred other players over the past few CBAs?

[trwi7]

Can anyone explain to me why everyone was mad about Theo leaving Kris Bryant down to save a year of free agency? Is it just that they weren't aware that it has happened to several hundred other players over the past few CBAs?

I think that's partly it but the media pays a lot more attention to prospects today. If this happened say when Braun was a rookie, it's not a big deal.

The fact that it's a huge market, Boras and what I mentioned above makes it a big deal.

[Kerb Hohl]

It did kinda happen to Braun. He came up in May. It may not have been as obvious of a call-up as Bryant, but it seems to happen to players so often.

[Kerb Hohl]

The Braves just made another amazing trade.

Traded Kimbrel and Upton for Maybin, Quentin, Wisler, a 20 year year old outfielder that was a 2nd round pick in 2013 and the 41st pick in the draft.

I was just talking with a friend about this. The Padres have improved but they seem to be like your friend who casually follows baseball trying to build a fantasy roster.

-Trading for Will "stud prospect because he had a hot month for the Red Sox" Middlebrooks and not realizing that he is a pile of **** hitter.
-Putting Wil Myers in CF in Petco.
-Taking on Melvin Upton and dealing away prospects to get a closer (they're so important!)...one that will probably have his arm fall off soon.
-Slotting Brandon Morrow into the rotation who was throwing under 90 MPH...but he was once a known commodity!
-Targeting "All Star" Derrick Norris who, by his splits, will be a much worse hitter than Yasmani Grandal this year. Norris' numbers were over-inflated by being platooned and mostly facing lefties in Oakland.

Since I enjoy looking at this stuff, it is fun to see it starting to take shape:

Norris has a .646/1.300 split RH/LH right now. Total line is OK but he'll continue to sink.

Myers at a -8.00 defensive rating on FanGraphs in CF.

Kimbrel struggling, though he'll probably be OK.

Middlebrooks is 7/26 with 2 HR, 1 2B, 1 3B in Wrigley field and Coors field.
Middlebrooks is 11/63 with 2 2B in Petco/SF/LA.
His total line is .191/.230/.340

Morrow is doing well. Looks like his velocity is there. Good move on that one.

[trwi7]

Morrow just went on the DL.

[Kerb Hohl]

Oh yeah...should have noticed that when Despaigne got back in the rotation.

[Kerb Hohl]

Also, I think the Padres may be begging to get Grandal back in a few weeks when those splits even out.

[coolhandluke121]

It's kind of nice to see an article like this on the front page at ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12844293/a-mightier-pen-closers-how-use-relievers

At some point, bullpen management became a running joke that managers weren't in on. I've suggested some radical things in the past, but one of my ideas is to have 4 starters and 4 long relievers on a rotation, and never let either of them bat twice. 3-4 innings a piece, ~60 pitches per outing. Then have 5 other pitchers on staff to fill in the gaps, with their assignments dictated by matchups. It would be one extra quality at-bat per game, as long as you have position players versatile enough to make the necessary switches in the field.

The question would be whether guys can consistently give you solid outings on 3 days rest if they have to throw 60 pitches. There's no theorem or formula that says yes or no, you'd just have to try it. I think it could help with injuries, but that's just a hunch. One thing I'm sure of though, and this article backs it up: most starters should not be going 3 times through the order if you're maximizing their efficiency, and most great relievers should be pitching a lot more than 70 innings per year. Getting them the rest days they need should trump keeping them for the save situation. 6 quality innings against the heart of the order in 3 tight games is better than 6 saves, many of which somebody else in the bullpen probably could have saved for you anyway.

[Thunder Muscle]

Holy ****, didn't realize Houston is 23-13. Minnesota 20-16 was a little suprprising too. Curious if the Cubs fade at any point...

[coolhandluke121]

Garrett Jones pitched the 9th in NYY's 15-2 soon-to-be loss to Texas. From Wallace Matthews's twitter:

"Jones' 62 MPH something or other was too much for Choo, who grounds out weakly to first"

[Kerb Hohl]

Just a reminder that it's 2015 and there are probably still 10ish managers like this in Major League Baseball.

http://blog.thenewstribune.com/mariners/2015/06/03/mariners-notebook-mcclendon-sees-no-alternative-to-sticking-with-rodney/

[El Duderino]

No surprise given it's McClendon

[Kerb Hohl]

I'm enjoying the AL West trying to out-sabotage each-other (related to above post). Gallo is going to be sent down when Beltre comes back (even with Hamilton out for an extended period of time). Gallo can play OF but when you're in the playoff hunt, you can view Leonys Martin's feather bat as sufficient enough to play the OF.

To be fair, Martin is a good fielder.

[Aaron It Out]

Saw that ambidextrous pitcher pitch when he played for the Wisconsin Woodchucks. Thought it was cool the way he has completely different deliveries and repertoire with each arm. It's been so long since then, can't believe he finally made it up.

[ReasonablySober]

Tonight was the first night I had the thought of cheering against a no-no enter my head. Because those **** have made it an annual occurrence.

[ReasonablySober]

The Royals currently have eight All Star starters. This is fantastic.