Around The MLB 2015 Edition

[Randle McMurphy]

As usual, Scioscia calling to give away outs inexplicably in deficits. 1-0 NYY through 5. I don't blame their front office for finally having had enough of him.

[Randle McMurphy]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/616123957163339777[/tweet]

That's taking being fed up to a new level, though.

[BigLeagueChew]

Dipoto decides to step down as Angels GM

Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto decided to step down from his position on Wednesday, two days after a FoxSports.com report detailed friction between the front office and coaching staff, a source told MLB.com.

The Angels have not confirmed or commented on the matter and Dipoto has not responded to several requests seeking comment.
Sources said Dipoto packed up his office and left early Tuesday, his inability to co-exist with Scioscia, the longtime manager, seemingly reaching a boiling point. Moreno then made an appearance in the Angels clubhouse after his team's 2-1 win over the Yankees, its fourth straight victory, and team officials said on Tuesday night that no announcement was pending.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/133963704

[Raider917]

syndergaard with 12 ks through 7 innings, but dont be so down....the jays have dickey

[Xaos]

syndergaard with 12 ks through 7 innings, but dont be so down....the jays have dickey

[Michael Bradley]

I used to hate seeing Chris Carpenter dominate with the Cardinals since it would give me a painful feeling of "what if?", but at least the Jays and Carpenter parting ways was somewhat justifiable (Carpenter was arby eligible and was going to miss all of 2003 with a serious shoulder injury so he was non-tendered and offered a minor league deal, which he declined to get an incentive laden MLB deal with the Cards....the rest is history).

Watching Noah Syndergaard will be worse than that. Much worse.

[Lateral Quicks]

And just think, d'Arnaud will potentially be his battery-mate for years to come.

And BTW, Wuilmer Becerra has an .801 OPS in A ball at age 20.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: that trade has the potential to be one of the worst in baseball history.

[Lateral Quicks]

Dipoto decides to step down as Angels GM

Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto decided to step down from his position on Wednesday, two days after a FoxSports.com report detailed friction between the front office and coaching staff, a source told MLB.com.

The Angels have not confirmed or commented on the matter and Dipoto has not responded to several requests seeking comment.
Sources said Dipoto packed up his office and left early Tuesday, his inability to co-exist with Scioscia, the longtime manager, seemingly reaching a boiling point. Moreno then made an appearance in the Angels clubhouse after his team's 2-1 win over the Yankees, its fourth straight victory, and team officials said on Tuesday night that no announcement was pending.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/133963704

It's not often you see a GM leave when his team is half a game out of the division lead before the all-star break...

[Schad]

That AJ Preller's triumphal goin'-for-it offseason has backfired is a serious understatement. For those who didn't follow the details of what they gave up, behold all its gory consequences through six months:

http://grantland.com/features/aj-preller-mlb-san-diego-padres-national-league-west/

Add up the damage and it’s staggering. In one offseason, the Padres traded away one of the best catchers in baseball (Grandal); an above-average starting pitcher (Hahn); an above-average corner outfielder (Seth Smith); an above-average center fielder (Maybin); and pretty much their entire farm system. Per Baseball America, the Padres traded away their no. 1 (Wisler), no. 2 (Turner), no. 4 (Ross), no. 6 (Fried), no. 9 (Eflin), no. 10 (Jace Peterson), no. 15 (Bauers), no. 16 (Mallex Smith), no. 21 (Dustin Peterson), no. 23 (Burch Smith), and no. 30 (Barbato) prospects, along with the 41st pick in the draft.

In return, they got one of the best young outfielders in the sport, who can’t stay healthy, in Wil Myers. They got one year of Justin Upton. They got Matt Kemp and his bloated contract. They got a good young catcher in Derek Norris who isn’t nearly as good as the young catcher they traded. They got two very good relievers in Brandon Maurer and Craig Kimbrel. They inherited the misfortune of playing Will Middlebrooks.

The Kimbrel trade already looks like one of the worst trades any team has made in years — and it wasn’t the worst trade the Padres made this winter. That would be the Kemp trade, in which they took on a contract the Dodgers were desperate to unload and gave up arguably their most valuable commodity in Grandal. Years from now, the trade for Justin Upton might look as bad as these two. If it doesn’t, the trade for Wil Myers might.

[Santoki]

Frasor to the Braves.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/07/braves-to-sign-jason-frasor.html

[vaff87]

Mike Trout is actually a living legend.

[Santoki]

Serious question:

How are the Twins doing this? There's always a team that's meant to be bad that pulls off a miraculous season. The Jays are never one of those teams. It's frustrating watching teams that are meant to be bad be so good. How does it happen and how do we luck into it? Does it all come down to pitching? If so, where did this rotation come from?

[vaff87]

It irritates me that Trout was hosed of the MVP in 2012 and 2013. That guy should be on his way to his 4th MVP in his 4th year.

[Schad]

I didn't realize it until reading this, but the Diamondbacks left $1.7m in draft slot money unspent, more if you include the wiggle room baked in. They really are aiming to be the worst-run team in baseball over the next decade.

[EastBayBoy]

I didn't realize it until reading this, but the Diamondbacks left $1.7m in draft slot money unspent, more if you include the wiggle room baked in. They really are aiming to be the worst-run team in baseball over the next decade.

Not really accustomed to how draft slot $$ allocation works. Do you mind explaining why leaving 1.7m unspent is a bad management move?

[Schad]

I didn't realize it until reading this, but the Diamondbacks left $1.7m in draft slot money unspent, more if you include the wiggle room baked in. They really are aiming to be the worst-run team in baseball over the next decade.

Not really accustomed to how draft slot $$ allocation works. Do you mind explaining why leaving 1.7m unspent is a bad management move?

One's annual draft bonus pool is use-it-or-lose-it, and players taken in the draft are the cheapest commodity in baseball; it's a lottery where, in the long run, you're almost guaranteed a massive payout relative to what you put in because of the six years of cheap control for any player that reaches the majors. A young player will receive $1.5m or thereabouts for their first three seasons in the bigs combined; if they're merely a below-average starter over that span, it's a saving of 10-20x what a similar player would cost in free agency.

$1.7m is the bonus value of the 36th overall pick or two third rounders, and because high school players who have first/second round talent often fall out of the top ten rounds entirely because they are considered hard signs, having a pile of money after your top guys are signed allows one to make a run at extra talent; we did it with Rowdy Tellez (a top 100 prospect taken in the 30th round), who decided late that he couldn't turn down $850,000, and Arizona effectively had the coin to add two Tellez-level talents for the price of one year of a middling reliever. They don't appear to have drafted to allow this possibility even though Swanson was expected to sign below slot, because they are cheap/stupid, and consequently they have less talent in their farm system and a wedge of cash in their pockets that amounts to a rounding error.

The silliest part? This came after they spent big ($8.25m, plus penalties that effectively double it and leave them unable to be major players in international free agency for two years) on Cuban prospect Yoan Lopez. Lopez is a worthwhile signing at that price, because of the economics of young players mentioned above, but being willing to spend the better part of $14m on one upside kiddie and then pocketing $1.7m that could've gotten a Lopez-level talent is just nuts.

[EastBayBoy]

I didn't realize it until reading this, but the Diamondbacks left $1.7m in draft slot money unspent, more if you include the wiggle room baked in. They really are aiming to be the worst-run team in baseball over the next decade.

Not really accustomed to how draft slot $$ allocation works. Do you mind explaining why leaving 1.7m unspent is a bad management move?

One's annual draft bonus pool is use-it-or-lose-it, and players taken in the draft are the cheapest commodity in baseball; it's a lottery where, in the long run, you're almost guaranteed a massive payout relative to what you put in because of the six years of cheap control for any player that reaches the majors. A young player will receive $1.5m or thereabouts for their first three seasons in the bigs combined; if they're merely a below-average starter over that span, it's a saving of 10-20x what a similar player would cost in free agency.

$1.7m is the bonus value of the 36th overall pick or two third rounders, and because high school players who have first/second round talent often fall out of the top ten rounds entirely because they are considered hard signs, having a pile of money after your top guys are signed allows one to make a run at extra talent; we did it with Rowdy Tellez (a top 100 prospect taken in the 30th round), who decided late that he couldn't turn down $850,000, and Arizona effectively had the coin to add two Tellez-level talents for the price of one year of a middling reliever. They don't appear to have drafted to allow this possibility even though Swanson was expected to sign below slot, because they are cheap/stupid, and consequently they have less talent in their farm system and a wedge of cash in their pockets that amounts to a rounding error.

The silliest part? This came after they spent big ($8.25m, plus penalties that effectively double it and leave them unable to be major players in international free agency for two years) on Cuban prospect Yoan Lopez. Lopez is a worthwhile signing at that price, because of the economics of young players mentioned above, but being willing to spend the better part of $14m on one upside kiddie and then pocketing $1.7m that could've gotten a Lopez-level talent is just nuts.

That is pretty terrible management from Dave Stewart. But, dumb decisions should be expected from him especially after the Touki Toussaint trade. Should be quite entertaining seeing him and AJ Preller at work, hopefully they don't get fired any time soon, so we can get some much needed laughs which is especially needed as a Jays fan .

[rarefind]

Dave Stewart is ripe for a deadline fleecing.

[Nolan]

I'll just leave this here...

[Michael Bradley]

Dave Stewart was Jays assistant GM for three years, and was one of the candidates to take over the GM role in 2001 after Ash was fired.

Stewart could have been Blue Jays GM 14 years ago. Just let that sink in for a moment.