Kerb Hohl wrote:coolhandluke121 wrote:Turk Nowitzki wrote:I see Villar found the bench tonight.
Good
His mental make-up is as much a part of the package as his physical talent. That's what I think a lot of people missed in the heated arguments about trading him this off-season. He's one of the biggest clowns in baseball.
Is there anyone that said they wouldn't have traded him this offseason?
I think RS and Duderino were pretty adamant about it. Of course it all depends on what they could have gotten, but they were pretty sure he was worth more to the Brewers because teams would be reluctant to give up much for him after one good year, whereas people like twirlie, wichmae, and myself were adamant that they should aggressively try to trade him and should not assess a fair return according to his numbers last year but rather according to the same rightful skepticism other teams would have in trading for him. In other words, his expected value, rather than his past value in a fluke-ish season with a ridiculously high BABIP.
I never understand that logic in any trade talk. "You won't get fair value for him, so you may as well keep him." It's just as likely that you're wrong about fair value, if not more so. By keeping him, you're assuming the same risk/reward ratio anybody else would in trading for him. You're sacrificing the exact same trade package they'd be willing to give up for him. You definitely should be in the driver's seat for evaluating his future better than teams trading for him, but that can just as easily break either way; there's no reason it should lead you to err on the side of keeping your guys all the time. That's homer-ism.
You have just as much of an advantage in seeing his flaws as in seeing his promise, and that's especially releveant in the case of Villar. A package far beneath what you'd normally expect from a guy who had a year like he did last season,
but far better than a worst-case scenario that appears more and more likely with every passing week (and was already pretty likely to begin with based on a closer inspection of his numbers and his decisions last year) is a damn good return.
Wut we've got here is... faaailure... to communakate.