Roasting Mediocrity on a Hot Stove

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DOUGHBOYS
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Roasting Mediocrity on a Hot Stove

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:41 am

It is 46 days, 15 hours, and a few minutes till those four magical words.
Pitchers and catchers report.
The days seem to match the free agents still available on the market.
Have all the agents taken the Boras line to representing their clients?
Wait till the last minute and hope for desperation?

Since free agency began, this has been the slowest year on record.No major player from last year has signed a new contract and we are heading into the new year.
JD Martinez
Yu Darvish
Jake Arrieta
Mike Moustakas
Jay Bruce
Eric Hosmer
Lorenzo Cain
Lance Lynn
Alex Cobb
Wade Davis
Greg Holland
Todd Frazier

When looking at the list, if agents are holding out for desperation, they may be making the wrong move.
JD Martinez is the only difference maker.
A case can be said for others, but really, they're just nice pieces for a ball club.
Every pitcher listed has seen his best days.
Clubs will be looking to get two quality years out of them, while possibly extending a three or four year contract.
Hitters ain't much better.
Lorenzo Cain has had three years of over 400 at bats...in his career! He'll be 32 next year.
Like Cain, Mike Moustakas had a career year last year, before then he had never hit even 25 home runs before.
Leading to the question, were his stats 'Moose Powered' or 'Ball juice Powered'?
Hosmer also had a career year (hmm, three career years, a great year from Merrifield and the Royals still sucked. That's what they get for playing Escobar and Gordon all the time)
Hosmer is the wild card of the three Royals.
He is younger (28) and has been more consistent as a player.
He is a better baseball player than fantasy player.
For fantasy, he has never hit over 25 homers, has not stolen 10 bases the last four years, only driven in or scored 100 runs once in his career (104 rbi in 2016)
In fantasy baseball, he's a nice piece to have on your roster, consistency being the trademark, not a world beater.
San Diego may be bidding against San Diego to acquire Hosmer.
Quick! Name a 15 game winner for the Padres. Yeah, that's a problem.
For Hosmer, it may be the reason he has not yet signed with the begging Padres.

I've been waiting for the Hot Stove league to heat up.
But at the same time, any time a pitcher gets signed, it'll be met with first a 'meh' from me and then a consideration of how he will fit in his new surroundings.
For instance, if Lance Lynn was signed by the Rockies, he's dead.
But, if going to the same division with the Giants, those fly balls could stay in the park.
Arrieta and Darvish are past their prime.
A long contract, a fools errand.
A short one of three years, probably the same.

Here are the numbers from three free agent pitchers...

3.86/10/209/1.16
3.40/11/86/1.32
3.53/14/163/1.22

As fantasy players, we covet the strike outs. Should real teams?
Are they now paying too much for dominance, in a league where hitters are handing out dominance to pitchers in the form of swinging hard on every pitch?
In my mind, no matter what they pay for Darvish or Arrieta, it'll be too much.
By the way, the pitchers listed above are free agents, Darvish, Andrew Cashner, and Arrieta.
Mis-perception is worse than deception.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

Bronx Yankees
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Re: Roasting Mediocrity on a Hot Stove

Post by Bronx Yankees » Sat Dec 30, 2017 7:42 am

Dan, I read your post, agreed with everything in it, and then moved on. Also thought that many of today’s free agents holding out for big paydays would be sorely disappointed. Then, I see that the Rockies give the aging and oft-injured Wade Davis $52 million for three years and think that maybe some of these agents know what they’re doing (or at least know that they only need to find one team desperate enough to make a colossal overpay).

I’m particularly interested to see how the Red Sox/J.D. Martinez game of chicken plays out. Not many teams - other than the Red Sox - have the money and inclination to set-up JD’s grandkids for life. On the other hand, tough to see Red Sox enter the season without addressing their lack of power and, really, JD seems like one of the few players out there that can fill the bill. Should be interesting - and, yet, very annoying - to see how long this plays out.

Mike
Mike Mager
"Bronx Yankees"

DOUGHBOYS
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Re: Roasting Mediocrity on a Hot Stove

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Sat Dec 30, 2017 9:02 am

Most everybody in baseball knows how the Rockies became a contender last year.
It was their bullpen.
So, it is not surprising that they are over paying for that same method as last year.
Signing Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee, and now, Davis, has made them one of the most aggressive buyers this year.

Relievers usually do not perform at the same level year after year like other players.
We have a more than 50 percent turnover in Closers, mostly the result of under performance.
Last year, the Rox struck gold in their bullpen, this year, their mining the same vein and putting a lot more dollars invested into it.
I am dubious into both their short term and long term results.

JD Martinez clamor has been kept to a minimum. Every team can use him, but most deny they are in the sweepstakes.
If the Red Sox really want him, they should grab him. Otherwise a 'secret' team will get him.
One team that I am rooting for to sign Martinez is the Angels.
For more than one reason.
First, the lure of a dream lineup...

1. Kinsler
2. Cozart
3. Trout
4. Martinez
5. Upton
6. Pujols
7. Ohtani
8. Simmons
9. Calhoun

When looking at that lineup, most folks would say, that it needs a left handed hitter.
Only Calhoun being lefty and he is hitting nine.
BUT, what if this is the way to combat 'new baseball'.
If playing a four game series against the Rangers, the Rangers won't want to tire their righties every night and not give their lefties any work.
Stacking the lineup with above average hitters from the right side seems like a good idea to combat the 'specialist'.

If the Red Sox do sign Martinez, the thought is that Jackie Bradley would be traded.
That would hurt the Sox as well. Bradley is one of the best center fielders in baseball and probably has nor reached his peak as a hitter as yet.
If I were them, I would slowly work Martinez in at first base and go against his wishes and DH him other days.
He is a sub-par outfielder and right field is tricky enough at Fenway.

The team that needs him the most is the Giants.
For fantasy, it'll be interesting to see how far his ADP drops if signing with the Giants.
Somebody told me that Martinez would have had nearly the same amount of home runs in San Francisco last year as he had in Detroit and Arizona (footage-wise).
Footage is stupid. San Francisco, along with being a big ball park also has heavier air, especially comparing Detroit and Arizona.
We've seen what that park does to every hitter who has played there since the steroid era.
It is no bueno.

One more thought, the Cubs, quietly, have one of the worst outfields in baseball.
A should-be platooned left fielder in Schwarber.
An untested center fielder in Almora or Happ.
A horribly over paid right fielder who hasn't hit in years in Heyward. Another should-be platooned player.
Their run of having great players at most positions was short lived.
Their focus in free agency is on pitching.
Nobody talks about them, but the Cubs could really use JD Martinez.
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Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

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Edwards Kings
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Re: Roasting Mediocrity on a Hot Stove

Post by Edwards Kings » Sat Dec 30, 2017 12:56 pm

DOUGHBOYS wrote: First, the lure of a dream lineup...

1. Kinsler
2. Cozart
3. Trout
4. Martinez
5. Upton
6. Pujols
7. Ohtani
8. Simmons
9. Calhoun

When looking at that lineup, most folks would say, that it needs a left handed hitter.
Ehhh...who needs a catcher? :?
Baseball is a slow, boring, complex, cerebral game that doesn't lend itself to histrionics. You 'take in' a baseball game, something odd to say about a football or basketball game, with the clock running and the bodies flying.
Charles Krauthammer

DOUGHBOYS
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Re: Roasting Mediocrity on a Hot Stove

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Sat Dec 30, 2017 3:03 pm

Edwards Kings wrote:
DOUGHBOYS wrote: First, the lure of a dream lineup...

1. Kinsler
2. Cozart
3. Trout
4. Martinez
5. Upton
6. Pujols
7. Ohtani
8. Simmons
9. Calhoun

When looking at that lineup, most folks would say, that it needs a left handed hitter.
Ehhh...who needs a catcher? :?
I thought Ohtani could do everything???! :D
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

DOUGHBOYS
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Re: Roasting Mediocrity on a Hot Stove

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:48 am

We have our answer into what happens with an off season wherein most clients are owned by one agent and other agents follow suit to wait as long as possible for signing those clients.
Boredom. Or Borasdom.
Most blurbs begin with 'Teams are interested in...' instead of 'So and So was signed by...'
Dull.
Literally every team would be interested in Christian Yelich. He is cost-effective enough to be on cheap or building teams and good enough to help out contenders.
'Teams are interested in Christian Yelich' is like stating that the Latin woman on 'Modern Family' is well endowed.

One writer broke a 'story' that Eric Hosmer has a seven year deal on the table from the Padres and that JD Martinez has a five year deal from the Red Sox.
How does one writer know that.
Probably like all of us know that,
It makes common sense.
Neither Hosmer, Martinez, or the Padres or Red Sox will deny it, so nobody is hurt by it.
The writer gets his 'story' mentioned by the baseball blurbs of the world and those blurbs have something to talk about in an off season where there is little to talk about.
Is the story true?
Probably not.
Why would one writer know what is happening to the two top free agents while everybody else is guessing?
He made his guess a 'story'.
Already, Bob Nightengale is on Santa's naughty list for next year.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

headhunters
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Re: Roasting Mediocrity on a Hot Stove

Post by headhunters » Mon Jan 08, 2018 11:32 am

you just can't tell me that boras doesn't pay some of these writers to write about these offers- but then again- maybe he doesn't. maybe he just calls them and makes it up. either way- forget trump- baseball really is the home of fake news. ALSO- boy am i glad i don't bet football anymore- if i had the chiefs yesterday after not ONE but TWO bad calls on quarterback sacks/fumbles- i may have shot myself.

headhunters
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Re: Roasting Mediocrity on a Hot Stove

Post by headhunters » Mon Jan 08, 2018 11:45 am

btw dan- kinda off your game. i think ohtani throws righty and bats lefty. so there is that. if he dh,s then albert plays 1st- but of course they could sit him and eat his 30 million a year $

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Edwards Kings
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Re: Roasting Mediocrity on a Hot Stove

Post by Edwards Kings » Thu Jan 11, 2018 6:00 am

DAN...DAN...LIFE! A free agent signing! Call the papers...inform the President...wake your wife and kiss the dog (or visa versa)!

Just makes you giddy...

Image
Baseball is a slow, boring, complex, cerebral game that doesn't lend itself to histrionics. You 'take in' a baseball game, something odd to say about a football or basketball game, with the clock running and the bodies flying.
Charles Krauthammer

headhunters
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Re: Roasting Mediocrity on a Hot Stove

Post by headhunters » Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:10 pm

if only she had a bag of doritos in her hand- dan might never leave this page.

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