jacksonianmarch

He was one of the best 3b's in baseball history, clocks in at #5 behind Brett, Schmidt, Brooks, and Mathews on a few lists. The #5 player EVER at the position should have his number retired in the place he played the best.

Sanchez will be up with the bigs

Farrell Joe Torre'd your bullpen. When all of your starters suck, you cannot wear out the same pen guys or else they won't be available to you by seasons end either due to injury or ineffectiveness

http://moesucks.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/lets-beat-that-horse.jpg Cherington isn't coming back. Let's stop talking about him, lol

Shoeless Joe hit .364 in the world series that season. If he threw the series, he sucked at it

Ok, stop beating the horse fossil

Kimmi, is your last name Cherington?

Kazmir gets no love, but he has turned around his career rather significantly. He has some velocity back, peaking at 91.3mph this past yr. His walk total has been down below 3 per 9 and he's made 92 starts the last 3 yrs. Add to that he turns 32 next month and you have a guy who used to be highly hyped who is now flying under the radar as a pretty solid #3 starter. He'd be a great pickup for you guys

I think he missed his chance. That DBacks deal was insane. Should have taken that for Fernandez, cause nobody else will give that up

I get it. Which is why I put the caveat of 80 games in there. Anything less than that is basically too small of a sample size to use.

Cherington has something on his hand that separates him from Duquette.

I'm using defensive runs saved Dojji, a number that at least can be computed for season's end. This is the number used to call Swihart the worst defensive catcher in baseball and is the number I plan to use.

Alright. If Swihart catches 80+ games and is top 2/3 in defensive runs saved in 2016 of catchers who catch 80 games or more than you have my sig

Wanna sig bet? I bet you Swihart finishes in the bottom third of catchers with 80+ games caught in defensive runs saved in 2016. The only caveat is that he catches 80 or more games as well. 2 week sig bet?

I am only saying that he graded out as the worst defensive catcher in baseball last yr. And for 2016, to expect him to be average may be a leap of faith.

Of course he didn't. But Lucchino was basically marginalized after 2014 and Cherington had real autonomy (aside from obviously answering the ownership group) for the most part for 2015. He has a world series ring, one that he did deserve as for one season he pooped rainbows and shat lightning. So he will get another job. And like we both said, he is a builder. He might end up being like the Tuna in football. Won a title (or two in Tuna's case) then went on to teams where he built, left and after he left, the teams were built up again. Happened to the Pats, Jets and Cowboys

LOL. Basically he was offered a demotion. A demotion from deciding what groceries to buy to becoming the errand boy actually buying the groceries.

So he had the lowest amount of defensive runs saved in baseball in half a season. How bad would it have been if he was around for the full season? His scouting reports and his results defensively were different. The SR on him when he came up was a guy whose pitch calling stunk who had athleticism behind the dish. He showed his pitch calling stunk, his pitch framing stunk and for an athletic guy, his blocking stunk. He was a terrible defensive catcher. Do you think he all of a sudden shows up in 2016 and is a rock solid defender? It's not like he has the body habitus of a postprandial Buddha, so it isn't like he isn't capable. He was just downright bad. There will likely be a progression towards average, but I can bet you a sig that, should he get 80+ games behind the dish in the bigs, he will be in the bottom third (of catchers similarly catching 80+ games) in defensive runs saved in 2016. Want me to own your sig for another month next fall?

Miller is signed to a 3 yr deal at $9 mil per. McGee is set to make $5 mil in 2016, prob $10 mil in 2017 and a FA after that. Chances are the money would be similar over the next 3 yrs, but you can let Miller walk at that point, whereas McGee will be commanding a big AAV after 2017 on a long term deal. Miller was also healthier in 2015 and like I said, 1 yr difference. I think both are extremely attractive to teams, but I also think the Rays would rather keep him. Moving onto other things, as it stands right now, we have an interesting 1. McCann 2. Sanchez 3. Teixeira 4. Castro 5. Gregorius 6. Headley 7. Gardner 8. Hicks 9. Ellsbury 10. Beltran 11. Rodriguez 12. Ackley 13. Refsnyder or Bird I think there is at least one more deal to be had. Our #13 spot is going to be interesting. I think the likelihood that Roidhead and Tex make it through the season healthy is low, but out of the gate, I can see the utility of rotating Bird in to keep Tex and ARod fresh. That being said, Bird should probably be getting regular ABs and some time in AAA might be better for him. On the Refsnyder front, I can see his utility as well. He gives us another right handed option who can play 2b, 3b, and COF. But having either RH or switch in the infield and a good lefty masher in the OF as a backup, he might be the guy with the likelihood to end up in AAA. And Ackley can double as a backup IF at 3b and 2b and should Didi need a day off, Castro could slide over to SS without an issue To the staff 1. Tanaka 2. Severino 3. Nova 4. Pineda 5. Eovaldi 6. Sabathia 7. Mitchell 8. Miller 9. Betances 10. Shreve Mitchell is the most likely guy to see a change in role as I think he ends up less a middle relief guy and more our long reliever. Our last 2 spots up for grabs have a hell of a cast looking to fight for them 1. Jacob Lindgren- former top pick, lefty fireballer who was hurt on arrival last yr and missed the last half. Is fully healthy and throwing hard 2. James Pazos- lefty who had a cup of coffee and made the WC roster. High 90s heat with big slider 3. Branden Pinder- hard throwing righty with a sub 3ERA in 28 innings last yr. Command shaky and prone to the tater 4. Nick Goody- low 90s heat with movement, plays up, and a huge slider. College closer, dominated minors after TJS 5. Nick Rumbelow- high 90s heat, held his own in 15 innings last yr. 6. Johnny Barbato- high 90s fastball, great curveball, finally healthy after TJS, shaky command

I think if Ben wasn't "allowed to leave" Anthopoulos would be heading your team. Listen, Ben was great for what you needed. You won a title by random s*** luck, which is something that was missing from these parts for 8 decades. Seriously, how many people went to their graves not seeing one title and then the sox come up and have a truly lucky season? It is absolutely absurd. But that season gave Cherington a lot of rope to go out there and build a team. He was always build, build, build, but once a plan didn't work, a la Will Middlebrooks, he panicked and bought the shiniest toy to fill the hole, even if that toy was a fat slob. But in his tenure, he allowed guys brought in by Theo to grow and created a farm system that was rivaled maybe only by LA. But once he built and built, he couldn't bare to see his work get shipped off for a veteran. This is where his utility ended. He would be a great guy for the Reds. I could see him in Cincy. Barren farm system for the most part and a team on a full out rebuild. He would be perfect for them. Then in 3 yrs he gets shitcanned and someone goes out and wins with his pieces

Kimmi, I agree. I think Cashman is a good GM to guide us through a reloading process. Yeah, we've still signed some big names, but we haven't really gone too big like George always wanted. And in doing so, we have a team with true minor league depth and strength enough to turn over once the old guys go down

UN, you're parsing hairs here. Let's put it this way. If you're a doctor and the brass calls you in and offers you the same pay to sweep the floors as your new assignment, you're going to quit. Technically, you made the decision to leave, but it's basically a demotion or leave.

Those aren't your choices for 2016. Your choices are an above average offensive catcher who was the worst defensive catcher in baseball a yr ago or a catcher with average to below average offensive skills who is already a top 5-10 defensive catcher in baseball at a young age

Arizona is all in. You go out and throw the highest AAV ever at someone who turns 33 prior to the season getting going and you're defining your window. They are trying to take advantage of a Dodgers team that is aging and has seen a blip in their development with Puig and Peterson. You take their 1A from them as well and add in your own SP depth and you have a team capable of winning it all. Miller is a good pitcher. My concern with him is that he puts it all together in Atlanta. Mazzone was great, but it wasn't just him who remade all the pitchers in Atlanta. He sucked in Baltimore, so I'm thinking it's more a system than a single guy. But it's almost as if the guys stop being good once they stop suckling on the teet

Swihart can hit. He'll be a good hitter in the bigs, with good average and double digit homers. That's not the issue. The issue is whether he can be an average defensive catcher or if he ends up a COF or 1B