moonslav59

best 3bmen by WAR in 2017 on probable/possible non contending teams: 2.3 Gyorko STL 2.3 Harrison Pitt 22. Sano MN 2.1 J LAmb AZ 1.7 J Gallo TX 1.6 E Saurez CIN 1.5 M Machado BAL 1.2 T Frazier CWS 1.1 Y Escobar LAA 1.0 E NUnez SFG 0.9 D Freese Pitt

McCutchen's AVV is about $8.5M. His 2018 option is $14.5M, but I think it only counts as $13.5, since the buyout of $1M counted against earlier contract years. Harrison's AVV is just under $7M and he's under control through 2018. He also has 2 option years remaining that may up his value: 2019 at $10.5M and 2020 at $11.5M. If we trade at the deadline, we are only on the hook for about 1/3 of their contract this year. That means McCutch would count as about $3M and Harrison as about $2.5M. I'm pretty sure we could get both and stay under for this year. We could also trade away Abad or some other contract to make sure we stay under. My problem with McCucth is that we'd have no place to play him. Harrison, yes- McCutch no. David Freese could also be a lower cost option.

Like clutch hitting, this stat is not something that is easily sustainable. Probably your best hitter will, over the long run, hit best with 2 outs and men on. To me, hitting with men on and noe or one out is very important, too, if fact, it probably leads to more big innings than getting a hit with men on and 2 outs.

...tell me the ball is not juiced!

I'm glad we won't need our 5th starter come playoff time.

I realize it is virtually impossible to avoid situations where injuries and unexpected cliff dives force a move to find a #5 at a much lower cost than a desperation move for a #1, 2 or 3, but my philosophy is to try and avoid them as much as possible. I'm sure most GMs and fans would agree that having to get a number 5 is not something anyone wants to do. Take this year's Sox as an example. We had 6 good to great starters on opening day. It's hard to blame DD for not getting a 7th good starter (non 4/5 slot type) due to cost it would have taken to acquire one that good. I don't "blame" DD for lack of foresight in us having to use Fister, Kendrick, Velazquez. The Masterson, Dempster, Penny-Smoltz type signings are different. These guys were signed to start 20-33 times as 5th starters.

Imagine if the Yanks had gotten CC AND JE! I'd have been thrilled--and not just in hindsight.

I said the #3 hitter comes up to bat with 2 outs and 0 men on more than any other position. That's a fact. I've read the 3 slot comes up in these situations "a lot", but I can't find any source that sayd "more than any other position". Also, why is 2 outs such an important qualifier. I see why it is important, but it's not the only stat that matters for the 3 slot vs the 4 or 5 slot. The 3 slot gets more PAs than the 4 and 5 slot, and my guess is, they may come up with more men on base with any out total than 4 or 5. Plus, a high OBP from your 3 slot helps your 4 and 5 guys get more chances for RBIs than putting a lower OBP up 3rd. That has to be part of the equation as well. I'm not doubting the data, Kimmi, but I think the 1 or 9 slot probably comes up more often with non-RBI situations than the 3 slot. There are more innings than just the first. There are also times in the first inning that the #3 guy comes up with none on and 2 outs, and he gets on base. The number 4 guy Hrs or DBLs him in or gets on for the 5th hitter to get an RBI chance.

I'm glad the Royals staying in the playoff hunt might prevent DD from doing something not too far-sighted (again).

I realize Holt's unfortunate injury has a lot to do with it, but his stock sure has fallen among many fans that used to cringe at the mere suggestion of trading him away.

Didn't he say he did it for his family?

A brief history of our #4/5 slot acquisitions: (Note: sometimes acquiring #5/6 types is essential to building rotation depth at a low budget cost, and I included #6 types in my list, but my main focus is on those we acquired as a number 4 or 5. Ones that were expected to give us 15-20 starts, at least.) Fister 0-2 6.14 Velazquez 1-1 5.27 Kendrick 0-2 12.96 O'Sullivan 2-0 6.75 R Elias 0-1 12.91 Pomeranz 11-9 4.07 (Could have been viewed as a #3/4 type) Joe Kelly 4-0 5.18 (as a starter in 2016) Masterson 4-2 5.61 Rich Hill 2-1 1.55 Wade Miley 11-11 4.46 (Maybe expected to be our #3/4 type) Jake Peavy 1-9 4.72 (2014) Doubront 2-4 6.07 (2014) Webster 5-3 5.03 de la Rosa 4-8 4.43 Joe Kelly 10-6 4.82 (as a starter in 2015) Dempster 8-9 4.57 Doubront 11-6 4.32 Peavy 4-1 4.04 (2013) Webster 1-2 8.60 Doubront 11-10 4.86 (2012) A Cook 4-11 5.65 (D Bard and F Morales used as starters in 2012) A Miller 6-3 5.54 (primarily as a SP'er in 2011) E Bedard 1-2 4.03 K Weiland 0-3 7.66 (2011--Not an acquisition) B Penny 7-8 5.61 J Smoltz 2-5 8.33 (Hated these two signings) P Byrd 1-3 5.82 (2009) P Byrd 4-2 4.78 (2008) B Colon 4-2 3.92 This is a pretty complete list of the last 10 years. A few worked out well, a few worked out okay or "as expected", but many many more totally flamed out.

I get the attitude thing, but I don't recall anyone not being happy that he retired instead of forcing the Sox to may his second year. He wasn't a bad #5. He actually did fine as a #5. He had the chance to pitch like a #4 or maybe even a #3, but I didn't think he was going to get better as he aged and moved from the NL central to the AL east.

CC is from the Houston area. He always had a legendary workout regime year round. He was in tremendous shape- all the time. This, however, has nothing to do with hitting lefties. Sadly, he also lost his ability to hit righties quickly while with us. His OBP was never consistently high enough to be viewed as a lead off hitter for a big hitting team like the Sox. His power was never good enough to bat 3rd either. I remember many who disliked the trade did so because they felt signing CC meant we'd lose Elsbury to free agency later. That didn't concern me, because I was never for re-signing JE at anywhere neaar what he was expected to make.

6 in a row and 8 out of 9 before tonight. Now, we play 12 against division foes. It's time to put some space between us and our rivals. 4 @ TBR (All Star Break) 4 vs NYY 4 vs TOR followed by a 6 game west coast swing. Don't let up! Kick some butt!

I'm kind of concerned about Scott, Boyer and Abad. Even Hembree and Barnes are a bit unreliable more than I'd wish. We have hope that Ross or Carson Smith will return, and maybe someone from the farm can fill in, if someone fails or gets hurt: Workman, Taylor, Maddox or even Johnson returning from his injury to the pen. We may even try to find this year's Ziegler.

At least the Yanks lost.

a Moreland is playing hurt and noticeably declining. He should be no higher than 5th and should probably be platooned with Travis as I believe he is now.

My position is that the money could be spent better elsewhere. Do some of these signings ever reap rewards as pitchers do better than expected? Yes, but far more crash and burn.

I think Pablo's days are numbered, perhaps to July 16th. How well Moreland is doing might have something to do with our willingness to send Travis down just to prolong the release of Pablo. If we're not going to play Pablo after July 16th, then just set him free.

I think most teams put their best hitter 3rd, so if the guy up 4th is getting more RBIs, part of that has to do with the guy up third getting on base a lot- maybe with a lot of dbls thereby giving the #4 guy more oportunties than if you flipped them, but I think it's safe to surmise from just these numbers that 4 is better than 3 for Betts.

I liked Werth more, but I felt the overpay for him was way too much as well. Other FA signings that winter besides CC's $142M/7: Not many reached expectations (no surprise, since that happens every year) $126M/7 Werth $120M/5 C Lee $80M/5 Beltre $56M A Dunn $50M/4 VMart $38M/3 Konerko $35M/3 R Soriano $33M/3 T Lily $21M/3 Uribe (We could have gotten Beltre and VMart for less than CC.)

RBIs by batting slot in MLB: 2015 4th 2949 3rd 2760 5th 2566 2nd 2222 6th 2158 7th 1956 1st 1870 8th 1748 9th 1421 2016 4th 3052 3rd 2964 5th 2640 6th 2337 2nd 2257 7th 2015 1st 1996 8th 1976 9th 1511

The whole team was in a slump during the small sample size when Betts batted third. The whole team is in stride now as Betts bats first in this small sample size. I'd trust the studies done on thousands of innings over a couple 40 game sample sizes.

There's always Marrero.