moonslav59

Sample sizes are small, but for a 1Bman, I wouldn't call these minor league numbers eye-popping or even above average for a MLB first baseman: AAA: .765 (190 PA) AA: .821 (281 PA) (If you combine AA & AA, he's over 370 PAs with an OPS below .800- not really that good.) A+: .845 is respectable. A: .826 is good. A-: .813 is pretty good. Here's what soxprospects.com has to say about Travis: Hit: Solid approach and strong contact skills. Compact swing lends itself to hard contact to all fields. Swing lacks loft. Solid-average bat speed. Could struggle with velocity as he moves up, as his swing can get long and he has shown vulnerability to fastballs inside. Tracks pitches, works counts and understands the strike zone. Potential solid-average hit tool.

I'm no expert on other teams' prospects, but I was scratching head thinking of you when I read about trading Walker.

You seem to use whichever suits your argument.

A better question might be, has he ever built a farm like the one he inherited to be able to trade better prospects that amounted to anything special afterwards?

Well, if it's all about WAR, then the CWS would take Leon (2.5 WAR) and T Shaw (1.5 WAR) for Robertson (1.0 WAR) & Frazier (2.4 WAR). I'll throw in Hembree and Owens.

Your Mariners really made a splash trade!

From MLBTR... Giants Have Considered Pursuing Pablo Sandoval Trade By Jeff Todd | November 25, 2016 at 6:07pm CDT The Giants have had internal discussions about trying to strike a deal for Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval, according to Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald. It is not known whether the two organizations have talked about the former San Francisco star. Sandoval, 30, is two years into what has been a disastrous free agent contract with the Red Sox. Entering the 2014-15 offseason, he was widely regarded as a high-quality option at the hot corner, with youth on his side and a resume full of strong contributions with the bat and the glove. The Giants pursued a reunion, but Sandoval ultimately took five years and $95MM to head east. The productivity came to an end as soon as he reached Boston, however. Sandoval posted a decidedly mediocre .245/.292/.366 batting line in his first season with his new organization, and drew abysmal reviews for his fielding at the hot corner. He lost his starting job in camp heading into 2016, and ultimately underwent season-ending shoulder surgery. Beyond Sandoval’s age and track record, there’s not much to commend him at this point. He has notably struggled with his weight before, but it has been a greater problem than ever with the Red Sox, and it’s hard to know what to make of the latest reports that he is in better shape. And now, Sandoval has the shoulder issue to work back from, too. Still, the Giants have drawn good work from Sandoval in the past. While his contract is very clearly under water, he’s hardly owed a monumental sum. Including the buyout on a 2020 option, Sandoval is set to earn $58MM over the next three seasons. While there’s no chance that San Francisco will take that on in full, it’s not impossible to imagine the sides coming to a meeting of the minds.

I like Travis, but he's still largely an unknown. I'm hoping for the best, but I'm not expecting him to win a FT position with the Sox... ever.

How about Barnes, T Shaw, S Travis and 2 of Owens, Johnson & Hembree for Robertson and Frazier?

My brother-in-law lived in Seoul for a few months. He loved it. He still plays their music all the time. I picked up and moved from a log cabin in the Maine woods to Mexico City knowing very little Spanish. I lived there for almost 5 years. I loved it. I'd still be there, if my wife wanted to live there.

Depends. If they trade Sale for ML players or very near ML ready prospects, then you may be right. However, if they tade him for farther away prospects, then why stop there? When they are really farther away than it seems before the trade, losing Sale makes them serious noncontenders. Don't be fooled by the very nice core of players they have right now. Beyond the top 7-10 players, there are glaring weaknesses. Their budget looks good, but they have shown no willingness to boost spending enough to close so many gaps.

Sean O'Sullivan signs with Korean team. Why can't we ever get guys like him?

Even at the peak of his value, assuming as some do here that his value has fallen, Swihart was never going to be the centerpiece of a package for an ace. I don't think his value has fallen much at all, if any. GMs do not change their ratings that quickly based on a week of play in a season. I think Swihart still has very high value- not "centerpiece" high, but enough to make a solid addition to (JBJ, Moncada or Devers, who would be the centerpiece in a deal for an ace. Add Pomeranz or as a last resort ERod or Kopech and the package would rival any offer other teams would make for Sale or Quintana (plus Robertson and/or Frazier?). Swihart rates to be a top third hitting catcher right away with upside potential to be top 5 pretty soon. He has a good arm and excellent pop times. That may help offset some of his other defensive deficiencies, but lets not forget that many catchers take years and years to develop into fine defensive catchers. VTek was not recognized as a top defender until he was past 32 years old. He led the league in WP +PB at ages 27 and 28 (1999 & 2000). He also only had one season over .730 by age 28. I think GMs see upside value in Swihart, and with the state of catching in MLB at a very low point, many GMs would love to add Swihart's value to their current catcher corps.

I totally agree, and if he never gets above .680, he still may be in the middle third of catchers. If he can get to .640, he may be near the top of the bottom third of starting catchers in MLB. Keeping his defense very high, would make him an overall plus at catcher.

Moving Bogey to 3B now makes no sense, because we have no other SS, but when you have a SS who has failed to improve on defense in 3+ years, I think considering a move in the future (assuming we have a SS that can field better than Bogey someday soon) is not some wild idea.

The more I think about Sale the less I like that idea. He used to look to me like a high risk - high reward player. Now he looks more to me like a high-risk, moderate reward player. I've said all along, I prefer Quintana to Sale. Plus, he has an extra year of team control. Let the Braves or Dodgers pry Sale fro the CWS, and once the rebuild has begun, swoop in and nab Quintana & Robertson...maybe Frazier too.

That's a nice thought. Why not go one more and sign Beltran and Turner too? Trade JBJ, Moncada, Swihart, Pom (can flip to another team), Shaw & Hembree/Owens for Sale & Robertson Sale, Porcello, Price, Erod, Wright, Buch Jansen, Kimbrel, Robertson, Smith, Kelly, Ross, Barnes 1) Beni CF 2) Pedey 2B 3) Betts RF 4) Beltran LF 5) HanRam 1B 6) Turner 3B 7) Bogey SS 8) Pablo-Young DH 9) Leon-Vaz Utility: Holt & Hernandez

While I certainly see the needed pen value added, I'm not sure we need to go that bold. Copying the last winners is not always the way to win.

A full year of Beni should help. An upgrade at 3B could help. Minimize the decline at DH, and maybe we can squeak by with an offense that scores about the same amount of runs.

I'm thinking Pablo might be best suited to platoon at DH with Young. I'm not happy with Shaw-Holt-Hernandez at 3B at all, and I'm not sure if Moncada will ever get to decent as a defender at 3B. I've mentioned trading for Frazier as a bridge to Moncada, but I'm not sure if we might try to trade Moncada as part of a package for an ace or a real 3Bman with multiple years of control. We could also go after Turner and either try Moncada in LF (trade JBJ?) or just deal Moncada as mentioned before.

I don't see Valbuena as a DH/3B type. He might be ok for a 3B platoon bridge to Moncada, but I think Shaw-Pablo-Hernandez-Holt will probably be as good or better than Valbuena. I think trading for Frazier makes the most sense, but the CWS often have price tags way too high. Here's how our pen looks as is: Closer: Kimbrel (He's not as sure a bet as before.) RP2: C. Smith (He may be out until June & may need adjustment time.) RP3: Joe Kelly (Still not a proven RP'er.) RP4: R Ross (Has become a consistent guy.) RP5: Matt Barnes (Showed glimpses of success.) RP6: Buchholz/Pomeranz/Wright RP7: Abad, Hembree, Elias, Scott, Martin, N Ramirez Workman, Owens, Johnson, Kopech Deep with mediocrity is how I see it. Underlined = No options left

I don't think our rotation is weak at the top, but I firmly believe that the best way to greatly improve your rotation is by building from the top. If we can get an ace, it makes Porcello our #2 and Price our #3. It also gives us a blue chip trading chip in whoever fails to make the 4-5 slots. I realize getting an ace is costly. I'm not willing to give "whatever it takes", but I will push the envelope on an overpay for someone like Quintana (or Sale). I agree, the pen is our greatest need. Again, I'd rather go higher quality over quantity, but I think Jansen and Chapman would be cost prohibitive. Melancon may be too pricey. I like the Holland gamble and would love to bring Ziegler back. I'm not a big fan of Abad, and he's out of options, so I like notin's idea of trading some of our RP'er mediocre quantity for a platoon DH (and maybe 3B) type.

I've always said WAR is flawed as are all stats, but at least WAR makes a strong attempt to capture the whole of a player's value- not just offense.

Swihart is of an age and experience level where he's more of an ex-prospect than a prospect, that's just the facts. Not true for catchers.

WAR/G is more useful, but if the guy who plays the other games has a zero or negative WAR, then the player with the high WAR/G numbers is not as valuable, if he could not play because of injury or horrible splits (like Castro).