harmony

Dipoto hopes Mitch Haniger, Dan Vogelbach and/or International League MVP Ben Gamel -- who all absolutely tore up Triple A pitching this year -- will break out in 2017. http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=hanige001mit http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=vogelb000dan http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=gamel-001ben Jean Segura is likely to regress but the Mariners go into the 2017 season with a 27-year-old shortstop who posted a higher 2016 fWAR than Xander Bogaerts ... at a less premium position nonetheless. I hope Taijuan Walker and Ketel Marte have successful careers, but I hope the same for Haniger and Segura.

Yes and yes, although I am probably an optimist. The Mariners have added Jean Segura, Danny Valencia, Carlos Ruiz and Mitch Haniger to a potent offense that this year trailed only the Red Sox in wRC+ (the M's have subtracted Adam Lind, Nori Aoki, Dae-ho Lee and Ketel Marte). Pitching was the problem with this year's 86-win team and the team lacks rotation depth with the trade of Taijuan Walker. Should the Red Sox trim payroll with a trade of Clay Buchholz? At any rate, I expect the M's to be in the market for another starter or two to go with Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, James Paxton, Ariel Miranda and Nate Karns. Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto left the Angel farm system barren but many attribute the demise to Halo owner Arte Moreno. Dipoto inherited a weak Seattle farm system that has probably improved since Dipoto's arrival in September 2015. I'm bracing for regression from probably two of Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager and Nelson Cruz, but I remain optimistic.

On the other end of the spectrum, how many November moves are too many? Scroll down for a list of the Seattle Mariners' November moves, including five trades: http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/mlb/seattle-mariners/mariners-insider-blog/article117483458.html The binge did not end with the month ... today's reports are that the Mariners will sign lefty reliever Marc Rzcepczynski: http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/mlb/seattle-mariners/mariners-insider-blog/article118223958.html

Allen Craig in March 2013 signed an extension with the St. Louis Cardinals, a franchise that was nowhere near the luxury tax limit. If Craig had remained with the St. Louis, the Cardinals could facilitate a trade by paying part of his salary without luxury tax implications. With the trade to Boston, and with his underperformance, Craig is pretty much precluded from plying his trade at the MLB level unless he forgoes his negotiated salary. I suspect agents may address the issue in future player contracts.

Interesting solution. I suspect the players union would like to address that issue in the future as Rusney Castillo and Allen Craig find themselves in purgatory because no trade partner is likely to take on the full salary and any salary paid by the Red Sox in a trade would count against the luxury tax in the likely event either lands on a 40-man roster.

Luxury tax threshold reportedly set at $195 million this year:

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/principles/regression/ Toward the mean of all players.

The projections almost always regress toward the mean ... in both directions.

We all hope Andrew Benintendi remains healthy but a wide variety of outcomes are possible. On what do you base your stated projections?

Andrew Benintendi was the 2016 version of Michael Conforto and Kyle Schwarber the previous season because each made his MLB debut roughly a year after being a Top 10 draft pick out of college. Here are their MLB slash lines from their debut years: AB DOB 7-6-94 2016 118 PA, .295/.359/.476/.835. OPS+ 117, 0.6 fWAR MC DOB 3-1-93 2015 194 PA, .270/.335/.506/.841, OPS+ 126, 2.1 fWAR KS DOB 3-5-93 2015 283 PA, .246/.355/.487/.842, OPS+ 130, 1.9 fWAR Here are the second-year slash lines for Conforto and Schwarber: MC 2016 348 PA, .220/.310/.414/.725, OPS+ 92, 1.3 fWAR KS 2016 5 PA, .000/.200/.000/.200, OPS+ -39, -0.1 fWAR

FanGraphs Depth Charts projects Andrew Benintendi with a 2017 WAR of 1.6. in 560 plate appearances covering 133 games: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=17901&position=OF ... with the Steamer projection coming in slightly lower.

From Monday evening's FanGraphs chat: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/fangraphs-after-dark-chat-112916/ Also:

New England's largest newspaper did not let up after Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez departed: https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/02/16/carl-crawford-adrian-gonzalez-still-complaining-about-boston/xFuFQGrlGdHLEXynRMRk7K/story.html Again, legitimate issues need to be addressed but how the issues are addressed makes a difference. The Red Sox indeed attract top free agents, some overpaid and probably fewer underpaid. Money speaks.

To varying degrees, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Adrian Gonzalez were vilified by a wide swath of Boston fans and media. Two of the three generally disappointed after their trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers. No doubt some Dodger fans expressed their disappointment but the typical displeasure was not as vile as that generated in Boston. Again, a generalization. It comes down to how we hold people accountable. Perhaps we can draw an analogy to an abusive relationship. For example, a woman can be subjected to her husband's physical and emotional abuse, which is not limited to calling her a "fat slob" in public. The wife may have genuine shortcomings but the husband's response is abusive. The woman divorces the abusive husband and ultimately marries a man who recognizes her same shortcomings but responds by either helping her address the shortcomings, tolerating the shortcomings or a combination of both. Should the woman be blamed for her inability to cope with the intensity of the first marriage? The bottom line is how we treat our fellow human beings. I give the MLB player the same respect I give the 6-year-old T-baller. An MLB player does not lose respect because he earns $10 million a year. I can be disappointed with the performance of the MLB player or the T-baller but that does not give me the right to belittle either. I should probably remain silent unless I can offer ways to improve the situation. On the other hand, an MLB player or T-baller who spits on an umpire will lose some respect. Work environments vary employer to employer. The work environment for a professional athlete in New England might be different from the work environment for a professional athlete elsewhere. The rare MLB player with a choice of employers could take that into consideration.

And the same could be written of Eduardo Rodriguez ... or Rick Porcello, David Price, Drew Pomeranz and Steven Wright. Let's hope they're all healthy.

Steamer projects Eduardo Rodriguez with a 2017 WAR of 1.7 and an ERA of 4.31 in 24 starts: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=13164&position=P Rodriguez could be Chris Sale or Felix Doubront.

Try this source: http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/08/30/pedro_runs_afoul_of_puritan_sox_fans/

I welcome the discussion and hope no one (especially you) feels compelled to retreat to a safe space.

Most everyone can agree that a player should be held accountable. The issue is how a player should be held accountable. In terms of player accountability, a person with a character flaw is one who is unable to distinguish between calling a player a "fat slob" and mindfully addressing the player's shortcomings. The "fat slob" designation is an attack on character. What does that designation achieve? Alternative measures can result in accountability.

Character flaw noted.

From Monday's FanGraphs chat with Dan Szymborski: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/dan-szymborski-fangraphs-chat-112816/

It's an overgeneralization, but ... The typical New England fan is quick to attribute a lack of performance to a character flaw. A typical fan elsewhere might be more likely to mindfully seek solutions to the performance problem. The typical MLB player does not expect the fans and media to ignore a lack of performance, but the player probably welcomes solutions over character assassination. Perhaps the character flaw lies with the typical New England fan. It's an overgeneralization, but ...

This offseason a San Diego Union-Tribune writer has critiqued the Craig Kimbrel and Drew Pomeranz trades: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/sd-sp-padres-kimbrel-trade-review-20161017-story.html http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/sd-sp-padres-trade-review-drew-pomeranz-20161124-story.html

The San Francisco front office denies discussing Pablo Sandoval: http://m.giants.mlb.com/news/article/209693506/giants-deny-talks-to-bring-back-pablo-sandoval/