harmony

The atmosphere at a typical MLS match is far more energetic than the atmosphere at a typical MLB game. Save baseball, football and basketball for folks whose continence issues require frequent commercial breaks.

Opening Day occurred on Saturday when the New England Revolution secured a 2-2 tie at the Portland Timbers in Major League Soccer play. Last year the Revolution posted the league's best regular-season before losing in playoffs. Portland had an inconsistent 2021 regular season before advancing to the MLS Cup where the Timbers lost at home in the title match. Major League Soccer could provide at least a temporary diversion during the MLB lockout.

The Red Sox land three prospects among the top 30 on the FanGraphs list of Top 100 prospects: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2022-top-100-prospects/

And if MLB owners are dissatisfied with their money-making machines, let them invest in a different enterprise "out in the real world."

Perhaps "many wealthy individuals [are] willing to own a baseball franchise" under the current structure but a payroll floor would likely increase expenses without a guaranteed corresponding increase in revenues. The pool of potential buyers would almost certainly shrink.

From Wednesday's chat with The Athletic columnist Keith Law on his farm system rankings: https://theathletic.com/3115040/2022/02/07/live-qa-keith-law-discusses-his-2022-mlb-farm-system-rankings/ Subscription required.

If the goal was to make a point the undermining informaton would have been withheld. Objectivity is a heavy cross to bear.

It's evidence that this poster provides relevant information but is rarely here to make a point.

The Athletic columnist Jim Bowden writes that the first Red Sox move after the lockout should be to sign infielder Carlos Correa to a 10-year, $300 million contract: https://theathletic.com/3112423/2022/02/08/bowden-the-first-move-each-al-team-should-make-when-the-lockout-ends/ Subscription required.

Curiously, the 2021 Worcester WooSox as a team had nearly identical home/away splits: https://www.milb.com/worcester/stats/team?split=h https://www.milb.com/worcester/stats/team?split=a

Perhaps the evaluators gave less weight to Jarren Duran's Triple A numbers because of his extreme home/road splits: Home: 112 AB, .304/.391/.679/1.070 Away: 132 AB, .220/.329/.379/.708 Playing nearly half of his games at Worcester's bandbox likely inflated his numbers. wRC+ is a valuable statistic that, at the MLB level, is adjusted for league and park. However, at the minor league level, wRC+ is adjusted only for the league. In a December comp of Duran and Seattle outfielder Taylor Trammell, one conclusion was that "Each enjoyed some success hitting at Triple A this year, although Duran had the edge" based on Duran's wRC+ of 132 and Trammell's wRC+ of 104. https://www.talksox.com/forum/threads/18170-Should-Jackie-Bradley-Jr-be-traded?p=1446206&highlight=trammell#post1446206 Of course, those wRC+ were league-adjusted only, not park-adjusted. The pitcher-friendly Triple A East (International League) boosted Duran's wRC+ while the hitter-friendly Triple A West (Pacific Coast League) lowered Trammell's wRC+. But wRC+ does not take into account that Tacoma's sea-level, heavy-air ballpark is among the pitcher-friendliest in the Triple A West. Trammell's home/road splits reflect the difference: Home: 126 AB, .238/.331/.389/.720 Away: 148 AB, .284/.388/.514/.902 The discrepancy between the 2021 Triple A wRC+ of Duran and Trammell should have been less if the numbers had been park-adjusted. Or not.

The Red Sox reportedly have signed a minor league contract with 27-year-old first baseman Roberto Ramos, who in 2020 posted a .278/.362/.592/.954 line with 38 homeruns in 494 plate appearances in the Korean Baseball Organization: https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2022/02/boston-red-sox-sign-roberto-ramos-38-homers-in-kbo-during-2020-to-minor-league-contract.html https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=ramos-004rob&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-

FWIW according to Baseball Reference, Jonathan Arauz lost his rookie status in 2020 and therefore did not qualify for prospect status when Arauz played for Worcester in 2021. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=arauz-000jon

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mariners-postseason-hopes-brighten-with-no-1-farm-system/ https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/all-time-baseball-america-no-1-farm-systems/

Keith Law's three-sentence explanation may push the limits of copyright's fair use, but here goes: https://theathletic.com/3112765/2022/02/07/mlb-2022-farm-system-rankings-keith-law-grades-all-30-teams-on-prospects-with-the-dodgers-at-no-1/

The Red Sox remain at No. 20 in farm system rankings by columnist Keith Law at The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/3112765/2022/02/07/mlb-2022-farm-system-rankings-keith-law-grades-all-30-teams-on-prospects-with-the-dodgers-at-no-1/ Subscription required.

"Since Yaz joined the Sox in 1961, here are the fWAR leaders since then (51 years):" FWIW 1961 was 61 years ago.

Through age 28 seasons, Xander Bogaerts had 1,114 games and 4,758 plate appearances, Nomar Garciaparra 772 games and 3,457 plate appearances, and Rico Petrocelli 977 games and 3,915 plate appearances. Bogaerts had made three All Star appearances, Garciaparra had made four All Star appearances, and Petrocelli had made two All Star appearances. FWIW

Brief descriptions of Steamer, ZiPS, Marcel and PECOTA: Steamer | Glossary | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball sZymborski Projection System (ZiPS) | Glossary | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball Marcel the Monkey Forecasting System (Marcel) | Glossary | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm (PECOTA) | Glossary | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball Projections of forum posters often seem to be pulled out of thin air but Steamer, ZiPS, Marcel and PECOTA apparently are the products of methodology. Assign whatever weight is appropriate.

This poster generally refrains from making an evaluation. The statistics are offered to help others make evaluations if that's what the reader wants to do. The evaluator can choose to ignore the stats or to cite the stats for whatever purpose. No one should care about this poster's opinion ... if he even has one.

Fair enough. This poster regrets his role in injecting semantics into this baseball discussion. Back to baseball.

ZiPS, Steamer, Marcel and/or PECOTA projections -- often conflicting -- are offered, typically without a conclusion. The inconsistent projections are evidence that nothing is offered as gospel. The reader can draw a conclusion ... or no conclusion at all.

It imposes a belief without consent. ZiPS, Steamer, PECOTA and Marcel are offered for discussion, not as absolute truths.