One overlooked factor imo is the musculature needed to be a rb and a great hitter are very different. Were he solely a baseball player he would have been more lithe and likely quicker. His contact rate would increase.
I don’t buy this for a second.
Do you have any evidence, even the slightest bit, that contact rate in baseball correlates even slightly with particular types of musculature? How, for example, did Barry Bonds’ contact rate compare, looking at the period of his career when he was lithe and quick, and the period when he was a lumbering balloon-headed steroid monster?
This sort claim about musculature and body shape is one of those things that sounds like it maybe should be true, but i’d need to see some actual evidence far beyond any that i’ve encountered so far, which is basically none.
And that doesn’t even consider the points made by RickJay, above, about control of the strike zone. Control of the strike zone probably helps contribute to contact rate, and i’d be wary of any claim that associated control of the strike zone with any particular type of musculature or body size.
Cubs sign Yu Darvish , 6 years, $126 million. Good things Cubs have money to burn,
I was just about to post this news. I think it’s safe to say that the door is officially closed on Arrietta.
Theo and company seem to do okay on the FA pitching front, though. It’s their long-term position players who seem to be the headaches. This has the potential to be a disaster, but it could also be a great signing. I’m not thrilled with 6 years, but Epstein and company haven’t really let me down yet.
Chicago is in a championship run right now. They have just a wonderful, young lineup and they’re one of the best teams in baseball. When you have a chance to put a World Series flag up, you take it. if you’re going to spend too much, now’s the time.
Interestingly enough, Epstein made an offer to Arrieta that was similar to Darvish’s. Speculation is that it may have been a last-minute, last-ditch effort in case Yu said no.
Not really hot stove, but this story is getting a fair bit of coverage here in San Diego:
I guess the $40 million he made as a player was not sufficient to see him through retirement.
It’s a helluva drug.
I keep checking the news to see if JD Martinez has signed with the Red Sox yet because supposedly it’s inevitable. I just read an article that said there are other teams interested, but they must not be making him attractive offers, either. At this point I’m not sure I’d really even want him. We’re talking about a 4 WAR guy. That’s about what Hanley Ramirez was when the Sox gave him a bunch of money, and not a whole lot older.
Um, what? BR gives JD Martinez a 4.1 WAR for this last year, which placed him 18th among outfielders in all of MLB. Now, the BoSox do have Mookie, who was 4th with 6.4 WAR, but seriously, you don’t think they could find a spot for Martinez? Whether they’d want to pay a 30 yr old Martinez redonkulous FA money is another question, but you absolutely could find a place to stash a, .303/.376/.690, 45 HR, 4.0+ WAR guy if needed. Especially with Boston’s ownership deep pockets.
Is the money going to be utterly stupid though? For a guy who probably isn’t going to get any better than this, (although his ‘this’ is pretty damned good.)
And 4 wins could easily decide the division this year.
Yeah, I don’t really get this either.
I mean, I get that Martinez is a player who may not age well at all, and I get that Boston got kind of burned on a few recent contracts given out to players who are superficially at least like him. No one wants to be paying him a fortune when he’s a 36-year-old washout. And maybe he’s asking something waaaaay out of line with his value.
But he’s a 4-win player right now, and Boston sure could use someone like that, and there doesn’t seem to be any other way for them to upgrade.
And the Red Sox are a wealthy organization that spends freely; they have been more willing than just about anyone else to lay out enormous sums of cash on free agents.
In 2014 or thereabouts, they gave Rusney Castillo $10 mi a year, Pablo Sandoval $19 mil a year, and Hanley Ramirez $22 mil a year…IOW, getting up toward the entire Tampa Bay payroll on just three players.
And when the first two were terrible and the third a disappointment…they gave David Price $30 million a year for an even longer period of time.
Yeah, I know JD can’t field well, I know he’s really slow, and as I said he doesn’t seem like a guy who will keep up the torrid hitting for that much longer. Still! I guess it just strikes me as a funny time for this particular team to develop a little fiscal restraint. Maybe he does want fifty mil a year or something.
The Boston offer’s still on the table. The fact that he hasn’t accepted a higher one elsewhere suggests there isn’t one.
The bad offers you list were Cherington’s doing, not Dombrowski’s. Not sure you can blame the organization for 'em.
4 wins over who, though? Boston’s surely not going to be able to move Hanley Ramirez, and I don’t think they have the guts to bench him. Last year’s outfielders were the three best position players on the team by WAR. Martinez does not add 4 wins to the team if he replaces Jackie Bradley.
Does he replace Moreland? He’s never played an inning at first base.
As I said, Hanley Ramirez was almost exactly the same age and was coming off two pretty good years (5.4 WAR and 3.5 WAR) when the Sox signed him to a regrettable contract. I think JD has peaked. He’s not very good defensively. He reportedly does not want to DH and he doesn’t like the offer to this point. Just doesn’t seem like an all around great fit.
All that said, the Red Sox do need a bat and he’s the best one out there, so it’s not like I’ll be sad if he winds up in Boston. Just a bit skeptical.
If they were convinced he’s done, I don’t think they’d have any concerns about releasing him. They may anyway. But he’s still had some periods of productiveness and may again. His refusal to play 1B most of last year definitely did not help his career brand.
More probably, they’d rotate the four between OF and DH.
No. But there’ve actually been rumors about the team being interested in Logan Morrison, as if there weren’t enough 1B’s on the roster already. That may be planted bullshit (common in the MLB GM biz) to pressure Boras, who isn’t normally susceptible to pressure. Dombrowski knows better than to let Boras make him bid against himself, his favorite tactic - the best deal Martinez is going to get is already out there.
The 3 B’s are much, much better defensively than Martinez. There would be significant downgrade anytime he’s in the OF rotation.
He’d only play LF, where he’d only have to learn to play the caroms off the wall. A rotation would also be a way to give the B’s breathers while keeping their bats in the lineup. Not that it’s a great solution.
The team doesn’t need to solve its power problem right on Opening Day, though. They could see what they’ve really got in Devers, how Pedey’s rehab is coming, if Swihart can hit again, if they need pitching help even more, and who may become available in trade before making a move. The current roster did win 93 games last year, and there’s no need to hyperventilate about not having Stanton and Judge.
Do three young, athletic guys really need that many breathers?
I agree though that the team doesn’t really obviously need an upgrade. They won the division despite having a somewhat below average offense and there’s reason for optimism in the likelihood the existing lineup will score a few more runs.
Just ftr, this is the last year of Hanley’s contract - unless he reaches 497 plate appearances, then 2019 becomes guaranteed. He’s gonna sit a bit.