NEWS/RUMORS/AROUND MLB Thread (Oct 2016 - Feb 2017)

Was just looking over his #'s. I like him, but man not at the rumored price after the year he just had. The Pirates are said to want something closer to what the Nats gave up for Eaton, which yeah, hell-fucking-no. Though Bowden last night said that he is hearing that the Brewers too are now asking for a HUGE return for Braun all thanks to the fucking Nats. I don't know what the team is currently thinking, but my guess is that both those scenario's would be quick no's.

 

His glove doesn't play in CF anymore, bad offensive year, and missed time due to injury. But I didn't watch him play last year. I remember him getting a bunch of hits against us, though.

 

vs. RHP :rubhands:

Pederson
Forsythe
Seager
Braun
Turner
Gonzalez
Ethier
Grandal

although I like Corey hitting second.

Ah, the offseason. Dreams.

 

I love the upside of McCutchen, but I feel like he is a riskier player than Braun, and for the rumored price I'm off on McCutchen. I'm probably stupid for saying this, but given McCutchen's knee injuries, I think Puig's upside is as high if not higher than McCutchen

 

His numbers were not god awful, but they took a HUGE drop from his career avg's. BA was down .042, OBP down .052 and closer to.070 over the past 3 seasons, slg down .066. It was his worst offensive season by far and he just turned 30. He played in 153 games last year, but there were all sorts of reports stating that there was something going on behind the scenes, whether it was injury or his frustrations around the team, there were just a bunch of weird rumors.

 

Something like a LAD/CHISox/PIT 3 team trade may be well received.
Puig/McCarthy/Y.Alvarez/PIT prospect to CHISox
Calhoun/DeJong/Ryu/CHISox prospect to PIT
LAD incoming - Andrew McCutchen/Jose Quintana
Give or take a guy.
Alvarez has plenty of time, but his 3rd pitch is still up in the air and his slider is still hit or miss as well, could very well settle into being a high end reliever, although, a lot of people give him a decent chance of figuring out his 2nd and 3rd offerings.
Still may not be a terrible idea to flip him now given the cost of the spec, even though he's labeled as untouchable for now.
LAD attaching their MLB level/underachieving OF/starting pitching depth to a more expensive high end prospect in Y.Alvarez and moving them to the CHISox who have been intrigued w/Puig, CHISox w/plenty of payroll flexibility.
Ryu goes to PIT w/ his buddy Jung Ho Kang, and Calhoun could be a better fit in PIT than Verdugo is since Austin Meadows isn't far from graduating and taking CF/joining Marte and Polanco.
LAD rotation, CK/Quintana/Hill/Maeda/Kaz/Julio/Brock/Sborz/Oaks with Imani/May/Mitch White still in the wings/rising up the ladder.

 

The situation reminds me of Matt Kemp in a way. Even if he can return to form, he will always be lacking the speed element to his game, limiting his upside.

 

Idk, speed is great, but he's not going to play CF for us anyway, much, should he come over.
And offensively, if you hit enough, speed is way down on the priority list. There are many who rake, but run like Scoiscia...well not that bad. Like our first baseman , for instance.
It does drive most people crazy watching Agon fast walk to first, me included, but most years one would say, "yeah but what about his numbers at the end of the season"?

 

Is the 2019 explosion/championship something from Think Blue world, or does it come directly from Nerd
world?
Huh?
Just curious...
In BZ world, it's 2017.
Or not.

 

Pirates' exec on MLBTV right now talking McCutchen.
Lip service.
Some shit is definitely happening behind the scenes.

 

So I guess Cutch missed some time at the beginning of August and his numbers were awful at that point .241/.311/.408 for the year. He finished the last 56 games going .284/.381/.471 and 9 HR's which are much more in line with his career numbers. So that could be a sign he really was hurt, needed time to rest and started to feel healthy after that.

 

McCutchen's BABIP fell a good ways as well
Career .331 BABIP
Last year, .297
Year before that, .339
Year before that, .355
Year before that, .353
Can maybe expect better, ZiPS does
http://www.bucsdugout.com/2017/1/23...timistic-about-andrew-mccutchen-tyler-glasnow
Steamer projects a 3.3 WAR, but of course these are only projections, so they only carry so far.
Perhaps they love the late season surge tho
All told, he's on a cheap Forsythe-like deal and just 30yrs old, so he's a decent bet if the trade/price is right

 

2019 as in a lot of the young guys graduate, veteran contracts expire, and there's a lot of payroll flexibility to add impact FAs. Doesn't mean we won't compete for a championshipin the interim. Ned, Guggenheim, and the Nerds have all given the team an oppostunity to win in the interim. The players just haven't gotten it done. 2019 is the year our farm rebuild comes together. Seager, Bellinger, Pederson, Urias, Verdugo, Calhoun, etc. will all be up and ready, with an incredible FA class to plug any holes [no homo]. That's what I mean by 2019. We're still one of the best teams in MLB in the meantime.

 

Steamer's given Forsythe about a .5 bump in projected WAR since joining LAD.
Better lineup protection.
The LAD lineup could give a boost to McCutchen as well

 

I think the parks in the division make Forsythe's bat skills play up. His HR numbers could go down, but his overall BA should go up with the larger ballparks that will help him utilize his skills of using the whole field.

 

Forsythe and Corey, a couple guys that use the whole field at the top of the lineup.
They're probably gonna piss a lot of pitchers off

 

I'm starting to come around on Cutch too. Can we go out and get both Braun and McCutchen?