MLB Offseason 2018: Harper, Your Herald Boras Sings

[kairparavel]

He's a great kid, our Cody.

 

[KingintheNorth4]

Tim Anderson is God.

[Ramsay B.]

Urshela has been raking so of course he gets drilled on the hand. Despite that, and LeMahieu leaving the game, this team has been en fuego. Gary hit another moonshot and German was pitching lights out(until that last inning). A lot of positivity despite this run of shit injury luck. Andujar, Hicks and Tulo expected back soon. Hopefully Frazier too in a few weeks.

I hadn’t realized Bellinger was batting .422 to go along with his power numbers. Damn! 

Blue Jays undefeated with Vlad Jr...maybe @James Arryn will make an appearance here.

[DMC]

5 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Andujar, Hicks and Tulo expected back soon. Hopefully Frazier too in a few weeks.

Stanton should be back sooner than Hicks.  After the the 2 games with Arizona they have ten games with Minnesota/Seattle/Tampa, all of which are pretty damn good right now.  We'll see.  The magic can wear off quick.

[James Arryn]

5 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Urshela has been raking so of course he gets drilled on the hand. Despite that, and LeMahieu leaving the game, this team has been en fuego. Gary hit another moonshot and German was pitching lights out(until that last inning). A lot of positivity despite this run of shit injury luck. Andujar, Hicks and Tulo expected back soon. Hopefully Frazier too in a few weeks.

I hadn’t realized Bellinger was batting .422 to go along with his power numbers. Damn! 

Blue Jays undefeated with Vlad Jr...maybe @James Arryn will make an appearance here.

Dat Barrel Control Do.

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

15 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Urshela has been raking so of course he gets drilled on the hand. Despite that, and LeMahieu leaving the game, this team has been en fuego. Gary hit another moonshot and German was pitching lights out(until that last inning). A lot of positivity despite this run of shit injury luck. Andujar, Hicks and Tulo expected back soon. Hopefully Frazier too in a few weeks.

I hadn’t realized Bellinger was batting .422 to go along with his power numbers. Damn! 

Blue Jays undefeated with Vlad Jr...maybe @James Arryn will make an appearance here.

Urshela's MRI or xray came up negative sp there's that. And Frazier was hitting in the cage and running on a treadmill, I think he's going to run on the field in Arizona. And I think Andujar is going to start a rehab assignment soon. I just hope they can still remember how to manufacture some runs when they are back at close to full strength.

[.H.]

24 minutes ago, Arch-MaesterPhilip said:

And I think Andujar is going to start a rehab assignment soon.

I thought I recalled reading that he already did, but with so many people on the IL, maybe I am remembering wrong.  This ESPN article a couple days ago said something like maybe a week or so and he might be back:

Quote

The best part of the timing of Sanchez's suddenly sweet swinging is that it comes just ahead of a series of other key Yankees comebacks. Miguel Andujar (small labrum tear) could be back in the lineup in a week. In the couple of days after that, Troy Tulowitzki (left calf strain) could accompany him. Giancarlo Stanton (shoulder/left biceps strain) could be back a few days after them.

31 minutes ago, Arch-MaesterPhilip said:

I just hope they can still remember how to manufacture some runs when they are back at close to full strength.

Yeah, if they can play a sort of hybrid sort of way, it could be real effective.  Unfortunately, I think Stanton is a absolute brick tied to the team's leg though, but I guess we'll see how it comes together.  Imagine entertaining even the vague possibility that a team is "better off" with Tyler Wade than Stanton.  Crazy pills...

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

1 hour ago, .H. said:

I thought I recalled reading that he already did, but with so many people on the IL, maybe I am remembering wrong.  This ESPN article a couple days ago said something like maybe a week or so and he might be back:

Yeah, if they can play a sort of hybrid sort of way, it could be real effective.  Unfortunately, I think Stanton is a absolute brick tied to the team's leg though, but I guess we'll see how it comes together.  Imagine entertaining even the vague possibility that a team is "better off" with Tyler Wade than Stanton.  Crazy pills...

He was playing extended spring training games.

[.H.]

2 minutes ago, Arch-MaesterPhilip said:

He was playing extended spring training games.

Ah, OK, figured maybe I had things mixed up, now I do sort of recall that.

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

48 minutes ago, .H. said:

Ah, OK, figured maybe I had things mixed up, now I do sort of recall that.

They're pretty much interchangeable honestly. 

[.H.]

1 minute ago, Arch-MaesterPhilip said:

They're pretty much interchangeable honestly. 

I guess the question is, not that we could possibly know, is, are we "better off" with the kids in there, or not?  I mean, small sample sizes are small, but the tactical difference of a Tyler Wade is really different than a "hit the ball as hard as a you can" sort.  I can't even recall the last time I saw someone on the Yankees steal third, maybe Gardner in the old, old days?  I guess we are going to find out, though it would be great if some sort of synthesis could be found.

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

4 minutes ago, .H. said:

I guess the question is, not that we could possibly know, is, are we "better off" with the kids in there, or not?  I mean, small sample sizes are small, but the tactical difference of a Tyler Wade is really different than a "hit the ball as hard as a you can" sort.  I can't even recall the last time I saw someone on the Yankees steal third, maybe Gardner in the old, old days?  I guess we are going to find out, though it would be great if some sort of synthesis could be found.

I honestly said to someone else today at work that I feel better about the team we have now vs a the team on paper when healthy. They're playing with a sense of urgency, heart, they are building runs. That is all going to change when everyone else is back and that scares me.

[DMC]

21 minutes ago, .H. said:

I guess the question is, not that we could possibly know, is, are we "better off" with the kids in there, or not?

This is a stupid question.  They've beaten bad teams, and are being gritty, and that's great.  But Stanton is one of the 10 best hitters in the world, as is Judge.  The only debate would be Andujar v Urshela at third, due to the former's very porous defense.  I'll still take the kid who hit, like 50 doubles last year, over the journeyman.

[.H.]

39 minutes ago, DMC said:

This is a stupid question.  They've beaten bad teams, and are being gritty, and that's great.  But Stanton is one of the 10 best hitters in the world, as is Judge.  The only debate would be Andujar v Urshela at third, due to the former's very porous defense.  I'll still take the kid who hit, like 50 doubles last year, over the journeyman.

Well, yeah, I mean, it is indeed, stupid, which is why I asked it.  And, honestly, depending on how you operationalize "best hitter" it's not clear if Stanton is or is not.  Again, a "stupid question" but yet, one that can be asked by stupid people like me.  To quote that article:

Quote

And Giancarlo Stanton was, using that same measure and that same term, the fifth least-clutch. In high-leverage situations -- those situations where the game is most likely to be materially affected -- Descalso was far more effective, with a .591 slugging percentage to Stanton's .462, and a .378 OBP to Stanton's .313.

So, indeed, very stupid to question those kinds of numbers, and yet, here I am.  What I dislike about Stanton is that he appears (to me, again, a proven stupid person) that Stanton is a dead-guess hitter and that doesn't seem to yield particularly good results in the "clutch."  Now, when he gets it right, he gets it real right, but makes (a stupid person like me) wonder about the extent it's useful in actually winning baseball games, long term.

How much does that matter?  Probably another stupid question and one that I am not quite stupid enough to know the answer to.  But I can tell you that I'd much rather see Judge up in a tight spot than Stanton.  But that doesn't preclude that a second inning 2-run, 1 out, homer has no value.  It's just harder to quantize that's exact value within the set of runs it would represent.

[Ramsay B.]

11 hours ago, Arch-MaesterPhilip said:

Urshela's MRI or xray came up negative sp there's that. And Frazier was hitting in the cage and running on a treadmill, I think he's going to run on the field in Arizona. And I think Andujar is going to start a rehab assignment soon. I just hope they can still remember how to manufacture some runs when they are back at close to full strength.

Nah. Fence or bench style coming back soon.

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

19 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said:

Nah. Fence or bench style coming back soon.

I know, I just want to lie to myself.  

[DMC]

7 hours ago, .H. said:

So, indeed, very stupid to question those kinds of numbers, and yet, here I am.

Anyone trying to create "clutch" metrics is invariably using an inaptly small sample size.  Which is why I don't care about that shit.  I think baseball is the best at using advanced statistics, but there's still plenty of bullshit going on.  Back on point, everybody thought A-Rod wasn't clutch.  For, like, half a decade that's all the internet would talk about on the subject.  Until he was.  Hell, want a more recent example:  David Price.

7 hours ago, .H. said:

How much does that matter?

Because you were suggesting the Yankees may be better off without the return of at least Stanton, Andujar, and Frazier.  And maybe Hicks, Didi, and Judge as well.  And any of that is a stupid question.  I'm sorry you took so much passive-aggressive offense to that, but it is a stupid question.  That's all I was saying.

[James Arryn]

26 minutes ago, Triskele said:

So the Cardinals have this pitching phenom Alex Reyes who came up a few years ago and looked really good before needing Tommy John.  All pretty normal.  After that return from Tommy John he K'd 9 straight hitters in a AA game and then was cruising through his first four innings of his first start back last year before separating his lat so badly that he missed the rest of last season after just those four innings.  But still young, all that potential, blah blah.

Well, just hurt finger punching a wall and will miss a month,

I read this book way back that talked about the weirdest sports injuries. Stuff like guts getting hurt wrestling alligators and w/e, but the weirdest was the guy...I wanna say he was a Blue Jay but not sure...who was out a few months because he had a phobia about spiders and had a nightmare about spiders and somehow put his hand through a window or a glass wall or something while waking up from the nightmare. 

[DMC]

5 hours ago, James Arryn said:

who was out a few months because he had a phobia about spiders and had a nightmare about spiders and somehow put his hand through a window or a glass wall or something while waking up from the nightmare. 

Well, the Cards had Rick Ankiel, who def had that type of breakdown.  As for general sports:  David Duval.

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

8 hours ago, DMC said:

Anyone trying to create "clutch" metrics is invariably using an inaptly small sample size.  Which is why I don't care about that shit.  I think baseball is the best at using advanced statistics, but there's still plenty of bullshit going on.  Back on point, everybody thought A-Rod wasn't clutch.  For, like, half a decade that's all the internet would talk about on the subject.  Until he was.  Hell, want a more recent example:  David Price.

Because you were suggesting the Yankees may be better off without the return of at least Stanton, Andujar, and Frazier.  And maybe Hicks, Didi, and Judge as well.  And any of that is a stupid question.  I'm sorry you took so much passive-aggressive offense to that, but it is a stupid question.  That's all I was saying.

Honestly I prefer Frazier over Hicks. And when he's back Clint is the one who is shit out of luck.