MLB 2018-19 Offseason Thread

WAR is a simple concept, really. Launch angle only means, how high does he hit the ball, a concept I first encountered in reading Ted Williams' The Science of Hitting. Not all, but a lot of the newer (not so new anymore) baseball stats are to quantify ideas that have been around the game since John McGraw was a player. That's useful, but I question how revolutionary it is.

 

Exactly. There is a non-zero chance he'll opt out at some point, and it'll work out fine for the Padres. Also, sometimes players with no-trade clauses waive them, and the team makes a good deal. The player still has control in both cases though, and the opt-out gives the player leverage. The Padres would have been better served with no opt-out, but I have no clue if they could have gotten the deal done without it.

 

You spelled Eckstein wrong.

 

Harper’s career WAR is 27, after 7 full seasons. 10 or 37% of that is from a single season 4 years ago. Absent his MVP season, he’s about .266/..379./.495 Still very good but not a generational player. I don’t think it’s right to ignore his best season, but it was 4 years ago and he hasn’t really approached that level since, so it should be discounted. I think a team is allowed to say that some risk should be borne by the player who has to produce better than they have in order to justify the contract.

He and Machado have very similar numbers, Harper walks more, but otherwise very similar. When San Diego got Machado they want him to maintain his career production When someone gets Harper, they aren’t look for him to be a .279 hitter with .500 slugging for $35 million. They want a .300 hitter with a .570 slugging.
Harper isn’t Trout. Not close. But then again, no one else is.

 

In the 1980s the "get off my lawn" brigade railed that nobody cared about on-base percentage, and fielding average was a big deal.

 

Trout has produced as much WAR as Harper and Machado combined

Mike Trout Has Been as Good as Manny Machado and Bryce Harper Combined

 

Keuchel to the Reds for 6 years/$145M according to Heyman.

 

Yanks make him a 50 million a year player?

 

I don’t see that anywhere, so it might have been a fake account.

 

• Pitcher A career numbers: 3.66 ERA, 7.9 SO/9, 3.1 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, 53.3 GB%, 110 ERA+, 3.74 FIP, 1.247 WHIP, 29 years old.
• Pitcher B career numbers: 3.66 ERA, 7.2 SO/9, 2.6 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, 58.8 GB%, 108 ERA+, 3.72 FIP, 1.250 WHIP, 31 years old.

One pitcher got a 3/30 contract extension. The other is Keuchel.

 

Same.

 

You're right. A buddy of mine sent it to our fantasy league, but the account is @jonhaymen_. I should have looked closer. Mea culpa.