MLB Offseason Thread

[Myjah]

Yep.

[alpha]

So Sano having surgery and missing a year is a good thing? Alright

[peanut butter]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/brandon- ... istically/

Damn Based Craw you can fuck mMAN HOLD UP. WHAT THE FUCK?


PEACE

[peanut butter]

BP/Brooks Baseball are doing some really good work to quantify the value of catcher defense, especially as it relates to framing:

Everyone agrees that Mike Trout was either a deserving MVP or a deserving runner-up in each of the past two seasons, which the stats say were worth close to 10 wins apiece. Our data suggest that over the past five years, the teams that have employed good framers like Jonathan Lucroy, Brian McCann, and Jose Molina have received essentially "free" MVP-caliber seasons from framing alone. (Each of those catchers has been worth about two extra wins per season over that span). This is a staggering amount of value. Add in the fact that these wins are almost assuredly not properly priced into the free agent market, and the difference between having a good framing catcher or a bad framing catcher can make or break a cost-conscious team.

They are developing a formula that accounts for how much value is added by a catcher who is good at framing. Super interesting stuff for baseball nerds
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/artic ... leid=22934



PEACE

[alpha]

That outfield tracking stuff is pretty awesome.

[Jayou Ayen]

39

[Myjah]

So Sano having surgery and missing a year is a good thing? Alright

No. It's the fact he is having the surgery now, as opposed to three months ago, doesn't actually make that much of a difference. Yet, people are still using it as an excuse to freak out.

[peanut butter]

Shouts out the Dodgers. $300 billion payroll buys you a platoon of Chone Figgins and Dee Gordon going into opening day. Truly impressive



PEACE

[capable_keL]

So Sano having surgery and missing a year is a good thing? Alright

No. It's the fact he is having the surgery now, as opposed to three months ago, doesn't actually make that much of a difference. Yet, people are still using it as an excuse to freak out.

this is how a real organization handles TJ
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/ ... n-surgery/

4 days from diagnosis to surgery

[Tommy Bunz]

Shouts out the Dodgers. $300 billion payroll buys you a platoon of Chone Figgins and Dee Gordon going into opening day. Truly impressive



PEACE

Even still, I'd be thrilled if this was my team's only area of weakness.

Phillies don't even have a legit #4 starter, let alone a #5.

[capable_keL]

i'd be thrilled to watch Figgins and Dee Gordon on opening day


shiiiit

[Tommy Bunz]

#philliesandtwinsfansproblems

[peanut butter]

Shouts out the Dodgers. $300 billion payroll buys you a platoon of Chone Figgins and Dee Gordon going into opening day. Truly impressive



PEACE

Even still, I'd be thrilled if this was my team's only area of weakness.

Phillies don't even have a legit #4 starter, let alone a #5.

I know. I'm taking the few shots that are left.

Speaking of a Phillies pitching, what's the deal with Gonzalez? Yikes


PEACE

[Tommy Bunz]

he hasn't really pitched in two years, i don't think anyone really thought he'd be ready to compete right away.
There is the framework for a decent pitcher there, he's got the velocity and decent stuff, just can't find his control or a consistent delivery.
Might take a couple months or even a year til he's really up to gamespeed.

[Philaflava]

yeah i dont think anyone thought Gonzalez was going to be an impact this year, at least right away.

[peanut butter]

I didn't know that he had been banned from competing and hasn't pitched in two years. Just read his story, that's nuts.


PEACE

[Tommy Bunz]

John Henry's twitter response to the Marlins is

http://www.sbnation.com/2014/3/8/548599 ... he-marlins

gotta love an owner that talks some shit

[Philaflava]

pretty pathetic they doubled prices of a ST game.

[Reason]

i would love to know who this is:


The player telling the following stories will remain anonymous, for obvious reasons. He is no longer playing professional baseball, and what he shares comes from his time in the minor leagues. He isn’t proud of his actions, but he is also far from unique. It is well-known that baseball has had issues with performance enhancing drugs and substance abuse. For Player X and many others, the ride through the minors involved pharmaceuticals.

Player X: “I was never an angel when it came to the drug policy. Androstendione was legal at the time. I used Winstrol after coming off rotator cuff surgery. The benefits were amazing. The physical gains of steroids are a given, but what I didn’t expect were the mental gains. The confidence boost the added testosterone gave me was exponential. I went from “I hope they don’t hit this pitch” to “Try and hit this, mother_____”. All of a sudden the negative thoughts and self doubt were replaced by supreme confidence.

“On Winstrol, I could long toss further and further every day. I could pitch back-to-back-to-back games with no fatigue whatsoever. My arm and shoulder grew stronger and stronger until I felt like I was myself again. A killer instinct came back and it was amazing. Yes, there was always the nauseous feeling of having the steroids in my system the fear of testing positive.

“I never really thought of steroids as an issue. I have shot up guys who were afraid of needles and afraid to ask trainers to do so. I never thought we were doing anything wrong. It was just a given. I never once thought others using took away from my performance on the field. I saw it as just trying to get an edge and the big paycheck.

“Amphetamines are, and always have a been, a huge part of the game. I have always used some type of “upper.” It starts with diet pills, Xenadrine or anything Fat Burner from GNC-type stores. It wasn’t until my second year that the word “greenie” was introduced. These were diet pills from Mexico called Asenlix — half green and half white pills filled with a white powder. You could ingest them regularly or split them open and dump them into coffee. Just like cocaine, the powder made your tongue numb. Players would make two pots of coffee, one with greenies, one without. This stuff got you going. Hangovers? Gone. Aches and Pains? Gone. A little tired? Amped up. They weren’t easy to get. You had to wait for your Latino friends to go back to Mexico and grab them.

“The next step would be to get an Adderall or another ADD medication. Legal amphetamine prescriptions are how I circumvented drug testing. Now I had a “medical issue” which required Adderall. When I stood on the mound while on Adderall, everything faded away except for the catcher’s mitt. No crowd noise, no distractions. It was almost like being in the Matrix. Although you were sped up, everything slowed down.

“With any amphetamine there is a vicious cycle. After the game you can’t decompress, so you head to the bar to bring yourself down. The next day you have to bring yourself back up. It takes its toll on your body. We had a coach that came from an era where this stuff was even more abused, the ‘70’s and ‘80’s. His philosophy was that if you weren’t “beaned up’ you were either a pussy or didn’t care about getting better. In actuality, this guy was the best coach I ever played for, just a bit misguided. You could probably assume 50% of the guys in the clubhouse took something along these lines to get going.

“I wasn’t much of a recreational drug user, but one night I was out with some people and did cocaine. By 7 a.m. I’d had my fair share and needed to get to the ballpark. I remember telling some teammates I could trust what I did and they proceeded to be my babysitters all through practice and into the game. I felt like the biggest bag of shit. I could barely talk, move, or even think. I never wore sunglasses but I did that day. I fell asleep in the dugout multiple times and probably dumped 25 bottles of water over my head just to snap out of it. Late in the game they called me to warm up. I went to the bullpen and proceed to throw three balls and said that’s it. I needed to conserve whatever energy I had. I went into the game and told the catcher I’d be throwing fastballs only. I went 3-2 on three consecutive batters and induced three pop flies. We had a day off the next day and I slept two days straight. I never did that again.”

[Tommy Bunz]

judging from his cocaine story, he must be a huge pussy
Billy Wagner?

[peanut butter]

One of the main reason I love baseball is that you can excel and still be high as fuck



PEACE

[peanut butter]

The toughest divisions ranked in 2014, according to WAR projections:
1. AL East
2. NL West
3. AL West
4. AL Central
5. NL Central
6. NL East

The way strength of divisions have shifted over the past decade




PEACE

[Reason]

One of the main reason I love baseball is that you can excel and still be high as fuck



PEACE

word to dock ellis

[Tommy Bunz]

Have my first draft of the year in a few hours. Its for my hardcore league, $200 buy-in, we start 12 position players and 10 pitchers, shit gets gangster.
Totally not ready but i am excite.

[Reason]

gl bunz

came here to post that any father-son-relative (cousin/etc.) tandems of pro athletes is kinda cool to me so just wanted to say shout out to nick gordon, dee gordon's brother and tom 'flash' gordon's son

[peanut butter]

gl bunz

came here to post that any father-son-relative (cousin/etc.) tandems of pro athletes is kinda cool to me so just wanted to say shout out to nick gordon, dee gordon's brother and tom 'flash' gordon's son

I'mma let you finish, but Craig Griffey was the best bad baseball brother of all time.



PEACE

[Tommy Bunz]

Have my first draft of the year in a few hours. Its for my hardcore league, $200 buy-in, we start 12 position players and 10 pitchers, shit gets gangster.
Totally not ready but i am excite.

I know its super gay to share fantasy shit with people who aren't in your league but fuck it, first draft of the year went pretty well

C - Brian McCann
1B - Eric Hosmer
2B - Jurickson Profar
SS - Ian Desmond
3B - Aramis Ramirez
MI - Xander Bogaerts
CI - Mark Trumbo
OF - Ryan Braun
OF - Giancarlo Stanton
OF - Shin-Soo Choo
OF - Colby Rasmus
Util - Dexter Fowler
BN - Rajai Davis
BN - Anthony Rendon

SP - Yu Darvish
SP - Mat Latos
SP - Matt Cain
SP - Cole Hamels
SP - Jared Weaver
SP - Hiroki Kuroda
SP - Clay Bucholz
SP - AJ Griffin
RP - Rafael Soriano
RP - Chad Qualls
RP - Cody Allen
RP - Pedro Strop
RP - Daniel Webb

RP is weak but that's cause this league is fucking psycho about closers. Lots of starters cause of 1650 IP cap. Like my chances.

[peanut butter]

Big Erv got a job! Braves actually make sense. Good fit, considering the health problems their staff has


And Bunz, that's a nice squidad. How many people in the league?


PEACE

[Tommy Bunz]

12 teams. And yeah, Santana on Braves is a perfect fit, which sucks, cause our fifth starter is going to be Jeff Manship.
DOROTHY MANSHIP IS A SAINT!!!!

[Tommy Bunz]

Also, awesome perspective article by Grant Brisbee which everyone should read

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/3/12/5 ... -slash-fic