November 2018
Flash Thompson "yeah, I wouldn' wanna fight me neither" Dept.
Posted by jemanji on 11/29/18
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PREAMBLE
Indulge Dr. D and his Mainframe one more Echo Box to catch up against the 50-comment thread.. then spend one post while he mourns the crushing of the Yankees' enemies, watches us driven before them, and hears the lamentations of our women... then I s'pose it'll be back to our actual feebleminded shtick.
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13. Daddy-O sez,
Wondering the same thing. It's been another fairly long period. Hope again that he's okay.
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Aha! Found the tripwire at which anybody notices my absence. 3 weeks. Good to know. :: sets timer::
:- )
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14. Moe Dawg quoth,
M's send: some 2019 cash for Myers... Read More
Half-volley off Moe's fine thread on K-Pax
Posted by jemanji on 11/28/18
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Moe sez, using eminently good sense:
Goodness knows that DiPoto plays well with the St. Louis suits; witness the Tank for Marco trade. Oh, Mike Leake, too.
So let's go back to that well once again, in a trade that makes good sense and helps both squads.
The Cards already have a set of frontline young arms in Flaherty, Martinez and Mikolas. A Paxton addition would certainly put them in place to challenge Chicago and Milwaukee again. Rumors are that they are looking for bullpen help, as well. We happen to have one of those Colomes laying around. Dangle both those guys in front of the... Read More
Most ideas are sooooooo much better in theory than in practice
Posted by jemanji on 11/28/18
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If the Gentle Denizens will permit a bit of lite kibitzing on the CMS input, St. Louie thread?
1. Moe Dawg points out:
He's a low ceiling, high floor type of guy.
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Does Jerry Dipoto value any other kind of player? Well, one other kind. High ceiling, high floor. What will be interesting will be what happens when --- > the M's shed Felix and Cano and Dipoto won't be able to use the excuse "we've done our big game hunting; now we need to raise the floor around our stars."
Guess here is that it's simply a personality quirk on Dipoto's part that he hates "gamble" type players. All... Read More
just reelin' in the week's newz
Posted by jemanji on 11/28/18
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Dipoto shuffled K-Pax off to Buffalo, or at least a close proximity thereof, so as you can imagine this has Dr. D in the finest of kibitzing moves. We'd just like to point out en passant that Paxton earned $30.2 million in bases gained and lost in 2017, this coming in a shortened season at the cost of $4.9M.
But that's neither here nor there, I guess. $9M was just too much to spend for Cy production, so off to Buffalo it goes. This be the thread we're kibitzing:
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7. Sonic Boom quoth:
No way I trade Segura for Myers, straight up! How cash-strapped are the Mariners, anyway?!
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Judging... Read More
A Paxton trade proposal
Posted by moethedog on 11/17/18
Goodness knows that DiPoto plays well with the St. Louis suits; witness the Tank for Marco trade. Oh, Mike Leake, too.
So let's go back to that well once again, in a trade that makes good sense and helps both squads.
The Cards already have a set of frontline young arms in Flaherty, Martinez and Mikolas. A Paxton addition would certainly put them in place to challenge Chicago and Milwaukee again. Rumors are that they are looking for bullpen help, as well. We happen to have one of those Colomes laying around. Dangle both those guys in front of the Cardinals' FO types and you would get some... Read More
Second base: It ain't like there's money involved
Posted by jemanji on 11/08/18
Posted to blog
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Q. What is the basic paradigm here?
A. The Mariners traded a fairly good regular catcher for a solidly good center fielder.
The catcher is erratic with high upside and the center fielder is dependable with a lower ceiling and higher floor.
The deal gets rid of one of the last Zduriencik holdovers. :- / Can't have those previous-regime personalities dirtying up your roster. When you win it's gotta be with players you found.
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Q. Why would you deal a catcher for a center fielder?
A. Three things:
(1) It's a "waiting for the next shoe to drop" move. For absolute sure, Dipoto will... Read More
Yay, us
Posted by jemanji on 11/08/18
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BUCKING THE TREND
In setting his list for players who underperformed their rookie expectations? James eliminated pitches from consideration, first of all because if you count them then they completely dominated the list.
Which might cause alarm among Mariners fans, since Marc-O Gonzales racked up 3.5 WAR in 2018 and we're hoping for a string of ten such seasons.
It's true any rookie SP has a Sysiphyus-style mountain to climb, but I like Marc-O's chances to zig and zag through the prevailing headwinds because:
(1) His head, makeup, and intelligence.
(2) His K/BB. Marc-O finished #5 in the... Read More
I can play centerfield
Posted by moethedog on 11/08/18
So, with the addition of Jake Fraley and his highly regarded defensive abilities, the M's now have a fine farm team stable of centerfield horses. He's a brief rundown:
1. Jake Fraley: He jumps to the top of the list, I think.
2. Kyle Lewis: At mid-season, Prospect Insider had him as the M's top prospect. I am not quite seeing THAT, to tell you the truth. He was certainly highly regarded out of college and certainly was jinxed with a blown knee, but he has a ways to go to live up to the can't miss hype. he looked pretty spiffy in Everett as a 20-year old, but struggled in the Cali League... Read More
Some good bargains to be found
Posted by moethedog on 11/07/18
Well, lookee what we found in the MLB flea market bin! One of those Mallex Smiths! Hot dang!*
From MLBTR: 8:23pm: The Mariners and Rays are closing in on a trade that would send catcher Mike Zunino and outfielder Guillermo Heredia to Tampa Bay in exchange for outfielder Mallex Smith, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that in addition to Smith, Zunino and Heredia, there are two minor leaguers involved in the deal — one on each side of the trade. More specifically, MLB.com’s Greg Johns tweets that the Rays will acquire a minor league pitcher... Read More
You Go Daddy-O
Posted by jemanji on 11/05/18
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As you know, everything Bill James says is true, and he wrote something pertaining to Mitch Haniger. My duty is obviously to pass it on. (BJOL is still only $3 per month.)
Well, he wrote something about Dwight Evans. I think it was DaddyO who wrote that Haniger strikes him as the spitting image of Evans, both statistically and stylistically. I agree with that 1,000% and probably a bunch of Denizens do too. ... I agree even more after reading something James wrote.
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He did a three-part series on "Rookie Surprises," a gorgeous study on which rookies went on to disappoint, or to... Read More
Of great teams and divisive athletes
Posted by jemanji on 11/05/18
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Are the 2018 Red Sox History's Greatest Team?
Asked on Hey Bill:
Congrats, Bill, on the championship. Did you get a champagne bath? More to the point of this site, though, I'm curious where the 2018 club would sit in your "Greatest Teams" analysis, posted here in 2011. I suppose you can't do the analysis yet because you don't have the range of years on the far side of 2018 yet. But poised for greatness assuming no collapse?
Asked by: tkoegel
Answered: 11/1/2018
Right. . .you can't put things in perspective two days after they happen. I try to be disciplined about things of that... Read More
Sing along with Dr. D and enter your prediction below
Posted by jemanji on 11/05/18
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Hey, man, guess what. Dr. D feels like hitting the I/O button on the Mainframe and hearing that sweet, sweet hum as baseball's best blog revs back to life. And don'tcha know it's a great feeling. (Not that it wouldn't have lived with Bat571 in charge! No disrespect brother.)
The Dr. D of two months ago used to always write what he enjoyed writing about. I don't know if that's what they teach in college, but the Dr. D of today is gambling that it will work as well now as it did then...
Midterms tomorrow. Here's a comments stub. As we get back up and running, maybe we could use sort of... Read More
And also, thanks
Posted by jemanji on 11/05/18
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Bat571 sez,
While we all wait to see how Jeff is doing, I thought maybe somebody should show Klat that the community is continuing, for the moment at least, especially if it might mean that Doc's writing quota could be filled for November. I don't know how the deal with Klat works, but if a few articles and lots of comments would earn some credit for Doc, I'm going to try to help.
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I have no words for the above sentiment, other than this. I've gotten used to "How is ... On a Scale of 1-10" questions the last two months. :- ) How touched am I by the above? Honestly, 9. (10 is reserved... Read More
Trying to sort out needs and resources
Posted by Bat571 on 11/01/18
For my second submission, I present my take on the off-season plan. I've tried to keep it realistic, using RosterResource.com for ideas and info on relative salaries, Rule 5 status, etc.
1st Move -
Trade Dee Gordon to the Yankees for Sonny Gray
The Yankees think (know) that Gray isn't a good fit on their team and are anxious to trade him. But of all the RHSPs who are or might be available, Gray is actually the guy that has the most upside and is the best fit for the Mariners. A front three of Paxton-Gray-Gonzales would be a formidable group. With the loss of Didi Gregorious, the Yankees need... Read More
While we anxiously wait news of Doc
Posted by Bat571 on 11/01/18
While we all wait to see how Jeff is doing, I thought maybe somebody should show Klat that the community is continuing, for the moment at least, especially if it might mean that Doc's writing quota could be filled for November. I don't know how the deal with Klat works, but if a few articles and lots of comments would earn some credit for Doc, I'm going to try to help.
I'll start this post with some suggestions on rule changes I'd like to see. If others can chip in their ideas, maybe we can attract some interest.
Rule Change #1 -
As the pitcher sets for each pitch, there shall be two... Read More