jay

32 teams... yes. The rest... umm. I’d like: 32 teams, 2 leagues, 4 divisions, 156 game season Interleague 3 x 8 = 24 Intraleague 6 x 8 = 48 Division 12 x 7 = 84 12 team playoff with top 3 of 8 from each division. Division WC - 5 game playoff for 2 and 3 seed hosted by 2 seed, bye for 1 seed Division champ - 5 game playoff hosted by 1 seed League champ - 3/2/2 World Series - 3/2/2

I get narrowing down the list, but I think there’s a few good possibilities in here: NYY, BOS, HOU, LAD, ATL, CHC, WAS, PHI, NYM, STL, COL

No way the Twins are taking on all that salary AND giving up a 40-man worthy prospect. https://www.royalsreview.com/2019/7/17/20696903/ian-kennedys-trade-value-contract

Baseball diehards aren’t going anywhere. Have to look at these changes from the perspective of the casual fan, who I presume actually represent a bigger share of the revenue and are more critical to long-term league success. In that lens (and even in general), I don’t see much negative here.

Keuchel is an elite groundball pitcher. More than twice as many GBs as Odorizzi last year. The infield defense not being a great fit is worth mentioning.

26 man rosters and universal DH. No need to have a 3 batter minimum, but do cap rosters at 12 eligible pitchers. Imagine a true 5 man bench again... backup C, 4th OF, IF, and 2 flex spots. Bullpens are filled with flex spots. Why not have that on offense and see what teams come up with?

Granite and Wade will start in AAA. If Cave doesn’t get rolling in ST, I don’t think they’ll hesitate to go with Austin or Reed out of the gate to balance the roster better and keep a no options guy.

That position seems pleasingly sarcastic, but unduly negative. Castro can’t hit... and neither can MLB catchers in general. His 92 career wRC+ is solidly above last year’s 84 wRC+ average for catchers. If the goal is above average players across the board, he fits.

Enjoyed reading. Would love to see a next step of trade analysis. I haven’t quite concluded the FO has been “bad” at trading, but the data seems clear that immediate roster impact has been low — largely by design.

Here’s a great tool to illustrate that: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/a-new-way-to-look-at-sample-size/ If it’s too mathy, just check the boxes for OBP and SLG then check the boxes for K% and BB%. You’ll notice a huge difference in their curves illustrating which stats are more reliable than others for the sample size.

Does Bechtold give pitching a try if the bat doesn’t come to life any better in 2019?

A little more insight on the methodology would be helpful. I generally think of asset value as essentially the same thing as surplus value or trade value. We can be very confident that Cron wouldn’t cost Gordon though, so now I’m not sure.

Agree completely. Handing out extensions coming off career years has been a repeated mistake in the past. Hope he does great, but Gibby is at high risk for the same category. So, next question... what would it cost to extend Odo?

Look at Cave’s L / R splits: 58 (really bad) vs 123 (very good) wRC+. Similar trends in the minors. Cave plays vs R and DH spot rotates with PH ABs too. Austin plays vs L primarily as DH and PHs for Cave, Kepler or Castro late. Austin + Cave as one lineup spot at their career 123 wRC+ with the platoon advantage is equivalent to a top 50 bat. Obviously uses roster space, but that sounds like a productive lineup spot.