2018/2019 Offseason Thread

[Lee Stone]

JD is a fantastic player and he should hold up the next few years, but.....

2018 BABIP

JD Martinez .375
Bryce Harper .289

I can buy Harper is not worth $400 million, and JD is a (clearly) better signing at 5/$110, but saying Bryce is a declining player is frivolous.

The only direction Bryce is heading to is Cooperstown. He has 30 WAR before he is 26. At 26, JD Martinez had -0.1 WAR for his career.

Bryce isn't in his prime yet, that's what you're buying. Only you thinks Buster Posey is a replaceable player and Bryce Harper stinks. These are first ballot HOF players.

Harper is not on an upward trajectory. His 1.3 WAR would concern me a great deal if I were considering him as a hire. I wouldn't be getting the 26 WAR he accumulated before last season. If you think that 2018 was a mere aberration, something to be ignored, that's your call.

[lou]

Harper is not on an upward trajectory. His 1.3 WAR would concern me a great deal if I were considering him as a hire. I wouldn't be getting the 26 WAR he accumulated before last season. If you think that 2018 was a mere aberration, something to be ignored, that's your call.

Well ignoring he had a 3.5 WAR in 2018 (https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.asp...79&position=OF), as we keep telling you, the basis of how one accrues stats are important. Just as how dominating AA hitters with control doesn't equate to doing the same at higher levels when you don't have an above average fastball to get by hitters, looking and seeing Bryce being miscast in CF for a ton of innings because of National injury concerns severely tanked his defense. The same with a BABIP which is 30-40 points too low for a batter like him. No one can explain a random bad 85 AB in June, when he hit the shit out of the ball every other month.

$400 million is too much, but Bryce is going to be awesome for the next decade. If you want to take a position no one should make that much money compared to what else you can buy for a team, SURE. Everyone is with you there. But saying Bryce is a declining player because his age 25 season was not as good as his age 22 or 24 seasons is pretty fucking stupid. He's not in a physical decline. He had a low BABIP and had a poor defensive season where he should rebound there with less time in CF, and focusing a bit more in a corner.

He is entering his prime Lee. He had a down year for him, and was one of the best 50 bats in baseball last year. That's an insane floor and his upside is Mickey Mantle.

[fish16]

Imagine thinking a 26 year old bryce harper is on the downside of his career based on a below average year relative to his career where he struggled early but was one of the best hitters in baseball in the 2nd half. Its truly one of the dumbest Lee posts yet.

[tjfla]

GM Meetings start today

Not much Marlins news-they are looking for a Left Handed Bat(Prefer 1B)/talking to teams on DD/Straily/Urena/RP and not talking on JT yet but are telling teams they expect to trade him(More likely Winter Meetings after FA signed)

Big news they might be making the Trade Deadline 1 day instead of July 31 and Aug 31-supposed to vote and would be on like Sunday Afternoon mid Aug

[lou]

GM Meetings start today

Not much Marlins news-they are looking for a Left Handed Bat(Prefer 1B)/talking to teams on DD/Straily/Urena/RP and not talking on JT yet but are telling teams they expect to trade him(More likely Winter Meetings after FA signed)

Big news they might be making the Trade Deadline 1 day instead of July 31 and Aug 31-supposed to vote and would be on like Sunday Afternoon mid Aug

That would be nice if they got rid of waivers, which is a ridiculous system at this point.

I would personally also think they need a corner OF over a 1B, but we'll see.

[Nick]

Agreed Waiver Period is so dumb. I say have one deadline, make it like August 15th or something, though.

[fauowls44]

Frisaro mentioned Asdrubal Cabrerra, Matt Adams, Daniel Murphy, and Neil Walker as possibilities. Of those, I would prefer Adams or Cabrerra on a short deal. As Lou mentioned, I would prefer someone that can play a corner OF spot. Adams and Walker has played some OF in the past year.

[tjfla]

Frisaro mentioned Asdrubal Cabrerra, Matt Adams, Daniel Murphy, and Neil Walker as possibilities. Of those, I would prefer Adams or Cabrerra on a short deal. As Lou mentioned, I would prefer someone that can play a corner OF spot. Adams and Walker has played some OF in the past year.

Doubt we get Cabrera,Murphy or Walker. I could see Adams/LoMo. They want more than 1 bat so Corner OF who can play other spots is possible too but focus is on Left Handed Bat who can play 1B right now

If they trade JT they could get an OF in that deal too plus Rule 5 draft

I could see LoMo(1 yr plus option),Jon Jay(1 year) and then few minor league deals(Power bat/RP) as FA signings

- - - - - - - - - -

Agreed Waiver Period is so dumb. I say have one deadline, make it like August 15th or something, though.

Seems to be the plan(Sun Aug 16 like 7PM) but they need to vote on it than the MLBPA has to vote on it too.

[fish16]

Daniel Murphy on a 1 year deal to play 1b if his market is dry would be perfect as I’ve been saying. Good lefty bat with power who can play 1b and who could go off and be able to get us something quality at the deadline. We should get a guy or 2 like him given that we should have a little money to spend on a free agent lineup addition. Lomo doesnt do anything for me. Those 1b/DH types are cheap but they seem to be very hit or miss as well.

[lou]

I could see LoMo(1 yr plus option),Jon Jay(1 year) and then few minor league deals(Power bat/RP) as FA signings

Can Cooper and O'Brien play a corner OF and not embarrass themselves?

John Jay makes a lot of sense for a year.

Brad Miller is perfect on a minor league deal and hope the power comes back. Miller actually hit a solid .248/.311/.413 last year in a real number of PA (even if BABIP .350 which isn't inspiring). Worth a flyer and play him at AAA.

A RP to get saves and trade would be nice, although they can do that with Conley too (assuming they keep him).

[Lee Stone]

What's not to like about Kyle Keller and Jose Quijada in next season's BP?

[lou]

What's not to like about Kyle Keller and Jose Quijada in next season's BP?

Quijada will probably get called up at some point as he's one of the better lefties they have and presumably will be on the 40 man roster. He's probably next in line after Conley, Garcia, and Peters for the lefty bullpen crew.

Keller I wonder if they even protect on the 40 man but he had a nice year if they like him over someone like Kinley or Meyer. He's still got a lot of names to jump though as Steckenrider, Wittgren, Guerrero, and Brigham seem like bullpen locks above him, Richards/Alcantara could get kicked to the pen, and Guzman is looming. Let alone Gallen/Yamamoto and other guys who could get shifted to the pen fast.

[tjfla]

What's not to like about Kyle Keller and Jose Quijada in next season's BP?

Quijada will be on the 40 man and I could see him in the BP early. Just depends what they do with Conley and Garcia

Keller won't be on the 40 man which means doubt he is in the ML BP till July/Aug. More likely he is AAA Closer but he should be up eventually

They have Conley/Garcia/Steck/Witt/Guerrero/Rule 5 Guy as locks with guys like Brigham,Meyer,Kinley,Graves,3 or 4 Minor League FA Signings sitting in AAA

- - - - - - - - - -

Can Cooper and O'Brien play a corner OF and not embarrass themselves?

John Jay makes a lot of sense for a year.

Brad Miller is perfect on a minor league deal and hope the power comes back. Miller actually hit a solid .248/.311/.413 last year in a real number of PA (even if BABIP .350 which isn't inspiring). Worth a flyer and play him at AAA.

A RP to get saves and trade would be nice, although they can do that with Conley too (assuming they keep him).

Keep hearing plan is same as LY. Sign 3 or 4 FA to 1 year deals and trade them at deadline then bring up younger guys like Monte/Arms/Guys who had big years

I wouldnt mind Jay,LoMo,Brad Miller and trade DD then sign a few RP to Minor League Deals or a vet

Wouldnt surprise it they get 2 guys in Rule 5 Draft or even trade for guys like they did LY with NYY

[Lee Stone]

Any subscribers to The Athletic? I'd like to see a synopsis of the Bowden piece that was published an hour ago. Five prospective Realmuto deals. https://theathletic.com/638551/2018/...at-make-sense/

Nevermind. Read it myself. 1) To Houston for Josh James and Tony Kemp 2) To Colorado for nothing 3) Atlanta for a couple pitching prospects 4) Nats for Robles 5) Dodgers for Verdugo and May.

Robles would be great, but of course not happening. Dodger deal w/o Ruiz or Will Smith doesn't work at all. The others are ridiculous.

[emkayseven]

Jim Bowden is an idiot. There's a reason he was a failure as a GM