This week in baseball blogs:
- Bleeding Royal Blue opines that Mike Trout should win the American League MVP.
- The 3rd Man In contends that the Brewers’ offseason signing of first baseman/outfielder Eric Thames hasn’t paid off.
- Camden Depot analyzes Orioles slugger Mark Trumbo’s 2017 struggles.
- Pirates Breakdown makes arguments for and against the Bucs shutting down right-hander Jameson Taillon for the season.
- Call To The Pen sees a potential core four forming in Philadelphia.
- The Giants Cove is pessimistic about the direction of the franchise.
- Notes From The Sally ranks the top 50 prospects from this year’s South Atlantic League.
- Clubhouse Corner’s Bernie Pleskoff names the five best farm systems in baseball.
- Jays Journal highlights the Toronto prospects who dominated in 2017.
- Outfield Fly Rule profiles newly promoted Braves left-hander Luiz Gohara.
- PhoulBallz (links: 1, 2) interviews Phillies first-round pick Adam Haseley.
- Mets Daddy proposes a trade that would send Jacob deGrom and Amed Rosario to the Orioles for Manny Machado.
- The Loop Sports is pleased with Lucas Giolito’s first few starts as a member of the White Sox.
- Inside the ’Zona imagines a Game 1 NLDS matchup between the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw and the Diamondbacks’ Robbie Ray.
- The First Out At Third focuses on Brewers infielder Jonathan Villar’s miserable season.
- Sports Talk Philly asks what the Phillies’ infield will look like on Opening Day 2018.
- Everything Bluebirds suggests that Troy Tulowitzki’s time as the Jays’ best shortstop is running out.
- A’s Farm runs down the Athletics’ minor league statistical leaders for 2017.
- The Point of Pittsburgh writes about what Pirates manager Clint Hurdle’s extension means for 2018.
- MetsMind wonders whether Juan Lagares has what it takes to be the team’s starting center fielder going forward.
- The Runner Sports (links: 1, 2) notes that the Astros’ late-August acquisition of outfielder Cameron Maybin is paying dividends, and looks at Hurricane Irma’s effect on the Yankees.
- Big Three Sports explains how Orioles righty Dylan Bundy could become elite.
- Jays From The Couch doesn’t expect rotation depth to be a major issue for Toronto in 2018.
- Stats Swipe examines the results of Rangers righty Miguel Gonzalez’s high slider usage.
- Chris Zantow flashes back to Sept. 9, 1992, when Brewers legend Robin Yount collected his 3,000th hit.
- Rotisserie Duck revisits some memorable and unfortunate hit by pitches.
Submissions: ZachBBWI @gmail.com
Carter gave the Brewers more production than Thames. What a waste of money.
Not in the least
For Mil, Carter batted .222/.321/.499, a .346 wOBA and 112 wRC+ with it adding up to a 5.6 OFF value. With his horrible Def added in he was worth a 0.9 WAR overall
Thames has hit .236/.348/.507 for a .359 wOBA, 118 wRC+ and has been worth a 9.4 OFF value. Overall that’s a 1.4 WAR with his horrible Def
That 1.4 WAR translates to a roughly $11.4 Million dollar value on the open market. The Brewers are paying him merely 15 million over three seasons though, meaning they are not that far off of receiving their total investment returned in just his first season
Now he has not been that good at all in the second half, his Def liabilities will forever limit how much value they can extract and moving forward he probably won’t be a difference maker …but in just the 2017 season he will have still been worth at minimum 2/3rd the total 3year cash investment and he has been much more valuable than Carter was for them even with him having bassicy the same issues overall
Carter was worth .9 WAR last year and Thames has been worth 1.4. He generated almost all of that in a single month though. The brewers couldn’t get out of his deal fast enough if they had the opportunity. Opppsing pitchers have figured him out. He’s not even a 2016 Chris carter at this point.
These stat geeks continually embarrass themselves with their analytical BS
Is this article actually suggesting that Galvis a core member of the team going forward? I’m sorry, but he’s not even a piece on the team let alone a core member going forward. If I had to pick a core four, it would be Nola, Herrera, Hoskins, and TBD (Altherr, Crawford, Williams, Alfaro, or Kingery).
At this point, Altherr is the safest bet but I think Crawford has the biggest upside.
Yeah I was puzzled reading that as well. I agree with you that Galvis isn’t a major part of the team and the Rollins comp is just asinine, plus the article is pretty poorly written
Sadly, there never have been any standards for getting published and linked on here. Some of them have been truly awful in the past.
Is mets daddy ok?
Only thing I fear with Thames is that his first half, no one had seen him so they didn’t know how to pitch to him and he excelled. His second half, once they knew his weakness, has led to a sharp decline in all of his numbers. So the next 2 years, we might be looking at a guy who will hit barely .200 20hrs and 60rbis and doesn’t field that well. Hope I am incorrect on that assumption and he bounces back in 2018.
Hopefully he adjusts back to the league. He likely never was first half Thames, but exhibited enough talent and execution to prove he’s also likely better than second half Thames.
Great article on trout winning the MVP! Someone that actually understands and quantifies why trout will win the MVP. Not to mention he’s plays on a team with only Simmons (upton of late) it’s not even close. Trout is your 2017 MVP!
As an angels fan I disagree. It belongs to Altuve this season.
It is very close, and since WAR is all people care about now, Altuve will win since he has a higher WAR rating than Trout and both teams are in contention.
Aaron Judge > Jose Altuve
I love a fan who does there homework.