This week in baseball blogs…
- The Junkball Daily projects how new Padre Eric Hosmer will perform over the life of his contract.
- Chin Music Baseball, Friars On Base and East Village Times examine the potential effects the Hosmer signing may have on other areas of the Padres’ roster.
- The Point of Pittsburgh updates its well-regarded Prospect Surplus Values model.
- STL Hat Trick compares the Cardinals’ and Cubs’ rotations.
- Baseball Takes isn’t ready to crown the Angels.
- The Sports Tank (links: 1, 2) is pleased with Boston’s J.D. Martinez agreement, but also concerned about what’s holding up the deal.
- Bronx Bomber Ball argues that young Yankees infielders Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar are better short- and long-term options than new pickup Brandon Drury.
- The First Out At Third analyzes Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia’s offensive game.
- The Daily Jay asks if Justin Smoak will be able to sustain his success from 2017.
- The K Zone would take Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager over the Astros’ Carlos Correa, at least for now.
- Pirates Breakdown reacts to the Bucs’ acquisition of Corey Dickerson.
- Off The Bench examines the effectiveness of dedicating payroll to relievers.
- Camden Depot wonders if GM Dan Duquette is still steering the ship in Baltimore.
- FSH Baseball tries to give Nolan Arenado credit for a potential Coors Field hangover by adjusting FanGraphs’ park factors.
- The Giants Cove foresees the NL West claiming three playoff spots again in 2018.
- The Loop Sports isn’t sure of what to expect from the White Sox.
- Clubhouse Corner names National Leaguers who need to step up.
- Call to the Pen writes about the Phillies targeting Cubs lefty Mike Montgomery.
- Everything Bluebirds lists a few low-cost free agent targets for Toronto.
- Believeland Ball identifies which Indians catcher is the better trade chip, Yan Gomes or Roberto Perez.
- Bronx To Bushville isn’t panicking over the Brewers’ rotation.
- Rox Pile details how the Rockies’ offense handled various velocities last season.
- Pinstriped Prospects has high hopes for Clint Frazier in 2018.
- Kennedy’s Commentary suggests tempering expectations for Rick Porcello.
- Pop Fly Baseball ponders the Rangers’ place in the AL West.
- BP Toronto says Kevin Pillar is approaching a career crossroads.
- MLB & Fantasy Baseball Analyzed names potential fixes for the collective bargaining agreement.
- NY Yankees Digest shares a Mariano Rivera infographic.
- Jays Journal recaps free agent infielder Brett Lawrie’s recent appearance on Vancouver’s TSN 1040.
- Rotisserie Duck focuses on hitters who will fare the best in 2018.
- DiNardo’s Dugout (podcast) talks Hosmer, JDM and Tim Tebow, among other subjects.
- Pro Sports Fandom explains why the Angels can’t retire Vladimir Guerrero’s jersey.
- Motor City Bengals highlights Tigers who are worth pursuing in fantasy baseball this season.
- The 3rd Man In forecasts the top 10 picks in this year’s draft.
- Tomahawk Take pays tribute to Sam Jethroe, the first African-American player in Braves history and the oldest player ever to win NL Rookie of the Year honors.
- Mets Daddy notes that, with the club having signed Jason Vargas, the so-called Five Aces (Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler) won’t make up its rotation.
- Good Fundies remembers Vargas’ first tenure with the Mets.
- The Runner Sports (links: 1, 2, 3, 4) grades the Yankees’ offseason, takes a look at the Athletics’ revamped bullpen, delves into the Twins’ rotation questions, and explains what each Astro did during the offseason.
- District On Deck predicts the Nationals’ Opening Day lineup.
- Think Blue Planning Committee presents a potential batting order for the Dodgers’ talented Triple-A team in Oklahoma City.
- Extra Innings UK (links: 1, 2, 3, 4) wraps up the week’s headlines and introduces you to Europeans playing baseball at American universities.
- Expos Reloaded is listing the top 50 WAR leaders in the history of the former franchise.
- Chris Zantow interviews longtime ballpark photographer about his experiences at Milwaukee County Stadium.
Submissions: ZachBBWI @gmail.com
someone please get Brett Lawrie in training camp
Who did STL Hat Trick pay off to get that load of garbage featured here. LMAO!
Those were my thoughts exactly.
The Cubs pitchers led in WAR in every matchup (including where Quintana dominated Wainwright by nearly 3 WAR) except where Carlos Martinez has a 0.1 edge over Darvish. But no, the Cubs rotation isn’t much better than the Cardinals. *eyeroll*
And Q helped Cubs reach NLCS for “second straight year” … apparently blocking the memory of the 2015 NLDS win against the Cards.
You’re right. Third in a row. I will have that corrected. Standing by everything else in the article.
BSwope
I’m a Cards fan, and I think you’ve had a little too much Kool-Aid at Waino’s house. The guy has been an absolute stud for many years, but he’s been sliding backwards for at LEAST 2 years. His stats CLEARLY show consistent regression, and I’m sad to say that……..I don’t expect to see him in the rotation after May (if he makes it that long).
I believe that Mo should have traded for a solid starter this winter.
Yes, Reyes is coming back at some point, but he’s the future ACE, so they should ease him back. Waino and Wacha a “very suspect” to me, and I think you considered “the best case scenario” with those two……and the “worst case scenario” for Lester. I understand the loyalty and the “rose-colored glasses”……..but writers need to be blatantly honest.
You have a poor understanding of baseball and i’m standing by that.
If your article does one thing well, it’s gerrymandering.
Also Lester only had a 1.0 WAR
I’m neither a Cubs or Cards fan but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and holly crap could you have been any more partisan, You should cover up because your bias is showing, you state the worst case scenario for the Cubs then the best case for the Cards and say “See, the Cards are better”. it doesn’t work that way.
I think you did a mostly fine job on this. Don’t let the haters influence you otherwise.
Perfect? No.
Over-biased? Mostly not.
I wrote a longer blurb as a brand new comment in this thread.
That story literally made me LOL, Weaver over Hendricks, Martinez over Darvish, Quintana just barely over the washed up Wainwright?!?!?
If it is possible to have your blog rights revoked that should now happen. I don’t even think mike Matheny’s kids would be able to rank a single Cards starter ahead of his Cubs counterpart.
Shouldn’t be legal to drink liquor that early in the morning.
My sentiments exactly! Whatever makes him sleep better at night, I guess!
I mean, its a blog. I wouldn’t take it personally.
Well, it’s at the top and is driving the conversation on this thread. So, maybe, MLBTR has other reasons like, perhaps, avoiding reader boredom.
PS: Do not kill the messenger.
Last year, both rotations ran a 98 FIP-
Darvish had a 87, and the Cards are replacing Lynn with Mikolas. I’d argue that the Cubs rotation is better, but I don’t know that it’s a run away. The Cards rotation could out perform the Cubs this year, most likely because of the Cards better depth.
He was too light on Hendricks and gave Wainwright too much benefit. The rest of what he argued is supported statistically.
Using what happened last year, isn’t a great way to predict what will happen this year. That’s why projection systems exist and we don’t just expect the same things as last year..
You seem to also forget that the cubs will have Quintana for a full season, vs. half.
Mikolas over Chatwood. Lol ok
That was the least egregious of his arguments, I think.
Why is there so much interest in comparing the rotation of the Cubs with the rotation of a mediocre ball club? A more interesting comparison would be the Cubs and other likely playoff teams.
Says the reds fan
That changes his point how?
That whole piece was a conglomeration of garbage. But if he wants believe that the Cardinals staff is better let him dream on. My question is how does garbage like that get printed?
Welcome to the internet, where everyone can have a soapbox and the truth has no place.
I’m thankful to MLBTR for linking to my blog (I’m the one with creative ideas about fixing the CBA). To anyone here who will read it, if you get a “page not found” message, just scroll down and the page is there under “5 ways to fix the CBA that will satisfy both owners and players”. Also please let me know if you agree or disagree with what I suggested in the article.
OK…here goes….
1. DISCOURAGE TANKING BY INSTITUTING A DRAFT LOTTERY
Nope…not fully…I could see the bottom 2/3rd in a lottery preventing the top teams from benefitting by the luck of the draw…it has happened.
2. CHANGE THE QUALIFYING OFFER SYSTEM
How does it make things better? You are now penalizing teams that sign a player by having them give up a prospect they have invested time and money in rather that an unknown player they may draft and may or may not sign.
3. A TEAM MUST FIELD A $130 MILLION PAYROLL AT LEAST ONCE EVERY 5 SEASONS
Right now there about 15-16 teams below that $130mm mark ( https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRghSG2xROOkgctuzj56pUSP6zCxUUQ1i7LND0jnficQ0TPtIY8OhNl3AN_StqMvBCHnO_qOXKZeTbE/pubhtml *remember to subtract $14mm from these totals as it’s a tax tracker). Several of these teams are competitive and you want to penalize them? Why?
4. CHANGE HOW FREE AGENCY AND ARBITRATION WORK
Arb eligible after one year? FA after 2. Seriously? And MLB agrees to this, why? I can see eventual shortening of status such as arb after 2 years, FA after 4 years but MLB will want to renegotiate rookie status standards as well.
5. INSTITUTE A HARD SALARY CAP OF $210 MILLION
1993. 2 things the MLBPA will never agree to…a hard cap and non-guaranteed contracts.
How about we just let the free market decide?
Thanks for reading my article.
1. Not sure how you think it won’t make things better. It works in the NBA. If a team is rebuilding and they’re guaranteed higher picks for worser records, then they have a great incentive to tank. Taking that away and saying that they can get the same pick for winning, changes things don’t you think?
2. In the current system every good player is punished by being tied up to a draft pick. Look at how many teams won’t sign Moustakas because of it. People complain how many teams can’t afford to re-sign their homegrown players, make them be able to do it by limiting the other teams from “buying championships”. I specifically said how the rule should be edited too, but if a team loses their homegrown star, they should receive far more than a pick that they may not even sign.
3. Another rule that I said needs to be worked out and was merely suggesting an idea. Do you honestly believe that the majority of teams are trying to win? There are many other articles written by experts saying the exact same thing that teams need to be forced to spend a minimum amount on payroll.
4. Well is it fair to pay an MVP contender league minimum? Should a player be paid well below his market value during his prime and then be overpaid during his decline and ruin his team’s finances? Have them be paid fairly from the start but at the same time let teams have a chance to keep them.
5. Sure, but the players associations of ALL other major American sports agreed to a salary cap and the MLBPA already agreed to a soft one (luxury tax). A hard one is now a small step away, offer them market value fair salaries from the start and why wouldn’t they agree?
* would giving up a prospect outside a top 10 for a good player not be better than giving up a first round draft pick?
MLBTR gotta check RiverAveBlues.com great yankee blog…
Baseball Blogs Weigh In is already mainly about the Yankees. Why add more?
Because RAB is the best, Kayrall.
Best Yankee blog, by far.
Blogs submit the links to MLBTR and they run them.
“Chris Zantow interviews longtime ballpark photographer about his experiences at Milwaukee County Stadium.”
This is missing a name or an indefinite article or something..
The Cubs would consider moving Monty, I am sure, but they do not need another outfielder.
It is my assumption that most of the people here bitching about the Cards vs. Cubs blog, did not read the entire thing, but rather looked at the final score if you will. He was not completely unbiased, but his bias wasn’t showing hard as someone suggested.
First off, he did not say that Q just edged out Waino. I also believe he was correct on the Darvish vs. Carlos Martinez one. I think he needed to be a tad more open-minded when it came to the Wacha vs. Lester and Weaver vs. Hendricks, but that’s all. I feel as though he essentially had a lot of them as close matches, especially Mikolas vs. Chatwood. Who really knows how that will go (he even stated that it’s a battle of unknown).
Personally, if we’re going with the same five match-ups, I’d choose Martinez (narrowly), Lester (again, narrowly), Hendricks (kinda close), Quintana and Mikolas (narrowly). That would put it at 3-2 Cubs, but as he stated under/over performances, injuries and unknowns can change that either way. It’s great to have the discussion and it’s a lot closer than some would say.
I admit not to have read the blog, but to me it seems really hard to debate that Chicago’s rotation isn’t better by far.
Darvish (3.8 rWAR in 2017) vs Martinez (3.2 rWAR in 2017)
Winner: Darvish
Lester vs Wacha
Wacha had a better rWAR by 0.2 in 2017 but Lester was a Cy Young candidate in 2016 while Wacha has yet to pitch for 200 innings in a season.
Winner: Lester
Hendricks vs Weaver
Hendricks easily wins in rWAR at 3.3 to 0.8 while also being a Cy Young candidate in 2016.
Winner: Hendricks
Quintana vs Wainwright
Has to be a joke as Waino is lucky to still be in the rotation.
Winner: Quintana
Mikolas vs Chatwood
Let’s wait and see how both do.
CHC easily win.
It is my assumption that most of the people here complaining about the Cards vs. Cubs blog, did not read the entire thing, but rather looked at the final score if you will. He was not completely unbiased, but his bias wasn’t showing hard as someone suggested.
First off, he did not say that Q just edged out Waino. I also believe he was correct on the Darvish vs. Carlos Martinez one. I think he needed to be a tad more open-minded when it came to the Wacha vs. Lester and Weaver vs. Hendricks, but that’s all. I feel as though he essentially had a lot of them as close matches, especially Mikolas vs. Chatwood. Who really knows how that will go (he even stated that it’s a battle of unknown).
Personally, if we’re going with the same five match-ups, I’d choose Martinez (narrowly), Lester (again, narrowly), Hendricks (kinda close), Quintana and Mikolas (narrowly). That would put it at 3-2 Cubs, but as he stated under/over performances, injuries and unknowns can change that either way. It’s great to have the discussion and it’s a lot closer than some would say.