Click here to read a transcript of Thursday’s live chat with Connor Byrne of MLBTR.
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- Hal Steinbrenner To Meet With Boras/Soto
- Blue Jays, Orioles, Red Sox Interested In Max Fried
- Super Two Status Set At 2.132 Years Of Service
- Phillies Promote Preston Mattingly To General Manager
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- Cardinals Expected To Gauge Trade Interest In Nolan Arenado
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Why angel fans want to give up on a brief call up for adel already is beyond me.
I suspect the overwhelming majority don’t. I rarely judge team fandom by what appears on social media or even on talk radio. They’re the fringe element.
when mlb had message boards newbies learned what are good or bad. well, mostly. they now don’t have the ‘education’ system and are posting on these pages their dumb questions where everyone can see. and mlb trade value or whatever it’s called doesn’t help.
another manfraud’s crime among many.
by the way, his swing looks better already. his bat doesn’t stay way back before swinging. and he walked yesterday though the pitcher was struggling to throw strikes. and almost stole 2 bases.
I love Connor’s chats. He answers a ton of questions. My question is this: Is Ozzie Albies the most underrated 2nd baseman in MLB? I wouldn’t be surprised if he has more WAR left in the tank over any 2nd baseman in baseball. His 9-year $45 million contract is a huge plus as well. Travis d’Arnaud might be the most underrated and underpaid catcher in MLB as well. He makes $8 million next year and he just won a silver slugger. He may be a better hitter going forward than Realmuto and his salary is 70% lower with no security beyond next season.
I have had 3 questions answered so far in this chat. It’s a banner night! It’s so common to get zero answered. This is why I love Connor’s chats the best. Make that 4 questions. The Puig question was mine, too.
Make that 6 questions. I got a freebie on The Clash Jedi mind trick question. Turned out to be the last question he answered. Sorry if I hogged anyone’s time. Outside of The Clash question, My other 5 questions were actually really solid.
Congratulations!
I wonder if
that’s a record?
Definitely a record for me. I think I topped out a 3 once before. That was probably Connor as well because he usually answers the most questions. Tonight was half a dozen though. I have never heard of anyone having at least half a dozen questions answered in one chat. I didn’t even start asking questions until we were 25 minutes into the chat. That almost makes it more braggable. 6 questions answered in about 45 minutes. More than 1 question answered every 8 minutes.
He has been striking out a lot this spring. I think he is feeling the pressure. He needs year in minors and people forget he is only 21.
@ BrittinghamSports;
Branch Rickey was a former Catcher and the father of 20th century baseball strategies. He created the farm system; built the St. Louis Cardinals up; then the Brooklyn Dodgers; and put together the farm system for the Pittsburgh Pirates that ultimately won the WS with the “We Are Family” slogan. He also was the person that broke the color line by signing Jackie Robinson and bringing him first to Montreal and then to Brooklyn. Think Billy Beane was a pioneer for using OBP as opposed to BA in evaluating hitters? Branch Rickey started doing that in 1915.
–
He believed Catcher was the most important position on a team, and had 4 responsibilities in the following order…..
1. Calling / running a game.
2. Handling a pitching staff.
3. Playing defense (blocking breaking balls in the dirt, throwing out runners, blocking the plate, keeping runners near the bag).
4. Hitting.
Realmuto is a terrific hitter. His style of hitting from standing straight up at the point of contact and almost leaning back, extending his arms and having the ball fly off his bat is reminiscent of the way Thurman Munson hit (although Thurman got the ball up in the air more and had more power). But it’s the first 3 items that he excels at that make him so valuable.
Very few Catchers at any point in time posses all 4 qualities. Yadi Molina has been the leader and the heart of the Cardinals throughout his career because he does all those things at an above average level. A coach on the field that even premier pitchers trust totally. Recently Yasmani Grandal has established himself as both a driving force for the Brewers and now the White Sox working with their young pitchers.
Have a look at Roberto Perez of the Indians. Can’t hit a lick. One of their most important players. Won a Platinum glove a year ago. The fact that the Indians keep developing young pitchers and straighten out so many veteran Pitchers is partially because of Perez behind the plate.
d’Arnaud hits well for a Catcher. But the Braves inability to develop so many of their highly touted pitching prospects at the major league level is due in part to their Catchers. d’Arnaud just got there a few years ago, so it’s not all on him. Truth be told – it’s because MLB front offices do not put a priority on Rickey’s top 3 that so many teams can’t bring their own Pitcher’s along very well. Much of that is because so many FO types are great at reading stats but not at understanding how the game is played……and there are no definitive stats for #’s 1, 2, and 3.
Travis d’Arnaud just finished his 1st season as a Brave. It was a shortened season on top of that. He hasn’t been there for a few years. d’Arnaud was a Tampa Bay Ray at the end of the 2019 season. If the Braves pitchers aren’t developing, it has nothing to do with d’Arnaud. Not to mention, Fried, Anderson and Soroka are developing quite nicely… along with AJ Minter who is a reliever.
I think the ship has sailed on Albies. He looks pretty average to me. As for d’arnaud, he was booed out of NY and deservedly so. If he’s batting higher than 7th, it’s not a good sign.
I once got 6 too. I used different funny Sceen Names to post them
Andre… The ship has not sailed on Albies at all. He was injured a good portion of last season but he always produces when he plays. I can see him averaging over 4 WAR each season for the next decade plus. That is really good production from a second baseman. He can hit over .290 with over 20 homers and he’s great on the base paths. Not to mention Albies has stellar defense. All that and he is still only 22 years old and under a long term dirt cheap contract. If you think Albies is average you either don’t watch him or don’t know what your talking about. d’Arnaud was injured his entire time in New York. That’s more of a referendum on the Mets than on him. As soon as he got out of Queens and into Tampa Bay he started hitting like a player worthy of his high draft status. Since he got to Atlanta he has been even better. d’Arnaud hit over .320 with power last season for the Braves. Easily good enough to make him the best hitting catcher in the NL. He hit better than Realmuto last season and appears poised to continue hitting far better than James McCann. Not to mention d’Arnaud is owed about 80% less than McCann and 90% less than Realmuto. Last season d’Arnaud hit cleanup behind Marcell Ozuna and the result was his team had one of the best offense in baseball. There is absolutely nothing about the Braves lineup that is “not a good sign.”
I just think it was a cheesy comment to get “Adell’s a bust” mentioned early in the chat. That seems to be a thing.
It seems to be a requirement now…..
Most fans do not so far this spring he has looked horrible plate and in field.I think bringing him up last year was to much to soon. This spring he is feeling the pressure.
Ronald Guzman has totally re-imagined his swing this off-season and he looks like a beast, Gallo looks to have shortened up his swing a little in early ST and it’s causing terrific results (already has 3 homers in each of the games he’s played in), the bullpen is consistently good each season, Jung, Huff, and Taveras are all coming up mid-season or earlier, the Dahl, Lowe, and Heim additions to offense look to be big as well, the only downside is the staring pitching though Kolby Allard might be a sneaky name to watch this season…. My point is, just don’t be surprised if this is a 75-80 win team in 2021. I know people will just say we suck, but this team has some serious potential given how bad we were last season.
Rangers29:
Can you post me some links to your articles? I like reading what you write.
Sure thing!
This is the first one I wrote (mind you, I don’t think I did a very good job on it as I was just learning how to format articles in SB Nation fanpost). It’s about a hypothetical Carpenter for Odor trade. Here: lonestarball.com/2021/2/7/22270662/the-rangers-nee…
This one is a lot better lol. It’s about Hyeon-Jong Yang, the new Rangers’ pitcher that came over from the KBO a few weeks ago. I really think I did well on it, and people seemed to like it. Here: lonestarball.com/2021/2/21/22281789/hyeon-jong-yan…
I enjoy writing them, and I have another one planned to come out soon. They are Rangers orientated, so just keep that in mind.
Great!
Just read the Odor trade proposal. I thought the Rangers fans comments were a little hard on you. I think the deal doesn’t get done but I think it is actually St. Louis that turns it down. The move marginally helps St. Louis this season and clearly hurts them in 2022. The only way this works out for the Cardinals is if Terry works out. I am very skeptical of 24-25 year old’s that have never even sniffed Double-A. It is highly likely that his stats are inflated due to the fact that he was facing much younger, smaller and less experienced players. If Terry turns 25 in October he should be starting the season at Double-A at the very least. The fact that he isn’t even expected to reach that level this season is a huge red flag. I’m usually not big on trade proposals from non-front office employees that involves money trading hands outside the contracts. The main reason is the quantification of dollars paid from one team to another is usually just an arbitrary number created by one person who isn’t involved with either organization based on the way that particular person values players. In other words: They never happen to the exact specifications of the trade proposer so why even bother coming up with an exact dollar figure? I do make an exception for cash neutral deals because those seem to happen frequently. For example: In this chat I asked a question about the Pirates Gregory Polanco and the Braves Ender Inciarte. I brought that up because they are both well overpaid outfielders that have been terrible for some time with their current teams and are on contract years. The only thing is that Polanco is owed about $4 million more than Inciarte next year so it would make sense if the Pirates traded him and $4 million to Atlanta for Inciarte because both teams basically stick with the contracts they offered while also giving 2 players a much needed change of scenery for the final year of their contracts. I noticed the difference between Carpenter (owed $18.5 million) and Odor (owed $24 million) is $5.5 million. I can’t really figure out where you got the $3 million figure from that the Rangers would pay the Cardinals. I know Terry is in the trade and Odor is signed for another year. I’m guessing you assumed the Cardinals would value of 1-year of Odor + Terry is worth about 2 and a half million. I’m thinking that the Cardinals are very skeptical of Terry due to his age and lack of upper minor league experience. I think the Cardinals just want to walk away from bad contracts as soon as possible (like Carpenters) unless it involves them spending exactly zero extra cash. If Terry fails (which is likely) the 2022 St. Louis Cardinals are definitely better if they don’t do this trade even with the $3 million kicked in. It would have to be $5.5 million to make sense. In that case you can just leave Terry out of the deal all together. I loved what you said about Edman, I think that was spot on analysis. Don’t ever trust outlier stats from a hitter that only took place during the 2019 juiced ball season. You need to look no further than Ketel Marte to see that. I also really loved when you brought up Carpenter’s NTC. I think Carpenter only accepts this trade under circumstances Rangers fans would hate. I think Carpenter would want to talk to the Rangers and basically be guaranteed a starting job that would virtually insure his 2022 option vests. In that case, the Rangers should want no part of this deal. They are better off with Odor and trying a long shot stop gap like Charlie Culberson or something instead of paying Carpenter for 2 years. At least Culberson is a dirt cheap feel good story and if he fails it doesn’t matter. The Rangers can walk away and were projected to finish in last place in 2021 anyway I don’t think Carpenter leaves a potential 1st place team for a projected last place team for extra playing time unless it is enough extra time yo make him believe his vesting option will become guaranteed. Great article. I really loved reading it. I hope you don’t take this as too much criticism, I’m not really critiquing as much as I am analyzing your analysis, if that makes sense. I can’t wait to read your next article on the pitcher. I am about to read it now. The Rangers are one of my favorite AL teams btw. I root for them to win the AL pennant most every season.
Thanks for reading it, man! I didn’t like the Carpenter fanpost, and all of your criticism was justified. Just wanted to get a feel for how I wanted to write the articles, and now I’ve got a pretty good feel for it.
I asked you a question at the very bottom of the page. I like the Rangers move this year besides trading Montero. I’m high on Huff and Lowe. Dahl can comeback. You guys IMO won the Lynn trade in the long term. I want Leclerc to be elite again. Good moves. Is young making the moves or Daniels
Once all the moves began this off-season, that same question was asked. CY said that he was just listening along to the zoom calls between JD and agents or JD and other teams. I have a feeling that he has had an influence on this off-season though, and I believe that the Rangers are way better off with another voice in the room with JD.
As for your question below, each team has an SB Nation website. The Rangers’ website is LSB or Lone Star Ball. The Nats have one too, and that’s where I’d post any Nats article.
If Dahl is healthy he’s a great hitter. Was a great signing considering the price tag vs risk/reward. I believe Dunning had arm trouble earlier in his career. Looked sound last year and showed loads of promise. I also believe long term if Dunning stays healthy it’s a win for the Rangers. That being said with adding Lynn and the man from down under -Liam Hendriks the White Sox are now looking like a 95 win team.
From the creators of Screw, Marry, or Kill comes the baseball orientated game: Keep, Release, or Trade. Your options are Bryan Reynolds, Ketel Marte, and Kyle Lewis.
Keep Kyle Lewis. I think he is the best of the 3. Release Bryan Reynolds (begrudgingly but at least you won’t have to eat salary. He is cheap.) Trade Ketel Marte. Marte is the worst of the 3 so he should be released but he is more expensive so if you trade him you don’t have to still pay him. Marte had a great season in 2019 but that was the juiced ball season and he has shown no ability to reproduce like that when the ball isn’t juiced. The ball is actually more “deadened” no than it was in 2020 so I only see him getting worse. I would rather stick Marte with the terrible “release” option over Reynolds but that would mean I still have to pay him. I would rather pay Reynolds than Marte so I am not “trading” Marte as much as I am trading his salary for another team to eat. I could see trading Reynolds though too if I could get enough additional prospect capital in return to be willing to eat the extra $ I would have to pay Marte. I’m also a little unlear on all of the players contract situations. If Marte isn’t guaranteed more money then he is the one I release.I am just assuming Marte is more expensive due to his experience. What’s your choice on the Keep, Release, Trade? Good question btw. Tough to answer and be confident. Good questions are the hardest to answer. Dumb questions are easy to answer. As South Parks Mr. Garrison used to say: “There are no stupid questions. Only stupid people.” LOL.
I have the same answer as you: Keep Lewis, release Reynolds, trade Marte. Keep Lewis cause he’s the best. Release Reynolds because he’s the cheapest though it’s a hard decision because he hasn’t even hit arbitration yet. Trade Marte because I think there would be a pretty good market for him as he is still plenty athletic enough to have a good ceiling (as we have seen before). It’s just a matter of him clicking. Plus, you wouldn’t want to release that contract.
Gonsolin and Dustin May. Will they be viable as starters THIS season?
They could be but I kind of doubt it. The only reason I am saying this is because of the team they play on. The Dodgers already have Urias, Price, Buehler, Kershaw and Bauer. May and Gonsolin will be the Dodgers 6 and 7 starters this season. They would have more opportunities on a different team. I definitely am higher on May than Gonsolin but May could also end up becoming more of a late inning high leverage reliever/closer so who knows? In one at bat though, I would rather face Gonsolin over May (AKA Gingergaard).
id imagine they will be if they get starts, but that’s unlikely. one notes though that LAD used Gonsolin as the every 10 day up-and-down guy early last year, so maybe they get some early starts. that said, I dont know if either gets them consisinecy unless two spots open up as id imagine they are alternated.
I would love to hear that logic used to connect Pete Rose deserving to be in the HOF and Bonds/Clemens ect…. the infractions are in no way similar.
We’d tell you but you wouldn’t understand it.
What is this? Grow up, who speaks like that to people for no reason?
Explain to me how exactly Rose deserves to be in the HOF. He broke the golden rule, he broke a rule known to everyone, why is it known to everyone you ask? Well because since the 1919 Black Sox sandal the rule and punishment’ has been posted in every clubhouse every year. Furthermore he bet on games he was involved in, and he placed these bets with OC connected people, inviting a lot of potential issues. After he was caught, he lied about it, denied all responsibility even when he had multiple audiences with the commissioner. Then he finally came clean in a less then tell all book we later found out was just a half confession. Lets not forget the sexual relationship he had with a 16-17 year old in the 70’s.
Bonds took steroids’ to enhance his ability to play the game he is paid to play. If you want to say Bonds doesn’t deserve to be in the HOF I won’t necessarily agree but I understand you’re position but I see no avenue where Rose deserves to be in the HOF. His accomplishments should be acknowledged in the Hall, but that’s as far as it should go.
abgb123 – I agree, no HOF for Rose.
And it’s best to just ignore the Riddler.
Then why don’t you? Ahahahaha!
Just trying to help someone else avoid your idiocy. Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa!!!!!!
Right back at ya pal.
I actually make relevant baseball comments with many of my posts. I don’t just mock and laugh.
“His accomplishments should be acknowledged in the Hall, but that’s as far as it should go.” What does that even mean? He gets a plaque as the “mystery player.” Yawn, I’m bored with this, goodbye.
You really do gbs42 & I’m anxiously looking forward to the next one.
It means there’s a display about his hits record, his contributions to the Big Red Machine, his Charlie Hustle attitude, etc., but he doesn’t get inducted into the HOF.
@ gbs42 – Again this is gibberish. Do you give him his own wing or just a little corner in the basement to display “his hits record, his contributions to the Big Red Machine, his Charlie Hustle attitude, etc.” Btw should we mention anything about Cobb & his blatant racist behavior & actions or how about Ruth & Mantle being big juicers or Mic getting “pleased” by some groupie at Yankee stadium during a game, etc,etc…etc. Still looking forward to your next relevant baseball comment though pal.
There are many exhibits at the Hall of Fame about players other than Hall of famers, and since they have way more materials than they can display at once, they rotate those exhibits. Pete Rose could have one of those exhibits from time to time. Maris, McGwire, women’s baseball, non-U.S. leagues, guys who throw no-hitters, hit for the cycle, etc. get featured now and then. It’s not difficult to comprehend. Highlight the history of the game. That’s what the place is there for.
Listen, I vehemently disagree with you but your entitled to your opinion & you presented your thoughts in a clear & precise manner, which I respect. Let’s just say on this point, we agree to disagree.
Fair enough.
“Agree to disagree.” If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been told that today, I’d have ten cents.
I don’t necessarily agree with gbs42’s sentiments but he is right about how the Hall of Fame. It’s not just some mythical place that only holds plaques of Hall of Fame MLB players. I lived in Cooperstown for years. The Major League Baseball Hall of Fame is a building that contains many things about players who aren’t in the Hall of Fame. Even Barry Bonds record breaking home run ball is in the Hall of Fame building and it literally has an asterisk (*) burned into it. Bonds isn’t a Hall of Famer but he still gets recognition there. Even Pedro Martinez’s brother gets recognition in the Hall of Fame and he wasn’t even that good. He did throw a no-hitter though and the Hall of Fame recognizes that and displays the artifacts to prove it. I would take Rose over Bonds if I had to choose though. I don’t like Rose as a person but at least I can say I haven’t heard of anyone actually dying as a result of his actions in baseball. I can’t say the same for Bonds. ESPN posted an article about a young man that died as a direct result of Barry Bonds steroid use. I don’t think that Bonds belongs in jail or anything but when people die, I look at everything very differently. The young mans name was Rob Garibaldi. This article makes me think Pete Rose’s gambling is child’s play:
espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=2015717
I feel bad for those parents now and I felt bad for those parents when I read that article years ago but the young man taking his own life is in no way a “direct result of Barry Bonds steroid use”.
Connor leaving on a high note like Costanza
@Rangers29 your articles are cool to read and very interesting. A very loyal fan is a great fan. Does that website only do Rangers articles or are there other team you can write about. I’m a Nats fan and I got some thoughts. Nice articles though!
Rangers29 uses an SBNation site for the Texas Rangers SBNation has the exact same format for every sports team including the Nationals. I will find the Nationals SBNation site and post it for you here: federalbaseball.com/
SBNation is a really good site. They give you constant updates on your team and allow you to comment. They set up nightly threads for all fans of that team to talk. Rangers29 utilizes something called Fan Posts. They are a really good way to post or write real articles and analysis if that’s what your into. I like them because the help people that want to be sports writers expand on their thoughts, abilities and knowledge. If your thinking about being a sports writer, you can kind of test it and see if that’s what you really want. You also get some crowd reaction from serious fans of the team you are writing about.
BTW… Soto is only the 4th best in the game. He is a great hitter but he can’t field or steal bases. Soto is ONLY great at hitting. Acuna is the total package. Heck, Tatis might be better than Soto as well. (That was playful banter from a Braves fan to a Nats fan btw. Nothing serious. I have nothing but respect for Soto. If the game was on the line and I had one guy to put in the batters box, I would choose either Soto or Trout.) If I had one guy that needed to be the total package baseball player and had to hit, field and steal bases… Soto isn’t even considered. That’s where Acuna, Tatis, Betts and Trout are the only 4 players I consider. I would take Soto at the plate ahead of Betts and certainly Tatis. Probably Acuna as well.
Thank you, Soto is 3rd best because he is the next Ted WIlliams he is a great hitter. Acuna is the only player you could argue but his discipline is worse by a lot. If anything Soto is 4th behind Betts, Trout and Degrom. Most people think he is 3rd
“Ruth & Mantle being big juicers or Mic getting “pleased” by some groupie at Yankee stadium during a game.” *Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
*crickets*