Also, the guy with the highest k/9 rate in history mentoring Spencer Strider š¤¤
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Saturday, 30 December 2023 20:56 (five months ago) link
BA just posted in their trade evaluation, here's their Grissom bit. pic.twitter.com/GC2X4AlVjP— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) December 30, 2023
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Saturday, 30 December 2023 20:59 (five months ago) link
i remember they opted to start 2023 with grissom in the minors, despite his solid 2022 season. really feel like they didn't value the guy very much.
xposts
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:02 (five months ago) link
absurd to me that he isn't related to marquis
― mookieproof, Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:06 (five months ago) link
xp isnāt it just that they donāt have a place for him? Heās blocked
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:35 (five months ago) link
Anthopoulos informed Grissom that Atlanta felt like it needed to trade for a pitcher. Informed of that, Grissom responded, āI can pitch.ā Anthopoulos described himself as āincredibly fondā of Grissom, who he views as āa really special kid.ā— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) December 30, 2023
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Saturday, 30 December 2023 21:38 (five months ago) link
After I posted, I realized how incidental the money is--pocket change, really.
― clemenza, Saturday, 30 December 2023 22:56 (five months ago) link
absurd to me that he isn't related to marquisā mookieproof, Saturday, December 30, 2023 4:06 PM (yesterday)
ā mookieproof, Saturday, December 30, 2023 4:06 PM (yesterday)
i just did a bit of furious googling to confirm this wasn't the case too
― é¾, Sunday, 31 December 2023 13:14 (five months ago) link
tbf if he was related to marquis he should be traded to the blue jays
― é¾, Sunday, 31 December 2023 13:22 (five months ago) link
^^
― z_tbd, Sunday, 31 December 2023 16:19 (five months ago) link
Ah but there is one! he has a son, whoās a pitcher in the minors for the Nats!
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 1 January 2024 20:17 (five months ago) link
What! pt 2
Left-hander Chris Sale and the Atlanta Braves are in agreement on a contract extension. The new deal starts this season and is for two years and $38 million, with an $18 million club option for 2026. Sale's previous deal was for 2024 with an option for 2025.Essentially, Saleā¦— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 4, 2024
Left-hander Chris Sale and the Atlanta Braves are in agreement on a contract extension. The new deal starts this season and is for two years and $38 million, with an $18 million club option for 2026. Sale's previous deal was for 2024 with an option for 2025.Essentially, Sale gets $17-18M in new guaranteed money. He was due $27.5M ā $17.5M this year, $10M deferred for 15 years ā and the team held a $20M option for next year. The present value of his salary this season was in the $20-21M range. In the new deal, the Braves guarantee him $16M this year and $22M next year. Atlanta received $17M from Boston in the deal, so the cash will cover his entire salary this season.The Braves clearly believe Saleās performance last season portends well for his future, even as he enters his age-35 season, plus they get an extra year of control.
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Thursday, 4 January 2024 15:21 (five months ago) link
That seems needlessly spendy. I wonder if Anthopolous is lighting cigars with hundreds now.
― that's when I reach for my copy of Revolver (WmC), Thursday, 4 January 2024 15:54 (five months ago) link
I wonder if it was a condition of him lifting his no trade clause
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Thursday, 4 January 2024 16:46 (five months ago) link
Harrison Bader back in NY
1 year, approx $10 mil https://t.co/9nHMoJhmtg— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) January 4, 2024
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Thursday, 4 January 2024 16:48 (five months ago) link
BREAKING: The San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners are in agreement on a trade that will send former Cy Young winner Robbie Ray to the Giants for outfielder Mitch Haniger and right-hander Anthony DeSclafani, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN.— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 5, 2024
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, 5 January 2024 19:39 (five months ago) link
Super busy at work but just heard about this. The Giants got a steal?
― Bee OK, Friday, 5 January 2024 22:05 (five months ago) link
Robbie Ray is coming off Tommy John and heās out for at least half the season. They did return two bad contracts to the Mariners though.
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, 5 January 2024 22:11 (five months ago) link
*taps dipoto is secretly an idiot sign*
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Friday, 5 January 2024 22:38 (five months ago) link
Heās such a freak. Managed to extract $6m from SF as well. What a non-move.
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, 5 January 2024 22:42 (five months ago) link
Posnanski wrote about Sale today. Paywalled, but here's the gist of it:
I canāt predict the future--but would it surprise me if teams started using their aces once a week, 22 starts a year, in order to protect them for October? Of course not. Would it surprise me if teams started resting their star players 25 or 35 or more games a year to keep them fresh for October? Of course not. Would it surprise me if teams played for 92 wins instead of 100 or 105 or 110, because 92 wins is enough to get you in the playoffs and thatās all that matters anymore?
Of course not.
This is where the game has been going for a while now, sure, but itās there now. I, personally, am not a huge fan of it--Iāve long been more of a regular-season guy than a playoff guy--but as Iāve written before, I just love baseball, so Iāll go wherever the game takes me. And the game is taking you and me into a new era, I think, one where soon enough 16 teams will make the playoffs, and the regular season will be mostly for entertainment purposes, and there wonāt be very many important games played between April and September.
In other words: I suspect that the Braves believe that if Chris Sale gives them two good starts in October and those help the team go on to the World Series, he will be worth every penny.
― clemenza, Friday, 5 January 2024 22:53 (five months ago) link
i mean, i get it, but how are you going to feel in late august when youāre 3 games out of the wild card because two of your guys got hurt a month ago and one of your priciest pitchers has missed five starts because youāre ārestingā him? iām not sure a baseball season lends itself to basketball style load management
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 5 January 2024 22:58 (five months ago) link
He's a little prone to overstatement--I take his general point, especially as applies to Sale. (People said as much here about the deal.)
― clemenza, Friday, 5 January 2024 22:59 (five months ago) link
Part that's missing (that may or may not be true): that Atlanta fans probably consider 2021's 88-win/WS-winner a triumphant year, and 2022/23's 100-win/early-exit teams comparative disasters.
― clemenza, Friday, 5 January 2024 23:04 (five months ago) link
i donāt think his general point is valid and i donāt think managers will be managing that way but i do think you could possibly make an exception for Sale, who appears to be constructed entirely out of tracing paper
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 5 January 2024 23:05 (five months ago) link
You don't think teams more and more view postseason success as a barometer of their year than ever?
― clemenza, Friday, 5 January 2024 23:10 (five months ago) link
You can make an exception for the 2024 Braves as well who will somehow go 120-42 while playing bullpen games every day.
I hear but yeah, this strategy definitely is only viable for very confident super teams and as much as I donāt like it, it seems like it could be a very smart move for these Braves
― H.P, Friday, 5 January 2024 23:13 (five months ago) link
I understand the logic of that Joe P post but I really donāt think a single team in the league has enough pitching, combined starters and relievers, to do that. Sale deal is good if healthy but part of the benefit to the Braves is he doesnāt have to be the ace on that team. He can just be (a very valuable) guy!
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, 5 January 2024 23:16 (five months ago) link
I agree that his general point only applies to upper echelon teams--somewhere between the top third to the top half--and not those where simply making the playoffs, maybe even being in a race for the playoff, is enough. Even I'm prone to that kind of thinking, and I'm on here regularly saying the playoffs don't determine the best team, that you have to give proper weight to the regular season. But even with that as my mindset, I didn't care that the Jays won 89 games and made the playoffs last year--they made another early exit, so the season felt like a failure. (And will feel like even more of one if they were to repeat that.)
― clemenza, Friday, 5 January 2024 23:22 (five months ago) link
Taking sides: Chris Sale Braves deal vs. Dodgers Tyler Glasnow deal
Kinda nice that the Braves when all in on a high risk high reward pitcher too. Makes me think maybe the Dodgers arenāt being too silly with Glasnow. High high high upside is always worth a punt I guess
― H.P, Friday, 5 January 2024 23:23 (five months ago) link
The Sale move makes sense in the context youāre saying, as a high risk potentially high reward win now move. Itās not like the kid they traded was some loser - he is going to be a starting player next season.
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, 5 January 2024 23:23 (five months ago) link
just too many variables in a very long season to try to game it in the way joe p describes. a few extra losses in april, a few in july, and suddenly you're scrapping for contention. we've seen it happen to the very best teams. and idk even with sale if he's healthy i think you gotta pitch him, who knows how much you'll get out of him, it's like, he might sneeze and break his collarbone
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 5 January 2024 23:27 (five months ago) link
I think the trade was a good move for the reason you stated: may as well trade a valuable asset that will get no use for potentially valuable asset that could get much much use. But Iām not so bullish on that extension, lotta commitment to give an old man with low innings pitched and non-faltering ERAās the past 3 seasons
― H.P, Friday, 5 January 2024 23:28 (five months ago) link
Flattering
― H.P, Friday, 5 January 2024 23:29 (five months ago) link
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, 5 January 2024 23:32 (five months ago) link
I fully intended to write ātwo words: Barry Zitoā and my diseased brain inserted the year
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, 5 January 2024 23:33 (five months ago) link
Also Sale wonāt not pitch, like heās excited to be healthy for the first time in forever, but they might run him for five instead of six in that theory. Like I said l donāt really agree because you never know when injuries/starter meltdowns happen and thereās never been a team with too many innings for arms, but it has a certain logic to it.
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, 5 January 2024 23:36 (five months ago) link
Meanwhile, if anyone wants to purchase a Chris Sale rookie card, I'm your one-stop shopping destination--think I bought about five of them when he was at his peak (and they were surprisingly cheap).
― clemenza, Friday, 5 January 2024 23:36 (five months ago) link
Ha. This reminds me TH kindly sent me a box (!) of my first baseball cards in the post a while back and Iāve been thinking about collecting a few favourites. My people may get in touch with your people, clemenza. š
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, 5 January 2024 23:41 (five months ago) link
look maybe you guys are right and atlanta will manage him that way, all i'm saying is baseball has a way of punishing you like an o. henry story if you start getting cute like that
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 5 January 2024 23:41 (five months ago) link
besides which idk how sale would be able to stand it he's such a proud, ornery mfer
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 5 January 2024 23:42 (five months ago) link
(xpost) I will go through some of my '90s stash and retrieve some Giants/Red Sox/Mariners duplicates for you.
― clemenza, Friday, 5 January 2024 23:43 (five months ago) link
Iām kind of into the lore of the Braves GM now, heās got some dark magic on his side to pull these trades off and get those contracts for the young players
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, 5 January 2024 23:44 (five months ago) link
xp !!! I would actually die, please webmail me if you find anything interesting!
I think the biggest countervailing force to Posnanski's model is the players themselves, specifically the ones who'd presumably be given most of this extra rest, the superstars. Players of Mookie Betts' caliber, even though they never say this, aren't just playing for the team or a big contract: they're also playing for awards, for career milestones, and for an eventual place in the HOF. So if the Dodgers take him aside and say, "Mookie, we want to rest you 25 or 30 games so you'll be well rested for the playoffs," I don't see his response being "No problem, whatever you think is best."
― clemenza, Saturday, 6 January 2024 00:59 (five months ago) link
Change that to "in the neighborhood of Mookie Betts' caliber."
― clemenza, Saturday, 6 January 2024 01:00 (five months ago) link
Good point but very different story batters to hitters. Yes Sale seems like a cranky old man who wouldnāt bite for this at all, but considering the general case I think if a manager showed a pitcher their last three seasons where they pitched 10/50/100 innings and said āuuuuhhhh hey look buddy, weād prefer you to pitch those innings in October rather than April so none of this āpush through the pain for the teamā or āthis year is different, at the age of 36 now I will pitch 200 innings no injuries for sure for sureā businessā¦. Youāre not going to go over your 100 innings pitched last year whether you like it or not because we want to get a ring and you being healthy will play into thatā¦. Seems like maybe a strategy that could get some buy-in?
― H.P, Saturday, 6 January 2024 02:49 (five months ago) link
*Batters to pitchers
Being traded from a ālong shotā to a āliterally top mlb ranked teamā a big factor too. It honestly doesnāt seem like a hard sell for the Braves at all. āHey Chris, wanna pitch for the Red Sox, probably pitching no more than 100 innings based on your recent track record letās all be honest here? Or want to pitch for us, weāll cap you at that 100, and win a World Series togetherā. The risk of āwhat if I could have pitched 150+ innings this seasonā to the reward of āget a ring, be the post season superstar, have a lower stakes/lower stress regular season, donāt ruin my finite aging bodyā¦. Iād take that deal
― H.P, Saturday, 6 January 2024 02:55 (five months ago) link
Analyzing this Seattle/San Francisco trade a bit.
Don't know Robbie Ray and was good in the past but is out for most of this year. This is for '24 and '25 and who knows if he will bounce back. This one is a gamble but the Giants have the money so why not?
For the Giants, Mitch Haniger and Anthony DeSclafani provided nothing as they were never healthy. Giants needed to clear the outfield log jam too. But these were expiring contracts next year and this year.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 6 January 2024 04:17 (five months ago) link