23 thoughts on “November 29, 2023: You’re The Best! Around!”

  1. Estrellas lost to the Gigantes 1-2. The Gigantes had a seven-run sixth and a six-run eighth. Miguel Sano was 0-for-1. Bryan Lavastida was 2-for-3 with a home run. Jurickson Profar was 2-for-3. The loss went to Eduarniel Nunez (0-1), who allowed three runs on a hit and two walks in two-thirds of an inning.

    Caribes did not play yesterday.

      1. the fist pump after denying Chet that drive is awesome (he also fist pumped after the Wolves started running back up the court)

          1. Gobert looks good defensively regardless (when healthy anyway, which I believe the Jazz traded him knowing he was not in great health last year), but man, with competent defensive guards he is a sight to behold.

            1. The Wolves D as a whole was a whole lot of fun to watch last night. I really hope other teams get annoyed when they see the Wolves are next on the schedule.

              1. we've already seen that with cowards like Zion, Jimmy, and Embiid (aka my least favorite player of all time!) sitting.

  4. Ex-Twins pitcher week continues with Pagán signing with the Reds for 2/$16 million. I have different feels about that this year compared to last year.

    3. Yeah, we all would have been happy to have seen him gone before last season. After this season, mixed feelings.

      I stand by my concern that the owners are screwing the pooch here. The front office built a team on the cusp of being a WS contender. That is being pissed away. It will take big improvements from a number of youngsters to change my mind.

      2. I'm concerned, too, but I'm also aware that it's early in the off-season yet. I have to think the Twins are going to acquire some pitchers, either through free agency or trades. It concerns me that (other than Gray) the pitchers they've lost seem to me to have signed pretty reasonable contracts, but maybe they'll acquire players who are younger/cheaper who are just as good. Or, maybe the young guys will take a big step forward. I guess we'll see.

    4. Seems like a reasonable deal for him. I am kind of skeptical that the Twins will sign a bullpen FA better than Pagan, but it's also possible he'll regress (age, etc.)

      1. He had a career low HR/FB rate (5.3%) but a career normal FB% (51.1%) last year. Now he's moving to a home park that is favorable to home runs and his HR/FB doubling would still be below his career average of 12.8%. He's a reliever so anything can happen in his 65-ish IP next season but betting the over on his 2023 is reasonable.

        1. He had a 4.57 xFIP last year, which put him 125th of qualified relievers. This looks bad if you look at it as 125th out of 160, but the league as a whole rosters something like 240 relievers at any given moment.

          I still haven’t been able to look too deeply into it since poking around to defend Pagan this summer, but it still seems to me that replacement level for relievers is set unreasonably high. If it’s closer to 5.50 FIP/xFIP than 4.50 FIP/xFIP, then it seems reasonable to project Pagan around 1 WAR/season, which puts the Reds valuation in the right ballpark.

          Hopefully the Twins prove me wrong and find some good depth for the bullpen.

  5. So far met one guy from Redwood Falls, saw a guy wearing a "Gracias Miggy" t-shirt, and no Baltimore Orioles but did see a hooded oriole taking a bath on the edge of the infinity pool. Thank God no NY caps in sight.

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