20 thoughts on “October 12, 2019: At What Cost?”

1. Mesa scored a run in the sixth to defeat Salt River 3-2. All games in the AFL yesterday were seven innings. I don't know why, unless they needed more time to get ready for today's Fall Stars Game. The Rafters are 12-7 and lead Mesa by two games.

   Royce Lewis was 1-for-2 with a walk and a run. He is batting .407/.459/.704 in 54 at-bats. He continues to lead the league in batting average. He is either third or second in OBP, SLG, and OPS, depending on where you want to set the plate appearances bar.
   Moises Gomez pitched two innings and gave up two runs on three hits and no walks. He struck out two. His ERA is 6.00 with 13 strikeouts and 5 walks in 9 innings.

   Winter leagues are starting. I'm not going to do extensive reports, but if I have time I will keep track how Twins players are doing.

2. a fond remembrance of effing Phil Cuzzi

   Not only did the ball glance off Melky Cabrera’s glove in fair territory, but even after doing so, it landed in fair territory. These two instances of the ball being fair do not, in fact, cancel each other out, and result in the ball being foul.

3. I wouldn't give him seven years.

   1. Me neither. And given the Dallas Keuchel situation last off-season, why would any club feel compelled to take on that much risk? (and yes, Cole is gonna make bank --fangraphs thinks he's been worth over $100 million over 2018 and 2019).

      1. How high on salary would you go to give Boras a win, but minimize the length? Scherzer got seven years, as did Strasbourg with his extension; Corbin is a much lesser pitcher who still got six. Sale took an extension for five, with $50 million deferred. Is $50 million per year for 4 years too high of an annual risk, while limiting long-term exposure? I’d think the annual salary would have to be pretty high to get much lower than five years, but in the New Collusion era, who knows.

         1. I'd do 4/140. And not get him.

            I might be the anti-Geoff on ace pitcher contracts.

            1. co-sign.

            2. I tend to side with Geoff on this topic, especially in free agency. Given that that there's no such thing as a pitching prospect, getting a sure thing free agent is hugely valuable.

               1. I would suggest that there's no such thing as a sure thing free agent, either.

                  1. Yes. If it were a sure thing, I'd be all in. Pitchers are too unpredictable.

                     1. They're a lot closer to sure things than prospects. Just because the local team hasn't historically targeted
                        (or landed) a sure thing pitcher doesn't mean they don't exist. Injuries certainly happen, but that's an uncontrollable variable. You can get pretty good knowledge about the pitcher you're getting in free agency though.

                        1. I would also suggest that injuries are one of the main reasons people say there is no such thing as a pitching prospect.

                           1. The Indians at one point had a projected rotation of Kluber, Carrasco, Bauer, Clevinger, and Bieber. None of those guys were acquired through free agency. (Neither were Civale or Plesac.)

            3. At his age, he'd be crazy not to take the contract with the largest total value. And that's probably going to hurt whichever team gets him, eventually. In the short term, maybe he puts some team over the edge--maybe not.

               Seems like the only way you can really get an ace pitcher on a short contract is either to develop him yourself, or find a team that is out of contention and has an ace with 2-3 years left on their deal. Signing really any player aged 29+ to a 7+-year deal is generally going to end poorly, but someone will ultimately do it (thanks a lot, winner's curse.)

               I'd really like to see contract lengths limited to 3 or 4 years with an option year or two. In exchange, give the players free agency earlier in their careers. I think it'd make the free agent market a little less distorted than it currently is.

               1. This would be great.

4. Only four months until spring training.

5. Angels employee regularly gave Tyler Skaggs illegal opioids.

   1. And the team knew about it. Other players also abused it but that's not surprising.

      A public relations employee for the Los Angeles Angels told federal investigators that he provided oxycodone to Tyler Skaggs and abused it with him for years, and that two team officials were told about Skaggs' drug use long before his death, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.

      Eric Kay, the Angels' director of communications, also gave U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents the names of five other players who he believed were using opiates while they were Angels, the sources said.

      1. Wow. Holy holy crap wow.

6. So this year's Topps cards in series one and series two are:
   #63 Odorizzi, #69 Polanco, #116 Sano, #158 Buxton, #177 Stewart, #193 Reed, #258 Rosario, #277 Garver, #302 Berrios, #324 Morrison, #335 Santana, #355 Gonsalves, #383 Mejia, #406 Castro, #424 Target Field, #438 Kepler, #448 Astudillo, #453 Rogers, #459 Hildenberger, #537 Torreyes, #576 Cave, #597 Gibson, #608 Adrianza, #631 Austin, #675 Cruz

   And the Topps Update set coming out on Wednesday includes:
   #US10 Polanco, #US36 Odorizzi, #US79 Schoop, #US90 Parker, #US110 Gonzalez, #US130 Smeltzer, #US140 Pineda, #US196 May, #US222 Perez, #US226 Harper, #US247 Arraez, #US253 Cron, #US269 Berrios

   The update Polanco, Orodizzi, and Berrios are their All-Star cards; the Smeltzer, Arraez, and Harper cards are their Rookie cards. And the Parker is an unfortunate card.

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