I wonder if that was the guy who didn't vote for Jeter?

Just got the Guide at Barnes & Noble on Monday and I love it as always (I have for years!)

Here is a question though why the inconsistencies between projected cost and stats for instance Tatis vs. Rosario.  (I caught this one because I am a big Rosario fan but thought the price evaluation was high)

Fernando Tatis Jr. ($25)

.279/.800/90/34/86/22

Amed Rosario ($28)

.272/.696/73/14/64/21

I get that 2 different people might have something to do with the $ prediction vs. the stat prediction.  But when the stat line favors one player in every stat but the other player is projected to cost $3 more it seems really peculiar.

I also saw an even more drastic difference in comparison of Heaney vs. Hendricks.  (I caught this one because they were on the same page lol)

Andrew Heaney ($5)

10-10/4.01/175/192/1.19

Kyle Hendricks ($17)

11-9/4.17/175/148/1.21

He got a HOF vote while Josh Beckett did not.

His BB% vs. SO% looks like the making of a special hitter.

I've seen his ETA as 2021 but I see an easy path to ABs.  Kingery is being tabbed as the opening day at 3rd, but I think the team would love to use him as a super utility.

If you could be disciplined enough to only start Marquez on the road you have a near elite pitcher.

Let's look a triple slash against him the last 2 years:

2018
Home: .284/.344/.452
Away: .203/.260/.349

2019
Home: .317/.354/.495
Away: .212/.254/.397

So combined in 2018-2019 his road triple slash against was:

.208/.257/.373

Let's compare that to:

.222/.267/.372

Any idea what pitcher that is?
It is this pitchers full season triple slash against for last year.
So by this metric Marquez was slightly better in comparison of just his road starts.
The pitcher: Max Scherzer

I dont really like this structure, as we know it creates a very thin pool. I believe it is more fun to have more players available each week for bidding. I also think we should change to have $0 bids. In my home leagues we have a max. of 6 minor leaguers plus 6-8 DL slots. I would like to see maybe 4 minor league slots plus at least 7 DL slots. We must activate the DLed players before making bids on new players, I am not sure of course how this works in our format. 

We are working towards a March 31st date.

Jason and Andy -- please check in with the commissioners.

This should be another great year in the league.

Thanks for the link, Alex ... this one will age in a complementary way ...

https://nypost.com/covers/

What are people's thoughts on use of the 10 man reserve list that many leagues use?

Here are mine:
1) I feel like it makes sense to draft 5 major leaguers / 5 minor leaguers because that's what I'm going to end up with throughout the season.

2) With a salary structure of $15 (first round), 3x $10, 3x$5, 3x$2, how is it best to structure your picks?

a) Unless you pick fairly early in the first round, it's rare to find a player who will be keepable the following year at $15. Yes, there are the Trea Turners, but there are also a lot of others who are unlikely to be keepable at $15. Alternately, you can simply choose to keep a hitter at $15 and take the risk of the upside.

b) I'm not a huge fan of the boom or bust of minor league pitchers, but the boom is so big when it comes (Buehler for instance).

3) A lot of this leaves me wanting to get something like 1 ML hitter (it's a thin pool by reserve time), 4 ML pitchers, and 5 MiLB hitters with the knowledge that hopefully 1 or 2 of the MiLB hitters will make it up to the majors fairly soon.

Thoughts?

I certainly agree the Braves don't mind, but I believe that the players VERY MUCH mind.  I suspect that eliminating the QO draft pick compensation sytem will be at the top of their wish list in the next CBA.  Guys like Grandal, Keuchel, and Ozuna have great arguments.

As a fan I want some kind of compensation when a top free agent chooses to leave, especially for small market teams.  But I wish there were a way to incentivize staying instead of punishing leaving, like in the NBA with max contracts for player retention.

Eugene, I believe you are the collective bargaining expert.  Is there a fair way to always offer the existing team the right to beat any other offer? If so, how can that be squared with the players right to choose his team?  In leagues with restricted free agents, the players hate that too.  Heck, the most hated NFL contract now seems to be the franchise contract, due to injury potential and one -year duration.

Maybe the only way to do it is to offer the existing team draft pick compensation, but not subtract that pick from the other team....to just create a new pick like the competitive balance picks?

The Braves don't mind paying the draft pick compensation for one year of a player in order to compete.  The players don't mind taking one year deal to clear the draft pick compensation and get themselves to the open market without any restrictions the next year.  Sure, the player gives up some cash up front, but the long-term deal makes it worth it.  I think the Braves are the smart ones in this market considering they are on the brink of a long playoff run.  Ozuna will be young enough to get 5 years next season.

Truth be told, it will come down to cold hard cash. If the Astros pony up, George will sing their praises and tell everyone how much he loves the city of Houston and can't think of playing anywhere else. If they don't, George will have his agent's hat on within minutes of the season ending while giving interviews at his locker just like Garrett Cole. Such a classy exit by Mr. Cole.

HOF! ... 76.6%

Six years ago, he appeared on only 10.2 percent of ballots cast.

I love this quote ... "... that call comes and, all of a sudden you can’t breathe.”

What a bargain for the ATL at $18 million and the draft pick compensation for the QO! Ozuna has gotta be really disappointed.  Some Josh Donaldson production returns to the Braves, although at the OF position.

FWIW, this guy earned about 12 of his 8 dollars the first two months of the season last year:  http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/36206/ty-buttrey

Good point.  14 months after the surgery, I'm still experiencing a definite pain (even though x-rays and functional tests tell me it's in fine shape!).  Although I am almost twice Murphy's age, with probably about 100K more running miles on my legs than him.

That said, 2018 was after the surgery, and in much worse hitting environments than Coors he put up some pretty good numbers.

But I can't imagine that there's no pain involved in hitting a 95 mph fastball when your finger has recently been fractured.  And I can't imagine that there's not an unconscious urge to bail on some pitches instead of trying to get around on inside fastballs.

Apparently the shift rate for Murphy also jumped from 9% to 33% of his PAs last year.  Because of that, his OPS going to the opposite field increased from the low .700's to above 1.000 ... but on his career he's hit all of 5 HRs in almost 1000 PAs where he's pushed the ball to left.

So combine the hurt finger - which probably plagued his swing all year - and the fact he seems to be trying to hit the ball to left more to counter the shift and just doesn't have HR power to left ... it might be reasonable to expect the BA to rebound in 2020, but I wouldn't count on 20+ HR ever again.

The key time to run away from Daniel Murphy was when you heard the words "microfracture surgery."  I don't know if it's the procedure itself or the dire straits one already has to be in to have it done, but I've never seen anyone rebound from it 100%.

Great job Doc.  I had him ranked #124 in the AL last year among 150 ranked players. Meteoric climb up the rankings.  As of now I have him ranked #10 behind only Wander Franco, Luis Robert, Jo Adell, Casey Mize, Adley Rutschman, Jesus Luzardo, Nate Pearson, Jared Kelenic, and Royce Lewis.  Along with Lewis, he's probably the farthest away from the majors, which makes him more of a risk, but each of the pitchers carries with him his own risk.