Edman85

Wow, I had blocked that account so hadn't seen it. And there's a Joel Zumaya drive-by as well.

One thing Avila and Smith had in common is they had to take over at a time when bills were coming due for expensive teams that fell short. I'm not saying they could have done better on the 2017 trades, but there is ample evidence those were owner-mandated (and perhaps league-mandated via the debt service rule) salary dump trades for a team that was bleeding money.

I think it is to the point where people are so wrapped up in the horse race, they haven't taken a step back to contextualize the magnitude of a poor debate performance against the magnitude of the boiled frog's numerous sins.

I think it is generous to Avila to say he had a plan. He really seemed to violate Mike Ehrmentraut's rule about no half measures. He paid lip service to analytics, but empowered Dave Littlefield to run player dev for six years.

Avila vs. Smith is apples and oranges. The job is so different now than it was 25 years ago. The growth of front offices means you have gone from sole decision maker to manager of people.

There is a non-zero chance you may have that opportunity in 130ish days.

The clip from his speech today has him clearing his throat often. I tend to buy into the claim that he was sick last night.

Whoops, yeah. ACB.

There have been some encouraging signs from Kavanaugh and ABJ, fwiw.

Also, did anybody catch the dig at Shep at the end?

I listened and thought it was a good interview, with Harris repeating a lot of what we've already heard him say. I also predict one or two lines from it will be screenshotted, put on twitter and be overreacted to by the "win now" crowd, if it hasn't already.

Because Parker Meadows and Riley Greene were playing out there.

Is it? The difference between a made play in the middle infield is a single and an out. In the outfield, it's an extra base hit or an out.

I haven't been able to find a 2024 guide yet.

And in that time, it was proven the 2022 team stunk and they had to push reset after Avila was canned. So again, the fan base is requesting Harris and Co. pull off some get rich quick scheme because Avila's attempts failed.

By the logic of so many of the impatient sect of the fan base, the infrastructural investments in the Dominican Republic Academy are a waste of money because they do not contribute to 2024 or 2025 success.

Who said the rebuild was finished? Why should the new front office have to rush their results to the detriment of the overall plan because the previous front office failed so badly in their build?

Current fWAR and rank of position players who changed teams or were free agents over the offseason. 3. Juan Soto 4.6 (Trade) 5. Shohei Ohtani 4.2 (Free Agent) 20. Jurickson Profar 2.6 (Free Agent, Re-signed) 47. Teoscar Hernandez 1.7 (Free Agent) 48. Matt Chapman 1.7 (Free Agent) 51. Michael Busch 1.6 (Trade) 54. Isiah Kiner-Falefa 1.6 (Free Agent) 59. Carlos Santana 1.5 (Free Agent) 71. Jose Caballero 1.3 (Trade) 77. Jesse Winker 1.2 (Minor League Free Agent) 80. Paul DeJong 1.2 (Free Agent) 88. Lourdes Gurriel Jr 1.1 (Free Agent, Re-signed) 89. Abraham Toro 1.1 (Trade) 92. Cody Bellenger 1.1 (Free Agent, Re-signed) 93. Mark Canha 1.0 (Trade) 94. Alex Verdugo 1.0 (Trade) 98. Jeimer Candelario 0.9 (Free Agent) The fast solution just wasn't there, and I know that strategy appeases fanbases, but there is a reason fans aren't paid to run teams.

I see nothing wrong with any of Greenberg's quotes. In fact, I grant a 100% endorsement.

You aren't wrong. But he's also somebody who went undrafted and unsigned and was playing in indy ball a month ago, so I'm not sure he should have been expected to pass any test. Not saying he's a prospect.

Bruss caught my eye when I saw him in the transaction logs over the offseason because I stumbled upon his twitter and saw how he was into pitch design, analytics, and all that stuff.

Tangentially related to Bruss, I saw Patrick Lee, signed a few weeks ago out of Indy Ball, raked in Lakeland and has been moved up to West Michigan already.

Is this true? It's repeated here and elsewhere as if it is, but are we sure it is true? Has anybody studied it with any rigor? Especially today with different training mechanisms and different ways to track swing path and pitch recognition. As for Kreidler, if he ends up not being able to establish a major league role because he can't hit RHB, that is because he just isn't a good hitter and wasn't really ever cut out for an every day role. FWIW, he always had extreme platoon splits in the minors, so he had his chances there. He's not the type of guy who don't platoon because you are worried about his long term role (if that effect even exists)

Trump and DeSantis drove the wedge.