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I won't aver that I think Baez will, since I have no behind-the-scenes evidence either way, but since he had that improvement once he went to a new organization, I do think it's more likely that they worked with him to make some adjustments, than it would have been if he'd stayed with the Cubs and had that same improvement. IOW, I think it's more possible that Mets helped him with his plate discipline than the Cubs would have helped him with it.

I do wonder how much of their improvement came from just watching Miggy work, and how much came from obtaining hitting instruction outside the organization. Maybe J.D. and Nick should give Javy their coaches' dets.

If metal detectors and armed police on-site at schools are "not the answer", then I see no purpose to implementing them. Throwing up your hands and saying oh well seems to be just as good an answer. I think stopping mass shootings, and shootings in general, has more to do with reducing access to guns, creating better and more equitable educational and vocational opportunities, improving social and health services, and generally making people feel welcome and a part of their community rather alienated and alone. I don't see the point in doing something anything even if it's not the answer, other than to give people some false sense of security that, hey, we've done something anything, so it's not our fault that the shootings continue unabated. The whole airport/school/stadium security theater debacle is really little more than a way for private companies to siphon off taxpayer dollars to no real end.

I do wonder about the coaching part. Joe Maddon is famously hands-off with his players, and David Ross played with Javy, so it might be hard for Ross to get Javy to do anything different. So conditions were right for Javy to be allowed to just do what he does. I definitely believe he will be coached more in Detroit than in Chicago, at least, and I also gotta believe he knows that's coming.

Anyone who is highly motivated to get a weapon into school can do so without much problem. Having an armed sheriff's deputy on-site did nothing to stop Parkland. If metal detectors and armed cops are not the answer, which you agree to, then all it's doing is making the grownups not affected by it feel better about what's happening someplace they never go to. Also, bonus: it prepares children to accept living in a police surveillance state, as befits the American notion of liberty.

Like at Parkland?

Imagine how much more gun deaths in Australia would drop if they would arm teachers and have metal detectors in schools.

All of my nieces and nephews went to schools without metal detectors or on-site police, and none of them experienced a school shooting.

Not getting shot isn't a right. It's a privilege.

If it's "not the answer" then why do this?

Addicted to homers

You might like him at the plate sometimes. You will definitely like him on the bases. FWIW, Baez did undergo a bit of a change when he went to New York. He cut his K rate from 36.3% to 28.5%, more in line with his prior career norm (which, yes, I acknowledge was bad enough), but he also hiked his walk rate from 4.2% to 7.0%, which would be the highest of his career. And it’s not as though all his walks were clustered in just one or two games: in Chicago he walked in 15 of 92 games, which is 16% of games. In New York he walked in 11 of 46 games, which is 24% of games. That contributed to his OBP-AVG diff of .072 as a Met, which is by far higher than any one season that went before it. Maybe this means nothing. Maybe it’s all dumb luck. Or maybe a fresh set of eyes from Mets batting coaches led Javy to become just a touch more patient, as opposed to the Cubs just letting Javy be Javy. If that’s true, maybe Scott Coolbaugh and A.J. can build on that. I think that’s worth hoping for. It costs nothing to be optimistic about it. After all, he’s ours now, so we might as well root for that. 😁

To be fair, I didn’t say you’ll love him, the person. I said you’ll love watching him.

OK, so maybe you won’t like him so much. But there are at least five people here who will 😁

Pure Texas.

I know people would like to use the Baez savings on another rotation piece, but I wouldn't mind seeing them pick up a premier backend bullpen arm, either instead or as well. Thinking maybe McHugh, Knebel, Tepera, or as someone mentioned earlier, maybe Chafin. Or, if we really want to make a splash, how about going to the top of that market for Raisel Iglesias? I could be talked into 3/30 for that guy. I know we have Soto and Cisnero at the back of the pen now, and they were probably good enough for a 77-win team. But are those the guys we would want to come in late in a game well into October? Especially if they're gonna walk one out of every seven or eight guys they face? I'm thinking, if we were to make a move like this to lock down the back of that pen, then I'd know that this organization is serious about 2022.

OK, now I see what you did there. Yes, I did say Javy has plus-D with good range, great instincts/intelligence, and exceptional tag skills. I didn't say anything about his pick skills, which I would characterize as being a lesser strength than those other defensive aspects. I'm not sure I would call it a weakness, exactly. Maybe lower end of average.

Do you think he does?

Yeah, that's another thing: this is not Derek Jeter we're signing, someone who's going to insist he play shortstop and nowhere else. Javy can certainly move down to 2B, perhaps if/when/once Kreidler is ready to take over SS in 2024 and Jonathan Schoop leaves. He can also play 3B if it comes to it, although his pick skills aren't exactly exceptional. He's seemingly better if he has to move to make the play.

OK, one more.

I watched this guy live and in person for seven years, so I know his warts, too. Like I say, there will be times we are frustrated with him. But when he's going good, he's as good as anyone, and there is not a player who is more fun to watch in baseball today. I would watch him play and wonder: is this what pre-Jackie Negro Leagues baseball was like?

Got 20 minutes to kill? Then enjoy.

Yes, you will be frustrated when Javier Baez sometimes swings and misses a pitch by literally two feet. You will be frustrated by his high strikeout rate and low walk rate and the occasional cold streak. You may even be frustrated by his periodic loose cannon behavior. Assuming, of course, A.J. and his college of coaches don't somehow get to him on all this. What you won't be frustrated with is Javy's defense in the most important position facing the batter. You won't be frustrated by his excellent range, by his acrobatics, by his instincts, and by his otherworldly tag skills. Remember how good a shortstop we all thought Jose Iglesias was when he was here? Well, Baez every day >>>> Iglesias on his best day. You won't be frustrated by Javy's baserunning. You've never seen a guy slide into a bag and evade a tag like Javier Baez, except when you have seen Twitter video of Baez himself making such slides. Now you will get to see them every day, and sometimes live at the ballpark. You won't be frustrated by Javy's hot streaks which, when he has them—and he will have them—makes him as good a hitter as anyone in the major leagues. How would you like a shortstop with plus-D capable of hitting .339/.372/.629 while jacking 16 bombs and swiping a dozen bags? Javier Baez has been that kind of hitter: he did it in 2018 over a stretch of seventy-three games. What? Too long ago to matter anymore? OK, how about .297/.361/.523 with 15 bombs and nine bags? Will that do? Because that's how he hit in the final 73 games of this season. But most of all, you won't be frustrated by the pure joy Javy radiates by just being on the field flashing the incredible skills he has in the service of helping the Detroit Tigers—that team we all grew up loving through thick and thin and thin and thin—win ballgames. Javy is going to put at least one involuntary broad smile on your face just about every game he plays for the Tigers, starting this year. I said it before, and I'm going to say it again: You're gonna love watching Javier Baez, Detroit Tiger. I guarantee it.