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Losing last night was karma for the Mets, who DFA'd Fisher yesterday afternoon after his storybook effort against the Phillies.


I wonder how far the ball would go if Vogelbach ever swung.


DaveSchmidt said:

I wonder how far the ball would go if Vogelbach ever swung.

I dig Vogelbach and love watching his at bats. 


Bryce Harper in his first rehab game in AAA last night: 2 HR (the first one off the Braves’ No. 2 pitching prospect) and 2 BB. Could be back in the bigs as early as this weekend.


Does that mean Schwarber in left and Castellanos in right? Sweet! Marte is the guy they should have gone after. Great fielder and he has big numbers in Philly.


jfinnegan said:

Does that mean Schwarber in left and Castellanos in right? Sweet! Marte is the guy they should have gone after. Great fielder and he has big numbers in Philly.

It does. Remember, Marte signed early in the off-season. There were reports of interest by the Phillies, and maybe they did go after him but came up short. (Also, his age 34-36 seasons await.)


I just looked up Marte’s advanced fielding stats (UZR, DRS, RAA). They haven’t really been above average since 2018. So far this season he’s a little below average.

Caveats: Midyear fielding stats, or even for a single season, can be volatile, or “noisy.” And even a little below average in RF is way better than Castellanos.

Oh, another: I don’t think those stats, as advanced as they are, account for outfield arm strength and accuracy.


DaveSchmidt said:

I just looked up Marte’s advanced fielding stats (UZR, DRS, RAA). They haven’t really been above average since 2018. So far this season he’s a little below average.

Caveats: Midyear fielding stats, or even for a single season, can be volatile, or “noisy.” And even a little below average in RF is way better than Castellanos.

Oh, another: I don’t think those stats, as advanced as they are, account for outfield arm strength and accuracy.

they can't if runners don't run on guys.


I actually wanted Castellanos for the Mets, but didn't feel he was worth giving up a draft pick for. Now that's looking even worse. Marte has a great arm and could play CF if they needed him to. Why not put Harper in the OF? He can cover more ground and it's not like Castellanos is going to throw anybody out anyway. 


jfinnegan said:

I actually wanted Castellanos for the Mets, but didn't feel he was worth giving up a draft pick for. Now that's looking even worse. Marte has a great arm and could play CF if they needed him to. Why not put Harper in the OF? He can cover more ground and it's not like Castellanos is going to throw anybody out anyway. 

Harper has a UCL injury to his throwing arm


jfinnegan said:

I actually wanted Castellanos for the Mets, but didn't feel he was worth giving up a draft pick for. Now that's looking even worse.

So far this month, Castellanos is batting .316 with an OPS of .876 and wRC+ of 144 (44% better than the MLB average). His hitting streak has reached 16 games.

Marte this month: .270, .759, 122.


Well, you have to look at the whole season.  If the Phillies could ignore April and May they would be happier.  I like Marte.  He may have lost a step or two, but his breaks are good and he catches everything he can get to. I don't see him as a negative at all as a fielder.


DanDietrich said:

Well, you have to look at the whole season. If the Phillies could ignore April and May they would be happier. I like Marte. He may have lost a step or two, but his breaks are good and he catches everything he can get to. I don't see him as a negative at all as a fielder.

The stats suggest only that Marte has become an average outfielder — not negative, just nothing special like before. And the message of those Castellanos stats was intended to be: “Consider the whole season, natch, but things are looking up!”


The Phillies are playing much better than I thought they could after watching their start.  I give Bohm a lot of credit.


Marte has been nursing a leg injury for almost the entire season. 


jimmurphy said:

Marte has been nursing a leg injury for almost the entire season. 

Another reason to look at the advanced fielding stats over a few seasons rather than a single one.


we get Mike - excuse me, “Giancarlo” - Stanton back tonight.  A guy who openly despises the fans.  Feeling’s pretty mutual I gotta say.  Matter of time until he comes up lame again.


BarneyGumble said:

we get Mike - excuse me, “Giancarlo” - Stanton back tonight.  A guy who openly despises the fans.  Feeling’s pretty mutual I gotta say.  Matter of time until he comes up lame again.

Dude, do you have anything positive to say about anything?


The Mariners are about to give this J-rod kid a deal worth maybe $470 million.  Holy crap.  Good for him.


DanDietrich said:

The Mariners are about to give this J-rod kid a deal worth maybe $470 million. Holy crap. Good for him.

He’s the first Mariners rookie to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases, which surprised me, considering the rookie Seattle had in 1989. But that rookie, even in more PAs than Rodriguez has now, didn’t touch either threshold. (And stole 20 bases only twice in his career.)


jimmurphy said:

Dude, do you have anything positive to say about anything?

Sounds like a typical Yanks fan caller on sports radio. You'd think the team is like the Pirates for jeebus' sake. 

One guy today was complaining about how terrible Cashman is. He's built nothing over the years Aside from an above.500 team every year. 

Yes. About 25 games over.500 every year.  vampire


DanDietrich said:

The Mariners are about to give this J-rod kid a deal worth maybe $470 million. Holy crap. Good for him.

Have you gotten a look at the reported terms? Just now got a gander myself. The only guarantee is eight years at an average of $15 million per, which right now looks like a steal. Then come a variety of team options that could lock Rodriguez up for as long as 10 years for as much as $350 million, or a player option for $90 million over five years.

The flexibility after eight years may sound reasonable, but if I’m a 29-year-old Rodriguez who’s been underpaid all that time because I really was all that, what’s my frame of mind when the team has control over my reward going forward? (Because the player option of $18 million a year would be no reward.)


I looked at some of it.  The upside for him is he isn't getting this after 6 years of team control and relative underpayment.  If he turns in to a star he will maybe regret it, but he and his children and grandchildren are now guaranteed to be very wealthy, bar stupid investing.


DanDietrich said:

I looked at some of it. The upside for him is he isn't getting this after 6 years of team control and relative underpayment. If he turns in to a star he will maybe regret it, but he and his children and grandchildren are now guaranteed to be very wealthy, bar stupid investing.

Funny, I had just realized I neglected to account for the years of team control when I called the first part of the deal a steal, and came back to add an amendment to my comment. Thanks for the backstopping.


DaveSchmidt said:

DanDietrich said:

I looked at some of it. The upside for him is he isn't getting this after 6 years of team control and relative underpayment. If he turns in to a star he will maybe regret it, but he and his children and grandchildren are now guaranteed to be very wealthy, bar stupid investing.

Funny, I had just realized I neglected to account for the years of team control when I called the first part of the deal a steal, and came back to add an amendment to my comment. Thanks for the backstopping.

I am looking at the deal as a template for my 16 year old goaltender.  But he tells me the money isn't worth having to work that hard for 10 more years.  Life beckons for the unfortunate young man.


That’s priceless, Dan.


Josh Hader since that loss: 20 IP, 11.70 ERA.


Man, wouldn’t it be something if Pujols got to 700? Tonight he homered off his 450th different pitcher, passing Bonds in that department.


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