2016's Around Major League Baseball

Ari Bear said:

Not Kershaw but Sale yes.

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Lol

TC in Mississippi said:

No, but I put him the category of Bumgarner, Syndergaard, Kluber, maybe Scherzer which is that next level of ace. The problem is that "ace" really has no meaning except that you almost have to have one to win. You don't have to have a Kershaw or Sale though.

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You gotta love Lester's bulldog attitude but the reality of it is that he's not a complete ML pitcher. Throwing the ball, he's terrific but his inability to hold runners...hell, he can't even throw over to first base without uncorking the ball down the line. That's part of his job and he fails at it. You can't be considered a top guy if you can't do the whole job.

Diehardfan said:

You gotta love Lester's bulldog attitude but the reality of it is that he's not a complete ML pitcher. Throwing the ball, he's terrific but his inability to hold runners...hell, he can't even throw over to first base without uncorking the ball down the line. That's part of his job and he fails at it. You can't be considered a top guy if you can't do the whole job.

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I don't buy that. The numbers say he's among the best and I'm not sure how a fielding issue takes away from those. The most interesting thing is that no one even paid any attention to this until he got to the NL. I admit the NL values holding runners on more but his actual pitching numbers bely any overwhelming problem.

Obviously someone will take the job but why anyone would actually want to run baseball operations in Arizona is beyond me. That's a mess down there.

TC in Mississippi said:

Obviously someone will take the job but why anyone would actually want to run baseball operations in Arizona is beyond me. That's a mess down there.

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I dunno. If you are baseball smart you can succeed down there I believe. They've just made a lot of decisions that are headscratchers to say the least.

brett05 said:

I dunno. If you are baseball smart you can succeed down there I believe. They've just made a lot of decisions that are headscratchers to say the least.

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I guess my point is that no one really gets an opportunity. I guess you could argue that Josh Byrnes did, he got 5 years, but even that's not a ton of time considering he did have a 90 win team in that span and a 94 win team right after he left. Kevin Tower got under 4 years and Dave Stewart 2 years. If I'm a candidate I want 6 years and full ownership support. Reports are that Stewart wanted to fire Chip Hale in June and was overridden and had a trade in place sending Shelby Miller to Miami and was similarly rebuffed. My guess is that they are not organizationally inclined as ownership group to hire a guy and give him that kind of control.. Of course it's also out there that the GM may not be a guy at all as they're said to have interest in Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng who would be the first female General Manager. Now that would be interesting.

TC in Mississippi said:

I don't buy that. The numbers say he's among the best and I'm not sure how a fielding issue takes away from those. The most interesting thing is that no one even paid any attention to this until he got to the NL. I admit the NL values holding runners on more but his actual pitching numbers bely any overwhelming problem.

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I hope you're right. But it's far more than a fielding problem...it's a mental block. When I played, I pitched and I can tell you for a fact that the move to first was the easiest thing I had to learn. I'm fearful of him walking a few and those walks turning into doubles....also, you have to wonder how he will do without Ross there next year to help him out.

It's ludicrous to think that a hack like me had a far better move to first than a guy being considered for the CY....but that is the sorry truth.

Diehardfan said:

I hope you're right. But it's far more than a fielding problem...it's a mental block. When I played, I pitched and I can tell you for a fact that the move to first was the easiest thing I had to learn. I'm fearful of him walking a few and those walks turning into doubles....also, you have to wonder how he will do without Ross there next year to help him out.

It's ludicrous to think that a hack like me had a far better move to first than a guy being considered for the CY....but that is the sorry truth.

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I get the concern but the mental block started for him in HS and since then he's been through the minors, 10 MLB seasons and has pitched in a WS. Ross hasn't always been his catcher either. In those 10 seasons he's accumulated 38.9 WAR. Another top tier lefty, Cole Hamels, has pitched one year longer and has accumulated 44.0 WAR. If it was a new problem I might be more concerned.

TC in Mississippi said:

I get the concern but the mental block started for him in HS and since then he's been through the minors, 10 MLB seasons and has pitched in a WS. Ross hasn't always been his catcher either. In those 10 seasons he's accumulated 38.9 WAR. Another top tier lefty, Cole Hamels, has pitched one year longer and has accumulated 44.0 WAR. If it was a new problem I might be more concerned.

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And let's be honest. For such a problem no one really seems to be exploiting it the way we as fans at least think it should be.