Pickles

You know, man, there's a lot of things in this world I'd change if I could. Serenity now, man. I don't know what else to tell you.

Were you ok with the Bundy trade? And if so, what's the difference between just not trading Bundy and taking a flier with a similar FA?

There's no easy or quick fix. They're largely following their only path back to contention. It's not guaranteed to be successful either.

I'll add: Particularly when you probably have to overpay to get them in the first place.

Signing guys with the intention of trading them later for prospects is risky. Very much so.

Great post. Sums up a lot of my feelings.

That is not a baseball name. He sounds like a physicist. Hard pass.

Can you or someone jog my memory. Because the craziest/funniest thing about it was that was his ML debut, right? And he had to leave early with a concussion. He returned a couple days later, and in his first game back, he took another ball off the head, or face-planted into the wall. I can't remember exactly- does anybody?- but I remember shaking my head in disbelief.

I guess I'm being harsh on the guy. Let me state unequivocally: My great dream was to play ML baseball, and DJ did that, and achieved a hell of a lot more than I ever did. Congrats to him. He should be proud of himself. That said, I'm middle-aged now but if you give me a couple weeks I could play a better outfield than him.

He is what he is: A very, very fringy MLer. Those kind of guys are rarely on good teams. And yet, there are usually bad/rebuilding/cheap teams where they can see some playing time. Until they get too old to suggest that improvement is possible. Stewart was in the right place and time to maximize his ML time.

Part of what should be acknowledged, is almost every decent pickup he makes he immediately ships them out.

Slightly different era, but even a guy like Adam Dunn hit .250+ till he was 30.

No, I don't like the profile and never have. But I don't think his failures were predestined. There's a universe where Stewart has a ML career. The conversation was whether Stewart was a "successful" draft pick or a "bust." It was suggested that because Stewart has almost 600 ML PAs he outperformed the average draft selection taken at his slot. I simply was pointing out that might not be the best way to make that determination, as Stewart has never taken a PA for a team that was trying to, you know, win the game. And in a different organization, you know, one trying to win games, he certainly would not have gotten as long a leash as he has here. How many times do you think the Yankees would have watched him concuss himself in the outfield before they pulled the plug?

Could you chart out a path to respectability starting in November 2018 that wasn't totally reliant upon hindsight?

I want to see the product on the ML field getting better, yes. Going forward, absolutely. But we're winning 60 games this year because of a bunch of decisions made before Elias even got here. I frankly don't care that he could have been a little more efficient and we could have won 65!

This is true too. I loved that extension at the time- though it was fairly controversial around here among some of the more knowledgeable fans at the time.

We're terrible now because of decisions that were made in 2016. That's just the way it is.

That's what I find so odd. Smart people, informed fans, people who spent years CALLING for EXACTLY what they're doing now- through many years when we were actually WINNING games- now, seem to be calling for the charge of the 67 win brigade.

Hold on, I know you're the big sabermetrician, but it make take me a second to wrap my mind around this: Are you telling me, that sometimes players come up from the minor leagues and don't establish themselves as major league players? Are you telling me that happens? That's truly mind-blowing. I'm not really sure how it reflects on my commentary regarding Stewart, but that is fascinating information.

No. It's typical corporatism. It's trash. And it's exactly what is killing this country. "Saving" money while you kill the goose that lays the golden egg. And yes it is bad for development too. That is self-evident.

That sounds like an interesting project and I look forward to seeing it when you post it. You know I first started to realize how difficult the draft is many years ago when I just started strolling through O's drafts from the 60s and 70s. This was the best organization in baseball; famous for its ability to procure and develop amateur talent; and they would go years without drafting a major league player. I just went back and looked at the 65 and 66 drafts. Terry Crowley's career WAR of 2.5 is their best player, and the only the reason their draft picks didn't total negative WAR. Far as Stewart, I personally try not to make concrete statement about draft picks and prospects, because I just don't have enough information, and you almost have to defer to those that do. However, I hate the profile, and he is the TYPE I would avoid with premium picks.

I have dramatically difference expectations in the athleticism of catchers vs. outfielders. Am I wrong?

I personally don't believe that he'd have gotten 550 ML abs if he hadn't happened to be a ML ready prospect who was in an organization that is in a historically pathetic epoch. He probably at some point would have made the majors though. I understand the odds of the Amateur draft. We don't need Frobby to recite them for us. But drafting slow, fat corner outfielders in the first round is probably not going to lead us to the promised land.

Does he make the majors in an organization that isn't historically pathetic? I'm kind of with Webbrick here. He doesn't have a single avg major league tool, with the exception of plate discipline and power. He runs, throws, and hits well below acceptable standards for a ML player.

It's important to remember that our last contending club was largely built by MacPhail (though that isn't the important part) massively fleecing other teams in trades (that's the important part.) It was only possible because of the tons and tons of surplus value we received in trades. Adam Jones, Chris Tillman, J.J. Hardy, Chris Davis we acquired for virtually nothing. I don't who the massively undervalued player Elias should be targeting is- if I did I should have a job- but I do know we're not going to compete until he starts pulling some rabbits out of his ass.