"Every organization now thinks it has pitching, No one can find bats."

[25 Nuggets]

The point is that a 3.5 ERA pitcher is no longer an elite pitcher, while an outfielder with a .780 OPS might now be an elite hitter. The elite hitters are no more in short supply than they've ever been; it's just that the dividing line for an elite hitter has shifted.

Or put differently, teams should pay more for an .800 OPS than they used to, but that's because an .800 OPS is much more impressive in 2014 than it was in 2010.

I'm glad someone else understands this.

[25 Nuggets]

With bats at such a premium, I'm surprised that Nelson Cruz hasn't signed somewhere already.

It's cool. Neither have Nori Aoki, Asdrubal Cabrera, Melky Cabrera, Chase Headley, Nick Markakis, Kendrys Morales, and Michael Morse been signed yet. I think all the trade talk is holding things up a bit.

[Frobby]

Bogaerts was supposed to be Manny, and he is Schoop. That's bust.

.660>>.530, last time I checked. Before the 2012 season, when both were 19 years old, Manny was ranked 11th, 6th and 8th by BA, MLB.com and BP, respectively. Bogaerts was ranked 58th, 76th and 32nd. By the time Bogaerts moved up in the rankings, Manny was starring in the majors. So far as I'm concerned, he was never supposed to be Manny, just a very good player, which he has a decent chance to become.

[DrungoHazewood]

"I just think the teams with bats are king right now."

An NL Executive.

Discuss.

Haven't read the whole thread, but this is basically The Fenway Problem that the Sox have often faced over the years. Probably also applies to Colorado. Fenway, historically, has been an excellent hitter's park. And that's often fooled the Sox into thinking that they have poor pitching and great hitting. Once you took the Fenway helium out of the numbers they really had just ok hitting and pretty good pitching, it just didn't look that way from the raw numbers. So they'd chase good pitching and trade away hitting in an almost impossible quest to make their numbers match expectations.

I think a lot of people really haven't caught up to the reality of the new run context and are still thinking that good hitters have .950 OPSes and a 4.00 ERA is pretty good. I know it's taken me a long time to rewire the brain to accept that .850 and 3.25 are probably what .950/4.00 used to be a few years ago.

[Frobby]

Bradley is awful. He is worse than Matos. Luis.

He's a lot better than Matos with the glove -- good enough to be nominated for the GG in CF.

Jury is out on whether he can hit well enough where his glove can carry his bat. Yes, .531 OPS last year was pathetic. He got demoted to Pawtucket at some point and had only a .519 OPS there, even though the year before he posted .842 (and he is a career .850 OPS hitter in the minors). That looks to me like a guy who let failure get into his head more than it should have, but who has some innate talent. I'd think if he gets his act together he should be an average or better major league CF (combining offense and defense) down the road. But some guys never recover from that initial failure, so we will see.

[srock]

I wonder how many quotes like this from 'executives' occur at the END of happy hour.

If true, and the prices soar for bats like they have so far (Butler, Cruz, et. al.) then I say go out out grab more pitching while its de-valued for whatever nutty reason.

"Buy low, sell high. Bulls, bears, people from Connecticut." - Jerry Seinfeld

[Frobby]

Yeah, I do find it funny how some posters will slam Bogaerts (.660 OPS) and Bradley (.531) and yet find no fault with Schoop (.530). I have to say that Bogaerts was more erratic on defense than I expected, though.

.660>>.530, last time I checked.

I don't know where I got the idea that Schoop's OPS was .530 last year. .598 is the correct figure. Not as good as Bogaerts, but much better than Bradley. My apologies for the error.

[weams]

I don't know where I got the idea that Schoop's OPS was .530 last year. .598 is the correct figure. Not as good as Bogaerts, but much better than Bradley. My apologies for the error.

It's those home runs. I like that boom boom pow

Them chicken jackin' my style.