Manny, Harper and Trout

[CA-ORIOLE]

On a side note, I don't recall stuff about Machado becoming an elite defender from his Minor league reports, even if he did end up at third base.

[weams]

Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio in the 50's ?? Stan Musial?

Where the heck is Frank Robinson?

[CA-ORIOLE]

Where the heck is Fran Robinson?

Did he have a sex change?

[slakattack]

Brit Ghiroli was all over Machado this morning on 105.7. She kept asking Steve Davis "why do you guys keep giving Manny a pass?" (when it comes to his team leading errors)

I like Brit and I think she is pretty astute and knows a lot more background info. than I ever will and you could tell from the tone of her voice that she was "over" the Machado

aura. Manny makes plays that maybe no other 3B playing right now could make, but his "styling" errors shows you that he has 2 things in common with Bryce Harper ...generational

talent and immaturity. There used to be another guy on this team with that MO and he grew up and became a perennial all-star.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Manny is having an extremely disappointing season, IMO. Defensively and maturity-wise. He's 22, so odds are he's going to get better, but Britt is absolutely spot on.

His hitting is looking good and he still makes great plays. But yeah, a little more focus would help.

[Frobby]

Update: Manny 4.7 rWAR, Harper 6.1, Trout 5.2. That is crazy.

I heard on the O's broadcast last night that there were 18 players selected to the all-star teams who are age 25 or younger. It's a great time to be a baseball fan.

[Redskins Rick]

Update: Manny 4.7 rWAR, Harper 6.1, Trout 5.2. That is crazy.

I heard on the O's broadcast last night that there were 18 players selected to the all-star teams who are age 25 or younger. It's a great time to be a baseball fan.

And yet, it's the young crowd demographics that MLB is declining.

[Frobby]

This article argues that Manny may be more valuable than Harper:

Given how much money is rumored to be on the table ? potentially the first two $500 million contracts in American sports history ? the chances are pretty strong both Machado and Harper hit the open market following the 2018 season. And if Manny Machado continues to improve offensively at the clip at which he?s been moving the last few years, the Orioles third baseman could be receiving an even larger payday than his fellow young baseball prodigy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2016/06/09/manny-machado-just-might-prove-to-be-more-worth-more-than-bryce-harper/

[Frobby]

Keith Law has a new ESPN Insider article up on the top 25 players under age 25, in which he continues to rank Trout and Harper 1-2. I'm not an ESPN Insider, so I don't know if Manny is ranked no. 3 or not, but his photo appears at the top of the article along with Harper's, so I'm assuming he's probably 3rd, though there's a lot of great young players out there. If anyone here is an Insider, let us know where Manny ranks and what the article says about him.

http://espn.go.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=5296

According to fangraphs, here are the 2016 fWAR leaders among position players under 25 (birthday and cumulative WAR in parentheses):

Trout 5.3 (8/7/91, 43.8 fWAR)

Bryant 4.4 (1/4/92, 10.9 fWAR)

Machado 4.0 (7/6/92, 20.6 fWAR)

Bogaerts 3.9 (10/1/92, 8.7 fWAR)

C. Seager 3.8 (4/27/94, 5.3 fWAR)

Betts 3.4 (10/7/92, 10.0 fWAR)

Lindor 3.4 (11/14/93, 7.9 fWAR)

Harper 3.1 (10/16/92, 22.6 fWAR)

Quite a talented crop of players.

[Chito]

Keith Law has a new ESPN Insider article up on the top 25 players under age 25, in which he continues to rank Trout and Harper 1-2. I'm not an ESPN Insider, so I don't know if Manny is ranked no. 3 or not, but his photo appears at the top of the article along with Harper's, so I'm assuming he's probably 3rd, though there's a lot of great young players out there. If anyone here is an Insider, let us know where Manny ranks and what the article says about him.

http://espn.go.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=5296

According to fangraphs, here are the 2016 fWAR leaders among position players under 25 (birthday and cumulative WAR in parentheses):

Trout 5.3 (8/7/91, 43.8 fWAR)

Bryant 4.4 (1/4/92, 10.9 fWAR)

Machado 4.0 (7/6/92, 20.6 fWAR)

Bogaerts 3.9 (10/1/92, 8.7 fWAR)

C. Seager 3.8 (4/27/94, 5.3 fWAR)

Betts 3.4 (10/7/92, 10.0 fWAR)

Lindor 3.4 (11/14/93, 7.9 fWAR)

Harper 3.1 (10/16/92, 22.6 fWAR)

Quite a talented crop of players.

He's 3rd. Here's what Law had to say:

"He's an elite defensive third baseman and a more than capable shortstop, and even though it didn't seem likely, he has improved on his huge breakout in 2015 by attacking pitches earlier in counts and hitting for more average and power this season. The gap between Machado and Harper, who was drafted two picks ahead of Machado in 2010, is quite small."

[Chito]

Schoop is 20th. Law notes that he was rushed to the majors but has made great progress at the plate. He also wrote:

"He's no worse than a solidly average second baseman, probably a bit above, though given how big his frame is, I wonder if he'll stay at the keystone sack in the long term. I've always thought there was 25-30 homer potential here, and now that Schoop is progressing as a hitter for average and contact, I think he's getting close."