Connolly: Cruzing

[Tx Oriole]

1 hour ago, murph said:

 Unfortunately you can't not wonder that 

I haven't wondered about that at all.  I just don't assume someone is cheating. I don't know. 

[25 Nuggets]

1 minute ago, Tx Oriole said:

I haven't wondered about that at all.  I just don't assume someone is cheating. I don't know. 

Interestingly enough I assume they're all cheating, and I'm not too concerned about it either.

[TINSTAAPP]

2 hours ago, murph said:

Hindsight is 20/20 but man how much better off would we be with Cruz over Davis or even Trumbo.   

They would also have been much better off signing Andrew Miller to a four-year contract instead of DOD. Miller is making only $5 million more over the duration of his contract than DOD even though the gap between the two is pretty significant. It also would have made the Eduardo Rodriguez trade look a lot better in hindsight. 

[Frobby]

10 minutes ago, TINSTAAPP said:

They would also have been much better off signing Andrew Miller to a four-year contract instead of DOD. Miller is making only $5 million more over the duration of his contract than DOD even though the gap between the two is pretty significant. It also would have made the Eduardo Rodriguez trade look a lot better in hindsight. 

Didn't Miller turn down a bigger offer from the Astros to sign with the Yankees?   I wouldn't assume we could have re-signed Miller for the same deal he got from NY.

[murph]

56 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Didn't Miller turn down a bigger offer from the Astros to sign with the Yankees?   I wouldn't assume we could have re-signed Miller for the same deal he got from NY.

I think I remember that as well and Cruz would have most definitely would have signed with us for the same as he signed for the Mariners.  However, if all things were equal, I do agree with Tinstaapp on Miller. 

[Sanfran327]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

I'm pretty sure Markakis was the one playing RF every night in the steaming hot Mid-Atlantic summer.    Like he did every summer for 9 years.   Cruz played the OF in 70 games that year, mostly in LF (he did play RF in 10 games; Markakis played 147).    He DH'd in 89 games.   

Sure. But if he was our FT DH now, and never had to wear himself down by playing defense,  I would think his production would be more consistent had we re-signed him. For an aging player that's more of an offensive asset than anything, that would have been my plan, anyway. I think it's paying off for Seattle, too.

The exact details of my previous post are more or less irrelevant. RF, LF, whatever. He played a good bit of OF that season, and probably shouldn't have. If we kept him and just let him hit, I think we'd still be enjoying some great offensive production out of him. 

[weams]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Didn't Miller turn down a bigger offer from the Astros to sign with the Yankees?   I wouldn't assume we could have re-signed Miller for the same deal he got from NY.

He turned down 40 from the Astros.

[weams]

41 minutes ago, murph said:

I think I remember that as well and Cruz would have most definitely would have signed with us for the same as he signed for the Mariners.  However, if all things were equal, I do agree with Tinstaapp on Miller. 

Cruz wanted to stay as he said yesterday. 

[Frobby]

49 minutes ago, weams said:

He turned down 40 from the Astros.

In a state with no income tax.    

[Frobby]

With 20/20 hindsight, it clearly was a mistake not to re-sign Cruz.    But players who don't decline, and even improve, at ages 33-36* are extremely rare and there was no rational basis to think Cruz would be an exception, other than hope and wishful thinking.    It just so happens that in this case wishful thinking would have paid off.

 

*  Cruz's birthday is July 1, the day after the "baseball age" cutoff date.    He's actually 36 now even though this is his "age 35 season."   

[InsideCoroner]

5 hours ago, wildcard said:

I wonder if Cruz and Big Poppy were enhanced.  Time seems to have no effect on them.

You mean in addition to the 50-game suspension that Cruz already served years ago for admitting that he used PED's? He juiced, he admitted it. He just said he did it to help regain playing weight after an extended stomach bug (surely the MLB equivalent of "the dog ate my homework if ever I heard it).

[weams]

5 hours ago, murph said:

 Unfortunately you can't not wonder that 

There is no wonder. They both were proven to be. I think many sluggers may be, but those two were proven. 

[weams]

3 hours ago, Tx Oriole said:

I haven't wondered about that at all.  I just don't assume someone is cheating. I don't know. 

You do know on both of them. Not speculation. 

[murph]

1 hour ago, weams said:

There is no wonder. They both were proven to be. I think many sluggers may be, but those two were proven. 

There is still some wondering if substances are currently in use for Cruz at least.  I like to hope not. 

[weams]

Just now, murph said:

There is still some wondering if substances are currently in use for Cruz at least.  I like to hope not. 

Absolutely. Of course, a former Oriole recently said that when they came to explain the HGH blood tests they told them that nothing would show if they had not had a shot in 24 hours.