The Braves series, June 11-13

[Hallas]

8 hours ago, Malike said:

I don't think there is a shortage of 30-34 year old players that are playing at the highest level of the sport. Most of the 30 year old players that are still around are a lot better major leaguers than they were at 26. I agree that getting into the late 30's the dropoff is pretty big without "help", but people suggesting that you need to trade guys who are 27/28 because they are too old is just ridiculous to me. During the Cease nonsense threads, people were saying Ortiz was too old at 25 to be of value.

 

It's pretty hard to say definitively that the bolded is true.  It might be, but there's also the loss in ability you have to account for.  30 year olds are slower than 26 year olds too.  Maybe their game knowledge and practice have made it so they can overcome the meager loss in bat speed/athleticism over that time span.  But the picture is a bit muddy.

 

I also don't think the aging issue is limited to people in their mid-late 30s.  Bat speed peaks at like 24 or 25 based on the data we have right now on it, and after 31 starts falling off fairly fast.  Obviously this is population data and individuals are likely to see different curves.   But outside of the stars that have a lot of ability to lose, it's becoming pretty clear that once you hit your early 30s it's pretty hard to maintain your skills without all the "help" that is extensively tested for.

 

I think that even for early-30s players teams are much more willing to drop them over giving them expensive market-rate deals, especially since they can abuse young talent so readily.