You're high on everyone though.

 

Sometimes I keep my mouth shut and sometimes I put myself out there. I've never really taken a stance on Hech, McGehee, Jones, Turner because I honestly didn't know what might happen or didn't know enough about them.

 

I have been outspoken about the ability of guys like Eovaldi, Alvarez, Dietrich, and Salty and was ripped for it before this year. Now all of a sudden, now that they've performed, people act like they're surprised when they shouldn't have been or they act like believers when they never were. There were plenty of signs pointing to this in each of their cases if you don't base your opinion on statistics alone.

Sometimes I keep my mouth shut and sometimes I put myself out there. I've never really taken a stance on Hech, McGehee, Jones, Turner because I honestly didn't know what might happen or didn't know enough about them.

 

I have been outspoken about the ability of guys like Eovaldi, Alvarez, Dietrich, and Salty and was ripped for it before this year. Now all of a sudden, now that they've performed, people act like they're surprised when they shouldn't have been or they act like believers when they never were. There were plenty of signs pointing to this in each of their cases if you don't base your opinion on statistics alone.

 

I think you were "ripped" because you like guys like Zach Cox not the ones you mentioned. For the guys above, plenty on this board agreed with you, including myself, using statistics alone. Salty's OPS now sits at .739 just FYI. Still a huge upgrade for us, but you know, regression and stuff.

I think you were "ripped" because you like guys like Zach Cox not the ones you mentioned. For the guys above, plenty on this board agreed with you, including myself, using statistics alone. Salty's OPS now sits at .739 just FYI. Still a huge upgrade for us, but you know, regression and stuff.

 

"Plenty on this board" did not agree with me on those specific players. People said Eovaldi would be a reliever, Alvarez's HR rate would regress to the mean and he'd suck, Dietrich sucked, and Salty would suck. I had several arguments about those specific players where I was completely ridiculed and yet I was right on the money up to this point in time.

 

Zack Cox (and Chris Coghlan for that matter) was my optimism shining through, trying to stay positive about our complete lack of depth at 3B at the end of last season. I will mention Cox is hitting .275/.359/.429/.788 right now in triple-A and it's still not decided that he won't be a major league contributor one day. I argued that Cox could have a similar future to a Greg Dobbs, and that's still very possible.

"Plenty on this board" did not agree with me on those specific players. People said Eovaldi would be a reliever, Alvarez's HR rate would regress to the mean and he'd suck, Dietrich sucked, and Salty would suck. I had several arguments about those specific players where I was completely ridiculed and yet I was right on the money up to this point in time.

 

Zack Cox (and Chris Coghlan for that matter) was my optimism shining through, trying to stay positive about our complete lack of depth at 3B at the end of last season. I will mention Cox is hitting .275/.359/.429/.788 right now in triple-A and it's still not decided that he won't be a major league contributor one day. I argued that Cox could have a similar future to a Greg Dobbs, and that's still very possible.

 

I was going to write a detailed response about the players in your first paragraph until I read your second paragraph and decided iit'd be an exercise in futility.

I was going to write a detailed response about the players in your first paragraph until I read your second paragraph and decided iit'd be an exercise in futility.

I'm not saying Cox will be a starter or anything, I'm saying he could have a Greg Dobbs like career. Is that really far fetched? A left-handed contact hitter capable of drawing a walk and playing the corners. He's like Dobbs 2.0.

I'm not saying Cox will be a starter or anything, I'm saying he could have a Greg Dobbs like career. Is that really far fetched? A left-handed contact hitter capable of drawing a walk and playing the corners. He's like Dobbs 2.0.

 

Lol. I'll let Penguino take this one.

Lol. I'll let Penguino take this one.

I really don't want to go through it again. I will acknowledge it's a weak argument considering Dobbs sucks too, but my point has always been Cox can (and just may) be a major league baseball player and for many years as a pinch hitter. Some say that's valuable.

Sometimes I keep my mouth shut and sometimes I put myself out there. I've never really taken a stance on Hech, McGehee, Jones, Turner because I honestly didn't know what might happen or didn't know enough about them.

 

I have been outspoken about the ability of guys like Eovaldi, Alvarez, Dietrich, and Salty and was ripped for it before this year. Now all of a sudden, now that they've performed, people act like they're surprised when they shouldn't have been or they act like believers when they never were. There were plenty of signs pointing to this in each of their cases if you don't base your opinion on statistics alone.

You are crapped on because you overproject. And you think everyone will live up to expectation. And you dont seem to understand sample sizes or regression.

Saltalamacchia and Dietrich haven't really surpassed anyone's expectations. And most of the board was pretty content with Eovaldi and Alvarez going into this season.

Also, the Greg Dobbs comparison is really dumb. He managed to have a career because he had two respectable seasons in Philly. You cannot project that kind of production from Cox right now. Dobbs's career also would have ended much sooner if Jeffrey Loria had not become infatuated with his "professionalism."

HA's HR/9 has regressed btw as expected (still low at .48, but much more realistic than last year's .18). What he's improved at, which I specifically noted before the season could off set his HR/9 coming back to earth, is his LOB%. It has improved by a whole 9% (67 to 76) which is perhaps more realistic especially since he's such a GB heavy pitcher and obviously has been a huge part of his success thus far.

 

No one was higher on Eovaldi before the season than me. JUST ASK BENDER.

I'll admit I considered Eovaldi to be a guy that would be thrown into the bullpen at some point, and I'm VERY happy to be wrong about him. His progression has been very nice to see. I always said, however, that his future would be dependent on his development of his secondary pitches. If he couldn't develop them, he'd be a bullpen arm with his fastball and mediocre slider (at the time). Now, he has a good slider, and a half-decent curve, and the fastball is still there. He's improved his control, and he's been better this year. So I approve.

 

Alvarez ... would still like him to miss more bats, but, *shrug* He's eating innings.