This week in baseball blogs…
- The K Zone delves into Joey Votto’s 2018 power outage.
- Adkins On Sports previews Trevor Bauer’s season.
- Bronx to Bushville and Rox Pile react to Nolan Arenado’s extension.
- Basebald Guy, Phillies Nation, Call to the Pen, Mets Daddy and Mets Critic each share pieces relating to Philly’s signing of Bryce Harper.
- Sox On 35th writes that the White Sox “missed a golden opportunity” by not signing Manny Machado.
- East Village Times focuses on a potential Marcus Stroman acquisition for the Padres.
- Pinstriped Prospects makes five bold predictions for the 2019 Yankees.
- The First Out At Third names dark-horse Cy Young candidates for 2019.
- Foul Territory seeks a team for Dallas Keuchel.
- Chin Music Baseball lists 10 players looking to bounce-back from injury-marred seasons.
- Clubhouse Corner’s Bernie Pleskoff highlights the biggest questions facing American League teams.
- statsswipe notes release point improvements from Josh Hader and Zach Davies.
- The Point of Pittsburgh answers some mailbag questions with the help of analytics.
- Pinstripe Alley and The Runner Sports respond to Aaron Hicks’ extension.
- JokerMag spotlights Brock Holt.
- A’s Farm runs down the Athletics’ top 10 prospects for 2019.
- Reviewing The Brew grades the Brewers’ offseason.
- and profiles Astros catcher Jamie Ritchie.
- Everything Bluebirds expects a much-improved Blue Jays offense in 2019.
- Rising Apple wonders what would have happened had the Mets traded Matt Harvey after 2015.
- Chipalatta looks at the Astros’ No. 5 starter options, while The Runner Sports profiles one of their catchers.
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That votto contract went from being a steal to being an albatross. Is is almost 35 isn’t he ? 2018 might have been the start of a trend with him. Hopefully I’m wrong
Even still, he was a well above average player in 2018. That contract still isn’t bad.
Led the league in OBP, and worth almost 4 WAR (twice as much as Harper btw) How is that bad??
I’d say he’s living up to his contract just fine so far.
Votto’s going to be fine. I don’t see any mention of 2017, when he was second in the MVP voting.
The downtrend in power is a bit concerning but the guy can still get on base and hit. You’ll have those people in 3 years that will be on cue “how’s that Votto contract look now?” but honestly the guy got his money. The Reds paid him knowing that he’d regress at some point. If his regression is .830 ops then lol ok maybe not worth 25 million but still a pretty good offensive player who plays average defense at 1st.
I have ultimate respect for Votto. Doesn’t really bellyache or make excuses and just goes out there and does his job the best he can. Id the Reds fans have one thing to hang pride on it’s that.
He has been wasted in cinci which saddens me as he has been mr underrated/under appreciated since day 1
Yankee… Don’t worry. As long as there is a Brian Kenny, Votto will get lots of love.
Haha it’s by no means an albatross. They signed him long term knowing he’d decline eventually. He has lived up to his contract and at some point if they need to eat a season and sit him a lot they probably would still come out even.
Based solely on that article and what it’s claiming happened to Votto — my hypothesis (assuming he did actually experience ‘diminished skills’) is that his eyesight got worse. In other words he was ‘just missing’ the barrel of the bat – so maybe he can adjust with better contacts/glasses OR maybe it’s just age catching up with him and he never again will have the power he used to. Either way he is clearly still a very talented hitter and I think he’s lived up to his end of the contract thus far – unless his average and OBP fall off a cliff as well. I think he’ll manage just fine for the next couple of seasons. Even if, as the article hypothesized he’s experienced some ‘diminished skills’
Cannot believe anyone actually takes easy fraud times for anything other than garbage.
East fraud times *
I’m glad you clarified that, because I’m a faithful reader of Easy Fraud Times. If there’s anything I enjoy more than fraud, it’s surely EASY fraud
East Fraud is really bad. Then again myopic Padre fans who say prospects are incredible based on minors and spring training love it.
You are definitely apart of the problem
James writes good articles. The rest of the writers are 16 yr olds. When I go to the site from my phone I can’t access newly written articles and have to scroll to find the new ones..that and Tanned Toms arrogance are annoying
As a Jays fan I have a question for Padres fans. The article says “a package of maybe Renfroe, Baez, and Naylor would get Stroman”. But yet in articles’ comments section, Padre fans (at least these commenters) seem to think trading even one of them for Stroman is too much.
IMO, that is probably around what his value would be today( the proposed Renfroe, Baez, Naylor package), but if he has a bounce-back season, could easily cost more. Just my opinion.
What do Padre fans think? Always like to hear from the other side. Cheers guys!
That Harper contract will kill them in a few years either by age or injury. Desperation move.
Harper’s lucky he’s in a hitter’s ballpark. That D.C. pitching’s going to eat him alive. Lol
I don’t believe anybody is worth that kind of cheese, but Harper – in Citizens Park – is going to put up video game numbers.
And five years from now, nobody’s gonna bat an eye at his AAV.
No, but years 6-13 they most likely will
Nobody would bat an eye at 25 million per if you can guarantee he’s producing. If he drops off a little I’d say still nobody bats an eye. But if he has a steep decline believe me 25 mil a year on the books will sting. That’s why teams shy away from these deals. 25 mil a year is totally doable with profits these days and more in the future but those are huge figures to just absorb for a guy that might not be league average or even worth a roster spot at some point we just don’t know
Totally agree as a Phillies phan … absolutely desperation. You nailed it. Hey … Phillies FO could use guys like you, you should apply.
Will the Blue Jays have a much improved offense if Vlab Guerrero is kept in the minors?
The improvement will be slight. Same outfield, same 1B/DH. Slight.