2015 MLB season.

[onejayhawk]

For what it may be worth, an article on how the Royals did it.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/royals-royals/

On the side, this did not begin last season. The Royals "improbable run" began in 2013. Down the stretch they were one of the hottest teams in baseball, narrowly missing the playoffs. Even back then, people claimed it was done with mirrors. By many traditional measurements, their much talked about defense is merely good, not elite. Whatever magic the Royals used, it was not sleight of hand.

J

 

[Light Cleric]

Braves trade Andrelton Simmons, I'm so done.

 

[schlaufuchs]

If it's any consolation Fangraphs just did an article talking about the possible Simmons-for-Puig trade, noting that the defensive peak for SS (per Tom Tango) is realistically the age-23 or 24 years, so trading a 26-year old shortstop with very below-average offense on a team in full-on rebuild mode was probably a fair proposition for them. Especially as the Braves got the top pitching prospect in the Angels system in exchange.

 

[Light Cleric]

The thing is I've sat here for years and years watching the incredible pitching we've developed and we've just never been able to get good position players. Simmons' bat isn't very good but you can afford to have one guy like that if the rest of your lineup and his amazing defense can make up for it.

We also traded a catching prospect which is great because...Christian Bethancourt did so well last year???

They're also going to try out Hector Olivera in left field which sounds absurd to me. Evan Gattis wasn't good in left field but we're going to put Olivera out there(and then play ??? at 3rd).

We also shouldn't still be in full-blown rebuilding mode. We've been getting sold on competing in 2017 so we're only "supposed" to have 1 more rebuilding year. I've heard the theory is the FA market for pitchers is supposed to be bad in 2017 so we can flip some of the arms for bats, but I don't know that I trust the front office to do that.

Don't get me wrong, those are some good points, but I need to let my fan rage subside first. At least at first glance the Kimbrel trade made sense. The Olivera trade followed by this one makes my head hurt.

 

[onejayhawk]

For the 2nd straight year, a league MVP is younger than the ROY. Last year Trout/Abreu and this year Harper/Bryant.

Harper won the slash Triple Crown. The last time was Bonds' PED pushed 2002 season.

J

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

Someone better at making threads than me should make an offseason thread.

 

[classical_hero]

Zack Grienke has singed to the D'backs for 6 years and 206 million. I am a bit surprised by that move, but glad.

 

[shadowplay]

Jays didn't even bother making an offer to David Price, and now he's a Red Sock. Jays are going to regret this for years to come, IMO. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[IglooDame]

Jays didn't even bother making an offer to David Price, and now he's a Red Sock. Jays are going to regret this for years to come, IMO. Hope I'm wrong.

And as a Red Sox fan, I hope you're right.

 

[GamezRule]

It's a money game. Why would they regret signing a player if doing so would have hurt the teams overall chances?

 

[choxorn]

Wow, now the Cubs have Heyward and Zobrist and Lackey and most of the team they had last year?

I guess BTTF II was just a year off.