Saturday Thoughts: Wah, wah, wah; We need a hero (but not Josh Naylor or Jose Ramirez); Minor League Stats in Late Auguest/September

Wah, Wah, Wah, Wah - Stop Whining

I am a baseball prospect geek guy but I am also a volleyball guy.  First as a player then, as the saying goes, those that can, do and those that can't teach...which is why I became a coach.  

In my years of coaching I had the good fortune to talk to a number of players from the US Men's National team.  One anecdote I remember really sticks with me, even to this day.   The US Men's volleyball team was not always one of the best in the world.  There was a time when they were not that good.  In a particular match against one of the best teams in the world the US was getting killed as everyone knew they would.  We used to call it lose two and barbeque.  This match was played in a venue that was particularly hot that evening and the US players were diving all over to try to dig up spikes by their opponent.  Whenever they dove it left a wet spot that had to then be mopped up, slowing down the match and its inevitable outcome.  One of their opponents told the US men to stop diving because their sweat was slowing up the match.  Basically, the guy told the US players they were so bad they hadn't earned the right to sweat!

The reason I am relating this story is because what I read after the Guardians pickup of Gioloto, Lopez and Moore can be summarized in the following sentence:

Why are the Guardians, who have no chance to win the World Series, picking up these players and depriving the teams who COULD win the Series and these players of that chance?

Even though there were many articles/blog/twitter posts of this comical nature that came from all the entitled east coast and west coast teams and/or their fans, the one thing that really irritated me the most was reading the Cincinnati Enquirer article  (subscriptioon required) bemoaning that the Reds could have picked up these players instead of the Guardians and how unfair it was for the Guardians to hog them.  The ironic thing was that people would have said the same thing about the Reds that the Cincinnati newspaper article was saying about the Guardians if the Reds had made these pickups, especially in addition to the two they DID make.  The cherry on the icinng on the cake of this article insinuated that the Reds should use this presumed slight as fuel when the Reds played the Guardians later this season.  Priceless.  Pot to Kettle: You are black. 

The point here is that most rules are set up to favor the richer teams.  This waiver priority list is one of the few designed to favor the weaker teams.  While I am sure there will be talk this winter of amending the waiver rule, it should remain how it is.  

There ARE rules that need to be changed in baseball with the Rule 5 rules for international free agents who are signed under the age of 18 to give them an extra year of development before they are subject to this Rule 5 being the most apparent to me.  It is ridiculous to put these 16 year old kids in the same group as 18 year old US HS kids who are playing on showcase circuits and getting better coaching and access to better facilities before they go pro.  The Guardians are facing issues of rostering guys too soon with Jhonkensy Noel and Juan Brito, to name a couple.

But the irrevocable waiver rule is NOT a rule that needs to be changed.  

And the teams, fans, media, talking heads who are bemoaning how it is unfair that teams like the Guardians get to sweat can just continue to whine the whine of the entitled.  Wah, wah, wah.

We Need a Hero

I am going to combine the thoughts from two previous posts.  

1) Josh Naylor and Jose Ramirez are MUCH less effective when they try to be heroes.  This team is built on keeping the line moving.  So I have 'designed' (LOL) a t-shirt that all the team should wear when they are warming up

(2) Aside from the above mentality the team should have, we need a guy who could provide a significant unexpected positive (READ: power) contribution.  Last year it was Juan Gonzalez.  Previously it was Fanrmil Reyes and before that it was expected from Bobby Bradley, but never happened.

Now I suggest we give a shot to Jonathon Rodriguez.  I suggest sending Ramon Laureano to the minors, DFAing Michael Kelly and bringing up Rodriguez.  Do I think the guy might fall on his face?  Absolutely.  But we are trying stuff to break this team out of its slump and Rodriguez, like Gonalez last year, might just provide that energy.  I thnk it is worth a shot.

Other than that, just keep the line moving.

Late Season Minor League Stats

Watching a lot of minor league games I have seen an influx of guys being promoted from lower levels of minors for the laste month or so.  It coincides with rookie leagues ending and guys getting promoted to the majors after teams fall out of playoff contention.  That being said, late season stats (put up by guys who have spent the entire year at THAT level) that show an increase in performance should be taken with a grain of thought.  As opposed to guys moving up from low levels of the minors to play stronger competition who struggle should be expected and the ones who thrive after a late season promotion should be considered as better prospects, IMO, everything else being equal.

So, when I look at minor league stats I am starting to consider the monthly stats as more important than I used to.  I used to think that guys were just figuring it out but lately I am starting to think that it is more likely that the competition level in their league has been diluted at every level in the minor leagues by these promotions and these late season bumps in performance are not representative of anything useful in terms of predictors of future performance or prospect status.

Just something to consider.