Pancake Bear

Clearly Eppler sees something in this guy for Doug White Mickey Callaway to work his magic on.

Gallego as bench coach? That’s...interesting. Didn’t see that coming.

That’s first bass, not third.

Third bass change. No bench coach yet.

Wow. That’s the highest projection I’ve seen for Cole to date. I think if he gets 8 (possible, although I’m skeptical), he probably won’t get 35aav. The extensions to Kole and Simmons seem on the long side. And I doubt you get Maldonado for double that amount.

Update:

Last offseason, he turned down 4yr, 60m from the Mets. That was with a QO attached. This year, no QO. At least 3 years, probably something a good bit over 15m but probably less than 20m per season.

He’s sulking because Eppler beat him to making a trade.

The new Daniel Hudson. Cut in Spring Training. Closing out the WS for someone else

Hamilton was a rebound signing? We never bid on Greinke. There was no bidding war that I recall. Also, the Dodgers aren’t signing Cole. They don’t go long on years anymore.

Bye Kole. Hi Cole.

Significantly more likely than him being on the mound for the Astros.

Cole, not Strasburg.

Gonna guess zero.

“By now you know I’m cheating: I’m offering a top 21, because while I’m OK excluding #22 Ketel Marte (for now), I cannot bear to keep Altuve off the list.” Call it the top twenty after Trout.

He's a self-professed conspiracy theorist. Why would we expect him to express intelligent analysis?

Why would it go up? Are you assuming he pitches tomorrow? Because I’m pretty sure he won’t pitch more than 2-3 innings.

What numbers are you using to make that determination, just out of curiosity? My method - which could easily be wrong - suggests the opposite.

How much do people think?

Can? Yes. Should? Debatable. Will? Highly unlikely.

Last I’d heard, the three hitting coaches were all still technically on track to return. Obviously that could change. Fletcher said yesterday on Twitter that the rest of the staff is still being evaluated.

Running some numbers tonight, I compared Cole to the top pitcher contracts to date: Price, Scherzer, and Greinke. I looked at FA age, innings pitched at that time (obviously only including MLB, since it would be difficult to impossible to go beyond that), fWAR, ERA, FIP, k%. My amateur conclusion based on that (anyone more up on pitcher stats can feel free to do their own check on it): Cole is younger and has less innings on his arm (the first is obvious, the second I'm not certain on since I can't check it absolutely). His k% to date beats the others out at the time of their contract signing, and he compares favorably to all on ERA and FIP. Price edges him in the latter two, but it's close (especially FIP). Interestingly, Scherzer and Price went opposite directions after the contracts were signed. Point is, I don't think there's any way he gets less than a 7 year deal, and being younger than Scherzer and Price, I'm second guessing myself on whether he might not get 8. I know it's apples to oranges, but look at how position player salaries have jumped: Harper and Machado's salary totals are far beyond any before them (Pujols, ARod, Miggy, Cano), and Trout eclipsed both by a wide margin (Trout is less relevant here, since he is far beyond both). On annual average and total money, given that those contracts are between 4-5 years old, I think the current records are probably his floor. Quite simply, he seems - to my eye (feel free to correct me) - to be the best free agent starting pitcher (based on past performance) to hit the market in the last decade. I previously threw out a guess of 7yr, 224, (32aav). I'm now second guessing myself and thinking 7yr, 245m (35aav) might be slightly conservative. I am aware that contracts have slowed down in what owners are willing to spend. The risk involved in that long of a deal on pitchers especially factors in. Still, I'm starting to think 7yr, 250 may be about what he ends up going for.

Best of three. Technically, my Astros in six prediction is still in play. At this point, though, I wouldn't at all be surprised if it goes 7.

No team in baseball would put Maddon as bench coach for anybody. Even if he were hypothetically willing and the team felt their current manager was superior, his going rate is above what most managers receive, let alone bench coaches.

I’m aware. It was also widely bashed at the time. I feel like voting has improved a bit since then overall.