10 Oct 2024 19:19:25
Giants Offseason Moves
Re-sign LHP Blake Snell, 7/180M
Sign SS Ha-Seong Kim, 4/52M
Sign 1B Paul Goldschmidt, 2/36M
Sign OF Tyler O'Neill, 4/48M
Sign RHP Joe Ross, 1/5M
Lineup
CF - Jung Hoo Lee
LF - Heliot Ramos
1B - Paul Goldschmidt
3B - Matt Chapman
LF - Tyler O'Neill
SS - Ha-Seong Kim
DH - LaMonte Wade Jr.
2B - Tyler Fitzgerald
C - Patrick Bailey
Bench
C - Tom Murphy
1B - Wilmer Flores
SS - Brett Wisely
LF - Mike Yastrzemski
Rotation
1 - Logan Webb
2 - Blake Snell
3 - Kyle Harrison
4 - Robbie Ray
5 - Landen Roupp
Bullpen
LR - Joe Ross
LR - Sean Hjelle
MR - Erik Miller
MR - Jordan Hicks
SU - Taylor Rogers
SU - Tyler Rogers
SU - Camilo Doval
CP - Ryan Walker
29 Oct 2024 21:59:45
The Giants should learn from the Astros and not give a 37-year-old Paul Goldschmidt an $18 million AAV over multiple years (a guy with more red flags than Abreu had after '22 FWIW) .
Just grab Carlos Santana or Ryan O'Hearn for something like half of that AAV & 25% of the total commitment, or go after Bellinger instead of O'Niell + Goldy and ride with Yaz in left, more Ramos at DH.
01 Nov 2024 11:09:05
I'd be okay with O'Hearn, mostly as a holdover until Bryce Eldridge is ready (which will likely be some time in 2025, barring a setback) .
Carlos Santana's Statcast is worse than Carlos Santana's 1993 album, so I think teams should pass. Maybe the White Sox would be a good fit for Santana, they've rejected the idea of signing good players lately.
The key difference between Abreu & Goldschmidt is that Goldschmidt is making 22M LESS in guaranteed money than Abreu. I'm by no means married to the idea of Goldy, it was merely a "hey, they need a short-term 1B option"
01 Nov 2024 13:14:57
Well your owner didn't like how much Farhan used analytics, so I have a feeling a player's Statcast page is going to be a little less important under ole' Mr. Posey.
01 Nov 2024 14:13:48
Considering the ownership group hired Zack Minisian, a big time analytics guy, as their GM, I have a feeling your assessment of the situation is wrong. Which, at this rate, is par for the course for you.
01 Nov 2024 14:22:48
Speaking of owners, are you gonna have another meltdown this offseason regarding the politican contributions of Mr. Johnson, or did you seeing the awfulness of your own team's owner maybe mature you a little bit?
02 Nov 2024 22:15:27
Looks like Minasian has a scouting background, how do you figure he's a "big time analytics guy"? Hopefully Zack can do a better job than his brother.
03 Nov 2024 03:41:40
He was the Head of Pro Scouting for the Giants and has spoken in interviews and podcasts about his use of advanced analytics in doing his job.
Do you think that being the head of pro scouting prevents him from being an analytics guy? Or are you just too unwilling to accept that your statement was wrong (as is often the case) .
03 Nov 2024 15:57:36
Ok, after listening to a couple interviews, yes he "used analytics" in his pro scouting job. No one in MLB is hired to any baseball exec role in 2024 if analytics isn't at least somewhat part of their process.
He is not a "big time analytics guy" on the scale of MLB execs, especially given that he & Posey are replacing Zaidi. Ownership literally told everyone they're trying to reduce the role of analytics in their decision-making.
03 Nov 2024 17:18:19
Lol. The entire reputation of Zack Minasian, and the reason Farhan Zaidi hired him for his role in 2019 was his heavy focus on analytics.
The ownership group didn’t tell us anything of the sorts. To quote Paul Simon, “a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. ” You’re making this all up LOL.
In fact, the Giants were LITERALLY looking at analytics-focused hires for GM. They actually said this.
But as is the case, I have no expectations of you knowing that.
This site was 1000x better when you went into hiding.
03 Nov 2024 23:35:04
"In fact, the Giants were LITERALLY looking at analytics-focused hires for GM. They actually said this. "
Can you direct me to where this was said/ wrote? Thanks.
"The ownership group didn’t tell us anything of the sorts. "
Greg Johnson literally said "we get caught up too much in the analytic world of trying to fit things together analytically instead of getting to know the person, the personality and the player" before going to to state why he thinks Buster will help to fix that.
Twain once said "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt"
04 Nov 2024 12:18:44
Again, I point you back to the Paul Simon quote.
The Giants ownership group (which includes Posey, btw), wanted a greater BALANCE within the front office.
Because they had Posey in the PBO role, they sought analytics-focused people for the GM role. That's why all the major names that were brought up and guys we knew interviewed are universally lauded for the analytics focus.
So no, the Giants aren't just throwing analytics out the door. They hired a guy who is universally praised for his analytics mindset. He was praised for this in Milwaukee. He was LITERALLY hired by Farhan Zaidi for his analytics mindset (you know, the one the Giants "didn't want", according to you) . They did this to strike a balance.
Heck, if they weren't interested in analytics, Paul Bien, their director of analytics, wouldn't have even received an interview for the position.
Again, you continue to make things up, and it continues to be embarrassing for you.
04 Nov 2024 12:37:13
And before we continue this discussion about Front Office executives, I think it's important to remind anyone reading of how you assessed a previous MLB executive.
Let's take, say, Rick Hahn. You, yourself, said everyone was trying to emulate him (LOL) and that his team assembled was the "Los Angeles Dodgers of the American League" (LMAOOOOOOOO) .
Don't forget in Hahn's last year and the year following his firing, the White Sox lost 101 and 121 games, respectively. I'm sure every team is trying so hard to emulate that success!
Point is: you've proven time and time and time again that you have no earthly clue what you're talking about. And this is, yet again, par for the course.
Go back to crying about "racism" or who Charles Johnson (who doesn't even have any input on Day-to-Day operations, he handed that over to his son years ago) donated to. It may be immature and proof you can't emotionally regulate, but it's more your speed.
04 Nov 2024 14:15:16
"In fact, the Giants were LITERALLY looking at analytics-focused hires for GM. They actually said this. "
"So no, the Giants aren't just throwing analytics out the door. They hired a guy who is universally praised for his analytics mindset. He was praised for this in Milwaukee. He was LITERALLY hired by Farhan Zaidi for his analytics mindset (you know, the one the Giants "didn't want", according to you) . They did this to strike a balance. "
Again, if you could please provide a shred of evidence to either of these claims, I'd appreciate that. Should be really simple, I mean, the guy's an analytical savant.
"the one the Giants "didn't want", according to you"
Buddy, I provided a direct quote from the Johnson son about what exactly they were looking for. He quite literally said less analytics. Slow down, take a breath, and just read it mate.
04 Nov 2024 15:10:52
I'm not gonna continue to waste my time on this issue, mostly because it's clear you misinterpreted what Johnson said.
The Giants aren't anti-analytics. If they were, you'd need to ask why Paul Bien wasn't canned along with Zaidi. Weirdly, they not only kept him around, they INTERVIEWED HIM FOR THE GM POSITION. Why would you interview your Vice President of Analytics if you're "anti-analytics. "
Even the idea that the Giants are suddenly going to not care about Statcast because of some quote by Greg Johnson has to be the lousiest and most pathetic thing you've said in a good while.
The Giants are trying to find a balance between analytics, a "feel for the game" and other key factors. They've said so in several interviews. They've said so in their press conferences. They hired a guy who is well-documented and well-respected for his strong mixture of analytics and traditional scouting, as he's been raved by guys like Bien, Jeremy Shelley, Farhan Zaidi, Pete Putila for years (not including a myriad of guys in Milwaukee spoke up when David Stearns replaced him) .
That you think this isn't the case isn't just laughable, it's actually pathetic. I figured you were smarter than this. You continue to prove me wrong.
04 Nov 2024 15:17:13
Here's the source, since you're so adamant.
From the San Francisco Chronicle, "Buster Posey’s Giants task goes beyond the team. Can he bring their brand back? " By Shayna Rubin, October 30, 2024.
"The industry-wide pivot doesn’t mean the Giants want Posey to abandon analytical approaches to player evaluation. At his introductory news conference, Posey noted that “analytics are here to stay” and that “it would be a mistake to say you’re not going to use that information. ”
"The expectation is that they will select a GM with a scouting background, and that the team will find a healthy balance between analytics and traditional team-building that can draw players like Posey back to San Francisco. "
I fully expect that such a quote, from Buster Posey himself, will lead you to retract your nonsense?
Who am I kidding, expecting you to do something like admit you're wrong is like asking the White Sox to be a good baseball team.
04 Nov 2024 22:23:47
Again, where does this show that Minasian is a "a big-time analytics guy" that has been "universally praised for his analytics mindset"? You say it's well-documented, yet cannot provide anything that points to that being true. Huh, funny.
Your 2nd quote literally says "The expectation is that they will select a GM with a scouting background".
My original point was that Statcast numbers (i. e., a hyper-generalization of analytics that you took quite literally) were going to be less important under Posey/ Minasian than they were under Zaidi (which, by your own evidentiary claims, is true), who presumably was let go to because Greg Johnson believed he put too much faith in analytics and not enough into that "traditional team-building".
"The Giants aren't anti-analytics"
Never said they were. Try & stick with me here & stop moving the goal posts. You're getting all worked up over here over nothing. I just called you out for creating narratives to defend the Giants, like saying Minasian is "universally praised" for his baseball analytics acumen. That is news to literally everyone.
All I (originally) said was that I thought handing Paul Goldschmidt that much money would be ill-fated because his peripherals as an upper-30s 1B-only option look worse than Jose Abreu's did, and responded with a dig on the White Sox for some reason. You crave the confrontation.
05 Nov 2024 14:05:57
"My original point was that Statcast numbers (i. e., a hyper-generalization of analytics that you took quite literally) were going to be less important under Posey/ Minasian than they were under Zaidi"
LOL.
C'mon man, we know what you meant, trying to backtrack now isn't working. I merely referenced Carlos Santana's Statcast metrics and you took it as your chance to suggest that analytics won't matter to the Giants, and even suggested that the Giants said analytics won't matter.
I pointed out that you took Greg Johnson's quote out-of-context (no surprise) and you only heard what you wanted to here. I then pointed out what Buster Posey himself said about how they wanted to BALANCE with analytics, something you demanded proof, but never acknowledged when you got it.
You're the one constantly shifting the goalposts. You're the one who made a big hullabaloo because I referenced Carlos Santana's Statcast page and suggested he was a great fit for the White Sox because he's not a good hitter.
You should probably get used to the digs, because they will keep coming. When you so confidently proclaim that the White Sox are the "Dodgers of the American League" and that the now-fired Rick Hahn was the one everyone was emulating, you're going to get (rightly) dragged for such a take, especially when that team has lost 222 games in 2 seasons.
Take the L. Sit back and let everyone talk about real baseball teams. You lost your chance to criticize anyone else's team LOL.
05 Nov 2024 14:16:53
If you want some evidence on the Minasian praise, take it from Buster Posey himself in interviews about the hire:
"But as he gathered background information on other potential targets, speaking with senior advisers and department heads and respected former baseball officials, Zack Minasian’s name kept coming up. " (Quote from The Athletic, "Buster Posey on new GM Zack Minasian: ‘He gets what it means to be a San Francisco Giant’", by Andrew Baggarly, Nov. 1, 2024)
Yes, the Giants, who made it clear they were looking to strike a balance between scouting and ANALYTICS, Zack Minasian's name kept popping up among people within the game as a fit for what they were looking for.
It's almost as if Zack Minasian is universally praised for his analytics mindset and his scouting.
But I'm not surprised this is "news to you". Most basic information is news to you, I'm learning.
05 Nov 2024 23:38:15
I asked for proof of your very specific claims. Now you're trying to generalize them.
1. The Giants specifically targeted a GM rooted in analytics
This is false, per the quote you provided, they went after someone with a scouting background, which, no, does not preclude Minasian from using analytical concepts as a scout, but it is not a profile rooted in analytics. I know you're a novice at this stuff, but this shouldn't be that hard to understand. Zaidi's approach WAS rooted heavily in analytics, something that fell out of favor for the ownership group likely because it stopped translating into wins for the Giants.
If you need me to go into deeper detail about what baseball analytics are, you just let me know, because I feel like you're still going to be confused.
2. "They hired a guy who is universally praised for his analytics mindset"
Again, your Baggarly quote does not justify this. It's not even remotely close. "universally praised" and "universally praised FOR HIS ANALYTICS MINDSET" are two completely different things bud. LOL you can't just cut out the main part of the claim you made. Can you even find a sentence where Minasian and his analytics acumen are mentioned together? LMAO
You're grasping at straws to try & support a completely unsubstantiated claim. It is going very poorly for you.
All I've been saying is that the Giants are going to be less analytically inclined going from Zaidi (i. e., someone who you could actually justify as "universally praised for his analytics mindset") to Buster Posey & Miasian. Not abandoning analytics, just less. Again, like what their owner LITERALLY said. Do you disagree with that? Simple reading comprehension would do you wonders.
"you're the one who made a big hullabaloo because I referenced Carlos Santana's Statcast page and suggested he was a great fit for the White Sox because he's not a good hitter. "
Uhm, what? Could you point me where this happened? You ok? Are Charles & Greg Johnson in the room with you right now, Nate?
Other than referencing Jose Abreu's free agency from a couple winters ago, the Chicago White Sox have nothing to do with this convo, but you're so so stuck and tangled in BS that you're going back to something I said maybe 4 years ago when the Sox were at the peak of their window? How is that relevant now? Try not to be so dull
"I merely referenced Carlos Santana's Statcast metrics and you took it as your chance to suggest that analytics won't matter to the Giants, and even suggested that the Giants said analytics won't matter. "
These are things I literally never said, lmao. Are you drunk, or just an idiot? At least refute things I actually wrote, Nathan.
05 Nov 2024 23:39:56
All I had to say was that your Paul Goldschmidt contract was a bit rich for my liking due to the obvious red flags I found in 2 minutes of research, and you got BIG MAD. lol, talk about in your head.
06 Nov 2024 14:01:51
I bring it up to continue to point out to you, and anyone else who reads this, your track record of hilariously bad hot takes on this site.
Every single time that I pointed out to you that Rick Hahn wasn't very good, you couldn't handle it and you got all upset about it. You went so far to try and call the Giants "racist" or some other silly nonsense to defend it.
And look who was correct: I was. The White Sox have lost 222 games in two years. TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO. And there may be no end in sight.
No one was emulating Hahn. He's literally not employed by a single MLB team, not even as a "senior advisor". No one saw them as the "Dodgers of the American League", especially not since they won two (2) playoff games since 2005.
Oh yeah, and remember Avisail Garcia? Turns out his high BABIP season was, in fact, completely unsustainable. So much for that "change in his swing" LOLOLOLOLOL.
Also, how are those "pre-arb extensions" going? Jimenez? Bust. Moncada? Bust. How's Oscar Colas doing? Oh yeah, BUST.
Would you like me to go on?
Those things are relevant because it displays your understanding on these matters. Do you really expect that someone who thought everyone was "emulating Rick Hahn" is capable of intellectually comprehending the quotes of the Giants on their front office search?
Do you think the guy who went on multiple unhinged rants about Charles Johnson's political contributions is emotionally capable of having a real conversation about anything?
And even after it was pointed out to you that Charles Johnson hasn't had any real day-to-day influence in the Giants for nearly a decade now, you still insisted that he did.
You continue to be someone who sees things from any lens you desire to see them, regardless if that lens is correct or not. And this conversation has been no different. Instead of accepting the proof, you have to shift the goalposts. You have to ignore logical inference. And instead of conceding the point, you narrow your scope to something so specific so that you can try to find a win.
It's actually worthy of pity for you. I'd say I'm starting to feel bad for you, Hector, but I'd be lying.
06 Nov 2024 14:09:55
"All I had to say was that your Paul Goldschmidt contract was a bit rich for my liking due to the obvious red flags I found in 2 minutes of research, and you got BIG MAD. lol, talk about in your head. "
My guy, if you were capable of reading, you'd see I actually conceded the Goldschmidt point, and I quote, "I'm by no means married to the idea of Goldy, it was merely a "hey, they need a short-term 1B option".
What really started this, and you even acknowledge this by your own confession ("you responded with a dig on the White Sox for some reason") was my little bit about how Santana is great fit for the White Sox because he wasn't a good player.
As is the case, you create a narrative through the lens you desire to see them. But as I've pointed out, that lens is consistently incorrect.
All it took was me taking the tiniest of potshots at the White Sox for you to become unglued and make some incorrect hot take (also called the Chi Sox Special) about something you know NOTHING about.
Anyhoo, enjoy the 2025 season. Maybe the White Sox will improve and only lose 115 games. I'm done with this convo.
06 Nov 2024 15:24:47
Welp, given your lack of response on the topic, I'm glad we've scraped to the bottom of your Minasian nonsense. Very odd angle by you, but whatever. I actually think Posey will do a solid job, but that a tandem like Posey & Zaidi would probably be the best case scenario.
Again, when I talked about teams trying to emulate Rick Hahn, that wasn't a hot take. Building a core that had the outlook they did in 2019/ 2020 and even entering the 2022 season is literally the goal of every POBO/ GM. You just don't know how to keep things in context. Your mis-characterization of talking points is very politician-like.
Everyone loved the position the White Sox were it. Heck, even Jeff Passan had a Twitter thread in early 2020 addressing how good of a situation the White Sox looked to be in given their talent & players they had under control, setting themselves up for a "sustained run".
In hindsight, aside from 20/ 21, it failed miserably. I'm not contesting that. Do you think you're dunking on me by stating that the 2023 and 2024 White Sox were awful? That Eloy and Moncada were, in fact, not good? That their owner is one of the worst in American sports? Trust me, I'm well aware buddy. They've been an objectively horrible organization for quite some time.
It also only took another year for Zaidi to also get canned, and let's not kid ourselves, you were very vocal about his role in creating the 2021 season that was followed up by 81, 79 and 80-win seasons.
I only bring up the history of the Johnsons and their politics because you opened that can of worms. If I remember correctly, it may have been regarding Aaron Bummer's conservative political ties or something, but it occurred to me how hypocritical that was given the team that you support, regardless of you is technically calling the shots.
Lastly, you're still on this role of making stuff up. I have never liked Oscar Colas. Not sure if that was made clear on here, but I am certain that I was never giddy on his outlook.
06 Nov 2024 15:50:52
To be clear, not everyone "loved" the position they were in. I saw straight through it, and as has been the case regarding the White Sox, I was dead right. They didn't set themselves up for a "sustained run", the run never happened.
You also said,
"Again, when I talked about teams trying to emulate Rick Hahn, that wasn't a hot take. Building a core that had the outlook they did in 2019/ 2020 and even entering the 2022 season is literally the goal of every POBO/ GM. "
It's a nice Motte & Bailey argument, but I'm not buying it. You were quite vociferous in your argument that somehow, Rick Hahn was doing something no one else was doing, and everyone was following suit. Now, it's, "well, he was just doing the literal goal of every POBO/ GM"? It's not the same argument and you know it.
I guess you could say the Giants emulated Rick Hahn by firing Farhan Zaidi, but that's as far as I'm willing to go.
Speaking of Zaidi, I'm happy to eat some crow on that. 2021 was a mirage, clearly. There were obvious signs that Zaidi was doing some things well and things I appreciated, but it never got off the ground, and I'm not even ashamed to admit I was wrong about Zaidi.
As far as the politics, I remember saying something about Aaron Bummer, a guy whose dorm room was down the hall from mine at the University of Nebraska. He was a pretty awful guy by all accounts at the time.
I don't even remember why I brought it up, but no, it's not anymore hypocritical that I like the Giants with my political stances than it was that you liked Bummer with yours. That's a two-way street. But I'm also not going to get super bent out of shape about it, unlike you.
And yes, you raved about Colas. You literally cited him as a reason for why Hahn was so good at one point. You say a lot of goofy things, so it's not surprising you forget this, but you absolutely said it. Trying to pretend otherwise is dishonest.
The thing to do now is acknowledge you were way wrong in almost ALL of your assessments of Hahn and the White Sox. And then probably take that into account when you make assessments about other teams. Maybe ask yourself what you didn't see and make sure you can see it in an honest way the next time.
After all, that's what I did with the White Sox. I looked at the team truthfully and saw a team that wasn't going to be good for very long. I saw a mediocre GM. Much to your own dismay, I was correct.
Maybe you ought to consider track records when you try your hand at debating this stuff again.
06 Nov 2024 19:12:57
"And yes, you raved about Colas. You literally cited him as a reason for why Hahn was so good at one point. "
You can go back to Oct 2021 on here. Show me where I said this.
07 Nov 2024 12:56:50
Since you encouraged me to go back and look, I thought I'd find some other gems:
"You trash Clevinger like the Giants didn't just commit more money to Sean Manaea who had a worse xRV than Clevinger in 2022."
Yes, and how did that go, Chi Sox? Please, tell me how that went.
"Vaughn moving to 1B is why he's projected for 2.4 fWAR now & will be much more valuable in 2023."
Vaughn in 2023: 0.4 fWAR. (-0.2 fWAR in 2024.) SO MUCH MORE VALUABLE. LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Or what about when you tried to pawn off some outdated article from an unknown fantasy writer named "Justin Dunbar" (are you Justin Dunbar? ) as why "OAA is 4x more predictive for outfielders than infielders" and in order to defend it, you dismissed articles from Keith Law and Ben Clemens. (Never mind that Justin Dunbar, who dismissed the value of OAA for infielders in 2020, uses it in his analysis of infielders now. Interesting how that works"
Remember that Paul Simon quote? Not much has changed in the past few years.
Or let's close with this:
"Although, 76 wins is a good current 2021 projection for Zaidi's Giants. So he may be right on track for a playoff berth in 2027."
How many games did the Giants win in 2021, Paul? HOW MANY GAMES DID THEY WIN?
Yeah, your track record of takes on here is, let's just say, not good at all.
In fact, I don't recall a single one even remotely coming to pass. It 's been that awful. So yeah, circling back, if anyone needs any evidence to completely ignore your opinions/ takes on the Giants front office, you've given quite a bit of it.
Thanks for reminding me to stroll down memory lane. I needed it.
07 Nov 2024 13:59:20
"Again, when I talked about teams trying to emulate Rick Hahn, that wasn't a hot take. Building a core that had the outlook they did in 2019/ 2020 and even entering the 2022 season is literally the goal of every POBO/ GM. Your mis-characterization of talking points is very politician-like. "
Since you encouraged me to take that stroll down memory lane (which goes back beyond 2021, unfortunately for you), that's not what you said.
"[Hahn's] extended more pre-arb players than anyone I can ever remember and he really started that strategy. Now teams little by little will follow (as you've already seen), especially if this core goes on to achieve sustainable success. "
Rick Hahn didn't revolutionize that strategy. The Giants, under Brian Sabean, did the same thing with Matt Cain in 2007. They did it with Pablo Sandoval in 2012 and Bumgarner in 2013. Buying out a player's arbitration years is something that existed long before Rick Hahn started doing it. THIS was your main defense to the "everyone is emulating Rick Hahn" when in reality, Rick Hahn was just emulating another successful team: The Giants. (By the way, I say that tongue-in-cheek, I don't believe the Giants were even the first team to do this. )
Your backpeddling and gaslighting is very politician-like.
Also, your history of taking information from guys like "MLBNerds" from twitter, Bennett Karoll, or random fantasy baseball writers, while summarily dismissing the work of ACTUAL journalists or actual guys with experience in baseball (Law, Clemens, etc. ) is a pretty damning piece of how you operate.
07 Nov 2024 15:11:58
Nate, try really hard and stay on topic here. You posted:
"And yes, you raved about Colas. You literally cited him as a reason for why Hahn was so good at one point. You say a lot of goofy things, so it's not surprising you forget this, but you absolutely said it. Trying to pretend otherwise is dishonest. "
I don't want to be dishonest here. Could you help me out with where I said this? You seemed to have skipped over Colas.
07 Nov 2024 16:25:18
Because of the sheer amount of comments, I could not find each one of them. I recall it was something about praising the outfield that had Benintendi and Oscar Colas and you felt like Hahn did a great job with constructing that.
07 Nov 2024 18:14:49
I fully expect that you will try to dodge it, deny it, or whatever. This is why I spent so much time indicting you on the way you discuss issues on this site.
You have no history of discussing anything in good faith, as you've yet again proven in this thread. You're consistently incorrect on your takes and history has not once been on your side in your predictions.
So again, deny, dodge, dip, duck. Whatever 5-D's of Dodgeball you need to do to get out of this one, I felt it was prudent to go into this offseason reminding you of over a half-decade's worth of your BS on this site.
Your takes have a worse track record than a Rick Hahn-led baseball team.
It was important to bring that to light and remind anyone reading of how utterly bad you are at this.
Anyhoo, on to a different comment thread.
07 Nov 2024 19:39:41
Yeah, no, never said that. I never believed in Colas and hated the Benintendi signing. I hoped they would target Bellinger and/ or Kiermaier. The extent to which I liked Benintendi was that landing him to play the OF would marginally improved their defense out there, given that they literally had Vaughn & Sheets at the corners for a good portion of 2022, and we know Benintendi has turned out to be an awful OF.
Maybe don't be so confident talking about stuff I've said when it's completely made up BS.
07 Nov 2024 20:39:17
"Maybe don't be so confident talking about stuff I've said when it's completely made up BS. "
Glad you're admitting that what you say is completely made up BS.
Nice to know we're on the same page.
07 Nov 2024 20:50:39
We can go on & on with you as well.
I'm old enough to remember when Tim Anderson's 2019 and Jose Abreu's 2020 were "fluke" seasons (the latter was even a worse all-around baseball player than DARIN RUF after winning an MVP - can you believe that? ), and how Craig Kimbrel would finish with a negative WAR in 2022 with an ERA over 5, and how Luis Robert was never going to be a good player, how the league was supposed to be afraid of the Giants' 2022 infield of Flores, Crawford, Estrada and Belt (who end up with wRC+s of 106, 103, 97, and 87 LOL), how I was dumb to refute your claim that Conforto had "30 HR potential" going into 2023 (citing the BAT X that had him at 15 to which you said I just picked convenient projections) - then he literally hit 15 HRs in 2023 LMAOOO, or or or when you said it was moronic for me to suggest that Boston would trade Benintendi & David Price in the same deal due to what it would mean for their return, and then they literally followed that same concept, except it was Mookie freakin' Betts.
You're generationally bad at this. But hey, YDKB, and that's ok.
09 Nov 2024 14:57:02
I said Darin Ruf was better in TWENTY-TWENTY ONE (2021) than Jose Abreu, not a better career. But continue to lie about what I said, please.
Could you point me to where I said Luis Robert wasn't going to be a good player. I highlighted that the Mets weren't going to take him straight up for Noah Syndergaard, because, well, the Mets said so themselves.
And also, how is Tim Anderson's career going? He had two good seasons after that, and then just like your brain cells, he deteriorated into nothingness. It's almost like, and hear me out on this, his performance was entirely a fluke.
But hey, it's nice you can cite a few misses. It's not like I called the White Sox the LOS ANGELES DODGERS OF THE AMERICAN LEAGUE!
Seriously, that will forever be the worst take on this website. An All-Timer from you. So congrats for being known for *something* on here.
09 Nov 2024 15:29:43
-Jose Abreu- out of baseball.
-Tim Anderson- out of baseball.
-Craig Kimbrel- cut by the Orioles and likely out of baseball.
-Rick Hahn- out of baseball.
-Avisail Garcia- out of baseball.
-Andrew Vaughn- would likely be out of baseball (or at least not in the majors) if it weren't for the fact that he plays on the worst baseball team in history.
Almost every single player you've propped up as some star is literally out of the game (or should be) way earlier than retirement. Maybe, I don't know, consider this little factoid when you want to go after a projection for one year of baseball.
You got so bent out of shape when I pointed out to, in no uncertain terms, that none of the players above would be good long-term. As is the case, I was 100% correct, and the rest of baseball seems to agree with my take. No one is even interested in taking a chance on those guys any longer.
I'll close with this: it's almost impressive how much you were wrong. From your assessment of Hahn, to the long-term assessment of the players I mentioned, to thinking the White Sox were the "Dodgers of the American League" (when really, they were the Rockies of the American League) .
You would have expected even one of those things to be true at some point in time, especially considering how clamorous and dogmatic you were about it.
Nope, not even a single one came to pass.
That's impressive. It might be the only impressive thing you've ever accomplished in this life.
09 Nov 2024 20:10:10
"Could you point me to where I said Luis Robert wasn't going to be a good player. "
LOL, how ironic.
You keep bringing up the Dodgers comment, something I said when the team was at its peak and looked to be continuing to rise. A ton of people, including you who picked them for 90+ wins in 2022, had them as world series contenders in 2020, 2021, and 2022. And a lot of the folks I'm referencing here are the baseball writers whose options YOU believe hold more weight than yours or mine. The Dodgers thing is your obsession, and it isn't the own you think it is.
The White Sox obviously didn't develop into a Dodgers- or Astros-type dynasty, you kicking down doesn't really do much. You're telling the White Sox are actually a bad team? What a profound thought by you, Nate.
Your logic is also not sound. Your comments on the White Sox players are justified because Abreu, Anderson, and Kimbrel are out of baseball in 2025? Then why is my Dodgers comment, something I said 4+ years ago, still relevant? It doesn't make sense. You were wrong about everything I listed when the manifestation was relevant. Where the players are currently at doesn't matter at all.
I could use the same logic with the '22 Giants infield, who are all practically out of MLB in 2025. Does that make me EVEN MORE correct about that prediction? Where's Zaidi? Out of baseball. See how this makes not a lick of sense?
Petriello's article has the Giants as the 22nd best roster in MLB. Maybe focus on your squad improving on that rather than fixating on my 4+ year-old comments.
11 Nov 2024 12:00:32
"Then why is my Dodgers comment, something I said 4+ years ago, still relevant? "
Because it shows how you tend to argue these things. You love to argue about projections (you literally did in your comment) and about "what might be" and the problem is: you tend to view the most ludicrously generous projections for your team while finding the least favorable projections for others. I've called you out on this for years, and that specific take was the evidence of how out of touch you were with reality: not only was it not true, it never became remotely close to being true. Not even the slightest bit.
If you want to come on here and act really arrogant, you should probably have to wear that prediction and at least offer some sort of a mea culpa beyond "well, that was 4 years ago. "
11 Nov 2024 20:25:47
"and at least offer some sort of a mea culpa beyond "well, that was 4 years ago. "
I literally have worn it. I've said it's a terribly ran organization by one of the worst owners in professional American sports. I can go player-by-player if we want to breakdown why their rebuild and contention window failed. I said the goal of every GM in MLB is to build a young core to build around and then supplement with free agents. It's almost impossible to build your team from free agency unless you have extremely deep pockets and almost none of those FA signings bust. The Sox *did* the first part, they we're highly regarded players that ended up being good, the problem was the window was 2 seasons. They were heralded by the same baseball writers that you believe hold the most valuable opinions on these teams.
At this exact point 3 years ago, a TON of people had the White Sox as the AL favorites in 2022. ESPN had them as the 4th best team in baseball and 2nd best in AL. Only the Astros & Yankees had better World Series betting odds. Let's keep things in context.
The problem is you're using the record of the 2023 & 2024 White Sox as evidence to discount my claim from 2020. It makes no sense.
You can't say things like "Tim Anderson's 2019 was a complete fluke, here comes massive regression", then shut up about it as he puts up almost 9 fWAR over the next 2.5 seasons, then resurface and be like "See! I told you I was right! ". It's disingenuous.
Then, to top it off, you said that Darin Ruf was a better baseball player than Jose Abreu while Ruf is having a career year, fine. Talk your talk. Then, Ruf is 4.5 fWAR worse than Jose Abreu in 2023, you're silent about Ruf vs. Abreu, and now you're claiming that you only meant 2021, yet are using the fact that Jose Abreu is out of baseball as a knock on my past comments of the Sox core being really, really good. flip-flop-flip-flop. Again, disingenuous.
It's why you struggle so much on here and why you've practically (by various account of other people) killed the site being as stand-offish and brash as you are.