Hot Stove

Miley is a 28-yr-old solid innings-eater who has averaged 200 IP the last three three years, won 16 games two years ago, and had 3.33 and 3.55 ERAs in 2012 and 2013. He did have an off-year in 2014, but if that's "ho-hum," a lot of teams would love to have such "ho-hum" pitchers on their staff.

De La Rosa does throw hard, but he had a very unimpressive 4.54 ERA and 1.48 WHIP in his 30 games, 18 starts, and 113 IP with the Sox. He has also never shown firm command of his secondary stuff. You, apparently, think he's going to be better than Miley and Porcello, who's the same age as De La Rosa but won 15 games, had a 3.43 ERA, and a 1.23 WHIP last year. I agree he has the raw potential to be better, but I don't see him doing it. I am, though, willing to listen if you can actually make a case for it.

Miley's era the last 3 years: 3.33, 3.45, 4.34
Miley's whip last 3 years: 1.18, 1.32, 1.40
...and that's in the NL

Don't get me wrong, glad to have him as a #3, but he's trending the wrong way (except for k's). I'm hoping for the best, but my worries are that decline, the switch from NL, and his being a mid-rotation lefty pitching in Fenway.

The reason I was encouraged by de la rosa, was his success at home. I take that to mean his immaturity at the MLB level impacted his comfort levels (nerves?), and his lengthy stay in the bigs last year may help.

Like I said about Porcello previously, I'm concerned about that k-rate, and hoping 2014 was his arrival and not a blip.

Well, we're clearly not too far off in our estimations. Neither of us see Miley as ace material, but both of us see his substantial value, particularly to a team loaded with righty starters. Miley definitely had an off year last year, although his K-rate did spike from 6.53-8.18.

As to De La Rosa, we agree on his substantial potential. However, where you give him leeway for "nerves," I see a 26-year old who has never got a hold of his command. Either way, he's a nice pickup for AZ.

As to, Porcello, except for last year, he has never had a high strikeout rate, so this year didn't indicate any downward deviation. Strikeouts are nice, but they aren't mandatory for success. If Porcello can pitch like he did last year without them--and he likely can--there's no worry. Doug Fister strikes no one out, and he does just fine.

I agree on Porcello, good point with Fister. Im not saying he can't succeed with low k-rate, but it is a cause for concern. He actually throws pretty hard too, so surprised he hasn't had more success in that dept

Just musing here, but I wonder sometimes, when we Strat heads try and do evaluations of real baseball if we aren't stuck with our Strat evaluations. By that I mean, in the case of Miley, he's a middle of the rotation LH Sp in the MLB which means in our format he likely is at best a #5 starter in a good year and I wonder if those types of differences stick either consciously or subconsciously.

I'd like to think I don't think that way, but I think it does seep into my subconscious! Lol

Baseball America declared Theo Epstein the winner of the winter meetings. The Cubs certainly got my attention, I'm still snake bitten by them as they killed my bankroll in both 84 and 89 , but they look like they are building a formidable team

Regardless of what lineup they go with, Epstein has done an excellent job rebuilding the franchise and putting them in the position to compete for many years to come. Having Lester as their bonafide ace and Joe Maddon at the helm will certainly help.

Forget Baseball America, I called that two days ago...

As to Niners' interesting notion, I think all of our views on MLB have been somewhat shaped by SOM. I know I, myself, sometimes catch myself telling my wife, friends, or kids that Crawford is a 1 shortstop or that Morse is a 4 outfielder. On the good side, it has taught us a lot about team building, the value of OBP, and shaping team building to stadiums. On the bad side, it makes us look at MLB through rules and perspectives not applying to it.

I'm not critiquing Keyzick here, but Online SOM does undervalue left-handed pitchability pitchers like Miley often. To major league clubs, a left-handed innings eater like Miley is a valuable and desirable commodity. To Online SOM, he's a non-dominating pitcher worth less than 2Mil. So, using SOM to inform our views on MLB is fine; we just need to be wary of letting them shape them.

Well, it looks like the South Side of Chicago is getting some love from the baseball press, too. Bleacher Report identified them as the most-improved team of the Winter Meetings, and that's definitely justified. They come back with a #2 starter (Samardzija), an excellent closer (Robertson), a smooth-hitting left-fielder (Cabrera), and a LH power-hitting DH/1b (LaRoche). Considering it only cost them one young player of definite note (Semien), that's a nice haul for a team in a weak division.

Here's the article: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2299 ... t-improved

Just musing here, but I wonder sometimes, when we Strat heads try and do evaluations of real baseball if we aren't stuck with our Strat evaluations. By that I mean, in the case of Miley, he's a middle of the rotation LH Sp in the MLB which means in our format he likely is at best a #5 starter in a good year and I wonder if those types of differences stick either consciously or subconsciously.

I know in some past seasons I have been guilty of that type thinking. The scum could not make my strat team so ....
I think some similar thinking happens if you play too much fantasy baseball. There is a tendency to compare everyone to the elite of the league. And anyone who misses being in the top tier gets tossed in with all the leftovers.

It has been noteworthy for me being a Ranger fan they have done little or nothing. My first thought when I heard the Padres got Kemp the Rangers could have bettered that. And if Dodgers were going to pay a big percentage of the money still due he became affordable. He would fit in nicely in RF having let Rios walk. Not fond of the plan to move Choo to RF because that still leaves a hole in LF unless you are going to once again count on Choice to recapture his AA magic power bat form. Did I really just say that?