Boras spotted in Houston airport.....Harper??!!! Signed with Phils.

J/k... I believe in WAR as a stat. Very interesting about Marwin!!

 

I like fWAR a little better than rWAR for batters. They usually are close. When they aren't, I typically agree more with fWAR. fWAR has Harper as worth about double of Marwin's value over the past 3 years. Just a high level look at rWAR for Harper in 2019, that stat did not like Harper's hustle last year and punished his defensive value severely for the lollygagging. Basically, Harper letting outs drop for singles in front of him every game plus other poor defensive plays was rated as worth nearly 4 wins worse than Marwin in the field by rWAR without taking offense into account. That's a huge number that I don't believe. Harper was the better player 2 and 3 years ago by rWAR.

 

The fact that there can be a legitimate conversation comparing Harpers value to Marwin should scare the crap out of whoever gives him $250 million +

 

im pretty sure we were talking about a 3-4/130-180 range

 

It's not a legitimate conversation.

 

4/180 would be just as bad

 

No, but if you take his ONE monster season out, Harper is nowhere close to a player who should be in the price range he is going to be in, even in this reduced market

 

He's a 4 fWAR/year player if you take out his monster season *and* his injury-plagued '14. And he just turned 26.

Comparing him to Marwin Gonzalez is not a legitimate conversation.

 

Right, you're betting that the talent (which nobody disputes) will lead to an equal level of production during his next 6 or so prime years.

 

take away correa one season and correa doesnt even make the team. whats your point? whats your beef with harper i dont understand?

 

Beef is something I eat, medium rare

I don’t dislike Harper, I’ve even posted scenarios where I said I’d sign him

My point is, if the guy wants a long term deal at big money, the $200 million plus we have been reading (and actually upwards of $400 million at a time not too long ago) he should have been way more consistent. As for Correa, he is one of my absolute favorite players, but if you are asking me if we should give him 10/$200 hell no. 1) he isn’t at the point we need to 2) he hasn’t proven to be worth it, YET 3) let’s see how that back is

Arenado is about the only one I’d consider a deal like that for

Never have I said I don’t like Harper, but don’t pay someone like that with the overall level of up and down performance he has given

Maybe you disagree, cool.

For all the heat mlb has taken over free agency, Harper has been wildly inconsistent and Machado hurt himself badly with his attitude in last years playoffs. Not saying he would have got 10/$400 like was talked about, but he hurt himself without a doubt

 

Provided a team is consistently trying to win, I've always been perplexed as to when/why fans get concerned about how owners spend their money?

Granted, if an owner is spending money on the big league team... but then cheapens out when it comes to signing draft picks and placing resources into the farm (something that Drayton performed towards the end), it certainly is warranting of concern.

But if you have an owner who is willing to fund both aspects at whatever it takes to win, I really can't fault any team in that regard. The goal is to win it all, year-in/year-out. While tanking has become the in-vogue strategy (that secretly does try and get teams more profitable), there's still a lot of variables that have to fall into place for it to be successful (as well as a generalized commitment that money has to be spent on the back-end once the team is good).

 

What does this even mean?

 

For baseball, owners set a team's budget (not always a hard budget). If an owner spends money inefficiently, he is buying less wins within the budget. Fans care about wins, and as such some care about where the money goes just as some fans complain when an owner doesn't spend.

If I was a Padre fan, I would be furious with the Hosmer deal. He is basically eating up 20-25% of the team's budget that won't be replaced.

 

I only care to the extent that I want the organization to make good financial decisions because that has an impact on the organizations ability to build a good team.

So, if the scenario is, "Why do you care if Jim Crane spends 10/$400 million on Harper?" - I care because that contract does not return good value and hamstrings the organizations ability to build a contender year in and year out.

 

What are the Giants even doing??

 

Padres admittedly said they’re not trying to win.

Teams that notably cut corners elsewhere after spending big are also open for criticism.

However on a team that’s mostly complete, and can sign one or two players to optimize their chances, why do fans criticize that?