20 Comments

Good coverage of the AFL game. Termarr bounced a throw to 1B.....sounds telling that we need to not assume he can play SS or 3rd!

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The pitch arsenal and the velocity ranges for Curtis make for an intriguing pitcher when he's throwing strikes. He's throwing five pitches at five different speeds, starting with solid fastball velocity. You could really keep a batter guessing/off-balance when you have that type of range and pitches going in all different directions.

My immediate thought was pitchers who used to work batters slower each pitch. If they were sitting fastball, they are going to swing over a changeup. If you can drop down to a slider and then curve, his timing will be all off, and then the fastball looks 110 MPH. It feels like Curtis could really thrive as he gets more experience. Of course he has to throw strikes, but if he becomes a pitcher (not a thrower), there is real potential there.

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From what I have read, this seems to be a fairly significant front office position. The job duties do seem to vary a little team-to-team, but it sounds like he's in charge of taking information from the analyst department and the sports performance department and turning both into usable information for the MLB staff.

It feels like the Pirates added a really good piece here based on his experience and moving up the ladder of front office jobs to a top position for a playoff team

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Kudos to you for breaking the news, which the PG credited you with.

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That tweet I sent sure got a lot more attention than I expected for a front office move on what is basically the off-season. I figured a lot of people checked out, so anything that wasn't Nutting selling or Cherington/Shelton getting fired, would fly under the radar.

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An awful lot depends on what Cherington is expecting from the position. Nothing can convince me that any analytic guy went to Cherington and said, "We just HAVE to get Bryan De La Cruz." The consistent pattern with this FO has been to acquire the guy at the absolute bottom of the list, with zero regard for performance level, and then pretend afterward that there was some secret data (never explained, of course) that told them the guy would perform very differently from what he'd always done.

So the question is, do they want real advice, or do they just want somebody who'll make something up to justify stupid moves that Cherington has already settled on?

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What struck me about them acquiring BDLC was how similar his profile was to Tellez's--players that had put up some nice HR numbers but did little else to help a team as indicated by their WAR values.

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Secret data is always right though!

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Hate to admit it, but I think this is analysis is correct. NO analytics person of any qualifications at all would have recommended Bryan De La Cruz.

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Especially the Guardians feel like a very good org to hire away from, so I will take that as a win

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The Guardians do seem like a very well run organization, and it's worth noting that Huntington is part of their FO.

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Nice catch, I heard somewhere they are something like third in winning percentage in the last decade (dont quote me on that exactly) but impressive nonetheless

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Another FO member from a liberal arts college in the northeast! Seems like a good hire, and an interesting aside is that Tenenbaum and Gelles were with the Orioles at the same time.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevintenenbaum/

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I like how he was an Intern for his first gig.

That tells me the guy has some passion for the job and for the game. Yeah that's a good take about Gelles too.

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That profile has treated us fans _so_ well the last 17 years, right? Team has only lost 145 more games than they've won in that timespan! 1283-1428. You know how many playoff series and games won and don't need me to remind you.

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Most of the executives today have degrees from fancy schools. So I wouldn’t differentiate someone by that. Elias went to Yale and Stearns went to Harvard and I’d happily take either guy.

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Also Yale and Harvard ain't what they used to be. Grade inflation. It's all just a rich kid club now you're either born into or not or admissioned into if you look the right way and your diversity statement says the right things.

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Bob shops for rejected bargains in the Williams College and Amherst circuit.

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Is that like the discount bin of DVD’s at Walmart?

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Sounds more like Filene's Basement

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