MLB 2018 regular season thread

That's kind of what I'm thinking.

If he got better at 35, I'd be more circumspect. Cano played 132 games in the majors as a 22-year-old.

Without looking, I'd guess he learned better plate discipline as well,

 

Of course they do.

And maybe Cano did too.

But he also failed a drug test for a listed masking agent.

 

And this writer uses his minor-to-major league performance as evidence of ... what?

Rod Carew minors: .302/.391/.384
Rod Carew majors: .328/.393/.429

George Brett minors: .281/.356/.403
George Brett majors: .305/.369/487

 

I remember when he came up. He was considered a big prospect despite his mediocre numbers in the minors. I bet Sanchez has similar numbers.

 

I would hypothesize that a lot of Dominican guys come over young and probably under-nourished, too, with very raw skill sets.

 

A lot of guys are. James Surowiecki has no idea what he's talking about.

 

It is more likely highly touted prospects have lower minor than major league numbers because they are often rushed through the development process. They start off at a higher level than low-A, get promoted to AA quickly, and then it's the big club. The majors are the first chance they have to get consistent.

 

As unfair or poorly informed as it is, that Surowiecki tweet is a pretty good example of retroactive damage to reputation.

Cano tests positive in 2018, and suddenly everything since 2006 is under suspicion.

So what does the 80-game suspension mean to Cano's Hall of Fame chances?

 

It was difficult, but not unexpected, to see the White Sox get beat to a pulp by the surprise, first-place Pittsburgh Pirates this week.

 

No I didn't. I cited him as an example of a player about whom people disagree.

 

That's right. It was peripheral to the Ohtani discussion, as I recall.

 

It seems like it's all kind of related, though: Puig is a star - a bigger star than a shoo-in HOFer like Robinson Cano - because he plays in a big market for a public team, because he has an interesting backstory, and because he's charismatic and compelling as a personality. Those are also, at least in part, reasons that people even care enough about him to have differing opinions on him.