Everyone loves to hate the three-outcome hitters, but there's a reason that profile is successful. Do you think Nick Madrigal is talented enough to zig when everyone else zags and changes the paradigm? Uh, no. He's probably not even durable enough to play consistently.

Neat player. Not bad. We want to love him because he represents a better more watchable version of baseball. The odds this hurts like Tatis Jr. hurts border on slim to none.

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"Yes, I would just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back, like Independence Day, with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I'll be back, I'll be back."

When all you do is Zag and every pitcher in baseball knows it then you need some zig to even it out. I do not subscribe to this launch angle bullshit. It is all regular season crap. When it comes playoff time you need pure hitters. The cubs won the WS because of Zobrist...not because of the core. Forget the regular season. When it came down to go time he slapped it wherever it needed to be slapped.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

True.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I used to have the exact same opinion. That is until you watch a hitter using a Rapsodo machine. Usually set up indoors in a cage, it shows you exactly where a batted ball will travel and the spits out the spin, launch angle, and exit velocity. And if you just watch the hitter make contact, you can generally tell how hard they hit it. But what takes some training is to figure but how far it would go. But these machines do all that for you.

You will see teenagers rip balls and maybe have mid-90’s exit velo. At a 15 degree launch angle they are lucky to hit it 200 feet. They get that same swing and go 25 degrees, and it travels 350+.

Now the trick is, and where launch angle enthusiasts miss out, is that putting that upper cut swing into practice means it is much harder to make hard contact. But I definitely changed from a “swing level” guy.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

I hate launch angle as well, and agree with slap hitters. The problem with Madigal is, his defense is so so, he is not fast, and he does not run the bases well. I really likes him, and it seemed he was figuring it out with some power before he got hurt. His problem seems to be, he is always hurt. And at the end of the day, he was not going to participate in this years playoffs. We also have no idea how he is going to heal after his surgery. This is a very big win for the sox. The 8-9 innings should be on lock now in the playoffs.

I know Kimbrel has been lights out but historically he's been dogshit in October.

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Don't sleep on the Jays

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As a pitching guy, I love hitters having the length of time of contact in the zone shortened. I want to miss bats, and this helps me. There's always exceptions. There's going to be the 1-5% of the super talented that will hurt me, but I can live with that.

But to teach launch angle to a regular hitting HS kid? That's pretty stupid.

There are a lot of bust out college and minor league players out there all looking to get their piece of the travel player money. They have to sell something or else they'll have to move on to gym teacher

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Former Tampa bay pitchers are commanding top dollar right now from starry eyed, and stupid parents.

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Fathers beware. None of you has Kris Bryant for a kid. Keeping the bat in the zone as long as you can is still the best strategy. I say this with confidence from the pitching side of things.

Katz went from high school to MLB. He didn't get there just with mechanical tinkering. Giolito shitcanned his hard sinker. He still throws a sinker but it's a changeup. And he throws it to the hole of launch angleists and says "good luck". It frustrates the shit out of guys named Donaldson. Who hits .182 against him.

The Sox know something about Madrigal, I'm sure of it.

And Kimbrel is one pitch sequence away from going right back to his control issues. They haven't gone away, he's just masked them well. At the exact wrong time, watch his control go south again.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I looked at Kimbrel's playoff stats and now I can't unsee them.

I like the trade, but I do have concerns on Kimbrel going back to what the Cubs got the first season and a half from him. Still.....he's an upgrade over Bummer and the rest of the Sox pen.

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As a closer. He might be pitching the 8th inning of this year's playoff games.

What's known about Madrigal is that he tore his hamstring and even if he looses even a smidgen of his speed, that's going to hurt him on the field and at the dish.

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Stone explained it the best. Madrigal was overdrafted as a 1st round player. He's a good hitter and will be a valuable contributor on someone's team, but he's not a player that will lead a team to greatness.

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Great point. Thank you.

Right now, he looks filthy. As good as ever.

He definitely is an upgrade, and interestingly enough Bummer has strung together some good outings. If Bummer regains his 2019 form, then this pen is dangerous. Bummer to Kopech to Kimbrel to Hendriks is just unfair and I'm here for it.

Heck it doesn't even have to be the 8th inning. If you're in the playoffs and your starter gets into a jam in the 6th, you can burn 1 of your 2 closers to get what may end up being your most important outs and still have a closer for the 9th.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

There's a lot of upside to him. There's potential to be sparky. It all depends on his ability to get doubles. 35-40 doubles is valuable at the top of the order. I really wish him luck. Those 4 weeks before he got hurt were really something. Nothing to sneeze at.

An aside, does the runner on 2nd BS for extra innings happen during the playoffs? If so, that is just criminal.

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Agreed. Stone also pointed out (correctly) this trade very well should turn out to be a win for the both teams.

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Plus we have have Kimbrel for another year if we so desire. He cost what he cost and I have no qualms about the trade. I had problems with the Lynn trade because he was a one and done. That's been rectified. Although the trade climate at that time said we gave up too much. Lynn's career year says otherwise now and we get 3 more and he's turned into my favorite pitcher. I didn't see that coming.

No, regular season only. It was the same last year.

If Madrigal can be a solid #9 hitter and give the Cubs 1.5 WAR a season for four years, it was a good trade for both teams. Hoerner has had several injuries already, but can play a decent SS. Picking up Madrigal reduces the need for the Cubs to feel like they have to overpay for a MI in free agency, and they can focus on corner OF. (Hopefully Castellanos whose swing was built for Wrigley.)

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Did the Cubs really turn down Tyler Glasnow?

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"Yes, I would just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back, like Independence Day, with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I'll be back, I'll be back."

Pretty sure it is not.

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I don't think that is big news, unless they had a contract worked out with him. I believe he has 2yrs of control, and you have to expect he is gonna have TJ.

He's having surgery. And I would have preferred not trading for a guy with a shredded hamstring.

Despite all of that I'd rather have Glasnow than Madrigal.

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"Yes, I would just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back, like Independence Day, with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I'll be back, I'll be back."

It's a fucking no brainer. TJ is up to a 80-90% success rate.

If the Glasnow thing is true, that's a major fuckup.

Both him and Madrigal are missing the rest of this year, so its only one season of difference (a season the Cubs won't be competitive for anyways). I bet Glasnow would take a team friendly deal to buy out his arb years and give a little more control to cover the uncertainty of his surgery. The Cubs should be flush with cash for exactly that type of gamble.

He's a Cy Young caliber pitcher. He'll be under thirty when he comes back from surgery, presuming its a full recovery he should be an ace for a few years. I'd much rather roll that set of dice than bet on Nick Madrigal to suddenly become something he's not.

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"Yes, I would just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back, like Independence Day, with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I'll be back, I'll be back."