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The MLB Daily Dish is a daily feature we're running here at MLBDD and rounds up roster-impacting news, rumors, and analysis. Have feedback or have something that should be shared? Hit us at @mlbdailydish on Twitter.
Good morning baseball fans!
Dexter Fowler pulled the ultimate swerve, signing with the Cubs instead of the Orioles.
The Cubs then moved Chris Coghlan, trading him to the A's.
San Francisco re-loaded this winter, trying to continue their even-year spell that they have.
Another California team, the Angels, had a different offseason. They had needs, but didn't address them. The moves they did make really didn't upgrade their team.
Dave Cameron of Fangraphs wrote a piece yesterday entitled "Why We Hate the Diamondbacks".
In reality, guys who play at elite levels usually get worse, even if they’re still really good. Pitchers get hurt, and sometimes, guys who are terrible stay terrible. There is absolutely a scenario where the Diamondbacks outperform these projections, and I’d probably take the over on enough of Steamer’s projections to see them as an 80 or 81 win team myself, but to get to the point where “78 wins is impossible”, one has to take an extraordinarily optimistic view of almost every player on the roster.
The forecasting systems aren’t trying to project best-case outcomes. Instead, they simply look at a Diamondbacks roster that has some key players who are likely to perform worse than they did a year ago, sees zero depth in the rotation, and several significant question marks among the projected regulars, without any obvious internal replacements around if things go south again. It’s a team that absolutely could win if enough things go right, but while the new guys they got will help, the team isn’t adding those guys to a 79-win base. That’s just not how baseball works.
Stacey Gotsulias of Beyond the Box Score looked at how players with different attributes and styles can achieve the same WAR in a given year.
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Today in Baseball History: In 1935, Babe Ruth is released by the Yankees to sign with the Boston Braves for $20,000 and a share of the team's profits.