Sonny Gray
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SABRMatt notes that the M's are rumored to be talking to Billy Beane about ... Sonny Gray?! Dr. D's 'thoughts,' however dubious, are solicited. As Clint Eastwood's main squeeze famously said, "dreams are like clouds floating across a sky-blue mind." And what could be sky-er blue than MLB trade rumors in July... clouds float across Dr. D's mind thusly:
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1) Drew Smyly's TJ surgery clears what, $10M next year when they non-tender him. It also clears the rotation of all hopes and aspirations of having that particular young strikeout rotation member. Clarity can be a wonderful thing. If only we had a General Manager willing to make bold deals.
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2) Billy Beane is deliciously willing to bet on his own judgment. He is a guy who will say "give me my pick of your guys below AAA."
We saw some local blog write 1,000 words that can be summarized as "fuhgeddaboudit. Beane ain't trading in the division." It sez here that rather than focusing on how a trade could come back to haunt him, Beane would relish the possibilities of his trade coming back to haunt others. Or as the world "bullet" chess champ put it -- bullet gives you 60 seconds for the entire game, much like a LeBron postgame -- the bullet champ sez "Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Rather, focus on all those juicy mistakes your opponent is about to make!"
DiPoto, like Beane, also seems willing to drop a Luis Gohara here and there, if he can get back a Segura and Haniger on the flip-flop. Dr. D approves of this mindset.
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3) The Mainframe is betting the over, wayyy over, on Sonny Gray. Or, to put it another way, Gray is a "Buy Low" opportunity -- at least from the fans' point of view. He is actually throwing better than he was than when he was famous: check his K/9, his FIP, his SwStr%, everything. His fish rate is way up. His velo is career high. More to the point, check this video. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=12768&position=P
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4) This all adds up to
NOT: Would the Mainframe care to input Sonny Gray onto its digital M's roster
BUT: Let's hope DiPoto might be willing to outbid the other sharks
Compared to Jose Quintana, Sonny Gray draws a collective yawn from the peanuts in the blogging gallery. But Dr. D would not bet anything he was afraid to lose, on Gray pitching worse than Quintana the rest of the year.
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Make it so,
jemanji