I'm listening


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O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

... then they probably would have agreed on something a bit larger this year. He was a useful, but pretty replaceable talent all the way up through his age-27 season. His 2014 kind of got him on the board with a real paycheck for his first arbitration season, but prior than that he was just as likely to end up a 4th outfielder or a AAAA guy as an All-Star.

So, the answer is: that's how baseball works. In exchange for guaranteed contracts and no salary cap, players have to take a hit for their first three serf years and, unless they Lincecum/Howard/Trout-style ball out, for a few arb-years past that. It seems kind of off for a guy like Cain, who was a 17th rounder and didn't really click until his late-20s. So there's no big bonus in the bank and he kind of has to grit his teeth that he doesn't get hurt.

But it's better than the NFL.

If Cain and his agent (who actually writes delightfully candidate articles for Baseball Prospectus once and awhile about what it's like to be a player representative) play things right, he'll get paid extremely well far past his actual on-field usefulness this winter.

edit: Kusnick also represent(ed?) Michael Brantley, who had a weirdly similar career arc - low-ish draftee traded from the Brewers for an ace pitcher (Sabathia for Brantley, Greinke for Cain) and took awhile to latch on until he eventually became a star. That's turned out pretty well, as Brantley scored a decent-sized extension after his first arbitration season.

______________________________

"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"

--Walleye's Dad

Pay dyat man hyis money (c) Teddy KGB


http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/60754/lorenzo-cain-stealth-mvp-candidate

David Schoenfield, SweetSpot blogger


One of the most pleasant surprises over the past couple of seasons has been the development of Kansas City Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain into one of most valuable all-around players in the game.

The All-Star starter is hitting .315/.370/.502 with 18 steals in 21 attempts and that nothing-gets-by-him defense. He has added a little more power and a few more walks this year ,and his +13 Defensive Runs Saved total ranks fourth-best in the majors among all fielders. The total package makes him a sleeper MVP candidate.

Of course, Mike Trout is the heavy favorite for the award right now, especially with the Los Angeles Angels winning 17 of their past 20 games to become a likely playoff team. Since the MVP winner almost always comes from a playoff team -- only two of the past 20 MVP winners didn't make the postseason -- it will be difficult to dethrone Trout. But if he gets injured or the Angels fall apart, keep an eye on Cain, who ranks among the American League leaders in Wins Above Replacement:

Trout, 6.0

Cain, 5.2

Dallas Keuchel, 5.2

Manny Machado, 5.1

Josh Donaldson, 4.9

Cain's career took a long and winding road to get here. He didn't play baseball until high school, and the Brewers took him the 17th round in 2004 as a draft-and-follow out of a Florida community college. He signed in the spring of 2005 and despite having not played much baseball, became the MVP of the Arizona Rookie League when he hit .356. From there, it only took nine years until he put together his first full season in the majors last year.

Even after that strong performance in his first season in pro ball, Baseball America rated Cain as just the 27th-best prospect for the Brewers, suggesting "he profiles more as a corner outfielder" and pointing out his raw approach at the plate (kind of interesting, considering he had a not-terrible ratio of 20 walks and 32 strikeouts).

Injuries were a big reason why. He played just 60 games in 2009 due to a knee injury and hit just .210. He reached the majors in 2010 and hit .306 in 147 at-bats but was part of the Zack Greinke trade that offseason. He spent almost all of 2011 in Triple-A but began 2012 as the Royals' starting center fielder. However, he suffered a pulled groin in the fifth game of the season while crashing into the outfield wall making a spectacular catch. He'd play just 61 games in the majors that year, suffering two more leg injuries.

Cain finally broke out last year in his age-28 season, hitting .301, an average driven by a high .388 BABIP. Cain hasn't sustained that high BABIP in 2015 -- it's at .355, still 14th-best in the majors -- but has improved at the plate. One reason: He absolutely kills fastballs:

http://a2.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2015%2F0723%2Fmlb_trumedia_baseball_heatmap5_576x324.png&w=570

His season line against fastballs: .388/.448/.619. That's the fourth-best batting average against fastballs, and he owns the sixth-best wOBA. As you can see, it doesn't really matter much where in the zone the fastball is located: Up, down, away ... Cain blisters fastballs.

So, why do pitchers keep throwing him fastballs? Well, they're trying not to. Cain ranks 136th out of 160 batters in percentage of fastballs seen. Cain hasn't improved much against offspeed stuff (.256 wOBA last year, .280 this year) and is chasing pitches out of the zone at about the same rate as 2014, although he is making more contact. More than anything, it just looks like that when he sees a fastball or gets into a fastball count, he attacks and delivers.

His defense goes without question. Here, just do a search on MLB.com for "Lorenzo Cain catch" and check out his highlight reel.

Like Jose Bautista, Cain is a late developer. Like Bautista, he also has become one of the best players in the game. Not bad for a guy who hardly played baseball growing up.

___________________

Mar-A-Lago delenda est

If he were a free agent, a lot of teams would look at him and see Gary Matthews's 2006 or Aaron Rowand's 2007. But as it is, he's still got to deal with two more arbitration years with the Royals.

If he keeps this up - and it is an MVP-quality season - I'll be curious to see what happens. I think Cain is a better defender than both of those guys above, but they were all real centerfielders. Maybe somebody out of the box like Mark DeRosa or Chris Davis is a better sell for his agent - guys with talent but who took an inconveniently long time to establish themselves as MLB regulars.

If he's willing to sell two years of free agency, I bet he does okay. Something like 4/50mm this off-season? But continuing year to year seems like a mistake.

______________________________

"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"

--Walleye's Dad

He should be able to cash out pretty well in arbitration hearings though, which are finally starting to resemble something halfway fair.

And you will know MY JACKET IS GOLD when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

------------------------------------
2019 CABG Survivor

2016 OK Survivor Champion

be about it or be without it

RIP GOATs

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O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Especially since your question was clearly and thoroughly answered in reply 1 lol

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

when dude was the MVP of the series (right? i dont hang around for postgame crap) and like you said literally no one was like "he's paid shit because he sucks" lol. weird.

And you will know MY JACKET IS GOLD when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

And you will know MY JACKET IS GOLD when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

Dude been offering up his service on discount, sheesh

Hes good but hes was always going to get around the same as Fowler got from Stl. Plus age 31. Did you think he was going to get 5-7 years at 120+ into his late 30's from a team?



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IG @h_n_z

>Hes good but hes was always going to get around the same as
>Fowler got from Stl. Plus age 31. Did you think he was going
>to get 5-7 years at 120+ into his late 30's from a team?

And I'm not complaining about this contract.

My beef was more about his little paltry doe he was getting
while being dead in the middle of the lineup of a World Series
Champ

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O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Hi

instead of signing Cain.

---------------------------------
Photo zine(some images NSFW): http://bit.ly/USaSPhoto

"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

You gave me that one dude in MA, got some NICE shit there,
but he closed down



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O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Hes such a good hitter. Best outfield defender in the League. And he runs the clubhouse.


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<================== Learn the name now before everyone gets dunked on