Javier Baez 2014 ROY-MVP-World Series MVP Thread

[SKO]

He made an awesome bare hand throw on a slow dribbler to third Monday night, and then last night turning that bunt into a double play with an amazingly quick and accurate laser to second base also gave me a tingling in my loins. I have never before been excited about the prospect of watching someone field a bunt but any time I know there's a chance the ball is coming his way I can't wait to see what's going to happen.

He makes me forget about that 19 year old that went to New York... What's his name? It ain't Javy Baez, that's for sure.

Also, with a Rizzo, Baez, Russell, Bryant infield, that average age is 23.75. Epstink is wonderful.

So we can look forward to four to five years of them improving? Holy fucking shit, the rest of the National League is going to be sick to the back teeth of them by then.

My guess is we're nearing Peak Rizzo, simply because I don't see how he could possibly get better now that he appears to be beating the shift and hitting for average in addition to everything else, and honestly hard to see how Bryant could be better than the goddamn 9 win player he's potentially going to be this year, but I definitely don't think we're anywhere near the best of what Russell can be yet (I'm still on team Addy for NL MVP in 2018) and we know there's a lot more power for Javy to tap into as he continues to become a more disciplined hitter. Exciting shit.

[Eli]

He made an awesome bare hand throw on a slow dribbler to third Monday night, and then last night turning that bunt into a double play with an amazingly quick and accurate laser to second base also gave me a tingling in my loins. I have never before been excited about the prospect of watching someone field a bunt but any time I know there's a chance the ball is coming his way I can't wait to see what's going to happen.

He makes me forget about that 19 year old that went to New York... What's his name? It ain't Javy Baez, that's for sure.

Also, with a Rizzo, Baez, Russell, Bryant infield, that average age is 23.75. Epstink is wonderful.

So we can look forward to four to five years of them improving? Holy fucking shit, the rest of the National League is going to be sick to the back teeth of them by then.

My guess is we're nearing Peak Rizzo, simply because I don't see how he could possibly get better now that he appears to be beating the shift and hitting for average in addition to everything else, and honestly hard to see how Bryant could be better than the goddamn 9 win player he's potentially going to be this year, but I definitely don't think we're anywhere near the best of what Russell can be yet (I'm still on team Addy for NL MVP in 2018) and we know there's a lot more power for Javy to tap into as he continues to become a more disciplined hitter. Exciting shit.

Yeah. The trend these days for most players is they hit peak production immediately or within their first few years in the league (source). It's not true of everyone, of course, but Mike Trout is a good illustration -- he came in as a 10-win player and people thought he'd get even better and end up being a 12-win player someday, but he's "only" been an 8-9 win player the past few years.

That doesn't mean he won't someday have an outlier 12-win season, but it's probably not going to be his norm. Similarly, we shouldn't assume all of these young guys on the Cubs will keep trending up for several more years. Which means we can still expect a lot of 6-9 win seasons from Bryant, Rizzo and maybe even Russell.

Nice.

[ChuckD]

He made an awesome bare hand throw on a slow dribbler to third Monday night, and then last night turning that bunt into a double play with an amazingly quick and accurate laser to second base also gave me a tingling in my loins. I have never before been excited about the prospect of watching someone field a bunt but any time I know there's a chance the ball is coming his way I can't wait to see what's going to happen.

He makes me forget about that 19 year old that went to New York... What's his name? It ain't Javy Baez, that's for sure.

Also, with a Rizzo, Baez, Russell, Bryant infield, that average age is 23.75. Epstink is wonderful.

So we can look forward to four to five years of them improving? Holy fucking shit, the rest of the National League is going to be sick to the back teeth of them by then.

My guess is we're nearing Peak Rizzo, simply because I don't see how he could possibly get better now that he appears to be beating the shift and hitting for average in addition to everything else, and honestly hard to see how Bryant could be better than the goddamn 9 win player he's potentially going to be this year, but I definitely don't think we're anywhere near the best of what Russell can be yet (I'm still on team Addy for NL MVP in 2018) and we know there's a lot more power for Javy to tap into as he continues to become a more disciplined hitter. Exciting shit.

Yeah. The trend these days for most players is they hit peak production immediately or within their first few years in the league (source). It's not true of everyone, of course, but Mike Trout is a good illustration -- he came in as a 10-win player and people thought he'd get even better and end up being a 12-win player someday, but he's "only" been an 8-9 win player the past few years.

That doesn't mean he won't someday have an outlier 12-win season, but it's probably not going to be his norm. Similarly, we shouldn't assume all of these young guys on the Cubs will keep trending up for several more years. Which means we can still expect a lot of 6-9 win seasons from Bryant, Rizzo and maybe even Russell.

Nice.

Nice

[SKO]

He made an awesome bare hand throw on a slow dribbler to third Monday night, and then last night turning that bunt into a double play with an amazingly quick and accurate laser to second base also gave me a tingling in my loins. I have never before been excited about the prospect of watching someone field a bunt but any time I know there's a chance the ball is coming his way I can't wait to see what's going to happen.

He makes me forget about that 19 year old that went to New York... What's his name? It ain't Javy Baez, that's for sure.

Also, with a Rizzo, Baez, Russell, Bryant infield, that average age is 23.75. Epstink is wonderful.

So we can look forward to four to five years of them improving? Holy fucking shit, the rest of the National League is going to be sick to the back teeth of them by then.

My guess is we're nearing Peak Rizzo, simply because I don't see how he could possibly get better now that he appears to be beating the shift and hitting for average in addition to everything else, and honestly hard to see how Bryant could be better than the goddamn 9 win player he's potentially going to be this year, but I definitely don't think we're anywhere near the best of what Russell can be yet (I'm still on team Addy for NL MVP in 2018) and we know there's a lot more power for Javy to tap into as he continues to become a more disciplined hitter. Exciting shit.

Yeah. The trend these days for most players is they hit peak production immediately or within their first few years in the league (source). It's not true of everyone, of course, but Mike Trout is a good illustration -- he came in as a 10-win player and people thought he'd get even better and end up being a 12-win player someday, but he's "only" been an 8-9 win player the past few years.

That doesn't mean he won't someday have an outlier 12-win season, but it's probably not going to be his norm. Similarly, we shouldn't assume all of these young guys on the Cubs will keep trending up for several more years. Which means we can still expect a lot of 6-9 win seasons from Bryant, Rizzo and maybe even Russell.

Nice.

Nice.

Yeah, I'd say by year three or about 1500 PAs you have the guy you're going to get. Anthony had his struggles in 2013 but while he's made tweaks he pretty much established who he was going to be in 2014. Bryant came into the league about as polished as a hitter can be so I really don't think he has another level after where he is right now (which is an 8 win player so no problems there). Addison's still trending in the right direction but I'd bet wherever he ends up next year is probably what he's going to be for most of his prime.

Javy is the wildcard here because his ceiling is so insanely high and his career track so far has been so atypical. History basically told us that a guy with his power and his contact issues would be lucky to be Mark Reynolds, and yet he's somehow reinvented himself as a guy who hits for average. I have no idea where he's going to go. He could stay this nice 3-4 win super utility guy or he could really start to tap into that 40 homer potential and be a Unicorn.

[Canadouche]

He made an awesome bare hand throw on a slow dribbler to third Monday night, and then last night turning that bunt into a double play with an amazingly quick and accurate laser to second base also gave me a tingling in my loins. I have never before been excited about the prospect of watching someone field a bunt but any time I know there's a chance the ball is coming his way I can't wait to see what's going to happen.

He makes me forget about that 19 year old that went to New York... What's his name? It ain't Javy Baez, that's for sure.

Also, with a Rizzo, Baez, Russell, Bryant infield, that average age is 23.75. Epstink is wonderful.

So we can look forward to four to five years of them improving? Holy fucking shit, the rest of the National League is going to be sick to the back teeth of them by then.

My guess is we're nearing Peak Rizzo, simply because I don't see how he could possibly get better now that he appears to be beating the shift and hitting for average in addition to everything else, and honestly hard to see how Bryant could be better than the goddamn 9 win player he's potentially going to be this year, but I definitely don't think we're anywhere near the best of what Russell can be yet (I'm still on team Addy for NL MVP in 2018) and we know there's a lot more power for Javy to tap into as he continues to become a more disciplined hitter. Exciting shit.

Yeah. The trend these days for most players is they hit peak production immediately or within their first few years in the league (source). It's not true of everyone, of course, but Mike Trout is a good illustration -- he came in as a 10-win player and people thought he'd get even better and end up being a 12-win player someday, but he's "only" been an 8-9 win player the past few years.

That doesn't mean he won't someday have an outlier 12-win season, but it's probably not going to be his norm. Similarly, we shouldn't assume all of these young guys on the Cubs will keep trending up for several more years. Which means we can still expect a lot of 6-9 win seasons from Bryant, Rizzo and maybe even Russell.

Nice.

Nice

[ChuckD]

Intrepid Reader: Ghost of Lou Brown
Nice play, Javy. Don't ever fucking do it again.

[Tonker]

Intrepid Reader: Ghost of Lou Brown
Nice play, Javy. Don't ever fucking do it again.

For a fat kid, he can move.

[Bort]

Intrepid Reader: Ghost of Lou Brown
Nice play, Javy. Don't ever fucking do it again.

For a fat kid, he can move.

I hope he's got an extra pair of board shorts I can borrow. [/facebook]

[Tonker]

Intrepid Reader: Ghost of Lou Brown
Nice play, Javy. Don't ever fucking do it again.

For a fat kid, he can move.

I hope he's got an extra pair of board shorts I can borrow. [/facebook]

Fuck me.  I swaw that you'd posted in this thread and my immediate thought was "I don't care what Bort's written, I'm going to bring that sumbitch back to board shorts".

[Bort]

Intrepid Reader: Ghost of Lou Brown
Nice play, Javy. Don't ever fucking do it again.

For a fat kid, he can move.

I hope he's got an extra pair of board shorts I can borrow. [/facebook]

Fuck me.  I swaw that you'd posted in this thread and my immediate thought was "I don't care what Bort's written, I'm going to bring that sumbitch back to board shorts".

I'm using internet meme judo.

[Saul Goodman]

Javy smash!

[SKO]

2.7 fWAR in just 435 PAs seems good. He's 6th on this team in position player WAR (Bryant/Rizzo/Russell/Fowler/Russell/Zobrist), but he's 45th overall in the NL as a part time player. Cardinals Franchise Savior Who Is Better Than Kris Bryant According to Trueblood Stephen Piscotty has managed 2.7 fWAR in almost 200 more plate appearances. Matt Carpenter Who Is Also Better Than Kris Bryant has managed 2.8 fWAR in about 100 more plate appearances.

[SKO]

2.7 fWAR in just 435 PAs seems good. He's 6th on this team in position player WAR (Bryant/Rizzo/Russell/Fowler/Russell/Zobrist), but he's 45th overall in the NL as a part time player. Cardinals Franchise Savior Who Is Better Than Kris Bryant According to Trueblood Stephen Piscotty has managed 2.7 fWAR in almost 200 more plate appearances. Matt Carpenter Who Is Also Better Than Kris Bryant has managed 2.8 fWAR in about 100 more plate appearances.

Some more digging...Javy would rank second on the Cardinals to Carpenter, third on the Mets (just a half win behind leader Cespedes at 3.2), second on the White Sox behind Eaton, and he would lead the A's, Royals, and Yankees in position player fWAR. He's a utility player on this team. God damn.

[Quality Start Machine]

2.7 fWAR in just 435 PAs seems good. He's 6th on this team in position player WAR (Bryant/Rizzo/Russell/Fowler/Russell/Zobrist), but he's 45th overall in the NL as a part time player. Cardinals Franchise Savior Who Is Better Than Kris Bryant According to Trueblood Stephen Piscotty has managed 2.7 fWAR in almost 200 more plate appearances. Matt Carpenter Who Is Also Better Than Kris Bryant has managed 2.8 fWAR in about 100 more plate appearances.

Some more digging...Javy would rank second on the Cardinals to Carpenter, third on the Mets (just a half win behind leader Cespedes at 3.2), second on the White Sox behind Eaton, and he would lead the A's, Royals, and Yankees in position player fWAR. He's a utility player on this team. God damn.

If Soler can't answer the bell for the NLDS, Baez gets to start. The depth of this team is insane.

[SKO]

2.7 fWAR in just 435 PAs seems good. He's 6th on this team in position player WAR (Bryant/Rizzo/Russell/Fowler/Russell/Zobrist), but he's 45th overall in the NL as a part time player. Cardinals Franchise Savior Who Is Better Than Kris Bryant According to Trueblood Stephen Piscotty has managed 2.7 fWAR in almost 200 more plate appearances. Matt Carpenter Who Is Also Better Than Kris Bryant has managed 2.8 fWAR in about 100 more plate appearances.

Some more digging...Javy would rank second on the Cardinals to Carpenter, third on the Mets (just a half win behind leader Cespedes at 3.2), second on the White Sox behind Eaton, and he would lead the A's, Royals, and Yankees in position player fWAR. He's a utility player on this team. God damn.

If Soler can't answer the bell for the NLDS, Baez gets to start. The depth of this team is insane.

Or, god help me, Coghlan, who now *vomits* has *vomits some more* managed to *coughs up lung* put up a 114 wRC+ and a .395 OBP as a Cub so far *passes out*