Not really, but okay.:thumb:

Well the point of my post wasn't really directed at who replaced Ervin but one that I think will have a beastin' year. As I think Vargas will most likely have similar production to Ervin this year. But I'm pulling for Ace to surpass both.

I wish Santana the best. It really is win-win in a classic sense.

We got a good year from him, a comp-pick, and replaced him with what seems to be a pretty good SP on a 4 year deal.

Ervin gets to play for a contender, ATL got him on a 1 year deal, and he can earn a long-term contract.

or Dallas McPherson

You know what's sad about Brandon Wood?

He wishes he had as much success in MLB as Moustakas. Pretty low standard to hold to...

I thought that guy was gonna be a mega-star.

:shake:

Moose and Hoz are getting dangerously close to the McPherson/Kotchman level of busts. Hoz better get his ass in gear and stop grounding singles, he pulled that same crap last season until June. Without 20hr power e is another Kotchman. Or Loney

Please chill.

Hoz is 24 already. When Kotchman was 24 he hit .296-11-68 (840 OPS) with 53/43 walks/K. And 37 doubles. It's not that crazy to make the comparison.

If Hosmer consistently hits around 15-20 HR with 35 doubles, he will have more power than Kotchman ever registered year-to-year.

Still, Kotchman is a pretty realistic FLOOR (or worst-case scenario) for Eric Hosmer. Which I wouldn't necessarily call a bust (Bust is a guy who never makes an impact/is not even an MLB regular), because it's a solid MLB starter that will play 10+ years in the league.

Hosmer also hit more HR last season than Kotchman ever did in his career (in fact, Hosmer's disastrous 2012 season still saw him hit as many HR as Kotchman ever did in a season) and has had much more early succcess (both his rookie and 2013 seasons would have been the best years of Kotchman's career).

Lot of things more worth worrying about than Hosmer, I think. Early power is not really indicative of anything other than early power, to be honest (see Justin Upton last year or even Hosmer two years ago, when he hit 5 HR in April but finished with his career low in bombs, or Chris Shelton, etc) and there's no guarantee it will stay if observed or not come if not observed.

Hoz took off last summer so I have faith he'll do it again, he's too good not to. He's a bit more like a poor man's Wil Clark who averaged .296-23-96 vs Hoz at 277-18-77 per 162 games. Hoz should start being a consistent 20s HR guy and he looks like a carbon copy defensively. He will need to get his walks up, 52 per 162 so far vs Clark at 77 per. Once he does he'll be a 3-4 WAR guy I think.

I think .300/.360/.500 is the end target for Hosmer. Ideally, that's what you'd be getting.

HR and RBI will take care of themselves if he's putting up that type of triple slash.

The key is getting Butler on track. He's critical obviously.

I see a lot of DM bashing on my facebook feed. I don't know why, he's gotten us to respectability instead of those 62-100 disasters under Baird. 7 quality starts out of 8 games so far is pretty amazing. I remember about 15 years of horrible pitching and those days are way gone. It seems DM understands pitching very well, and it's just too expensive to acquire power in this market so I think he's probably doing the best with what he has. Plus Butler & Moose are really letting him down in that dept

After watching Billy continue to hit into double plays, it's almost frustrating enough to consider having him bat lead off. At least that way it would only be one out when he grounds out to the shortstop in the first inning. (Yes, this is sarcasm.)

Moore isn't perfect, but he's done a lot of good things since becoming the GM.

He has brought talent into the farm system in diverse ways. He has signed key players to extensions. He has at least broken even in his trades (barring outcome of Myers/Shields) and he has made a lot of shrewd pickups.

He's been patient in initial development with guys when they were bad and could afford it.

Ultimately, if Hosmer/Butler/Gordon/Perez/Moustakas don't produce (at least 3 of those guys), it doesn't much matter how many other good moves Moore makes. They've done everything they can to support those guys and allow them to develop. Up to them now.

Hardest things and most expensive things to acquire are power and top of rotation starting pitching.