Comments on: Replacement Level On Two Feet

By: wobatus

wobatus — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:01:29 +0000

You are getting in the way of viewing all players as simple capital inputs. :)

Totally out of left field, but I am kinda reminded of the idea of index investing. Someone has to be making actual investment decisions or else the index is meaningless. Hey, SOMEONE has to be your replacement level player. Sure, someone else could do better. Someone else could also do worse. replacement level. Everybody has one. :)

By: PhDBrian

PhDBrian — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:52:37 +0000

Man I remember how ungodly he was for years for the Expos. Blew out his arm during the first WBC and he has never been the same since. To bad! He was on the short list of the best setup men in the game in the early part of this decade. Hope he finds a job and can be useful for someone.

By: twinsfan

twinsfan — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:53:15 +0000

You mean like actually promoting your 24-year-old relief studs out of the low minors in time to find out if they can help you?

When Ayala is your answer, you’ve been asking the wrong question.

By: alskor

alskor — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:55:55 +0000

I dont know… its not that terrible a move, if only because he was a) cheap; and b) relievers are incredibly unpredictable year to year. Take a flier and see if it works. There’s no point overpaying for the middle class relievers (cough Farnsworth cough). On a budget, Id rather take a cheap shot on losers I see something I like about.

By: alskor

alskor — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:45:47 +0000

Well… no… there’s no point keeping a replacement level guy on your 40 man – no point in protecting his rights. He’s not worthy of a role on a decent team, and as an injury insurance/back up there’s no need to worry about retaining his rights because he is, by definition, completely replaceable by freely available talent in the minors or off the street.

By: Terminator X

Terminator X — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:45:44 +0000

I can’t tell if you’re being facetious or not, but I love it either way!

By: twinsfan

twinsfan — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:36:20 +0000

What’s sad is that Ayala was the Twins “answer” to the bullpen woes in the offseason.

Which makes their ridiculous handling of relief prospects Slama and Delaney all the more painful.

By: Mike I

Mike I — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:49:40 +0000

Yeah, but there’s no way to measure the positive effect his veteran presence had on such a young team. He’s the kind of guy any manager would love to have – hard worker, shows up on time, does his exercises every day, doesn’t get in fights. A true leader.

By: big baby

big baby — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:32:41 +0000

remember when he was closing for the mets last year? that was awesome.

been a great couple of years for met fans.

By: greenmachine

greenmachine — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:23:20 +0000

I think the point of the article is: the Twins thought Ayala had the potential to be above replacement level (or weren’t sure they had other options that would be at least at replacement level). But now they think Ayala’s potential is gone/illusory and that they have an option that may be better than replacement level waiting.

If no other team picks up Ayala, maybe you could say that teams no longer view him as replacement level. But part of the replacement level notion is that there are plenty of these types of players available to be picked up at little cost, not that all of them get picked up (I think). That’s why the Twins were able to get him pretty cheap and could also put several other similarly performing free agents in AAA to see if any had a chance of being better than replacement.