Paul’s point is that BA routinely overvalues players who have toolsheds the size of texas but when looking for skills all you hear is crickets and undervalues the opposite players that have a significantly higher probability of being average to above average MLB players and a low probability of being a bust or a superstar.

The A’s seem to focus on the latter so for Suzuki to be compared to other such players does not illustrate the bias.

Last year according to fan graphs Howard was worth 3.4 wins. Suzuki only with his bat (since fangraphs doesn’t evaluate catcher defense) was worth 3.1 wins. To belive Suzuki was better than Howard last year then all you have to believe is that Suzuki was a +5 run defender, which is really not that much of a stretch considering his good defensive reputation.

so, in your opinion, “the best” player is the one with the highest OPS+, regardless of defense or position…?

I dont think Suzuki was, in fact, better than Howard, but it was probably pretty close. Good defense and league average offense from a catcher is more valuable than a crappy fielding, overrated because of power first baseman.

As a hitter, Howard outhit Suzuki by, depending on your metric, somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 runs.

The difference in value between an average fielding 1B and an average fielding catcher is already about 20 runs, and those players are nowhere near average. Howard is a crappy 1B who cost his team between 5 and 10 additional runs; Suzuki is an excellent catcher who saved his team 5-10 additional runs. Upshot— Suzuki was 5-15 runs better, or .5-1.5 wins better, than Ryan Howard last season.

You refer that the A’s will have a better “team” in the future because of the “good bets” but you defend your statement by saying the Rangers had 8 losing seasons in 9 years.

Yep, that makes sense.

What does that have to do with the strength of their farm system. I’d put the A’s third behind the Rangers and Marlins and that is despite the fact that I like the A’s more than I like both those teams. Their are alot of A’s fans on here who take it personally when someone says they have the 2nd or 3rd best farm system. I dont get it.

and new owners doesn’t mean they can all the sudden afford to keep the good players they produce. Unless the new owner is Mark Cuban or something, I don’t think a horrific economic downturn, perrenial piss poor attendance even when they’re good, and the debt they’d aquire to pay off the new stadium if they get one exactly spells “higher payroll.”

Kenshin Kawakami, Yadel Marti, and Joel Galarraga are all prospects who are close to the majors.

The problem with that statement is that none of them has played a game of affiliated ball. They are still very high risk (granted, not as high risk as Inoa, who hasn’t passed through the injury nexus and whose top prospect status still relies to an extent on physical projection) because they don’t have an established track record.

What makes Cunningham valuable is that he has a ton of at-bats in affiliated, regulated leagues where teams have a very good idea what the players are capable of. He’s not likely to suddenly forget how to hit.

I mean, really— would you sell off Aaron Cunningham for $4.25 million? That’s what Inoa got…

And reading John since his Stats, Inc. days. The Texas/SF/Oakland stuff is pretty recent and likely connected to the development of the Texas and SF systems.

I disagree with your characterization of the discussion. Friends sitting around can get away with that. They’re friends. There is no indication of underlying respect in the comments to which I refer.

Now: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vitriol

Michael (CT): Best pitching prospect not named David Price? Feliz? Hanson? Bumgarner?

SportsNation Keith Law: (2:49 PM ET ) Feliz