Arenado Rank

Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post doesn’t agree with the MLB.com ranking of Nolan Arenado:

But I was astounded when I learned that MLB Network ranked Nolan Arenado as the sixth-best third baseman in the majors. That’s laughable.

According to a news release, MLB Network “took into account a number of offensive and defensive metrics, both advanced and traditional, plus projections for the upcoming season.”

Excuse me, but did anyone at MLB Network actually watch Arenado play? Are they aware he hit 42 home runs last season? Did they forget he’s won three consecutive Gold Gloves, and that he’s only 24 years old? Do they know that his 89 extra-base hits were the most in MLB history by a third baseman?

Of course, Saunders leaves out a big negative, Arenado’s rather low ranking in OBP. Among the players who recorded at least 400 PA as a third baseman, Arenado ranked 13th in 2015. Interestingly, Coors didn’t help his power numbers all that much; it increased his doubles and triples (he hit no triples on the road), but he hit more home runs away. Coors greatly increased his batting average, and without the big outfield helping his singles, his OBP would have looked even worse.

Sixth best is pretty good, and at age 24, he has time to improve.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/20fTyX9

Barren Farm

The Angels failed to land at least one prospect on two top 100 lists:

It’s been no secret that the Angels’ farm system has been one of the weakest in baseball. That’s the result of some poor drafts and a couple years when they lost their high picks because of signing free agents like Albert Pujols, C.J. Wilson and Josh Hamilton.

The best player they drafted in the past few years was left-hander Sean Newcomb, and in November they traded him to the Braves for Andrelton Simmons. Newcomb was ranked 21st by MLB.com and 32nd by Baseball Prospectus.

The lack of top prospects illustrates why the Angels couldn’t come up with any frontline players to bolster their offense at the trading deadline last year.

Part of this is the result of the “win now” mentality, partly poor drafting. The Braves avoided this trap in the 1990s by letting free agents walk, preferring to use judicious trading of their prospects to bolster the team. When Theo Epstein was running the Red Sox, a tension existed between the “win-now” approach and the “build for the future” approach, which led to Epstein’s departure for a winter.

The Angels control the best player in the game in Mike Trout, but there’s nothing in the pipeline to complement his talent. That’s a shame. This could be a repeat of Alex Rodriguez with Texas, where having the best player in baseball amounted to nothing.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/1UxoLhI

Plating up the Infamy Miniatures Full English Pledge - Part 3: Elevensies

Welcome to a slightly delayed Part 3 of my Infamy Miniatures Full English KS Unboxing. After the unnamed Part 1 and Part 2: Second Breakfast comes Elevensies. In this Unboxing, I'll be looking at The Quaker, The Paranormal, Mr Dodgson, the now retired Frank Hyde, Oscar and finally the fierce looking Jo March.

First up, the Quaker. This is a cute little robot, basically a walking tripod with a large gun on top.

The front two legs are quite delicate, as you can see, thanks to the feet only being attached by thin cables and a piston each. This does give the feeling that it's quite an agile mover, much like an Imperial Guard Sentinel in 40k. 

The rear leg has a lot more stability to it. My guess would be that this is to allow for some serious recoil from the monster gun that will live on top.

The wire that hooks the gun to the body. Again, rather delicate!

Haven't worked out quite what these bits are for yet.

From mechanical to supernatural. Or more specifically, the Paranormal.

The core of the miniature is that of an unassuming young lady. 

It's only when you reach this sprue that you think that something funny might be going on - that's not a normal number of arms for one person.

Add in some spooky spirity bits and you're all set for a creepy possessed miniature.

Next we have a third model from the "Large" category from the Kickstarter - Mr Dodgson. He himself isn't an overly large figure, he's an average sized gent. What makes him a "Large" are the two nippers hidden under his coat.

Each of them is armed with a knife which, on their own, have a very Goldilocks look about them. That knife is too big, that one's too small. That one on the end? That one looks just right for stabbing you with...

I'll be honest, the order I took photos in wasn't planned, and I've stuck with them in the same order as I took them due to the sheer quantity of them. This means somehow we get a 4th "Large" mini in a row, the now retired Regular Frank Hyde. He was one of the original Infamy creations and compared to Alternate Frank, he's a tiddler. 

I say he's retired now - this is the replacement, which is available from the Infamy Store now!

After the beast that is Frank Hyde, lets go for something more civilized, shall we? Oscar here likes to go hunting with his fecking huge rifle, which is steadied on the back of his faithful aide.

Finally for this segment of the unboxing we have Jo March. We've already seen a Bust of her (unboxed in my Infamy Ton unboxing, here) but this is the first time she's been in miniature form. 

She's in quite a dynamic pose, which looks a bit daft at the moment without any arms but one they're added, she'll be charging full speed at the enemy.

While her sword is curved, it's not really supposed to be curved off to the side, but that's what happens sometimes with thin resin. A little hot water and it'll be good as new.

For the last pictures I've saved what is probably the coolest part of Jo March - the pistol. It's very similar to other Infamy pistols, but for the fact it's got a rather Inspector Gadget/Assassin's Creed wrist mount for easy access.

So that's it for Part 3. I'm not sure when you'll get Part 4, but I can say that it'll have the rest of my pledge miniatures in it after the recent arrival of my pigeons, along with a couple of new minis that I'll tack onto the end. 

from Noobs and their paintbrush http://ift.tt/1Q0OHOM