Thursday BP, 12/6/18

Well, Paul Goldschmidt is gone. That’s great news for the Giants, I think, and it should be terrible news for Arizona fans, but, in another example of how fans are never happy with the teams that they have, I present to you this tweet:

Paul Goldschmidt put up a win probability added a 4.612 last season, adding a positive WPA in more than half the games he played. Not good enough, says Arizona fans!

The Diamondbacks will have eight of the first 80 picks in the 2019 draft, so they are definitely in a position to rebuild quickly, even though the idea that they need to rebuild at all is somewhat absurd. We can get into tanks and rebuilds another time, but in the meantime, let’s consider whether or not every team but the Dodgers and the Rockies tanking in the NL West is good or bad for the young players developing on the team in.

Obviously, most would say that it is better to develop young talent is against the best possible competition, but if you consider that all major league competition is better than any they are likely to face at any other level, then it really doesn’t matter how good the other teams in the divisions are. In fact, it is probably great that Dereck Rodriguez, Andrew Suarez, Reyes Moronta, and who knows who else they bring up from the farm next year, don’t have to face someone like Paul Goldschmidt 19 times a year; and it’s good for the Joey Barts of the world to not have to adjust to Major League pitching against the likes of Zack Greinke (soon to be traded).

In conclusion, tanks are a land of contrasts, and there is a very good chance that the Giants can find success in other teams intentional failure.