Harold Baines Jersey , the swap between Garcia and Alvarez looks bad. After all, Garcia put up a 6.07 ERA with a NEGATIVE WAR in 2018, while Alvarez was arguable the Angels’ best bullpen piece with a 2.71 ERA and 1.4 WAR. Seems a bit lopsided, right?Both pitchers are around the same salary and both are arbitration eligible for two more years. Alvarez is 29 year old while Garcia is 31.Pitch RepertoireJose Alvarez throws 5 pitches (fastball, curve, slider, changeup, cutter). His fastball tops out around 94 MPH and his velocity really hasn’t changed over the past 3 years, in fact his fastball velocity ticked up ever so slightly in 2018. Despite throwing 5 pitches, Alvarez doesn’t really have a big wow factor on any of them, however, his slider gave him good success in 2018 with a 15.2% whiff rate and .171 BAA.Luis Garcia has some bigger stuff than Alvarez and only throws 3 pitches (fastball Paul Goldschmidt Jersey , slider, changeup). Garcia’s bread and butter is his his sinking fastball that touched 100 in 2018.Despite the nastiness factor on that pitch, it only generated whiffs 8.9% of the time and opponents teed off with a .340 average against his heater. Heat is only good if opponents can’t hit it. The secret to great success for Garcia may be to mix in his slider and changeup a bit more - both of which generated a near 20% whiff ratePlatoon SplitsKing of matchups, Mr. Mike Scioscia is gone and new era has set on this team. Jose Alvarez was the bullpen’s sole lefty arm and he was certainly tough on lefty hitters with a .206 BAA in 2018, though he did give up a few home runs.Garcia looks pretty much the same vs. lefties or righties with a .777 and .768 OPS against either. Stat ComparisonAt first glance, ERA looks BAAAAD. But many modern baseball stat geeks prefer FIP, which takes fielders out of the equation, at that number looks much closer together. However, if you wan to feel good about this trade, you might want to ignore some of those other stats.SummaryLuis Garcia has some good qualities like blazing speed and some nasty pitches but he’s proven to be no dominant force on the mound and has suffered from control issues most of his career. His BB/9 was down in 2018 which is perhaps a good sign but he’s still getting tagged for a lot of hits. He has the velocity and the movement on his pitches but is not always missing bats. Perhaps Eppler thinks he can put all that together and turn Garcia around.This trade for me really comes down to trading away a younger known pitcher for one that is two years older and “might” be good. Billy Eppler is essential gambling on some advanced metrics and velocity that Garcia will be an answer for the Angels pen in 2019. Velocity if great - if you can control your pitches - but there certainly is more to pitching that just throwing hard. Let’s see how this trade shapes up over the early months in the 2019 seasons. The future of Heisman winner Kyler Murray has become a hot topic in recent weeks. Assuming he follows through on his agreement with the A’s, what could his future in baseball look like?"After a conference championship weekend in which Kyler Murray locked up the Heisman trophy with a victory over the University of Texas, the all-world athlete became perhaps the most talked about individual in the sporting world. Having set the NCAA football world on fire after a high-profile transfer and a year in waiting behind Baker Mayfield http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-josh-bell-jersey , Murray surpassed all expectations, leading to speculation that he might renege on his agreement to leave football behind after the 2018 campaign. While there is some lively debate over how successful Murray might be, and where he might be drafted, as an NFL quarterback, his talents have already made him a top-10 selection in baseball. What hasn’t been discussed as much in recent weeks is precisely how Murray projects as a baseball prospect. Whenever a football star is plucked by an MLB team, they tend to grade out on the upper end of the athletic spectrum, as the average football player at a skill position has more raw physical talent than their counterpart on the diamond. Murray is no exception, and to my eye brings at least three potential plus to plus-plus tools to the outfield. It should surprise no one familiar with Murray’s exploits on the gridiron that the Heisman winner’s speed is at the top of the charts- he’s been clocked in the 4.3s in the 40 yard dash, an elite figure even by NFL standards. Although his arm has looked less impressive in the outfield than the football field, most agree that the strength should translate as he gets more outfield reps. At the dish, Murray also brings a lot to the table. His brand of quick-twitch athleticism is seldom seen in pro baseball, and he makes excellent use of it as a hitter. Murray is able to generate easy plus power with his hips and plus bat speed Willie Stargell Jersey , making him a true 30/30 threat down the line. He has a fairly substantial leg kick that Oakland may want to tone down, but overall he does not have a very complex setup at the plate. While he has never been a feared hitter for contact, his quick-trigger swing should allow him to get there if his mental game progresses alongside it. While he has struck out at a high clip in the NCAA game, evaluators have attributed those issues to his pitch recognition lagging behind the rest of his profile rather than glaring mechanical flaws. Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty ImagesTypically, a college bat drafted inside the top ten will be fast-tracked to the major leagues, but Murray isn’t a typical case for obvious reasons. His 10/10 sophomore campaign at Oklahoma included a troublesome 56 strikeouts in 217 plate appearances, and his hitting skills will likely come along a bit slowly as he adjusts to the pro game, and baseball full-time. He has also spent significant time in the infield in the past, and will likely need a bit of polish as a center fielder as well. Murray is reminiscent of a JUCO prospect in terms of experience level, and his trajectory through the minor leagues could be similar. While Murray was drafted 9th overall, there is not a single player in the 2018 draft class with as much raw upside. With elite speed, unparalleled body control and surprisingly huge strength http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-josh-bell-jersey , Murray could follow a number of paths to value on the baseball field. His speed and willingness to take a walk could make him a leadoff man, and he has enough power to hit in the heart of an order if he hits enough to get to all of it. He has drawn some stratospheric comps such as Rickey Henderson, and while his baseball skills have a long way to go to reach the majors, let alone superstar status, the sky is truly the limit. Although somewhat similar prospects such as Anthony Alford have flamed out in recent years, scouts are unlikely to be scared off of Murray, whose intangibles are another aspect of his mammoth prospect status. It’s very difficult to bet against a physical prospect like Murray who has dominated the highest levels of high school and college football and seems to succeed to any athletic endeavor he commits himself to. I’m certainly not going to.