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Morning Mound Visit: sabermetrics news - 12/19/19

The Brewers pick up Eric Sogard; the Giants passing on Bumgarner; low-cost pitching alternatives

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MLB: Arizona Diamondbacks-Press Conference Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

FanGraphs | Ben Clemens: Eric Sogard made incredible offensive strides in 2019, to the point where it was his most valuable season—by a decent amount—despite three other seasons having played more games. He’s also pulled the ball, and now heads to a park that greatly benefits lefty pull hitters. This is different a cheap option for Milwaukee, and they might need more than that to compete in a competitive NL Central.

The Athletic | Grant Brisbee ($): The Diamondbacks signed Madison Bumgarner to a hefty contract, one that the Giants decided wasn’t in their best interest. They viewed him, on paper, as a ~2.5 WAR pitcher and really nothing more than that. They didn’t see the—dare I say—intangibles of him being a folk hero for the city and the franchise, one that you can’t necessarily put a price on.

ESPN Insider | Craig Edwards ($): With Bumgarner, Gerrit Cole, and Stephen Strasburg off the board, there are still other pitchers that could be of interest to teams, like Homer Bailey, who had a bounce-back year with the Royals and Athletics, Jimmy Nelson, who would be a bet on being healthy, or Danny Salazar, who also has the combination of injury history but good stuff.