Morning Mound Visit: sabermetrics news - 2/8/19

The Ringer | Michael Baumann: The Phillies gave up a whole lot for JT Realmuto, even if it did make them better. Giving up Jorge Alfaro seems to be a sticking point, partly because of his framing skills, but also as an allocation of resources it’s strange; Yasmani Grandal was also available as an upgrade for just cash. They gained a couple of wins and saved the $12 million, and if they don’t sign Bryce Harper and/or Manny Machado, that’s only a small victory.

FanGraphs | Jeff Sullivan: Another piece on Realmuto... is he the best catcher in baseball? If you include his framing... not so much. But when you consider his park factors disadvantage, it’s very possible that leaving Miami will give him an offensive boost to put him over the top.

Baseball Prospectus | Rob Arthur: PECOTA is incredibly conservative relative to other projection systems, but the addition of DRC+ is making it a bit more aggressive. Mike Trout finally has a WARP projection that is in line with career averages instead of his usual 7, but it continues to regress younger players without big league experience.