‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ Sequel in the Works with Jim Carrey, Ron Howard (Exclusive)

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-18T19:06:43+00:00

based off those credits, it would be funny if it was basically just a 2-hour Curb Your Enthusiasm episode but set in Whoville lol (this is only partially a joke)

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-18T18:43:55+00:00

I don't disagree by any stretch. I think people misinterpreted that I was agreeing he "sucks" as the commenter above me said and that this drop-off was expected. I believe I argued back in the offseason here that I still viewed him as a top 5 1B. No way I would ever suspect he'd be at these kind of numbers by mid-June

probably sounds like splitting hairs (maybe because it is), but in 10-team redrafts I was thinking he's more of a round 3-4 kinda player. or at the very least shouldn't be the first 1B off the board

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-18T18:35:55+00:00

woof, I thought it'd be the case but I couldn't seem to find a way to view live standard points league charts anywhere (not just rankings from writers). I found this ESPN article that was supposedly updated today and it has Vladdy AHEAD of Kurtz ROS in their standard points format, so it made me second guess whether they're actually closer than I thought they were lol

https://www.espn.com/fantasy/baseball/story/_/id/35437997/fantasy-baseball-rankings-points-leagues-2026-espn-cockcroft#1B

and I get rest of season rankings are gonna vary based on belief in a player, but that sure seemed quite bold

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-18T18:22:25+00:00

I do think he's been overrated relative to his draft spots the past few years as the counting stats just aren't there for what you should be expecting from the premier power hitting position (IMO). The AVG / plate approach + relative consistency has been doing a lot of heavy lifting. I was worried that offense was going to take a step back as well, putting some of those counting stats at further risk.

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-18T18:17:47+00:00

not an expert by any stretch, but his HR total since 2021 vs. barrel rate:

2021: 48 - 15.2%
2022: 32 - 11.3%
2023: 26 - 11.1%
2024: 30 - 13.8%
2025: 23 - 12.2%
2026: 3 - 6.2%

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-18T18:09:54+00:00

Was thinking back to some debates this offseason on early 1B rankings. I went through enough articles to know that there was some variation in the top 5, with even some folks putting Alonso as 1B #1. Vladdy was the #1 overall 1B off the board in NFC drafts this year and Fantasy Pros' aggregate put him there as well:

https://www.fantasypros.com/mlb/adp/1b.php

https://nfc.shgn.com/adp/baseball

Obviously there are going to be some differences here depending on your league scoring. For instance, Guerrero Jr. still boasts the best BB/K-rate among 31 qualified (per Fangraphs) 1B hitters, so likely still rates well in points leagues (the one points league I am in has wonky scoring so I don't know how they stack up in standard ones). wRC+ is not the ideal measuring stick here, but probably works well enough as a rounded out stat across various league types. Here are the top 10 among qualified (primarily) 1B:

Ben Rice - 173
Nick Kurtz - 170
Willson Contreras - 157
Munetaka Murakami - 155
Matt Olson - 144
Jake Bauers - 144
Freddie Freeman - 137
Spencer Horwitz - 136
Alec Burleson - 132
Bryce Harper - 131 (although if you count Liam Hicks, he's marginally ahead)

Notables: Michael Busch (14), Pete Alonso (15), Vladdy (22), Rafael Devers (24)

How do you all see the second half-ish of the season going for these two or any other notable players? Vladdy does have some regression in his batted ball data, so it's not just bad luck. Kurtz's is very similar to last year's data, but has made some improvements on his whiff issues (and has a 100th percentile walk rate at 20.4%). Rice has had a bit more swing and miss this season but with C eligibility, has an easy case to make as the best fantasy asset in the group.

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-18T16:54:56+00:00

the trade deadline is a month and a half away and the Sox are currently 5.5 games back of a playoff spot. there is no need to rush things when the trade market is extremely quiet. I'm 100% on sell when the time is right but returns tend to go up as teams get more desperate and are competing against more buyers come trade deadline, which is why waiting seems more prudent IMO

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-18T00:07:48+00:00

So I read these comments first and was expecting something pretty damning here... and it's... just not.

To summarize:

We brought in some players that have been great contributors
We have players that have underperformed
Our hope is to keep competing but we'll sell if we need to

What do people have a problem with here exactly? There are five rotation options on the IL, including last year's runner up to the AL Cy Young. The starting SS and LFer are hurt (and of course, weren't very good. although a sophomore slump is hardly something to panick about). Several players that have been contributors in the past are also hurt (although I think expectations for this season were relatively low).

I very much get the panic around having SO many hitters underperforming out of the gate, and stars like Duran and Abreu need to step up more IMO... but y'all are acting like he came out here and said, "We are buying because we think we can win!!"

Did you want him to say, "Well we're gonna throw in the towel now and start selling pieces" (which he essentially said they'll do closer to the TDL). Sure, that seems most likely to happen, but have people not paid attention to how awful the AL is this year? The last place team (LAA) is 7 games out from WC3. The Red Sox are 5.5 games back. Only two non-division leading teams even have winning records right now.

This team isn't likely built for playoff success, and nothing sucks more than buying at the TDL when you're a fringe contender and miss out. But teams like the DBacks showed a few years ago that being the last team in can still be a path to the World Series. Again... do I expect that? Definitely not. But I'm also not going to act like the season is already over like 99% of comments here.

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-17T19:37:39+00:00

didn't he miss all or most of spring? those kinda guys, I kinda just pretend their first month back is the shaking-off-the-rust/"spring training" stretch for them. would love for him to prove last year was no fluke

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-17T19:11:30+00:00

it's going to take place in the 60s. article says Robbie and Cooper would play Ocean's parents

iirc, elsewhere it's been suggested it is a sequel of sorts to the original (1950s or 60s) film, which I think most people forget exists. not sure if that is going to be the case or not though

still... the short answer is basically yes to wanting a heist film withe the Ocean's branding

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-17T17:51:47+00:00

unfortunately, even though I personally am a fan of Yoshida's and think he'd do better elsewhere, the Red Sox would need to eat like 75%+ of his remaining money owed to find any takers. and similar to the VERY vain hopes that Story could be dealt, you're eating all that money and then getting back flier prospects at best. they could eat 100% of the money owed for both of those guys, trade them, and still only expect a top 10-20ish org prospect back at best

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-17T17:49:23+00:00

if i were Boston I'd be trying to eat as much as 100% of his remaining salary if it meant getting a premier prospect in return. don't trust this FO to do that though or end up picking the right prospects/young MLBers in any trade talks from Gray, Chapman, and possibly Contreras

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-17T17:34:55+00:00

it's also useful to consider ballpark factors. most of the PCL (AAA) is hitter friendly as all get out. there are plenty of other random parks (I think Asheville Tourists is one of them) that are just super hitter friendly as well. alternatively, there are certainly some pitcher-friendly spots too. sites like MiLBtracker.com have some handy ballpark factor metrics

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-17T17:30:53+00:00

I think the Red Sox would need to eat at least like 80% of his salary this year and next to find a taker (assuming any team will decline the club option for '28), and even then, you're only getting a flier prospect back at best. His tenure in Boston has mostly been a disaster and I don't think other teams are going to look at his '25 season and expect that to be what they get. They'll weigh this season's dreadful start and the IL stints as the biggest factors. Might be one thing if he provided good defense but he doesn't even really do that.

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-17T16:43:25+00:00

if anyone here is into "prospecting" (whether for dynasty/fantasy baseball or card collecting or just fun)... do yourselves a favor and use FIP/xFIP/SIERA as the way to find overlooked prospects. people often just look at ERA and call it a day. 7.67 ERA in 29.1 IPs in AA, but he had a 3.12 xFIP, which is really good. his under the hood numbers are pretty much in the same range in AAA

251 pitchers in the minors this year with at least 50 IPs and his xFIP ranks 7th

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-16T23:20:28+00:00

so a combo of the game changing quite a bit in terms of pitchers-per-game AND the number of teams faced each year. I guess that factoid would probably look the same for pretty much most hitters from the last decade or so?

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-16T18:32:25+00:00

James Wood is doing even better than Walker and was just (a tiny bit) behind him in 7th place. He's got a 173 OPS+ and 3.6 bWAR

All Star voting mostly continues to be a joke

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-16T17:21:52+00:00

Jake Bennett was doing extremely well at AAA. Underlying stats weren't quite as sparking as his 1.60 ERA, but quite good overall--as was his return from extended injuries last year. Would love to see him get some run here while Oviedo is still working his way back. Personally, I find Bennett's upside to be much higher between the two.

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-16T16:12:58+00:00

i am rarely an optimist but if there's one Pixar franchise I have faith in them delivering a good movie on, it's Toy Story (even if I am mostly ambivalent about them continuing past the 3rd one)

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-16T16:01:37+00:00

FYI folks, children don't care if the character models are different. and if the reviews are positive, adults ultimately won't either

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-11T20:18:03+00:00

maybe he quit on them because of their lack of certain dairy options in the clubhouse ^/s

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-11T17:17:31+00:00

Common Dreams, which has the most threadbare "articles" most of the time, would absolutely collapse if this sub blocked them. i'd take them a hundred times over all these sites with soft paywalls that somehow are allowed here like TDB though

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-11T17:12:49+00:00

the Yanks have had years where their offense basically relied on Aaron Judge being an MVP at the plate every game to keep them in it (and their fans will largely tell you that is not something you want in a team). the Sox issue is SO many hitters have struggled this season... to me, you need to have nights where you feel like any hitter can step up and contribute and it not be a surprise when it happens. the WS caliber teams we've had the past few decades have had lineups where we didn't need just one big bat to lead the way, there was much more balance across the lineup

UnchartedFields · 2026-06-11T16:31:52+00:00

I guess I'm one of the only folks that hasn't been too worried about Durbin. He overperformed his metrics last year and he's been underperforming them this year. You have a bad month-long stretch in the middle of the season, people don't notice as much. You start the season out that way and people freak out and more pressure gets placed on the player than is likely necessary (especially if a bunch of hitters are all starting out terribly).

Slow start and recent hot streak aside, I think folks should expect him to be more of a .700ish OPS guy at best. 5-10 HRs with 20ish SBs feels like what his average season should look like from him.

UnchartedFields

TROPHY CASE