nate82

Teams don't really care about the baggage as much as fans do. The walks are concerning but this is still rather light return for a reliever.

Middleton has resigned with the Bucks on a 3-year $102m deal: https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nba/bucks/2023/06/30/khris-middleton-resign-milwaukee-bucks-3-years-102-million/70369213007/

If he is still available at 33 I would take him then but not at 18. He is just not going to stick at 3B kind of like Braun didn't stick there. Morales does remind me of Braun at least power wise. I like Taylor better at 3B as he will stay at 3B and Taylor has a better hit tool while Morales has a better power tool. Where Taylor wins out over Morales is that Taylor will be able to play 3B in MLB while Morales looks to be a corner OF or a DH.

Still seems a bit light for a reliever and this doesn't bode well for the Padres if they decide to trade Hader as the market looks to be really weak for relievers on the return side.

This is a light return for the Royals. They didn't get all that much for Chapman in this deal so they must be in love with one of the prospects as neither are currently in MLB.com's top 30 prospects for the Rangers.

This is a very light return for the Royals and I think this sets up the reliever market for this deadline which is rather low than in past years. The Royals gave up about $7m in value and only received back about $3m in value. This is a huge gamble on Cabrera and Ragans staying healthy (he has had two TJ surgeries already). I don't think the Padres will get much more for Hader who has a higher price tag than Chapman did. This does sound good for the Brewers if they do decide to get a bullpen piece during the deadline.

Rangers have traded for Aroldis Chapman

Jordan Turner has been suspended due to a OWI. https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/37940392/wisconsin-lb-jordan-turner-suspended-violating-discipline-policy

Bucks Summer league roster has been announced and there are some familiar names on the roster. https://www.nba.com/bucks/news/milwaukee-bucks-announce-roster-for-nba-2k24-summer-league-2023

If the decision is between Taylor and Schanuel it is an easy decision and that is Taylor. Taylor plays at a premium defensive position and is a really good offensive player. He made an adjustment this season to try and hit more home runs it didn't go so well earlier in the season for him but as the season went on he made adjustments. The same type of adjustments he would have to make in the minors. Teams are going to see that and put a higher value on him over Schanuel. I like Schanuel but Taylor is the better prospect in the draft. There are questions of Schanuel's power and he may have to make the same adjustments that Taylor has made to be more of a power threat. Taylor has already proven he can make those changes Schanuel has not.

The BTV site hasn't updated their values in awhile I believe. Though a new update should be coming soon with the deadline approaching. I expect Black should move up to a valuation of closer to what Misiorowski is worth. I would also expect drops in valuation for Burnes, Peralta and Adames.

Majority of recycling just goes to the same place your trash goes to. Paper though does get recycled at a higher rate than other things.

Student loans are not going to be as big of an issue as some think it will be. The ones that were going to default on their loans were going to default on their loans anyways. Resuming the payments doesn't change that. The financial institutions that service these loans will be hit hard but after a quarter everything will go back to normal. Now if you say the combination of inflation still being high, unemployment/participation rate and student loan repayment coming back then yes all of those things combined are a cause for concern. Individually other than inflation, these are just blips in the economy. Inflation is still the number one concern with everything else well below.

The Cardinals are currently 11.5 games back for a wild card spot and 9.5 games back for the NL Central. The Cardinals would need to go 21-6 from here on out to just get above .500 by the end of July. Is that possible? Sure but it is not likely to happen that would be a 1-100 chance of that happening. Basically the Giants, Phillies, Brewers and Reds would have to play close to a 72 win pace all while the Cardinals play at a 120 win pace. The Cardinals have dug a hole and they are not getting out of it. They have only one month of winning baseball and that was in May at 15-13 and currently sit at 8-15 for the month of June. If they lose tomorrow against the Yankees that puts them at 8-16 and even a win puts them at 9-15. While the Brewers are 14-12 so far with a game against the Pirates. The worst the Brewers have done so far is in the month of May at 11-16. The Brewers would have to play absolutely horrible in the month of July for the Cardinals to even have a chance at coming back and being competitive in the division. While the Brewers schedule in July looks to be rather brutal they would have to go 8-18 in their next 26 games and the Reds would have to go 7-20 which would be near impossible as the Brewers and Reds play each other 9 times. Lets say it goes 5-4 that means 5 or 4 wins would be the majority of their victories for their last set of games. The math just doesn't work for the Cardinals to become a threat in the NL Central and it makes even less sense for a wild card spot. The one team that the Cardinals could jump in the NL Central would be the Cubs as they play them 8 times. The only easy part of the Cardinals schedule is against the Cubs (8), Nationals (3) and the White Sox (3). The Cardinals would need to sweep the 6 games against the Nationals and White Sox while losing no more than 2 against the Cubs. So the Cardinals would have to go 12-2 against the Cubs, White Sox and Nationals. Then picking up 9 wins against the Yankees (3), Marlins (6) and dbacks (3). Which means they have to sweep at least one of those series and wouldn't and could only lose 3 games total to go 9-3 in those games. Again this is just not probable and no the Cardinals are not going to be trading players from their farm system for a team that is currently 14 games under .500.

Still waiting on that Cardinals run they were supposed to go on………. Wainwright looks like he should have retired and probably should retire by the all star break. The Cardinals like I have said previously are the 2013 Brewers all offense and no pitching.

If Winker could pay 1B sure but I don’t want to see Hiura at 1B ever again nor at 2B. A broom with a glove on it would be better at 1B than Hiura.

Sexton's name keeps on popping up in connection with the Bucks. The only problem is that the Jazz haven't really made him available. I think the Bucks would want to put a package that would include two of Connaughton, Allen or Carter but I am not sure that would be enough for the Jazz.

I think Peralta would be someone the Rays would like more than Burnes as there are more years of control in Peralta's favor. If the Rays give up some of their premium prospects I think they will want someone with more than 1.5 years of control so I don't believe Burnes would be a target.

He doesn't have Davis in the 1st round but he mentioned him as a possible pick for a few teams.

Keith Law has a new mock out with the Brewers taking Schanuel with the 18th pick. I think this will be a pick where the Brewers try to get him under slot and maybe go after a tough sign at 33. https://theathletic.com/4646310/2023/06/29/mlb-mock-draft-paul-skenes-pirates/ Law also had Taylor if available and a maybe on Wilken, Morales, Nimmala or Eldridge at 18. Nimmala maybe gone before the Brewers pick.

Yeah no. He only mentioned they would be hiring a president of baseball operations and that was it. No mention of candidates or what he would be looking for. I think Stearns is loving the time off and being with family. I doubt he comes back after just one year of being off. There is a reason Hart is not a GM or part of any MLB teams front office. He cheated the system and won’t be allowed back in. Luhnow is toxic and won’t be sought after. Arnold is a really good GM.

So how does that disprove or make what was said a weird take? Have you even looked at the stats?

It is not bizarre it is an actual fact. This team is not pulling or hitting as many fly balls. They are going to center and opposite more. There is a topic in this board with all of the stats in it if you don’t believe it.

It was a good pitch to swing at right down the middle of the plate. That should be an extra base hit pitch there. It was a strike regardless so swinging at a strike in the strike zone should always happen. This team doesn’t have a lot of good hitters when down in the count so they really need to be swinging when there is a pitch thrown in a hitters advantage.

On my phone at work but I thought there was a team hitting zone. If we see more contact in pitcher friendly areas then that would explain the weak EV on ground balls.