KeithStone53151

I didn't catch much of the game, but I generally liked the approaches of a lot of guys. Broxton had a good game, I was pleasantly surprised. Our 2-5 hitters...which were supposed to be our best hitters heading into the year, didn't do much offensively. I don't believe Yelich's hit was a hit, that was an error. I'll take it, but we didn't play well enough to deserve a 6-1 win. On a lighter note, if Kratz is on first and Broxton hits a ball that should be an inside the park HR...at what point does Broxton catch Kratz on the bases? My money would be just past 3rd base...this dude is a whole new level of slow.

Well, in my opinion, he is being undervalued by some as well. And for those that believe he is overvalued, it isn’t like it is just solely the fan base that is high on him right now: BP Mid-Season Top 50 Spot on, Hiura's hit tool is better than Moncada's...the prospect guru's tend to get carried away on tools and sometimes forget that a guy has to hit or all those tools don't matter nearly as much. Don't believe me on that, I present Keon Broxton/Brett Phillips/Lewis Brinson/Monte Harrison. It's not often you see a prospect come up with a fairly high ceiling but also a very very high floor. I don't think you'd find a single prospect guy who thinks Hiura's floor is lower than a decent regular at 2b. All those guys above could have not made the majors, or be a 220/230 hitter with enough tools to be a 4th OF. Hiura is also more likely to reach his all-star ceiling than most of the players above. Daniel Murphy is a great comp for Hiura, and he's one of the highest paid 2b in baseball for a reason.

I've been a pretty severe critic of Merrifield, but I think you take that package for sure. Cabrera and Merrifield are probably a push the rest of the year, but you get him for those cost controlled seasons. Duffy is also probably better than Wheeler. I think the Baltimore package is the worst of the 3 in both areas.

That's part of it. I haven't seen him pitch every time, but I've for sure seen 3 pitches. FB(60%), slider(35%), hammer curve(5%). This is somewhat similar to hader and his fastball last year. Why throw anything else when guys are struggling so much with those 2 pitches?

There is the whole point. What contenders are looking for a rental 2B? Not the Cubs, Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, Athletics, or Mariners. Maybe Arizona, or to a lesser extent Boston and Cleveland. The demand just isn't there, and all these names being thrown around are all on expiring contracts. At the end of the day, the Twins or Mets will take what they can get, because they're not going to let their "rentals" walk for nothing. Yes, i've been saying this for a while now. Nobody really needs 2b. Arizona, Boston, and Cleveland are all maybes. There are 4 or 5 solid 2b options available, so it's definitely a buyers market.

It will be interesting what this injury will do to his career. I hope he is still in the dugout for the remainder of the season. I was thinking the same thing. If TJ costs him any velocity, that's probably it for him. I'm not sure he ever makes it back to a major league mound.

That's really a shame. Hopefully he's able to bounce back. I think we have to assume Suter won't pitch until 2020.

A high value, because they can. Hard pass, this guy just isn't that good. I certainly wouldn’t pay a big price for him but if you think Yelich is a star, then I’d think you’d feel the same way about Merrifield. Hmm, where to begin. Yelich is 26 while Merrifield is 29, so while Yelich still has a tick of upside and hasn't yet hit his physical peak...Merrifield is on the way down. Yelich is better in every way except SB/speed. Merrifield has 10 hr power, his speed is a big reason for his success and that's going to start to go quickly. I don't think Merrifield will be a good player in 2020. He'll probably be a utility player at that point. I think Merrifield is a solid player right now, but I'm not giving up potential future stars for 2 years of a solid player and 2 expensive years of a utility player. That's a terrible deal.

I think Medeiros is generally undervalued by many on here, at least in my opinion. I'm really high on him as well. He may end up in relief, but has the potential to be equally as filthy as Hader out of the bullpen in a similar multi-inning role. Over the last 2 years, he's finally started to be able to fully harness his incredible stuff. The results have been very good.

What if they don't get that top 10 type and they wait, and then Degrom pitches more like a low 3s era(which is his career norm) rather than cy young caliber season...while the Mets still suck. I highly highly doubt both Burnes and Peralta would be on the table around this time next year in that case. Partially because Degroms value is in the tank and partially because they'll both probably be in our MLB rotation. This is likely peak value for Degrom. Far more often than not, holding your player because you don't like the offers yields a much lower return...just ask the Rays and the likely offers they are now fielding for Archer. Here’s why our typical lowball offers on here don’t work: 1. Low supply, in DeGroms case nearly one like him; a true ace with lots of control who is actually on the market. 2. Super High demand 3. Most teams want a headliner, not a volume package in a return for an ace. 4. We, like most fanbases, tend to value our prospects way higher than their likely outcome. Again, look at the Chris Sale trade. Our comparable package to Sale would be something like Hiura, Peralta, and low end prospects. Hiura is roughly equal to Moncada, Peralta is probably not as valuable as Kopech. BUT, Sale's contract was much more team friendly, included more team control, and he was a better and younger pitcher than Degrom(up until what Degrom is doing this year). And at the time, most people thought the Red Sox significantly overpaid for Sale. All signs point to the Degrom return being significantly less than the Sale return. Or as I've noted, the Mets can wait until the offseason when no team is feeling desperate about reaching the post season and most everyone is healthy. Or they can wait until next deadline, when Degrom likely won't be pitching as well and he has less and more expensive team control. Whatever offer they get this deadline, will likely be the best offer they get for Degrom. Whether that's the offer I outlined or not is definitely up for debate.

A high value, because they can. Hard pass, this guy just isn't that good.

Absolutely not. If the Brewers are willing to include Hiura in a trade, they should be talking to the Mets, not the Rays.

What if they don't get that top 10 type and they wait, and then Degrom pitches more like a low 3s era(which is his career norm) rather than cy young caliber season...while the Mets still suck. I highly highly doubt both Burnes and Peralta would be on the table around this time next year in that case. Partially because Degroms value is in the tank and partially because they'll both probably be in our MLB rotation. This is likely peak value for Degrom. Far more often than not, holding your player because you don't like the offers yields a much lower return...just ask the Rays and the likely offers they are now fielding for Archer.

Not enough, not even close, no counter on what you think "enough" is. What do you think is close? Hader, Hiura, Peralta, Burnes, Ray, Phillips, Medeiros, Nelson, Arcia, Cain, Yelich...probably still not enough eh? Saying it isn't close because it can be beaten is silly. Any package can be beaten. Will it be though? Degrom has 2 years of team control that will likely be very expensive. You don't definitively know that the Mets wouldn't consider that package. And you definitely seem to think prospects are being valued as they were 10 years ago...not how they are valued now. 2 MLB ready pitchers with #2 upside and the 5th overall pick from 2 years ago that is playing well and has a ton of helium...that's a pretty darn good return for 2+ expensive years of a pitcher.

Honestly now, if you’re the Mets, does Milwaukee get deGrom without giving Hiura? There’s no reason for them to do that, they hold the cards. I don't think it's a good idea to completely dismiss the idea of getting Degrom without giving up Hiura. They'll likely ask, but we have other very good prospects that could be co-headliners in a deal for Degrom. For example, both Peralta and Burnes as co-centerpieces. Those 2 and Ray would be a hell of a package. That might be more than I'm willing to give up actually, but my point is that we have plenty of good/appealing prospects that Hiura shouldn't be a requirement(unless other offers dictate it is a requirement).

I think some teams were kinda annoyed that the Mets dealt him so quickly. It sounded like other teams were willing to make better offers than that one. Also, Britton is LH and much more established than Familia. Way more teams are in on him than were in on Familia. I suspect Britton gets 3 or 4 times the value that Familia got, minimum.

Right? And I believe their top prospect is injured while their 3rd best got busted for PEDs. The Cubs could offer up their top 10 prospects, and the Astros would trump that offer by offering their 12th best prospect. I'm not sure why the Orioles are even listening to the Cubs, unless they'd offer someone like Happ or Russell...which to me seems a bit crazy for a rental...but then again, it is all-in Theo. I wonder if he'll bail on the Cubs after he screws up their future with these all-in moves like he did the Red Sox.

When Williams entered the game we were already trailing 6-2. After which batter would you have pulled Williams & which pitcher would you have gone to if you were managing to win the game? I get that we were already losing pretty handily, but I think you pull him and use jeffress either after the Kemp single or walk to Hernandez. He was approaching 30 pitches after the Hernandez walk, hasn't been pitching multiple innings all that much, and was clearly struggling. It's not as simple as using your best relievers in games you are winning and worst relievers in games you are losing. Sometimes, you have to use your good relievers in close games to give the guys a chance. This isn't the perfect example of that as 7-2 isn't all that close, but we had opportunities to score and were 1 hit away plenty of times. There have been other games where CC would use Jennings instead of Hader in a 1 run game in the 7th...which would then turn into a 3 run game. CC probably needs to study how some of the more effective bullpen managers handle their guys. Francona, LaRussa, Bochy, etc.

This last part is why I like the idea of Dozier so much. Not the best OBP, but he can hit and for power. He'd likely slot in 5th or 6th depending on whether Thames or Braun is playing that day. I haven't seen the numbers but I bet that Villar/Perez types hitting 6th have left a ridiculous amount of runners on base. I personally am very excited for the day that Perez gets permanently glued to the bench.

You'd acquire him on potential, assuming that the Orioles failed developing him and you can help him improve. That said, I'm not interested...not at the likely price.

What was Walker's OPS last year when we was essentially landed for spare change? Walker isn't a great comp for Escobar or Cabrera. His salary was much more of an obstacle, he was coming off injury, and there was basically no 2nd base market. Walker was also an August acquisition. That said, there's a heck of a lot more to a guy than his OPS and position. Defense matters, contract situation matters, historical numbers matter, the market matters, etc. Escobar will probably be traded for less than a comp pick, as he certainly won't receive a QO. I suspect the Twins will get more than Lopez and filler, but not nearly as much as Supak + Houser. We'll see though.

Disagree. We should be focused on controllable pitching as well. But we are 3.5 games back with around 60 to play. Plenty of time. The guys will likely get hot again at some point down the stretch, adding some good players hopefully makes that more likely. We should be focused on certain rental players, and targeting controllable pitching. I hope we are involved on Degrom/Syndergaard, as I've heard the Mets are fielding offers on both.

I like Dozier too, but is his value really that much higher than Neil Walker's was last year? Walker was having a better year, and was acquired for a spare part minor league reliever. There may be more competition for Dozier, and he has more name recognition, but I can't imagine that the return for him is going to be hugely significant. There is no way one of Ortiz or Phillips goes back for Dozier, much less both. Machado was a special case, because he's Many Machado. He's the type of bat that totally remakes your lineup. You pay for guys like that, even short-term. Brian Dozier is a decent bat, but he's not that. Walker was coming off injury and extremely expensive. I believe he had accepted his QO so was getting like 16 or 17 million. Even that month and a half cost us probably 4 million. There also happened to be basically zero need for 2b around the league. That said, Dozier falls into a similar boat. Very few teams are looking for 2b help if any. I've kinda beaten that to death at this point. There are also at least 4 or 5 very solid 2b options. Dozier is the best/established guy and the biggest name, but not by all that much. Other guys are having very good seasons as well.

Well maybe today CC will actually try to win the game. Has anyone gotten the sense that he isn't managing in an effort to try and win anymore? He's more interested in trying to be efficient with his relievers than actually win a game, let's leave Taylor Williams out there to give up 5 runs.

Miller, Saladino, Villar, etc...are serviceable. But these aren't guys we want playing on a winning team. All of these guys will be bench/utility types next year anyways when Arcia/Dubon/Hiura reach the majors. Dozier and Escobar are significantly better than Miller/Villar. And trading for these 2 theoretically bridges us to the future...which is those 3 in the middle infield hopefully by mid-May next year.