MadThinker88

Just remember that the Brewers have the ability to use that money on any of the recently freed Braves Prospects. Yes, dealing the pool money to an Ohtani finalist team is an option but not the only option for DS to consider.

Great News! Free Willie Peralta the Penguin Whale will be pitching in the AL Central. I will enjoy watching Tribe hitters feast on the meatballs he soft tosses toward the plate. :-)

Translation: They are available IF you blow me away with your offer. Its not a must that I deal 1 (or any) of these young pitchers but if it speeds my rebuild, I would be a fool not to consider your over-payment for my talent..

Early reports are the Rangers are looking at Minor returning to the rotation. From the MLB Trade Rumors posting: The Rangers have struck a deal with lefty Mike Minor, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). Minor will need to pass a physical before the contract is finalized. Texas is expected to utilize Minor as a starter, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News first suggested on Twitter and Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweets.

But if they land Stanton AND Otani... they will be a beast for those 2 seasons. Yes Pence comes off the books after this season and others fall off the books after 19 & 20. If the Giants play their cards right, they might not completely collapse after 19...

This might be a case of the analytics suggesting he wasn't as good as casual fans felt he was. On top of that Maddon had lost confidence in him (that fact has been reported in multiple places). IIRC Rondon was not on the playoff roster for either round in 2017. I know he pitched game 1 of the 2016 world series (he gave up the 2nd homer Roberto Perez hit that game) but I don't know if he got into another WS game. Speculation on my part, but this might be an indication that the payroll pockets for the Cubs is not as deep as some people believed. Hector Rondon was projected to get 6.2M in arbitration. The Cubs might have tried to low ball him in advance with contract offer and he wasn't willing to sign for too much less than that projection so the cubs decided to cut him loose. Whatever reason is at the core for this decision by the Cubs, Hector Rondon is a free agent at this point and some team might find a diamond in the rough as a result.

Now the Million dollar question & wait..... Does the Big 10 get represented in the playoff or not?? My heart says yes, Buckeyes make it. My head says not so fast... We shall see.....

Yes, Injury to Barrett's knee.. He is normally much faster with sharper cuts. Those that have watched him more often can see the difference. He is running/ cutting at about 75% in my estimation..

If Barrett can lead the Buckeyes to a TD score on the opening drive of the 2nd half (making the lead 17), its will be just about over...

It appears the focused and determined Buckeye squad showed up today. JT Barrett with 4 scores now (counting the pick 6).. The one announcer was right: You can't replicate tOSU speed in practice...

I can understand your reasoning but as a Buckeye fan I thought the tougher 'win' would at Kohl, especially watching the poor 2nd half the other night at home vs Clemson.. I see someone earlier in this thread was thinking the Badgers could still make Sweet 16 this year. That is looking doubtful..

Since he has to perform to get those incentives, I don't have any issue with the incentives. I wish more of the deals were slanted to the incentives - smaller guaranteed bases & larger incentives. Reward the performers/ those making the greater contributions. The Brewers are able to get out of the deal (declining the options) & pay less if JJ falters. The one place where JJ has had any regular success is playing for Milwaukee. Should his demons get the better of him now, the total outlay by the Brewers is minimal.

Impact of health issues/ availability of JT Barrett...

They are not. At least not for the packages that have been offered here. I believe there is not 1 player on the Brewer roster or in the Brewer farm system that if offered ALONE would be able to get Stroman ALONE or even Stroman plus something else. The Blue Jays (with Mark Shapiro & Ross Atkins) would be needing something more. After drawing over 3 million fans this year the Jays are looking to remain relevant for at least 1 or 2 more years (until other contract start expiring). IF they can finally keep Aaron Sanchez healthy again, Strohman & Sanchez create a very strong top of the order to face any opponent in the AL.

But he also got option years on this deal. Yes, its a reduction of the salary last season but he could have gotten even less if he had been non-tendered.

I think some team (like the Indians who lost him in Rule 5 to the Cubs) might offer him a multi year & option deal in the total range of $9M or $10M. In the Tribe's case it protects/ offsets the possible losses of Cody Allen, Andrew Miller (& other relievers) after the 2018 season..

Agree about needing to win. Disagree about the resume. The weak Alabama resume is much stronger than the UW resume at the moment & UW will not have a top 10 win unless it beats the Buckeyes. As I have said, I want the Big 10 champ in the final 4 (regardless of winner) but I worry about the madness of the final weekend/ rankings..

Loser of Big10 title game is toast. Buckeyes with 3 loses or Badgers with lack of resume.. I'm taking nothing for granted regarding the game winner.. Hoping the committee puts in the Big10 champ regardless of who it is.. I don't believe there has ever been a no change in top 4 between the FINAL 2 weeks.. Committee always seems to tinker (either due to a loss or ripple effect of another game)...

Except he's taking a spot on the 40 man. Seems like a guy who could have been had with a minor league deal. Baker wasn't going to be available via minor league free agency this off season. He was on his way to the Indians Minors if he hadn't gotten claimed off waivers by the Brewers (or another club)..

Wisconsin was actually favored in that game. Guess who's favored this year? OSU. Tables will be turned! We shall see. Its why they still play the game. Badgers were favored that time because NO ONE had an inkling what Cardale Jones would be able to do as QB. He was the 3rd string guy... I recall seeing Jones play in HS and I was not expecting much at all. Knew he was large & could nearly throw the length of the field but I doubted his ability to read a defense or move away from pressure. Urban got him into single read setups. Turned him loose running at 265 lbs. Once Cardale connected on a long deep pass for the 1st score he was completely confident in the game plan and at that point, the Badgers were toast. I'm just hoping that whomever wins makes the 4 team playoff. The loser would be eliminated. The Badgers could win & the committee could say the resume is very weak with 1 top 10 win & maybe 3 top 25 opponents. The Buckeyes could win & the committee could say could say your a conference champ with 2 loses & that isn't good enough.

I found some prospect info related to Baker from the IBI website. This was part of the 2017 Prospect Book they published.. 32. DYLAN BAKER – RIGHT-HANDED PITCHER Born: 04/06/1992 – Height: 6’2” – Weight: 205 – Bats: Right – Throws: Right Facts & Info: Baker was selected by the Indians in the 5th round of the 2012 Draft out of Western Nevada Community College and signed for $235,600. His freshman season in 2011 he pitched for Tacoma Community College before transferring to Western Nevada for his sophomore season in 2012. While at Western Nevada he was named the Scenic West Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and helped Western Nevada advance to the Junior College World Series. Stuff: Baker is a power pitcher who combines a very strong lower half and some very good arm strength to bring some big time velocity from the right side. When healthy, he features a plus-plus fastball that comfortably sits at 93-96 MPH and will occasionally flash 97-98 MPH, and has been recorded as high as 100 MPH when he was in college. The Indians feel that as gets healthy, adds a little more strength and makes a few tweaks to his mechanics that he will more consistently be able to reach his top end velocity readings and see an uptick of a MPH or two in his average velocity. His fastball shows some good late life through the zone and gets a good amount of swing and miss with it, although he only shows average command of it. He mixes in a solid average slurvy slider that has some good, late biting action to it, and has the potential to be a plus offering and legit Major League weapon for him because of the late movement through the zone and swing and miss he gets with it. He also shows a feel for a developing changeup that has a chance to be average, but it is still a work in progress and a pitch he only uses occasionally to give hitters a different look and to attack left-handed hitters. Delivery & Intangibles: Baker has a big frame with a very thick lower half that helps create a lot of strength for him from the ground up and the endurance to log a lot of innings. He has a free and easy delivery that he is working to refine but does a good job of repeating and staying on line with it. He really does a nice job of keeping the ball on the ground (1.53 career GO/AO) and limiting damage by keeping it in the ballpark (8 HR in 225.0 IP). He displays some strong mental toughness where the game doesn’t speed up on him in high leverage situations and he really does a nice job of keeping composed to work out of jams. He has developed a good routine and is always well prepared when he takes the mound, and just has a very good makeup with a strong work ethic and ability to make adjustments quickly. Focus: Health has been an ongoing issue for Baker over the last three seasons as he has been limited to just 13 total appearances over that time because of a few serious injuries. In 2014 he fractured his right ankle in the second start of the season and missed three months and also had what was then considered minor right arm soreness during spring training in 2014 which delayed the start of his season by a week. That arm issue cropped up again in 2015 as after one start he was sidelined because of arm soreness and later underwent Tommy John surgery on May 20, 2015 which shut him down for the rest of the season. Last season, he had a few setbacks along the way in his recovery which prevented him from getting on the mound the entire year. The focus in the early part of the season will be getting him healthy and ready to compete in a live game setting again. Once he is able to settle in and prove he is healthy, the focus will then shift on continuing his development which has mostly been on hold the last three years because of all the injuries. He’s still a little raw and experienced with just 225.0 career innings as a professional and only one college season, so the Indians really need to hone in on the development of his command, stuff, pitch sequencing and overall feel for pitching in order to smooth out all of the rough edges he still has on the mound. There is no question that his durability is a huge question mark moving forward as he has to show he can stay healthy and handle the innings workload of a starter or the appearances workload of a reliever, so the Indians will likely monitor his workload this season in order to better ensure he stays healthy and can stay on the field so that he can make some strides in his development. The Indians also want him to continue to work to refine the command of his fastball, be more aggressive with it in the zone, and locate it more consistently to the bottom of the zone. They also would like to see his slider get a little tighter and the command of it improve. Future: Baker has a ton of talent but his numerous injuries over the last three years have really limited his time on the mound. With only one appearance over the last two years and just 13 appearances over the last three years, his once promising future has started to fade. While the Indians haven’t completely given up on him as a starter, the reality is his path for now may have to be as a reliever in order to keep him healthy and accelerate his development – plus he just isn’t built up to handle more than 70-80 innings in a season anyway. His lack of a true third offering and his fastball command issues could also be covered up some by working out of the pen where he can let loose with his fastball and really dominate in short spurts – a role many scouts viewed him in going back to the draft. He just has the kind of arm and mentality that can really impact in the backend of a bullpen, but even so, his overall grade is weighed considerably because of the concerns with his durability. If he continues to struggle with injuries this season he could eventually find his way off the 40-man roster, though the Indians still have some time to be patient with him considering he has two option years remaining and his arm is too valuable to give up on for now. He should open the season at Double-A Akron, though could find himself in extended spring training to start the season in order to manage his innings on the front end before eventually being assigned to Akron or even High-A Lynchburg in May or June. Ranking History: #28 (2016), #30 (2015), #15 (2014), #42 (2013) <-- This is ranking in the Tribe system by IBI -mt88 I tried to copy over Baker's stat history but the table would not copy.. Sorry

good pickup (steal) by the Brewers. I've been a fan of his for a while. Good numbers as a starter but couldn't remain healthy. His stuff should play up in the pen and if he remains healthy (big IF given his history) he might be able to help in the Brewer pen this season.. As for the questions raised by some: Yes he had to go on the 40 man with being claimed (otherwise the Tribe was outrighting him to the minors). For the Brewers to send him to the minors they either burn his final option (he is down to 1 remaining for 2018) or they waive him & assuming he clears the waivers (gets past all teams) he can then be sent "outright" to the minors. The 1st time a player is sent outright, they have no choice but to report (or retire from ball). After that 1st outright, the player has the option to become a free agent if they don't wish to go to the minors of that club.

Yes. They make those rankings to take the top 4. The only important ranking is the one done after the games next weekend..

Its a mighty big IF (winning the Big Ten title). Has anyone seen a betting line yet? It will be interesting if JT Barrett is able to play (& at full capacity) or not. The selection committee could always hammer the Badgers (& Big Ten West) for lack of resume/ strength of schedule. PS: in the final moments of the game at the Big House, the camera found JT on the sideline chatting it up with the QB that filled in for him (Dwayne Haskins, a red shirt freshman from Dearborn, MI) and old friend Cardale Jones..

As a Tribe fan I can tell you many fans reached for the beverage of choice/ antacid when Shaw was coming into pitch. He put a lot of innings/ pitches on that arm over the last few years so I would be very careful. Personally I believe he is an arm injury just waiting to happen & am happy his projected cost is high enough for the Tribe to let him go & pursue other options. A simpler (& perhaps better option for the Crew) - drafting Wisconsin Stevens Point product JP Feyereisen (stats link https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=feyere000jp-) in the Rule 5 draft. Kinda of surprised the Yankees didn't add him to the roster but they had a bunch of guys to protect this time around. JP is ready for the majors at this point so a year at the end of the pen would not hurt his development.. I would enjoy seeing the Tribe bringing JP back but they need roster flexibility as a number of other guys are out of options. Trying to handle a Rule 5 bullpen arm might be difficult in the case of the Tribe going into perhaps the last year of their contention window. Not as much of an issue for the Crew still sorting thru players/ working on the rebuild..