jay87shot

With Ashby having such a strong postseason could there be any teams willing to offer a kings ransom for him? He has 3 years left so I am talking like 4 players with at least 2 of them being higher end guys. I think it could be a shrewd move, Ashby is crazy good but he can get a little shaky at times. Clearly he has a ton of value as a swing/multi inning high end arm but if he isn't going to start and we could get the value of a high end controllable starter for him I think we would have to consider it.

Mid-way through the year I would have been fine to trade William, but at this point I would be really disappointed if we did. Contreras has been way to valuable to trade, I am sure we would get 2 nice prospects back but that doesn't make up for his value on and off the field. I wouldn't really try to extend him just based on how catchers fair as they get past 30. Also the combination of Quero, Naylor, and maybe Wood plus a potential Sanchez style vet would be a pretty big downgrade potentially. Sure all 3 of those young guys have some upside to make a solid platoon but that is far from a sure thing. Also if William is decent he liklely gets a comp pick to some desperate team which offsets a trade. If we feel the need to add to the system Megill makes a lot more sense to me as we have Uribe, Ashby, Hall, Patrick and some young arms ready to pick the slack up and it is easier to find a cheap reliever of the scrap heap who can be productive.

I don't get the Martinez start, we have hit him pretty well in the past with the Reds. He did have a decent start vs. us earlier in the year (6inn 2 runs). However Rasmussen has been so good that moving him to game 2 and likely 6 doesn't make sense if you need him later in game 7. If Misi goes game 1 and 5, I would expect he could/would throw a couple innings Game 7 if needed.

It's really nice seeing Bitonti coming around after the rough AA stretch and rough 1st 5 or 6 AFL games. Do we think Payne sitting 3 games is an small injury? Payne reminds me a lot of Curtis Granderson that both of them had/have some weird imbalance in there swing. Obviously that would be a best case situation for Payne in all likelihood but I think there is still a way for him to be a .270-.280 hitter in the bigs even if he strikeout 150+ times a year. I think it is easy to forget he played most of the year at 19. I would expect the team to slow his rise down a bit with Chourio, Mitchell, Lara (Sal) and the Josh A. ahead of him. For me he has 2 years until he needs to be ready unless we trade Mitchell next offseason with 1 year of control left.

I read the mlbtraderumors offseason outlook for the Guardians and it mentioned David Fry as a possible non-tender player. I think he would be a guy that could be a lot like Jake Bauers if there would be room to add him and it made sense (Vaughn moved). He was great a couple years ago before an injury, he is versitile, and seems to have that Brewers grit that our guys play with (we drafted him). He would be a great low risk add if indeed the Guardians do let him go and we lose Bauers and/or Vaughn.

I agree that we have to play Turner, he should be the leader and if he plays well enough we can trade him at some point to a team in need of a big. I think that by like Christmas the Warriors are going to get a bit desperate and a Turner for Porzingis deal in some capacity will work. The issue is that Kuzma should be a DNP most nights, Ware has the upside that he should play as much as possible and the Dieng and Ament should each play 20 plus minutes a night between the 3 and 4. Here would be a sensible minutes projection when everyone is healthy to me. 1) Rollins 28, Jak 20 2)Herro 28, Burries, 20 3) Jacquez 28, Dieng 10, Ament 10 4) Ware 16, Dieng 16,, Ament 10, Bogo 6 (like 12 every other night) 5)Turner 26, Ware 12, Sims 10 When guys are out Green, Kuz, and Trent can get some run but we need to be looking at maximizing the young guys who are the future. I feel like if we play the vets and things go well this team is probably at best a play in games team.

Kuzma with 27 minutes and Ware with 14 is awful. I get it is early and you want the vets to play but Ware should be averaging 30 minutes a game, he isnt a rookie. Burries with 16 and Ament DNP arent good either.

KPJ being waived isn't a big deal, however it makes the Gary Trent signing even worse. We are not only way overpaying Trent but now we are spending over 5 million to cut a better younger player.

How much do we think the long layoff could affect our readiness come Friday? I don't think it affects Misi or the bullpen much, the adrenaline should get pitchers through the 1st inning at least. I can see it affecting our bats especially if we are up against Rasmussen or Gavin Williams depending on needing a game 7. Guys don't usually go 10 days or whatever it is going to be between games and come out in full stride usually.

Here is my current hopeful offseason 1) Megill and Tyson Hardin to MIami for Sandy Alcantara and P Eliazar Dishmay. The Marlins need relief and have young starters. I am hesitant to add Hardin but we get back a young quality arm in return we get 200 innings for 50 or so. The long term potenital of losing Hardin is minimized by the lesser pitching prospect. 2)Bauers accepts QO. I think this is the best of both worlds. We keep Bauers for a year and give our young bats time to be ready for 2028. 3)Vaughn and Dinges for Jeff Hoffman and OF/IF Luis Fregoza. With Bauers back Vaughn doesn't have a huge role. The Twins don't have anything at 1B and Vaughn would be a huge add. We get Hoffman to make up for losing Megill. Hoffman was great in Minny the 2nd half and would be a huge add, we lose a quality prospect in Dinges to get the deal done. With his defensive question marks though sending Dinges wouldn't hurt, especially if we could get another lower ranked prospect like Fregoza that likely has a higher ceiling. 4) Coleman Crow, Sal Frelick, Jett Williams, Grant Anderson, and Colton Gordon for Reid Detmers. I doubt the Angels brass is as bad as it has been. However the Angels need everything including a culture change, this deal gets them 5 players who would play right away. We get another crazy good arm for moslty expendable guys, we also get 40 man space for Arnold to play around with and add talent in other ways. 5) Minor deals= The last trade gives Arnold and Crew some space to go find the next Bauers, Megill, or whomever. I would really like to see Woodruff brought back cheaply, even if it is just as a guy like Bryse Wilson where he just soaks up innings when needed. 1) CF Mitchell 2) LF Chourio 3)2B Turang 4)C Contreras 5)1B Bauers 6)3B Joey 7)DH Yeli 8)SS Pratt 9)RF Lara Bench) Naylor, Hamilton, Lockridge, Adams (if he can play a little OF) 1)MIsi 2)Alcantara 3)Henderson 4)Detmers 5)Gasser 6/LR) Harrison Uribe, Ashby, Hoffman, Hall, Patrick, Drohan, Sproat, Wagoner, Woodruff?, Stallings, cheap arms. Leave Jesus Made in AAA until the trade deadline unless he is just to good early and forces the issue early. He still will only 19 to start the season so no need to rush him just because he is the number 1 prospect. At the deadline we can move Joey or Hamilton more logically with Made ready at that point.

I wouldn't mind adding a player if there is the money however I wouldn't go long term on anyone over 30. If we added say Sonny Gray (or another higher end vet starter) for 1 or 2 years that would be great because it is a relatively low risk move. I would stay away from adding someone on a long term deal say Michael KIng for like 4/100, sure we could probably afford it however the likelihood of a 32 year old pitcher staying healthy for 4 years is low. If we spend money I would rather thy and extend our young guys like Misi, Henderson, or Made pay a little more now and save money later. I think alot would depend on the package we could get back, if the best deals are like what we got for Devin (Durbin was like a top 15 org. prospect and Nestor was like an expiring #4 starter at best) I would agree on the pass. I do think with him getting showcased in the playoffs especially showing teams how important a strong bullpen is should give his value a boost. Also there are some teams that could use bullpen help that might have some mlb starters available. I agree with Bauers getting a QO, but I am conflicted on what an extension would look like that would be best for us. For now I will say he should get like 3/50 or 4/70 if his market takes off. I can't see 4 years for us as an option, 3 seems like a reach with our youth. 2/40 would be ok as a slightly higher AAV. If we do sign him long term we could trade a young 1B option or two I suppose.

I would love to run it back and go after a big name however 1 thing is clear after beating the Dodgers. Our organizational strategy is working. We don't need to spend on aging players. We have traded all our top closers with a year of control, Megill should get us 2 good young contollable players. Uribe, Ashby, and Hall can pick up the slack and we have Wagoner, Sproat, and others as late inning potential relievers. I prefer to give William the Willy treatment and let him play out his deal, he is a good leader and the depth behind him is solid but far from a sure thing. If we can get an overpay on Joey or Hamilton I think we would have to trade one with Made as close as he is, good business is good business. As others have mentioned Jake should be given a QO after the last series but no long term deal with Vaughn 1 more year and the young bats that are close. My only to do would be to turn some depth into a higher end starter. I could see that being a vet like Joe Ryan or Sandy Alcantara if the price isn't to high (1 year with a probably QO return after a WS run isn't much of a risk) or going after another young arm like Priester or Harrison. Each of the last 3 or 4 offseasons it seems like Arnold has found a way to better the farm system and big league overall talent all while losing a big name key player or two.

If he proves he can throw 30+ pitches with command to secondary pitches I would put him on over Harrison. I guess if we get into a 13+ inning fire fight I'd rather have him over Harrison.

Hamilton is a high end utility IF, he could be a starting 2B on many teams (probably would be a good starting 3B a bunch of places as well). I would think he could be a guy who could be a 4-5 WAR everyday player especially with more consistent playing time specifically at 2B. Defensively he has been great at 3B and he usually graded out better at 2B if my memory serves me right. I think he is a perfect Murphy style player and he has been spectacular in the playoffs.

Jacobs filed some court order to not allow the release of the video of his altercation. My guess is that it is really really bad if he is going this hard against releasing the video, I doubt he plays this year if ever again. Ray Rice 2.0???? I feel like if it wasn't that bad his representation would have at least given it to the NFL at this point.

I like the Drohan to May idea. Drohan can hopefully get through the lineup once and maybe through some of the lefties a second time, say 3 innings. That way May can shorter if a little shaky or just go most of the rest of the way if he has it. Also with Ashby not pitching yesterday I could see Murph try to go Drohan, May, Ashby to take it all the way.

Yeah, sorry and thanks

As the season nears I think it is clear we need to move a backcort option or 2. Burries and Jak should be allowed to get a lot of playing time and with Rollins, Herro, Trent, Green, and KPJ there are to many guys that will not let those two play as much as they should. If we have any thought of being competitive Rollins and Herro probably need to be the leaders of this team however it would be nice to get a pick and something for Herro if we aren't resigning him. I think Domantas Sabonis and the KIngs could be an interesting place to send some combination of Turner, Herro, Green, or KPJ (maybe Kuz) to. I like a Turner and Ware front court pairing but adding Sabonis would make a really strong 3 headed monster rotation if Sabonis or Turner could play the 4 a bit. Herro and Kuzma for Sabonis (picks in someway) could be a great deal if the Kings don't mind not getting a big back. Rollins, Burries, Jaime, Sabonis, Turner with Jak, Green, KPJ, Ament, Ware, Dieng, and Sims would be deep and just missing a go to scoring option in my opinion.

I don't mind Abner pitching last night, he should have been taken out for Ohtani. He was just off, the fastball looked very heavy (down). I would give him the night off just becuase but I don't have an issue with Uribe pitching every game in the playoffs especially if he is under 20 pitches a night.

I think we would be in a really good spot to fill in 3B and 1B if we lose Bauers and get blown off our feet for a Joey trade. We have Vaughn at 1st for a year and then 4 high potential option who could all be ready to contribute next year at some point (Burke, Fischer, Adams, Bitonti (more likely 2028)). 3rd would have Hamilton with the extreme upside of Made realitively early with guys like Jett and maybe Fischer or Adams defense pending. On top of that, I would think we could find a cheaper vet utility guy who could play 1B and 3B at least as some insurance early in the year. With how good this team has looked I find it hard to see us trading William and Megill. I could still see Megill just because we could replace the closer and have done it with all our past closers. We also probably should offer Bauers the QO at this point, he is going to be one of the top 3-5 bats on the market and with the playoff heroics last night him getting $50 and netting us a pick is much more likely. If he excepts great we can probably get at least a decent bullpen arm for Vaughn.

After the 2 huge AB's the last 2 nights it is hard not to imagine us offering him arbitration. It would also give Burke, FIscher, Adams, and Bitonti another year to take over 1st for the long term if he accpets.

That Bauers HR was probably the best sports moment of my life. I was pretty anxious and down about a Dodgers comeback after the 2 runs Abner gave up but that blast was like a signal that this team is built different. The Packers SuperBowl in 1997 was epic but I was only like 9 or 10 so that isn't the same.

Are there any reasonable trade options? RB, LB, OL? Tony Pollard is the only obvious guy that comes to mind.

It is a big ask, Joey was on pace to be a 5 WAR player the 2nd half. For a controllable high end defender we should get like a Kyle Harrison style starter and some decent prospect pieces. All it takes is 1 desperate team to overpay for a really good half season.

I am liking the 4 pm start because that is right after I get out of work. However you cant tell me that the league couldn't have made this like 5:30 and maximized TV viewership a bit better. The Dodger fans likely need to take a halfday from work to watch. I have a feeling we are going to have a huge game from either Pratt, Joey, or Hamilton if he starts. Henderson should have a good shot at a great game tonight, I am worried about Shohei tonight, not sure why just a bad vibe.