jay87shot

This is a big one gentlemen. 1 because it can set a tone for the next 2 games of the series and 2 because if Freddy can best Skenes it will cement his status as an ace in my mind at least finally 3 Yeli, Chourio, and Durbin are showing signs of life from yesterday if each can at least get a hit or on base a couple of times the confidence from that will hopefully jumpstart this offense back into full swing.

Looking at the teams who are out of it already, there is very little top of the rotation pitching available, Sandy Alcantara is probably the only guy I could call a top of the rotation guy and he has an ERA of 8 right now. Sugano and Eflin (Baltimore), Severino and Springs (A's), Heaney, big maybe Keller (Pirates) seem like the only decent pitchers who could be traded at this point and all of them have some question marks and Freddy is still better than all of those if you disregard age, injuries, or less than ideal results this year. If we do entertain Freddy we should be able to get a king's ransom if we play it right because he would be the best pitcher on the market by quite a bit. Not saying we will, I fully hope we are in a spot were we wouldn't dare think to trade Freddy.

I stand corrected, Siegler played last night in AAA. I am pretty sure he was suppose to be out a month with a broken finger but was only out a week (if even that long).

He got hurt last week and is out for a month I believe. It was the 1st game in AAA they were giving him a chance to play 3rd. Just our luck. He was on a couple week hot streak so his numbers may be a bit inflated, but he has really good tools. Interestingly he catches as well but had some injuries a couple years ago and transitioned to 2B, however he still has caught a decent amount this year. If he can play 3B there is definitely the makings of a top notch utility guy who can be a backup/3rd catcher, run the bases, and provide quality defense.

I fell asleep after the rain delay but was really surprised to see that CarRod went back out after a 2 hour delay. I get that we have a lot of over worked arms but a 2 hour rain delay seems a bit risky. I guess at least he had a ton of time to re-warm up.

It was nice to see Durbin have a really solid game (I missed a few innings so hopefully that is accurate). I think the main mistake yesterday was that Grant Anderson only threw 4 pitches, if he goes back for the 7th then it Mears 8th and Megill 9th. There would be no stretching Mears for a 2nd inning and bring Payamps in the middle of the order. It would also make Payamps available in extras, Pitching McGee a second inning with Alexander being so overworked probably would have been a good idea. My guess is that Alexander gets either like 3 days off or has a phantom IL stretch. I will give Murph a little pass on the position players not hitting well, I do agree he needs to move Yeli down the order to make a point. I haven't had to many issue with the bullpen management, yesterday wasn't good.

The Milwaukee Journal had an interesting article pointing out that the Brewers may likely dragging there feet on a Misi promotion due to trying to avoid a super 2 qualification. Basically it said that June 6th is a historically safe date for players to be brought up and avoid be super 2. If Dinges has a 70 arm and I feel pretty safe in saying he has a 55 bat and power. If the fielding can get to average he is for sure going to challenge Quero as catcher of the future.

Here are some other ideas that I haven't heard mentioned for 3B or SS. 1) Isiah Kiner-Falefa He is about as consistent as it comes and could do a good job at SS or 3B. He would definitely add stability. Hitting .282/336/683 he isn't going to bring any power but we just need a consistent player. He makes 7.5 this year so the Pirates will trade him and he won't cost a ton. 2)Yoan Moncada .229/.349/835 is a lot more power and upside than IKF, however I just feel it in my bones that if we trade for him he will get hurt like the week we acquire him. Another expiring deal that won't cost much. 3) Jose Tena Brady House is pretty close to taking over 3B, and the Nats have Garcia and Abrams at 2B/SS. Tena is probably a good utility guy for them but could be a interesting trade option. He is only 24 and controllable through 2030 so the price would be a decent amount more than IKF or Moncada. 4)Ke'Bryan Hayes This would be a gamblers move, he is owed 7 or 8 million a year through 2029 (2030 team option). The glove is still great and he is only 28, however the bat has been weak the past year and a half. He did put up a 4.5 WAR year in 22 and 3.9 in 23. My guess is that the Pirates would trade him if someone wanted to take that contract, however the risk of paying a potentially spent player for 4 years after this is huge. On the flip side possibly a change of scenery and new organization ignites the bat back to average or better and there could be huge value in getting a player with 4 WAR potential on a 4 year 7-8 per year deal. Would a Ashby for Hayes and a decent prospect (like top 10 Pirates org) sound like an intriguing proposition.

I was thinking that Ramon Urias would be a better target with the O's now 17 below .500 and Westburg and Mayo as younger 3B. I would be fine with Luis as well I think Elvis Peguero would be a nice piece to send to Oakland, it is an overpay this early in the year and probably doesn't hurt us long term. For Ramon maybe Peguero and then like a decent non top 30 prospect maybe like Kuehner/Cornielle or like KC Hunt if a little bit better ranked prospect was needed.

Owen Miller just elected free agency, I would take him back in a heartbeat. He isn't a long term answer by any means but he should hit over .200.

Sugano is going to be an interesting matchup, he doesn't walk many and has a high chase rate. Hopefully we can be aggressive on strikes early in the count. This feels like the kind of guy that could be perfect to get Yeli going, here's to hoping.

It's nice to see some deserved promotions trickling in even if it is in part because of injuries. Luis Lara has really played well the past month or so and it is easy to forget that he is still just 20 (until Nov.) in AA. If he can start hitting with even a little power he can turn into a really good prospect with hope good his defense and speed tools are. Brock Wilken has a little bit of that Mike Trout lean/finish when hits a bomb that is very satisfying.

3 in a row and Logan Henderson is looking like a stud. With CarRod getting a start and Misi balling out the future looks bright. Hopefully Woody and Civale can come back strong and our pitching will carry us until we can get Yeli and the left side of the IF right.

Nicky Lopez got dfa'd by the Cubs. I think he was like 1-21 but the glove is solid. I am hoping we can maybe find an early season trade when Civale, Woody, and Ashby come back. Even it is Tyler Alexander for someone else's utility bench bat.

I really do think we need to go get someone like this, an older guy performing well in AAA who at least tells the fans and clubhouse that we are trying to fix 3B or SS. I don't mind overpaying with a reliever on the 40 man Jay, Alexander, Rob Z, even Peguero for the right bat. I like Otto Kemp as an option on that same team as a little bit more upside player.

Agreed, at some point he is going to pitch in the bigs, why not put him to the test while he is pitching out of his mind and his confidence is high.

This is great, maybe they can call Misi up as well and just go Peralta and the rookies Patrick, Henderson, CarRod, and Misi until Woody or Civale are back.

I am pretty sure you can only stretch 1 contract. To add to that Pat and Kuz are probably our only salary matching contracts. They likely won't bring in much in the way of a star player but could be used to bring in a good player on with a bad contract. I wouldn't be against using the stretch on Pat C., however Kuzma has a pretty big contract and I don't know if paying 8 or 9 million a year for 5 years is a good idea when we could just trade him. I don't think that team is even a little successful and would really entice Giannis to come back. Defensively we would get destroyed on the wings I feel like we need some big moves/names to get him to stay. It does sound like getting Bobby Portis to stay would go a long way towards keeping him around. I really think we need to try and make a play at a bad contract like Bradley Beal, DeAndre Ayton, Jeremi Grant, maybe even Joel Embiid and hope Giannis can impart some effort or good health. Then on top of that sign a player with a big name, I like Russell Westbrook, who could further keep Giannis around.

I just picked teams that were at .500 or better and had needs. Then approximated a respectable return. In all likelihood if the guys I mentioned return and perform well this team will be back in contention and we won't trade away much at all. If those guys come back and stink we will trade them for a lower return.

Being early you are right we should get a little better deal than I originally proposed. Jason Adam got a top 100 prospect and 2 top 15 org. prospects. Megill would likely have similar value. I also learn led Chace just underwent Tommy John a couple days ago so him as a centerpiece no longer works. Bohm hasn't been good enough that he will get a 10 million dollar plus arby offered for next year. I am not a huge Eduardo Tait fan especially with Quero and Dinges in our org.. Painter, Miller, and Crawford are probably off limits. Mick Abel could be a centerpiece I suppose.

3B has been a combine -1.4 WAR (next lowest -1.1) and SS -1.9 WAR (also next lowest -1.1) (baseball-reference WAR). That is like -10 WAR if it continues the entire year, we are past the just give it time stage. Something has to be done because both spots are beyond bad right now. Being 3 under .500 in 4th with how good the rest of the NL has been really makes the division winner our best chance. We can just waste the next month hoping those 2 positions get solved internally especially not having really good options. I am not saying we should trade the entire system for players. Just make some conscious efforts to try something, if calling up Zamora for a week doesn't work what do we really lose maybe we trade Elvis Peguero for a decent but not star AAA prospect, again do we lose that much by trying.

I would move up a group of 3b/1B and MI all through the system. AAA Wilken/Boeve AA Burke A+ Dinges (not 1B I know) and AAA Pratt, AA Arienamo, A+Josh A (when healthy) probaly Jose Anderson and like Luis Coroba to take Dinges spot. I think Carolina could absorb losing to big bats, it could make Pratt and Wilken big league options by mid year and probably wouldn't block and important playing time.

It is desperation, our SS/3B are about as bad as it gets right now, I am all for throwing darts and hoping one lands somewhere decent. I am like a week or two away from advocating that we should bring up Cooper Pratt and Brock Wilken straight from AA, development be damned the big league team needs help.

I just read that Chace is going to have Tommy John so that solves that. Last year Gregory Soto got Chace and Seth Johnson, I would say that Megill is a big step up from Soto in terms of results, has an extra year of control than Soto at last year, and the same high octane stuff. Jason Adam is probably pretty comparable and got a borderiline top 100 prospect and 2 top 15 org, prospects from a weak SDP organization. I don't think someone like Chace as a headliner is out of the question especially early in the year. I don't think trading a guy like Megill would be punting on the year especially if we can add a 3B or SS option to play right now, With guys coming back from injury, Yoho in AAA, and even Henderson and Misi likely hitting innings limits later in the year (late year bullpen options) we can likely absorb a Megill loss. If we can get any quality at SS/3B this could be an addition to the big league club and the minors if done right. In all likelihood the Phillies can probably find someone cheaper on one of the already out of it organizations.

I just beat you on the transactions page with this idea (yours probably took longer to write). I proposed Moises Chace, McFarlene, and 3B Otto Kemp. I would for sure want Kemp even if he has been playing other positions, a 3B option for now to hopefully help the big league team would be essential. I like all the names you posted so it kind of comes down to value. I think we should get 3 pieces for a quality closer with 2+ years left. For me Chace and McFarlene give us 2 high end options that could be decent rotation arms or could move quickly as relievers. I think if we do trade Megill I would kind of rotate closers between Mears, Uribe, Koenig/Ashby (lefty), and maybe even Yoho. Hopefully by August one of those would shine through and just have the 7/8/9 spots fall into order.