jay87shot

With 20 games in the books I thought it might be interesting to see thoughts on where the team is. Offense, Defense, Rotation, Bullpen, Coaching, Front Office, Minor Leagues, MVP, Biggest Surprise, Biggest Dissapointment, others

Freddy did ok with just a fastball basically his rookie year. I would just think with the 2 pitches you limit him to only going through a lineup twice and have a multi-inning reliever ready.

Bjorn Johnson reminds me alot of Gasser from what I can remember (it's been a while). Any chance we see any of the Carolina IF start to get some OF work. It stinks that one of themselves sits out every game. Maybe try Pena/Made a bit in CF? I am not saying full time but sneak a game in here or there just so these top guys don't have to sit a game a week. I am not sure who sets it up but I feel like we should have a re-rank on prospects soon. I am super excited to see what thoughts are.

Any chance we would be interested in Jose Miranda, the Twins sent him down so my guess is that his price wouldn't be high. He is kind of like Baty in the fact that he has had a bad start to the year. However last year he was decent, at the plate last year and he hasn't realized any power however. Defensively he isn't great at 3rd but better at 1st. For like Peguero, I would be ok with that move.

As much as I would like to see EMJ in Milwaukee, if he takes Bauers spot there really isn't much playing time. If Rhys, Yeli, or an OF'er get hurt that would be different. It is Durbin time. Any eta on Mike Boeve in AAA?

It's great to see Coleman Crow back. That Hardin heater looks really good, dire I saw Wichrowski-esce.

That's just baseball sometimes. I think it is Yoho time however, swap Yoho for ERod or Grant Anderson and Durbin for Capra. Yoho can take Capra's 40 man. If we can stay at or above .500 with our pitching injuries that will suffice. Getting back Myers and Woody soon will help and Ashby and Nestor shouldn't be far behind (haven't heard a time line on the Civale setback).

Baty hasn't played well enough, my offer would be something like Peguero and Clarke/Capra like scooterfletcher mentioned. He would have to go to AAA and earn 3B while Durbin would get some run.

That was a poop ending, poop.

Luis Pena has 7 sb in 6 games, as well as a 6 bb to 1 k ratio. He is always on base multiple times per game it seems. Where are guesses on how many steal he ends up with, I am going to say 84. Even though he doesn't have the power potential he is creeping up that prospect rankings fast. I think Payne, Bitonti, and he are a couple good weeks away from top 100 status. Adamechezcki maybe by mid-season if he keeps tearing it up as well.

I think the Ray's could be an option they have Curtis Mead, Jose Caballero, and Coco Montes as utility style players and could potential use a bullpen piece. They also have some decent AAA IF depth Maybe we could get a AAA player who is playing well. Getting Cam Devanney back would be interesting and probably not to costly.

yep sorry, meant TJ Watt. JJ is just a pipe dream of past missed opportunities and maybe a chance to convince him to play for us if TJ was on the team. Heck we could probably hire Derek as an assistant RB coach or something.

I do really like the idea of giving him a raise next season to extend him and make the contract more doable. However I still think that if you are the player and believe in yourself you wait. I am all onboard if he would be willing to take a contract like this.

Di Turi looks like he filled out a bunch, if he added some power to his game he could have a much higher ceiling than I have thought. Nicassia with 3 dingers already also could turn into an interesting prospect if the early season power is for real.

I didn't get to watch today but it looked like Priesters stuff was pretty good on highlight even if the command wasn't great. I agree it is time to worry about Rhys and 3B. I will give Yeli, Contreras, and Ortiz a little longer leash. I think Yoho has a day or 2 until we guarantee him the extra year. I would expect him in a week or so. I doubt it is for Payamps (he has earned a little longer leash over the past 2 years) but if he doesn't look great his next outing or two it could be.

JJ Watt may be available, would you trade 2 1st and like Jaire (and pay Watt like 4/160). I was against doing that for Myles Garrett but find myself wanting Watt. I know my Badger ties are clouding my judgement her but I would be willing to do that. On top of that I would then call JJ (only 36) and offer up a sweet 1 year deal. Watt brothers, Neal, and Clark would be scary. What type of value would Malik Willis have? Maybe a 3rd/4th round pick? I kind of think we should try and extend him like 2/12 and if he declines trade him and take a backup qb. I like Milroe, McCord, Shough, Ewers as 3-5 round picks and even Leonard, Rourke, and Gabriel as 6-7. If the couple top corners are gone I am kind of leaning towards Derrick Harmon, I think he will be a lot like Calais Campbell and DeForest Buckner as a guy who can play inside or outside and be a big help with the pass rush and run game.

Add in the starters and potential starters from Tuesdays games and it gets even more impressive. On Tuesday starters for the 4 affiliates when 15 ip, 7 h, 8 bb, 16 k's, 0 ER (0 unearned) and add in Timmerman, Fitzpatrick, and B Rivera as potential starters in relief and you get a total of 25 ip, 0 runs, 9 hits, 13 bb, 28 k's The two day totals Starters only= 31.2 ip, 0 earned runs (1 run), 11 hits, 17 bb, 33 k with potential starters in relief= 49.1 innings, 1 er (2 runs), 17 hits, 23 bb, 58 k's Wow-e-zowie, that needs to hit twitter/x or whatever socials pronto.

So starting pitching went 16.2 innings 0 ER (1 unearned) 4 hits 9 bb and 17 k's today. Pretty impressive, especially if you add the other starters, Corniel and Holobetz, who pitched in relief 24.1 innings 1 ER (2 total) 8 h 10bb 30 k. Is there any update on Made, is it still just a minor ankle twist/sprain/etc that the are being overly cautious with? Same with Quero and Boeve? I haven't tried yet, but making a top 30 or 20 prospect list is going to be impossible. After reading about some of the EMJ stuff put out it is getting really easy to say he is our opening day 1B next year. Come on he is a a 6'6" athletic beast with maybe 20/20 potential and gold glove potential defensively and he isn't a top 30 ranked prospect in 1 well regarded publication that I know of, If he can turn 111 and 116 mph singles into HR he probably has 30+ HR potential.

Did Collins play any 3B during preseason? Minus an opening day HR the Dunn/Capra platoon hasn't been great and Collins has looked great. I know Collins has been an OF/2B mostly but he might be worth a try (if he has any experience) until we give Durbin some run at 3B. It looks like he has only play 14 games at 3B in the minors, 118 innings.

The O's got 3.5 WAR from Corbin last year, Ortiz was 2.7. If Ortiz ends up not improving and just stays the same we win that trade in 2 years. Don't forget about Blake Burke's upside and the money we saved that was likely used in part to get Hoskins (not that he has done much). Devin is going to be worth 2-3 WAR if he pitches like he has. Nestor will likely be worth somewhere in that neighborhood if healthy. My guess is that we see Durbin up in a month or so, if he shows anything solid we win that trade. If he hits some this year at 3B, I kind of like trying Ortiz at 3B, Turang at SS, and Durbin at 2B for 2026 (depending on Pratt timetable). For now the if's of Durbin aren't quite worth moving Turang off 2B. Sure this one can be iffy but Devin has his own health concerns and last year our pen should that it can be elite without him. Look at what we did with Hader, his 2.5 WAR with SDP was turned into Contreras, Gasser, and Payamps. Payamps alone has been worth 2.7 WAR the past 2 years. I Freddy pitches well I would think we should get more of a Corbin than Devin return. If the offers are poor keep him and take the comp. pick. If Quero plays well this year I would listen to offers next offseason for him but unless someone gives us a near Soto-like return (nats to SDP) I would probably wait a year on him as well.

It would be really nice to get some more high upside arms in the draft early. I kind of think going in reverse of what we have done the past couple years might make sense this year. By that I mean, instead of saving money on the 1st 2-3 picks and then getting 2-3 upside HS prospect to fill that money in, it might be nice to get 2-3 really high end arms. And then go under slot in the 3-4 (maybe 2nd) to save some money if we go over slot early. My thought is that with the teenage talent we have in A ball, it would be nice to get some high end arms that can move with them. We have lots of pitching talent in the upper minors that projects as mid to back of the rotation pitchers, we should look to add some top of the rotation upside. After Misi we don't have much 1-2 style pitcher projections, unless Letson, Meccage, or Knoth (when healthy) take off. Since we have been so good on the int. market and later in the draft process, it seems like a great draft to go quality over quantity. Honestly if we were to take 2 college pitchers early we probably wouldn't really go over slot much anyway. For example 1 P Liam Doyle (Tennesse)- Has been on of the better college arms early in the season, throws up to mid 90's as lefty 1(comp) P Chase Shores (LSU)- At 6'8" there is Misi like stuff, he missed most of 2023 and all of 2024 and has been ok this year but not great. 2) OF Nolan Schubart (OkSt)- If a good college OF falls through the cracks this would be a great spot to snag one, obviously Schubert is higher ranked now. If he fell (or another higher ranked college bat, preferably OF) he would fit into the organization well, even though he isn't really the type of athlete we usually go after. Honestly something like that probably isn't a whole lot over slot, so we could still be frugil day 2, and then go after HS upside day 3. The couple HS arms that are ranked higher I doubt fall to us so I went with college arms, undoubtedly there will be 2-3 HS arms and a few more college pitchers that jump up in the rankings. I think this could be some of the front office thinking in the Priester trade as well, the system has gotten deep enough that we can take a couple swings for the fences and then get back to the save money and get 6-7 upside picks in a draft.

Yesterday was a beautiful game, Yeli, Contreras, and Rhys hopefully all got going, the pitching minus 1 pitch was masterful and we are getting better and more healthy day by day. It is incredible to be 6-5 with what I would have said were our 2-8 starters hurt or unavailable (not to mention Gasser and now Thomas if you really believe he is hurt). The bullpen is really coming together and Uribe looks like most of envisioned at the beginning of last year. With a decent start in the minors we can really be aggressive and go after a 3B or top of the rotation starter if the budget isn't to tight. Boy if we can get those 3 vets going and Sal, Brice, and Chourio keep at it, like they have been we are going to be a force.

Great day in the minors. It would be nice to kind of keep that highlighted portion (plus Made) of Carolina together promotion wise it could be amazing come say 2027 when they might be all ready to break into the big show. Who would you say are some of the top guys that could be due for an early season May-ish promotion? My thoughts would be Burke, Wood, Bitonti, Arienamo, Hedbert, maybe some of the 2024 pitching draft picks (UDFA) from college last year, I am I forgetting anyone else?

I am all for trying to extend Freddy, but I think as we see contracts go up and up he will be worth more than your estimates. Kikuchi, Severino, Manaea, and Eovaldi each got 20-25 million per year. Freddy hasn't had the injury history of most of those guys and his k rate makes him potentially more desirable. With 2 offseason until he is on the market my guess is that he is likely worth closer to 4/120 or 5/135 range. If he takes like a 20 million a year extension thay would be great, but I doubt he takes that.

With the Braves starting 1-8, what are the odds that they would trade away a guy like Matt Olson at the deadline? That team is in all likelihood to talented not to come back but they don't have much of a farm system and have constant injury issues. Matt Olsen would be a great fit into our team, he has 4 years of control after this year at 21 per with a 2030 option. What would a trade package look like? I would guess we would give them Rhys for the year to level out contracts and then the Braves would insist on Pratt and try and get Misi as well. The Braves do have a ton of needs maybe we could sell them on a big package with a bit more of our extra depth Rhys, Pratt, Perkins, Hunt. I would love to see the Guardians fall and make JRam available as well but I still don't think they could trade him and not have a fan mutiny even for like 5/6 good pieces.