jay87shot

Other teams will be testing that out for sure. With the current analytics it doesn't take long for teams to catch on, hopefully Mitchell has been around the block enough to adjust. I am sure our analytic team has made him aware and he is working on it. Mitchell has been a bit of an anamoly, he is striking out way way to much however he is walking a bunch and his 19 rbi's has been extremely important. I think there is a lot to worry about as mentioned in the article but really there is something to worry about in all of our batters if you dig deep enough.

I wouldn't worry to much about Pena and Made's long term defense home. I think both are athletic enough that if you give either and offseason they could adjust to any OF spot or one of the 3 IF spots. I doubt we can keep Turang long term but those guys will be ready before then so it might be something where one of then plays 3B or corner OF (I expect Lara to be the CF long term) and then for the 2029 season (trade Brice after 2028 with 1 year control) one of them moves to 2B.

I think my worry at edge is that if Micah is out say 4-6 games that group is really rough. Sure Van Ness, Sutton, and Sorrell have some upside but none have done anything. That doesn't account for injuries either or Micah taking longer to heal. Thib would likely only cost a late round pick and financially work. The Giants have some talent for sure, to be honest if I were them I would just keep all 4. I would have Reese and Carter play a little off ball LB and on 3rd downs just have all 4 create a fierce 4 man pass rush.

Excited to see Antunez, I thought with a rough DSL he would stay there again. I would think Fenelon and Arias would both be good candidates to come state side with a good month or so in the DR. I am excited to see what CJ Hughes and Rylan Mills can do, over the past few years we know the HS pitchers are pretty solid but the HS bats we have drafted (Josh A, Payne, Pratt, Bitonti) have been really exciting. From the pitching side Episcope is the guy I think I want to see the most. If he was in the upper 90's last spring and there is any potential to be gained in our org. he could be that Woody, Burnes, Hardin, Wichrowski style college arm that takes off quickly in our system.

After the draft are there any specific trade options that could make sense for us. Kayvon Thibedoeau comes to mind as an interesting option. The Giants have Burns, Carter, and now Reece, I would think Tibs could be had for cheap and going into a contract year he would be primed for a big season especially when Micah come back. I think maybe a backup QB from the Eagles could make sense as well they drafted Cole Payton and Tanner McKee and Andy Dalton. I know they wanted alot for McKee early in the year but if he could be had for a 6th or something that could be solid. Maybe Dillion Gabriel depending on how the Browns QB depth shakes out. I am sure there are some other decent options I am not thinking of.

All it takes is one team to think the power bat is worth it, he does have a near 1 to 1 bb/k ratio. I wouldn't take a guy that big that early. If I was a scout I would feel like I could find elite power with some other decent tool(s). I would probably say he is a 3rd round or later pick without watching much on him and going on profile alone.

If he could stay away from the 1 blow-up/multi-run innings he would be elite right now. You can live with a walk here and there but when he walks a couple in the inning and then has to throw all heaters he gets in trouble, I expect him to continue that way for a while but when he can get it together he has a chance to be the best pitcher we have ever had.

Is there anyone worth targeting on the Phillies? I see an old struggling team that has a lot of money committed to players whose long term deals look really iffy. Turner, Harper, Nola, Schwarber, Luzardo, and Sanchez are all sign to 2030 or later. Sanchez is the only good deal left in that group and the also have Realmuto and Wheeler on shorter deals. Most of their young guys haven't been very good and they are paying 38ish million to Castellanos and Walker not to be on the team this year. I brought up Sosa and we have discussed Bohm a bunch (not having a good year). Would they possibly trade a reliever like Kerkering just to add some depth? Brandon Marsh?

I am very pleased with this draft. Only getting 6 guys is a bummer but I really like everyone we got. Cisse- I was estacic we got him, great value and it fit our biggest need. I don't think he will be a shutdown guy but I think he should be better than anyone we had last year. McCllelan- I love the fit, big and strong enough to play nose tackle and very good pass rushing skills. I think his first step seemed slow but he is super quick when engaging in blocks. I would have liked the club not to have traded up for him but I can't complain that we got a solid player that fit another need. Sutton- This probably the best pick in our draft, I would have been pretty happy if we took him in the 2nd round and the 4th is a steal. He has great size and atleticism for an edge player and be a great complement to Micah. I wouldn't be surprised if he starts as a rookie right away especially with Micah out. Burton- Lots of experience and can play G or C. This seems like a great depth pick and with his strength and light feet he would seem to have good upside. I don't have much faith in Rhyan at center so with Burton and Monk on board I feel much better than 1 of the 3 should work out. Jackson- Another pick with great value, Jackson has the size and speed to be successful. I wouldn't be to surprised if he and Cisse ended the year as the top 2 corners. Smack- I don't necessarily like trading up for a kicker and I seriously question getting a kicker born in Maryland and played in Florida to kick late season games in Lambeau. However if the club feels like he is the guy I am more than ok with that. Other thoughts- I was disappointed we didn't add a T or depth at RB/TE however some of the UDFA signings has helped that concern. Overall I would give the draft an A- just because we only managed to get 6 players and had depth needs across the board. I do think that every player drafted has a chance to be a contributor by years end so that is solid.

I get that Collins was better last year than he likely is but the trade value is just way off. Collins was 4th in ROY last year and Mears and Zerpa were extremely similar relievers last year. So we essentially gave up the 5 cheap years of control of a very good at minimum 4th OF for 1 extra year of control of a 6th/7th inning lefty reliever of which we had like 4 or 5 lefty bullpen options at the time. It just was a very un-Brewers-like trade selling extremely low on a arbitration eligible productive player like Collins.

Made is still 18 for another week.

That might be more balls hit 99 mph than Ortiz has all year. Hopefully he can het hot and be an option for the bigs in a couple weeks or so. What i find amazing is how the ball jumps of their bats this year. Payne doesn't look balanced on his HR's and Lara seems to hit balls that look like deeper floats that are 20 feet further than I expect. Nick Nuegebauer Jr.

Not only did Harrison and Misi look great but Sproat is coming around and Patrick and Woody have been consistent. Drohan looked good, Crow had a solid start, Henderson has been great in AAA, and Gasser is getting back after looking ready before the injury. Not to mention Carlos Rodriguez gave some strong innings and Tate Kuehner has been great as well.

Has Chourio started his rehab? I thought earlier in the week they said he would start this weekend. I didnt see him in the minor league report so I am guessing they are waiting until Tuesday. With the day off what are thoughts on giving Eddys Leonard a week at SS or 3B? I think the bullpen is starting to come around. Some people just have to realize that if the pen averages 3 innings or more a game the pen is likely to give up a run or 2. I will say Zerpa isn't special like we had hoped in that WBC run. Megill is coming around and Ashby has been great. However teams are realizing his stuff is so good that it is getting hard to locate and teams arent chasing early. He needs to develop a get me over curveball or other pitch to get ahead. It is a long seasons and there are always lots of adjustments a pen needs. I feel like swapping Zerpa and Hall's roles might be worth a shot. Make Hall the later inning lefty at least until Keonig (or Rob Z) gets healthy and Zepra can pitch multiple innings less days a week. If Zerpa struggled with that I do think he has an option.

They need starting pitching, obviously they would need to think Hall could start.

What would we think about something like DL Hall and Rengifo for Edmundo Sosa, Tanner Banks, and a lotto prospect. We get a 3B upgrade, the money is the roughly the same, and Banks is a slightly funky lefty for Murph to utilize. Hall is pitching well but we know he isn't elite and the Phillies need starters bad.

I think catcher is really deep, Dinges and Quero represent high potential starters. Miller and Wood have potential backup value or at least AAAA style depth. We have upside young guys like Corobo, Garcia, and Rylan Mills. I wouldn't hate on a catcher if it is a bat 1st profile that could play 1B or corner OF if need be. However as nate82 said there are higher upside guys that make a little more organizational sense. I kind of like some of the HS bats this year so far. It is hard to scout those guys from home but the profiles of Eric Booth Jr, Trevor Condon, Brady Harris, and Blake Bowen are intriguing. One more guy to keep and eye on who is probably rising like crazy in rankings is Mason Edwards a 6'2" lefty from USC. MLB ranked him 88th but he currently has 1.49 era in 60 1/2 innings with 107 k's and 26 bb.

I have really had some really good mojo recently when I call out a guy for stinking with the bat they have had a good game or at least gotten a hit.

The Matos, Perkins, Rengifo, Ortiz portion of todays lineup is clear proof that we need to make some roster moves. None of those guys have the slightest chance to hit Skubs.

Prayers for Pena. Braylon Payne has been quietly put to together a monster start to the season. Pena, Josh A, Burke, Made, Dinges, Lara, and O'Rea have gotten a lot of hype and rightly so but Payne has been as good as all of them. Also it is really good to see Dorchies and Letson have better performances.

Dang, he is going to be making a case for going from a non top 30 prospect to a league wide top 100 prospect in like a month. He is even showing some power which I wouldnt have though possible before his injury.

I watched the Tigers broadcast last night and the Tigers announcers were dumbfounded by Ashby's pure stuff and movement. The made a good point at one point saying his stuff has so much movement that it can make it hard to command. I agree with that to a point but there was a sequence to the 3rd batter he faced that pitching ninja needs to look at because is was awesome.

Pratt doesnt strikeout a lot and has much better power potential. However if you go off of last year's stays they would say that his bat still has a way to go. I do think that Pratt is pretty similar to Turang as far a minor league development at a similar age. We have seen glimpses but he isn't there. I like how we collectively trashed Hamiltons offense yesterday and he had a huge game yesterday. I would like to organize a trash Sal Frelick offense start campaign today in efforts to keep the momentum going.

I think they did that last year as well and I know that a lot of other teams have similar schedules. My guess is it gets more division rivalry games later in the year and sustains fan involvement better.

I think neither guys are really starting caliber at least on a contender. Both are very good utility guys that can be reliable at multiple positions but neither has hit enough to be an everyday guy. Hamilton has walked (great baserunning) a bunch and has a 0.5 WAR, Joey's glove is elite making both passable at least for a month or so until one of the young guys breaks out and deserves a shot. Here is a fun stat, Joey and Ham-bone have 18 hits and 0 XBH. When both of them play that makes for a very low stress AB knowing I can fire one right down the middle and the worst thing that will happen is a single. However it is bad that our SS and 3B positions currently support .167 (39 ops+), .196 (34 ops+), and .178 (51 ops+) batting averages. We can survive with the intangibles but those 2 spots need to drastically improve to compete in what looks like the best (deepest for sure) division in baseball. Throw in the 2 weak hitting OF positions currently and we do really need Chourio and Vaughn back ASAP (Yeli when ready).