jay87shot

If you were the GM what would your offseason look like? By my calculations we spent around 38 million (plus Sanchez incentives)on Hoskins, Miley Junis, Sanchez, Rea, Ross, Woody, Bauers, Clarke, Haase, and Chourio. We also have 14.5 in buyouts and Woody for 2025, more if Rhys re-ups. We sent out about 22 in trades with Burnes, Houser, Taylor. Assume you could sign any player who signed elsewhere for the same price or make an equivalent trade.

It probably is a bit early to tell. My guess is that LF=Yeli CF=Chourio RF= Sal 4th=Mitchell. Early on Bauers is the 4th OF when Yeli DH's and Weimer and Perkins start in AAA. Chourio could easily swap with Weimer in AAA to start the year but like I said it is a bit early on in spring training to see where the bats are at.

Baseball savant says he threw 87% fastball, 10% cutter, 3% slider in his 8 2/3 innings. I watched some of the game yesterday and he threw the slider quite a bit.

I would still want Wilken to put in like 100 total abs in AA. In part to give him more time at 3rd. I wouldn't be upset if he essentially skips AA but I don't see the rush. Is Bryan Hudson being stretched out to be a starter? He pitched 2 innings and over 40 pitches today seems like a lot this early on for a reliever.

Part of the problem is we have so many young guys playing. There is going to have to be someone hitting in the top half who hasnt earned it. Chourio, Ortiz, Frelick Mitchell. Weimer, Turang, Black have all done next to nothing offensively.

Yeli is an ideal leadoff, however my feeling is that so is Sal and Yeli makes more sense than Sal elsewhere. Yeli would be fine anywhere 1-3 in my opinion where Sal is probably a 6 hitter if not leading off (2 would be fine I guess). I do like Yeli/Sal 1/2 but that then puts Contreras, Rhys, Adames 3-5 which probably isn't great. For me, if you want to break up the 3 batter rh bats Yeli 3 makes the most sense.

It sounded to me like he is just a bit behind in training. I would be surprised if he missed more than a start at this point but there weren't any real details.

Don't forget Teheran and Lauer made 20 starts. It isn't like we had a knockout rotation last year, they were great at keeping us in the game and then our pen was so dominant that we were able to win the division. If Peralta can be close to a 3 ERA starter and Miley can replicate last year there is plenty of upside Hall, Ashby, Gasser, Rodriguez, Misi, and late season Woody to have a better rotation than 2023. There is even some decent upside in Junis, Rae, and Ross as well to be better than passible #4/5 starters. Our starters were worth roughly 11-12 WAR (rough adding in head). Say Freddy can give 4 WAR, 3 WAR for 1 young guy, 2-3 Miley, and 3-4 total for the 4,5,6 spots puts us in the 12-14 range. I get that there is some worrisome downside, however we hve enough options that is someone looks bad for 3-4 starts it should be easy to replace them quickly.

I was looking at the Cubs system and man are the rankings really slanted in their favor. Any decent prospect they have are really over ranked in my opinion. using current mlb top 100. Our system is great ranked #2 overall, but I just wanted to complain about some of the big market bias in the rankings. I think in most aspects the Cubs, Yanks, Red Sox, and Dodgers usually get prospects over ranked in most services (not the Dodgers this year in my opinion). James Triantos #73 21 yo A+ .287/.364/.391 4 HR 16 SB 45 feilding. Other than not striking out much I don't see anything that says much more than a utility guy, but the #3 overall 2B really. Kevin Alcantara #65 21 yo A+ .284/.345/.465 13 HR 15 SB At 6'6" I get that there is a high ceiling here and he has been a solid player but 65 seems high. Matt Shaw #54 22 yo A+/AA .357/.400/.618 8 hr 15 sb Drafted #13 last year, he was great in 38 games but he is graded below average defensively and slowed down in AA a bit. Him at 55 and Wilken unranked seems off to me. Michael Busch #51 26 yo mlb .323/.431/.618 27 HR 4 SB Probably a benefit of Dodger prospect overrating but no defense and at 26 a bit old for #51 prospect status for me. Owen Cassie #47 21 year old I am not going to complain about Cassie's ranking, he had a great year and has great potential. Cade Horton #26 A/A+/AA 22 yo 2.65 ERA 21 starts/88 ip 117k/27 bb Great pitching prospect no doubt, but just over ranked in my opinion maybe more like the 40s. Pete Crow-Armstrong #16 AA/AAA 21 year old I am not going to complain about him either, I wonder how much Bellinger is going to block him this year. The have Happ/Belli/Seiya and PCA kind of blocked. For me someone like Luke Adams is a better prospect than Triantos, Lara isn't to far below Alcantara, Wilken and Shaw are close and Misi is better than Horton. Thanks for listening to me complain about the big market advantage

I would probably agree with the Uribe, it seems like the least risky. I think DL Hall makes sense to maybe next offseason depending on the season he has, with the Peralta/Ashby contracts it seems like our front office likes to bet on starters potential after a mediocre season that doesn't skyrocket value. If I was in charge I would probably go for a Sal Frelick extension, but he doesn't really have superstar potential so a long term deal doesn't probably save as much this early in his career. Tyler Black would probably be in the same boat as Sal.

I agree, I do think it is likely we will see a reliever or two traded but right now I am think more along the lines of Clarke, Vieira, Ross instead of higher value guys. The Padres have a couple options but lots of question marks. I could see Arizona being interested and putting Sewald to setup. The Phillies have good options but nothing amazing. By mid season the Red Sox, O's, and Yankee's could all be looking for closers, not high any of those closers at this point in their careers. Injuries or ineffectiveness will force a couple teams to need a closer. But for now the Rangers seem like a perfect match for Devin, especially come the deadline when the will likely be getting DeGrom, Sherzer, and Mahle back.

A bleacher report article predicted Brandon Belt would get a 1/6 million dollar deal. I know we absolutely don't need him but that seems like a steal. He had a 136 ops+ last year, 2022 was bad but 160 ops+ in 2021, and 177 in 2020. If we did trade an OF, Adames, then Yeli doesn't DH and a Belt, Sanchez DH platoon would be amazing. 1) Frelick 2)Contreras 3)Yeli 4) Rhys 5)Belt/Sanchez 6)Chourio 7)Black 8) Ortiz 9) Turang I am not a big fan of it but maybe even keep Willy and send Turang to AAA or trade him.

I would wait on any Quero long term deal. Again at least until next offseason. His prospect status as a defensive whiz 20 year old in AA with a decent bat is well deserved but to be a long star catcher in the bigs he is going to have to hit better. .260 in AA is nice but a long way from the big leagues. If he can get say 50-100 mlb ab's and not look outmatched I would be ok with an extension like Colt Keith just signed 6/28 with ability to be 9/82. I wouldnt mind an Abner extension like Emmanuel Clase maybe half way through the year if he looks good still.

Wasn't Murphy an interim coach with the Padres at some point. I guess you could count him a rookie coach as it's his 1st full year. I like the staff that we were able to keep, I think Rickie Weeks will be the coach in a couple years and Murphy was a nice was to keep some other guys on board. I was a huge fan of the hitting coaches last year but am willing to give them another year.

I would wait until at least after this season to make any long term decisions on C. If things go right he will spend most of the year in AAA and maybe get a few games in the big at the end of the year. If there are injuries maybe more mlb experience. Next offseason if Contreras is still a stud and Quero continues to impress then there will be a tough chose, might depend on a Contreras extension price. I could see us doing a prospect swap for Quero, trading him as a lead in a package for a star, or trading Contreras for a huge package. Maybe 2025 we try and make Contreras/Quero work and let Contreras DH a bunch, Wes Clarke as emergency C.

I am just saying by watching every game last year it seemed like almost every big situation Willy was up he hit a flyball. Also he batted 2,3,4 most of the year and had 80 rbi so it wasn't like he was a machine with guys on base. Does WRC+ adjust for more runs created when runners are on base? Sorry I get the idea behind WRC+ but not how it is calculated. Maybe he was trying to hit HR with no one on all the time as well, Some of those big situations would including leading of an inning in a close game.

Not that he makes a lot of sense for but Zack Grienke is sitting at 2979 strikeouts for his career. It would be really cool for him to get to 3000, the royals really should sign him just to make those 4-5 starts. I would probably have been OK getting Grienke early in the offseason but not now unless some injuries occur.

Bellinger plays great defense, runs well, has the ablity to hit 30 HR a year and hit .307 last year. I get that metrics said he overperformed last year but this is a guy who won an MVP at 23. If he puts together a 5 WAR season, I don't think it would be crazy for a big market team to sign him to a 10-250+ deal, maybe 8 years makes more sense. To contradict some of you Dodgers point, the Dodgers traded for Betts so it's not like the extended him early, JD was on a 1 year deal and they let him leave because they signed Shohei not because of Boras.

Great article, my feeling on Willy was that he was trying to hit to many HR, he hit a ton of 300+ ft flyballs with runners in scoring position. I could see that being a reason for lower exit velo, changing his ideal swing path to add lift could reduce quality of contact. Hopefully with Hoskins, Contreras, Yeli, up and coming young guys he has a bit more help or can bat a little lower (I like 5) and just swing hard for hits not HR.

I don't think Bellinger lost out, he has opt outs and is 28. He could still have a good year and find a 10 year deal. If anything it shows that the Dodgers were smart to wait, although it is easier for big market teams to wait.

I can't see us signing anyone we already have a crowded roster. I wouldnt mind Michael Lorenzen if we have a starter of two get hurt/look really bad (or Trevor Bauer). Although a AAA depth starter makes more sense. Any word on Junk going overseas? Here are some options that I believe are available Justin Dunn was a former top prospect, not sure where he is from an injury last year. Jaime Barria had a couple nice years with the Angels but stunk last year. Justice Sheffield, Beau Burrows both former highly regarded prospects who have developed all the way.

I like Ethan Murray as a potential utility guy, Zamora gets good grades for his defense but seemingly made tons of mental mistakes (errors). I agree Isaac Collins should probably make this list. I like Noah Campbell as an underdog as well although he might trending towards the OF. With Eric Brown getting closer and lots of AAA depth and then tons of huge upside talent in the a/a+ ball my feeling is most of these guys fall on the wayside.

Wow, he started at 3B today, I guess the team is super serious about him in the IF. If we trade Willy what would Sal play 3B or 2B. 3B Sal, SS Ortiz, 2B Turang, Black becomes a super utility maybe 1st base for 2025. Does Frelick become a super utility guy? I really didn't believe that we were really that serious about Sal in the infield.

I have hope for Ashby, I haven't seen an offseason report if his velo is back. If it isn't back yes I agree he becomes a bullpen option and he can slowly build back to the stuff we saw in 2022.

I have posted this a bunch but at some point would like to see some piggy back starters. It would keep individual innings down and help get more guys regualar chances. By the end of the year we could have like 10 guys (assuming no injuries or trades) who could deserve to be in the rotation. Peralta 30 starts 180 innings, Miley 23/120, Rae 25/130 Junis 20/100, Ashby 15/120 (piggyback, bullpen), Gasser 15/90, Hall 20/120, Ross 5/80 (piggyback, bullpen), Misi/Rodriguez 9/60 (combined, piggyback?) that is 1000 innings some of them coming in the bullpen, I would be surprised to see abunch of those guys pitch more like Hall or Junis if they are as effective as we hope.