Jim French Stepstool

Both Pratt & Lara exceeded what I thought the team would get out of them in 2026. Extremely happy with both. But I think Sal Stewart is a no-brainer. Not just the RBI total, but I thought I saw something that he played in all 162 games for the Reds? And really advanced strike zone knowledge & plate coverage for a rookie.

Yeah, I'm a Wagner fan. But he was limited to just over 40 innings this year. Had he put up the same numbers w/20-25 more innings of work he'd have my vote, but that might've been too wishful of thinking after he missed two full seasons. My early leader in the clubhouse for this honor next year is Bishop Letson.

Something worn by a group of teachers isn't political? C'mon. EDIT: Since you asked Brock, no I haven't seen this ad; thankfully.

Agreed. But I think the bulk appearance (or something in an earlier inning) is more likely to come up for him than something in a later inning. I'm just saying that once you get into the back half of a game, I think we're more likely to see a Hall, Ashby or Romero.

I agree. The days of people drilled in a certain way of doing things & having familiarity with a program & each other over a number of years are mostly gone, and that can lead to ugliness. But I'm not sure how much 'cleaner' the UW team has become week-to-week as the last few seasons unfolded. As I said, there may be better overall quality in the current staff so we'll see.

Raise a cup to section X, my home for about 14 years before I gave up my tix. Have fun!!!

They won Saturday despite a lot of the stuff mentioned above still being an issue, so that remains a problem. It can't be easy to build consistency when a third-to-half of your roster is new every year but it'll be an albatross as long as your opponents are better than you at avoiding that stuff. Fickell has shown to be able to attract players to the program. On field, I still feel he'll be as good as the assistants he hires. It seems like he hit on Ligashesky as a special teams coach. And so far, so good this year for Tressel & the defensive staff. I'd like to see what the offense looks like under Grimes when/if the O-line shows more consistency. But knock on wood this looks like a more competent staff than the clown show of his first couple of years.

Lots of good bats on that list, But you're talking about 3-4 LHHs per team that you might feel it's important to match up with a lefty in each series. We have four (including Drohan) lefties in the pen. I too think Harrison has shown enough to be on the playoff roster but I don't know if L vs L matchups are going to be a big part of his participation as opposed to, say, a bulk appearance in a game four scenario.

If they meet LA for the NL pennant & eliminate them, Rocky IV. I'd say the Dodgers are a pretty representative Drago.

Great point. Teams adjusting their rosters from series to series is pretty commonplace. It looks to me like it's become an either/or thing with Drohan perhaps in the juggle along with May/Harrison. If Grant Anderson was an option I think they'd have found work for him in the last week.

With Gasser's emergence & three LH's in the BP ahead of him at this point it looked like a somewhat tough sell to get him on the playoff roster. But there's no denying how he's looked his last two times out----as @SF70 pointed out the velo & movement was there in his outing previous to yesterday. If the staff feels this isn't a blip but a trend that will continue then it's a no-brainer to include him.

When he's interviewed, Turang reminds me of someone who was under the hood changing plugs or adjusting the differential & is suddenly being bothered with questions he doesn't really care much about. And maybe it's just me but I kinda like that about him. When in the community I would be willing to bet he's down to earth & much more engaging simply because the microphones & cameras are nowhere to be seen.

From what I saw tonite (missed about a quarter & a half) it appeared to me about what I expected---UW couldn't run the ball w/the exception of Joseph occasionally getting loose, PSU therefore didn't need to overload the box, and because of that the short passes were going for very little. It looked like sometimes the short passing game was used to 'replace' the run, which usually only works for sufficient YAC yards vs bad teams. But the defense just kept getting them the ball back. I missed both PSU TDs but from what I understand one was a pick-6 & the other was like a 10-yd drive (I assume after a TO). So clearly the defense won them this game. The LBs have been really impressive before today, and now they did it on the road in a B10 game. And the secondary seems to play much better than the collective (lack of) experience. On the last PSU drive they mostly seemed to be right where they needed to be. I would imagine the Penn State message boards are railing on their offense going into a shell late, but it really looked to me like more of a case of the UW defense just making play after play......after play. If I'm one of their fans I'm more upset about the defense allowing a TE to A) get wide open & B) run for about 50-60 yards (or whatever it was) after the catch. Had to be a major bust somewhere, but kudos to Joseph for keeping the play alive. And that was some kind of old-school stiff-arm by Harris. IMO they'll have a tough time keeping the mistakes & turnovers---and losses--- to a minimum unless they can develop a better running game. Not to mention keeping Joseph healthy. But a great win, and you have to feel good for the kids.

If they want another in-game look at Harrison this is perhaps the best last chance. You might see Misiorowski throw 5-6 innings tomorrow & then a host of people for an inning each. Sounds like not much concern re Ortiz; just a bruise that he picked up in Philly. But I wouldn't be shocked if he's off today.

If the Brewers were ending the reg season on the road, I wonder if it would've been moved to Milwaukee. It would give the 'visiting' team a severe advantage AFA fans in the seats, but MLB did the same thing to their advantage years ago.

He does. He probably injected him with something.

I'd vote for only one or two WCs instead of three. Makes the playoff scenarios a little 'cleaner', I think. And yes, I realize there's zero chance of that happening.

It was appropriate that their 100th win would be like so many others, in that through 5-6 innings there's concern about the offense, then they wind up with 10 or 11 hits & 4, 5 or 6 runs. That seems to have happened a LOT. In a perfect world though, we score often & early, it's always 75 degrees & all the St Bernards in the dog park have a full keg complete with red plastic cups. I will admit though, while Painter was solid he didn't appear too be THAT good. Lotsa Ks lately. Which brings me to Garrett Mitchell. I get the feeling he might be an X factor in October, one way or the other. Offensively, he can be anything between a true difference-maker--even vs high level pitching--to a downright albatross. Bad night tonight for him, with the typical culprit: a chase or two augmented by probably guessing wrong, and the inexplicable swings through stuff right in the wheelhouse. Sometimes I wish the team would just set a garbage can out halfway btwn 2nd & 3rd base during workouts & BP & tell him to try to hit it every time. Even then, the quick hands would allow him to pull stuff inside. Hopefully he has a good set of ABs over the weekend. Really liked the work from everyone who came out of the pen. Didn't read the earlier part of the thread, but just saw the presser & if there was speculation about Contreras being pulled due to not running out the bobbled grounder----yep.

Loved how Bishop Letson finished up. His last three outings, actually.

Available to pitch four innings today or tomorrow & give up seven runs, just to piss Counsell off.

Quality, big-game experienced arms that are fresh in October. It's hard to put a value on that.

I feel like with all the hand-wringing about starters after Misiorowski & Henderson that Gasser is being overlooked. True, there'd have been much concern if in March we were told he'd be potentially our #3, but over his last 5-6 appearances he's been outstanding.

I noticed that, too. Perhaps he was getting swings on those earlier in the year, but the misses did seem to be too down, too away. And the way he was able to establish the FB at or slightly above the top of the zone pre-ASG, the slurve didn't need to be in a perfect spot to be really effective. I think he needed a second wind very badly and for whatever reason it doesn't look like he'll recover completely in '26. He'd be such a damned game-changer if he could so I get why they're giving him every chance. He's really swimming upstream though.

Not surprising, although I expected Anderson or Wilson to replace him.

I know it's separate from the reg season numbers but that's 50 right? I think that's only been done like four other times in MILB in the last 60 years or so.