Jim French Stepstool

And the winning pitcher for the O's is a guy we dealt to them back in April. Yet ANOTHER good trade😛. Clap for the Wolfram..........

I wonder how much of the 9th inning was due to Seigler being behind the plate. I doubt the pregame gameplanning as to how to pitch to their hitters had Seigler very involved. Combine that with your last guy in the 'pen on the mound. Batteries matter.

In the days leading up to the deadline, I suspect Ortiz was wondering if he'd be a reserve come Friday. And Monasterio was probably thinking he may be in Nashville this weekend. They both looked great at the plate yesterday. How much of that was the lousy pitching & how much was a sense of relief & ability to relax a little?

Zavier Zens, the forward from Wisco mentioned above, committed to Northern Iowa. A solid mid-major program & probably a good fit for him. @RedStickBrew, your relative optimism re Bieliauskas looks to have some traction. He turned in a real nice FIBA tourney in Europe, with a couple double-doubles & averaging btwn 12-13 PPG with a bit over 8 RPG. Austin Rapp definitely has the inside track to start alongside Nolan Winter but it's shaping up to be an interesting battle between Bieliauskas, Garlock & Gray for bench minutes.

Usually the last man in the 'pen is someone that can go 2-3 innings if need be. I don't think Payamps qualifies for that.

Dammit.........I'll bet we didn't even try to trade for either of THOSE two, either!!!!!!!!!!!!😫😫.

But you forgot to throw out some of their better offensive performances. Isn't that still a thing on here?

C-. Given the competition a big move to add to the INF probably was never in the cards, but an IKF-type addition would've been welcomed. And you'd think Pittsburgh would've been willing to deal him, unless perhaps his bobblehead giveaway was coming up & they didn't want to disappoint the 11,500 fans that day. Miller was fine. We might not have gotten him w/o taking Montgomery. You have to wonder, if Contreras was 100% & Chourio hadn't pulled up lame, if the Jansen & Lockridge deals would've even been made. I'm not super disappointed, unconventionality has worked for this FO many times, but it was a somewhat bizarre day.

My thought is that your ranking seems pretty accurate when limited to the deadline vacuum. Now do one on roster improvements from early April until now.

Thanks!!!

Or you could sell Cortes (who it appears had little interest from others) and, by doing that, get Miller w/o having to spend more. It doesn't necessarily mean that was the only way to acquire Miller. But doing it in the most efficient manner possible is important.

Can Peguero & Hudson be dealt from DFA limbo, since they aren't on the ML roster? I thought there was a rule to that effect (perhaps the 40-man plays into it).

For whatever it's worth (Aldi's bargain aisle?), here's my condensed synopsis: Unlike what some on here are probably thinking, Arnold & his staff didn't spend the day with their feet on their desks sucking on Clark Bars. They had a clear vision of who they had interest in & what they were willing to trade to get it, probably felt all along the prices for what was available were too high, and were proven correct. Miller has had an OK career but has been very good in 2025. He hasn't pitched since 7/5 so when he's ready to return from the IL (expected to be shortly) he should be rested, something the team probably finds very appealing given the BP workload. I can't wait for Sophia to tell everyone he's a former all-star. The Lockridge deal certainly has the 'why him?' look about it since he's an OF. Nothing impressive at the MLB level, but when you look at his AAA numbers (184 games) there's a BA just under .300, an OBP just below .400 and despite little power an OPS of almost .800. The 'why him' is answered by the apparent fact that Cortes just didn't appeal to anyone. Given what's ahead of him in the INF (and how we drafted) I'm OK with Quintana going. On a scale of 1-10 with one being never trading prospects & ten being Preller, I think we generally need to be around a 3.5 given the financial restraints. I think we were a little more conservative than that this time around, yet we rolled the dice w/Yoph Rodriguez earlier in the season & came out looking pretty good, and IMO overpaid for Jansen. So I think the accusations of prospect-hugging are more than anything a convenient b****ing point when folks get frustrated. At the end of the day we need to be smarter than most other organizations, and more often than not we seem to be. I'd have liked someone like Castro or even IKF, but they've earned our trust.

OMG!!!!!😆. Post of the year quality.

That's the thing. I've never criticized not picking up this or that player, unless I know what the cost would've been. And you never do know. If I did & deemed it worth it then maybe I'd bring out the pitchfork. And comparing the price some other team paid by looking at the prospect ranking & comparing it with our prospects' ranking is pretty futile.

MOVE THE NEEDLE!!!!!

Can't both be true?🙂

If the goal is to 'match' what the Dodgers, Pads & Mets do on deadline day, I'd have told you two months ago you'd be disappointed. I'd like to see the team improve too. But what happens today is often the work of people who don't have to worry about selling off the farm because they can write checks to FAs in January. Or SD, and there's a reason why you don't see other teams doing what they do. Eventually Preller might create his own mini-national debt.

He's good until the bills, financial & otherwise, come due.

The idea there is that Kiner-Falefa is an experienced SS, can also play 3B & gives you flexibility. You can make late-game moves on a more quality-based basis because he's a better option than Monasterio. And with the bat, despite the #s I think he's better than the Ortiz we're watching right now. Also I suspect he wouldn't cost much. I'd prefer Castro, but have no idea what that would take.

But does having Turang at SS & Collins at 2B COST you a win or three & cancel out Kwan? Turang can play short, but shoving him there two-thirds into the season & expecting him to maintain the defense Ortiz has given us, plus Collins being a total coin flip at 2B? If that's the alternative I'd rather stick with Ortiz, try to strengthen the depth some more (maybe IKF?) & PH for Ortiz when needed.

Similar size, but I suspect they receive much more TV-radio money even with the proximity to LA, no? I also recall reading something about the area around the ballpark being largely team-owned and much of that development pouring cash into the ball club. Taking out the loan to meet payroll is.........interesting.

If you're Preller, when this all catches up to you I think what you do is look at the other teams in MLB that aren't happy with their GM, then move to whichever one of those has the largest market. If it's done judiciously, with very few mistakes & w/o major injuries cropping up his style can actually be effective at a place that has money to spend. But it can be a house of cards, too.

If Preller was the GM for a market like Milwaukees', that's exactly what he'd do. Screw the future. Of course I don't see how he'd ever want a job in a market this size.

This won't be a sexy move if it were made, but since the Pirates seem to be willing to unload I'd like to check in on Kiner-Falefa. He would be an upgrade over Monasterio & he can actually play SS. Whenever Ortiz isn't out there---whether it's sitting a few days, being PH for, or whatever---it seems pretty apparent they don't want to shift Turang there in-season, Seigler is not a SS, and even though they put him there late today neither is Durbin.