AdvantageSchneider

Pratt has a sub .700 OPS for the year and his hot streak over the last week has a 725 OPS. Oritz had a 885 OPS in his last year in AAA. There's no reason to bring up Pratt until you have some belief that he is at least as good a hitter as Ortiz was in AAA. Given Pratt's small number of AAA at bats and his lack of production no one would be bothering to talk about bringing him up if it wasn't for the contract.

The game started at 6:30 and the temperature per the box score was 71 degrees. How do you overheat in those conditions? I assume they are going to have to do some medical tests before they let him back on the field because that doesn't sound right.

You shouldn't trade Peralta because there really isn't anyone on the staff other than Priester that you can trust to eat a ton of innings next year. Last year they were the best team in baseball when they had Peralta, Woody and Preister 1-3 in the rotation. Then Woody goes down and the pitching staff was not the same in the playoffs, although they weren't horrible. Plus how many prospects do you really need? We already let some decent guys go in the rule 5 draft compared to other teams. I know we are going to need to replenish the supply when Contreras and Turang leave but we've are pretty stacked. This is the time to run it out and take the comp pick.

The NL central odds haven't changed yet at least at the Poto sportbook. Cubs and Brewers both still at +225.

Maybe, on the other hand how much lower would the figures be if his counting stats were even lower due to decreased playing time. I'll say this I don't know if I posted this here but I did not think it was a good decision to decline his option. Clearly saving $2 to $3.5M was worth it. Trust in Arnold above all else.

I don't remember too many bad sends for Lane. Some guys may have been thrown out but I don't remember them being dead ducks like other teams. Braves and D-backs replaced their coaches mid-season.

Highest AAV for a free agent in Pirates history.

You ever go into a sports car dealership and loudly proclaim you are willing to pay $15k for their best car? I think you'd get laughed out of the place. That's what the pirates just did.

Big money for some, pocket change for the Dodgers.

The Brewers could still opt to offer Woodruff a qualifying offer of $22M right? That wouldn't impact his $10M buyout does it? So if they were to offer him and he accepted they would theoretically be paying him $32M next year to pitch?

Game ends with Kirk being thrown out from RF. 9-3 on your scorecard. I've seen that play a few times before but usually it was a pitcher batting and it was usually a closer play than that. Don't think I've ever seen a guy thrown out by what appears to be 2 steps.

One of the tragedies of the last years wild card game was that the masterful job Murphy did in managing the bullpen against the mets was totally forgotten due to the Williams blow up. The top 3 hitters in the Mets lineup faced Tobias twice, Megil and then fatefully Williams. A lot of other managers just would have gone the traditional route with the setup/closer and had Megil pitch the 8th inning. Instead Murphy brought him in the 6th to face the top of the Mets order and had Peralta pitch the 8th against the bottom of the Mets order. I was holding my breath when Murphy brought Freddie in, but it worked. It really was a great job managing a playoff game, even with Williams blowing it. I think he's done the same thing ever since Megil has gone on the DL. Based just on stuff Uribe should be the closer but Murphy seems to be slotting him in against the other teams best hitters in the late innings. Doesn't matter if that is the 8th or 9th. So he's forgone the prototypical setup/closer roles with Koening and Uribe. No manager is perfect. I'm comfortable with Murphy.

It probably depends on the matchup for Hoskins. If the team they play has a lefty starter that Yeli has struggled against I can see a case for including Hoskins as a DH.

Bauers has been pretty good lately in case you haven't noticed.