davell

Raisin, we have fallen apart without you. Failure to produce a thread is shameful on our parts. Eloy hit a homer. Without that, I wouldn't have bothered. But, he is kind of awesome.

https://twitter.com/PFTCommenter/status/863908479991508994 I like Jeter, but this is pretty good.

The current situation is because Bryant is sick plus Heyward is on the DL and Zobrist and Jay are hurt. Happ is not needed and will be going back down soon. Baez is the only backup SS, but getting one of those on the roster isn't a huge obstacle. Both are absolutely available to use in a trade, although you won't sprint to give either away for next-gen Scott Feldman either. And we'll have more injuries. Javy is far from JUST a backup SS. His D is needed for the whole run prevention theme that's supposed to make the staff better.(unless there's concern his early season defensive ratings are going to be the norm). And Happ becomes the true supersub, if we have just one injury. There's plenty of AB's for both of them going forward. I don't know that Happ will be going back down soon. And I'm not confident that Zobrist gets back to being his normal self either, because of age. I think both Javy and Happ are going to get plenty of AB's. I'm aware there are certain guys you'd have to move one of them for. But, I'm not sure its worth it, if you can get a slightly lesser pitcher, without including one of them.

In some ways(you kind of insinuated it on Twitter too), we're digging ourselves into a position where we don't really have great options to trade FROM...... Javy- Need him for defense, still has upside offensively too, but his D and being the only guy we've got, outside of Addy, that can play SS, kind of makes him untradeable. Happ- We need his bat, at the moment.(maybe longer than that). Zobrist is older and has started slow, plus his back is acting up. There's room for AB's going forward for him. Schwarber- I don't see this FO moving him, but his slow start isn't going to help his value and there's no way they'd deal him for less than max value. So, who does it leave for us to grab a TOR SP with? Eloy? Sure. But damn, I really, really, really don't want to trade him. Candelario? Sure. But, he's not a lead piece in a major deal. Cease? He's probably too far away to capitalize on yet(but its one reason I'd move him to MB quick too) Almora? At this point, if you plan on keeping Happ, you'd have to find him OF AB's. That'd move Heyward to CF. Its not ideal for our overall OF D, to have him in CF, flanked by Schwarber and Happ, but maybe they think the bats worth it? No idea. But, its not easy to see what we're dealing off, to get a true upgrade starting pitcher, that's not a rental.

Yeah, I honestly think that's possible... but like you said, is it even worth offering him that? It's going to be 17-18 million, and, if he's in the position to accept it, it means things didn't get any better this season. Would you want to pay this guy that much money to be in the rotation next year? I know the payoff is potentially big (and if he's even 3-WAR that's like a $25 million pitcher), but it could just be paying him that much money to be a back of the rotation starter too. That would be a tough, interesting call. In his position, I think it makes sense. That's more AAV than he'd get on the open market if this keeps up probably (who would pay this dude over $17 million a year on a multi-year deal?), and he could bet on himself and hit the market again the following offseason. Obviously, there's a bunch of factors. Starting with how he does for the rest of the year. If he pitches like a typical 4th starter? I'd say we'd offer it. If he accepts, we'd fill a spot with a one year, upside type of play.... I think there'd be a few teams willing to offer him multi-year deals, if he did have that type of season.(penalty for signing QO guys is less now too) But, it'd be far less than a guy like Jake would think he can get, with his confidence. Perfect scenario for us is acquiring a 1-3 type of starter at the deadline. Then, I'd be much more at ease, bringing Jake back under the preface we're EXPECTING 4-5 production from him.

My honest guess is Jake winds up taking a QO from us next year(assuming it makes sense for us to even offer it, at that point). I don't see him regaining form to where anyone's getting close to 100 mill. And I think he'd bet on himself, blaming the short off season. Work out like a madman and try to get his big payday a year later at 33. Personally, I think he's done as a TOR type and should take whatever the best multi-year deal he can get(3-45?). But, my guess is he'd take a one year, prove it deal, with Boras advising him.

We had a 20-25 stretch last year. Are we going to win 103 games again? No. But over 90? Yes. After tomorrow, we don't have another day off until June 1st. But, our schedule is this.... 3 vs Cincy 3 vs Milwaukee 4 vs SF 3@ LAD 3@ SD Legitimately I suspect 10-6 over that stretch. Then we've got this stretch of games..... 3 vs STL 3 vs Mia 4 vs Col I'll say we go 6-4 over that home stand. That would put us at 34-29. Then, we've got this group of games.... 3 @ NYM 3 @ Pitt 3 vs SD 4 @ Mia I'll say 7-6 in that group, putting us at 41-35, heading into an important 4 game series in DC. We're not hitting. We're not pitching. We WILL hit. We are pitching, with the exception of Jake, who may not. We've had the toughest NL schedule in baseball so far. Its not ideal, but its about to get better soon.

He's interesting for numerous reasons. Trade candidate now? I'm not sure if Arizona falls out of the WC hunt to where they'd deal him mid season. But, as an offseason target, he makes plenty of sense too. And yeah, if they'd buy him down to 4/100, it'd be really nice. I wish we had a bad contract that we could make them eat. I have no clue what it'd require as a return. My guess is they'd still expect a pretty hefty return though, even if it does give them tons of flexibility moving forward.

De La Cruz with an excellent outing. 7 5 0 0 0 1. CG on 71 pitches.

Clifton with a solid outing, 6 5 2 2 3 7.

Eloy has an RBI single in his first PA of the season.

Whatever kind of offer it was that Jake turned down from us......Oops.

According to Keith Law, on Olney's podcast, we were heavily scouting Greinke in ST. Not just normal coverage type stuff. Something to keep an eye on moving forward.

[tweet] [/tweet] LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

In theory, taking a "complete upside" draft sounds cool. However, it doesn't truly work. 1) You'd likely be able to find a way to fit bonus demands and get the high upside kids into maybe the first 5 rounds, if you skimped out completely on 6-10. 2) The risk is there obviously, we're not in a position to just "whiff" on an entire draft class, IF things went wrong, which could happen because of, pitching.....3) It'd also present a logistics issue. Meaning you'd have the entire group starting at or near complex ball. MAYBE you find a guy who can pitch A ball his first full season, but you need to be able to mix and match players. Drafting all high school kids takes away a good bit of that flexibility. 4) You can find plenty of high upside college kids too. The perception is slightly different, but there's plenty of upside pitching options there too, and it'd help with placement too. 5) Too slow of a burn. Most teams want upper level prospects in trades and ding you, if they're taking lower level guys, due to more risk. You prefer having a few potential trade options as quick as you can get them. Pure guess, but I'd say out of our 11 top 10 round picks, no more than 4 are high schoolers and if there are that many, it won't be all pitchers and it won't be taking a true upside approach, which would include massive over slots.

Well done Navin! So glad you guys are doing well and now maybe you get to relax and enjoy Mothers Day.

Seal Boy is the OLDEST guy in the lineup. Jesus, that's amazing to me.

Awesome stuff. If the change even turns into an average offering, he's going to be able to embarrass guys. The coolest thing to me though, is you confirmed he's typically not missing by much. The fact his delivery is repeatable and there's not a ton of effort, the control shouldn't be too hard to improve. With his movement, I doubt FB command is ever going to be much, but it sounds like the CB can help eliminate those concerns too. We've got our first REAL pitching prospect fellas. Can't wait to hear about Mekkes too. Although I'll be a bit surprised if its an actual glowing report. His stuff doesn't dictate that, but MAYBE the deception stands out that much? Hoping anyway.

He was amped up, hitting 97 was unexpected. Damn, I wasn't expecting that kind of movement out of him. He looked really good. Granted, I doubt the Cards had scouted him much this year and had no clue he'd be starting this game, when he pitched his come back start for Iowa. But still, I'm pretty perplexed his K rate has been this low. Unless he was just trying to induce weak contact and running it in on guys. At any rate, there's plenty to work with here. Hell of a trade.

I really want to see Hedges in Iowa. 7 7 2 2 2 6, 9/5 GO/FO tonight, he could find his way to being a useful guy for us.

Mills is getting knocked around hard. Got to shake off the rust, I guess. Zagunis is 2-2 with a 2B and HR. He's now hitting .220, yet still has an .828 OPS.

3.2 6 2 2 1 7 final line. Had 69 nice pitches thru 3. Obviously needs to get more economical, but he seems to miss close, according to most reports, so that should come around, considering his delivery looks solid. I hope Duke is there and can give us an in-person report.

Jay has back spasms. Figures, as soon as we get rid of Szczur...... If he's in need of a DL stint, is Happ actually the call up? Or do they take Andreoli or someone else to just use as a bench guy?

Addy is available to PH, according to the beat guys.