Tim

I think I'm more hopeful than I should be with Schwindel. Looking at his minor league track record is pretty impressive. He just hasn't had a real chance in the bigs until now. 2017 AAA (KCR): .321/.340/.528 2018 AAA (KCR): .286/.336/.506 2019 AAA (DET): .327/.361/.628 2021 AAA (OAK): .317/.362/.630 In the majors this year, he's now up to a 123 wRC+ and a slash line of: .283/.309/.528 He didn't walk much in the minors, but he didn't strike out much, either. And he's hit for plenty of power. I don't think he's going to be a star by any means, but I think he can be a decent placeholder for a while.

There are at least two reasonable paths in this thread alone to being good or better next year. TT's doesn't even involve the team spending big. Good or better than this embarrassment of a team that's on the field now? I agree that certainly doesn't take much effort or money. Marquez, Davis, and Steele look like the only prospects that will be in the ML sooner than 3 years from now and while all of them look like "good" prospects, the real "possible star" prospects are at least 3 years away. I don't think Hoyer and/or PTR is going to spend a ton of money this offseason because there's just too many holes to fill. After acquiring a couple of mid-tier FAs and seeing how Steele, Davis, etc. along with the rest of the 2022 roster perform, they might have a better idea of when the "possible star" prospects will make the team. Anyone currently in a full season league can easily reach MLB within three years. There are a bunch of potentially useful players across A, A+ and AA for us right now that could be average or better big leaguers. In fact, there are way too many for me to bother listing here - we have one of the very deepest farms in the league right now. And there are a few guys in there that could be really good if things break right. Hell, even guys like Preciado, Caissie or Alcantara could be in MLB by the end of three years if they develop quickly. --- edited to add I think I misread your post. I thought it was saying that it would be more than three years, but you were saying it would be that third year when high impact guys could arrive. Let me list a few guys that could be contributors or stars that will reach by then: 1) Davis has the capability to be a star level player. A .900 OPS from a capable CF is a star. 2) Diechmann can definitely be a contributor. If he can figure out how to unlock his power while also making contact (instead of one at a time), he could be more. 3) Amaya could be a really good starting catcher by 2023. He's not likely a star unless he hits for more power, but a solid defensive catcher who gets on base is pretty valuable. 4) Morel could be contributing as soon as next year in a utility role. 5) Rivas can hit righties in MLB right now. If he can play the OF well enough and learn to hit lefties, he can be a good MLB starter. 6) Strumpf could be a contributor by end of next year, let alone in 2023 That's just the hitters at AA and AAA. There are a bunch of interesting relievers at those levels, too. There are also a number of SP who could be up by the end of 2023, including Kilian in AA who could be up by the end of next season. Even a guy like Jensen could be up by the end of next year even though he's down in A+ right now.

My Master Plan - v1.1.0 Stars & Scrubs Edition Good in 2022; Great in 2023 Remainder of 2021: Summary of Needs: In varying degrees of need: SP, LF, SP, 1B, CF, SS, 3B, RF, SP 2021-22 Free Agent Options SS: Correa, Seager, Story, Baez, Semien OF: Conforto, Castellanos, Rosario, Garcia, Canha, Marte Top Tier SP: Kershaw, Stroman, Gausman, Syndergaard, Gray, Rodon Mid Tier SP: Duffy, Smyly, Pineda, Paxton, Bundy, Rodgriguez, Ray, Quintana, Heaney, Archer, Matz Old Tier SP: Greinke, Verlander, Scherzer, Morton, Cueto, Kluber Actions to Take Trades: Trade Willson for prospects this winter Free Agents: C: Sign Mike Zunino for 2/$10 SS: Sign Seager for 6/$180 OF: Sign Conforto for 4/$80 SP: Sign Gray for 5/$125 SP: Sign Matz for 2/$20 2022 MLB Team: 2B - Madrigal ($1) SS - Seager ($30) LF - Conforto ($20) 1B - Schwindel/Rivas ($1) 3B - Wisdom ($1) CF - Happ ($4.5) C - Zunino ($5) RF - Heyward ($23) Bench - Hoerner, Bote, catcher, best of 2021 tryouts ($5) SP: Hendricks ($14) SP: Gray: ($25) SP: Matz: ($10) SP: Alzolay ($1) SP: Mills / Steele / Thompson ($3) RP: cast of millions ($10) That team can easily be afforded from a payroll perspective at a total of 153.5. That's right - the payroll going into the offseason is so low that we can sign Seager, Conforto, Gray, Matz and more and still only be at $153. This is a bit unrealistic in how many guys we need to acquire, but not outrageously so. And even if I've underestimated the contracts, there's plenty of room on the payroll to go higher and still leave room under the cap for the following offseason. It's not a dominant team, but it can compete and win in the NL Central. It takes a stars and scrubs approach to 2022 with the idea of replacing the scrubs in 2023 to go from good to great. It also keeps the powder dry with the prospects to use them when we are truly going for it in 2023. The younger prospects should be nearing or in the upper minors by then, and we'll have added another high draft class & large international budget. We will hopefully have some high end guys knocking on the door here plus a lot of assets to fill out the club through trades.

This team is 3 years from being good unless PTR decides to spend big and I betting that's not going to happen. There are at least two reasonable paths in this thread alone to being good or better next year. TT's doesn't even involve the team spending big.

I see Kyle has joined Team Tank.

It's about time. I still don't understand why Hoyer wasn't able to dump Davies at the deadline. He could have paid most of what as left on his contract to get some 18 year old non-prospect. I'm pretty sure it was an either/or situation with Davies & Williams. It isn't like they've got starters at Iowa ready to step in and soak up innings.

huh - that's three out and only two in. I wonder what additional move will be made.

Maybe that's why he was grumpy in his press conference

It's rich for a baseball player who bats under .300 to complain about the fact that the vaccine doesn't have 100% effectivity.

I grew up on the south side as a Cubs fan. So I learned to despise the White Sox because of all the abuse I took from the fans. When I lived away from Chicago for 15 years, that hate dissipated quite a bit. At this point, they're...fine.

huh...Duffy is of some use.

And another bomb. No cheap home runs for that guy.

Letting Burnes bat here is ridiculous. 8-0 lead in the dog days of summer. He's given up two hits, so there's not a no-hitter to consider. I'm guessing they'll pull him out after the first non-k out where it eliminates 20k from possibility. Still stupid, though.

I hadn't noticed that Jared Young got the promotion to Iowa.

Max Bain pitching a nice game tonight.

lol - I can't decide if the ump was checking Jake for foreign substances or taking mercy on him and giving him a few.

Have you and goony merged into the same grumpy person?

I went to the kitchen to get some ice cream, came back and they were still in commercial break. I thought that was weird until I realized that the inning was already over.

At least Yelich still sucks, too.

Uh...Jake sucks.

Two of the three grounders were pretty weak, but well-placed.

I think he should have stuck with the ground balls...

Presumably Hosmer comes with Hassell in his deal.

I'm also confused by the size of gap between Preciado and Alcantara.

I generally cut Rizzo a little more slack on the subject because he has reason to be hesitant about any medical procedure and how it can impact him. That said, given what I know, I don't agree with his choice. And I could have respected his decision more if he had come out and said that people without the complicating factors should absolutely get the vaccine. I hope he gets through it okay, but he is seeing the consequences of his choice.