Transmogrified Tiger

They have gone above the luxury tax before, they are very close to it now in a year where playoff competitiveness was not expected/certain, and they've spent on high dollar free agents throughout the Ricketts' ownership. The weird circumstances of 2020 has created this fan fiction in some people's minds where the Ricketts not being Yankee/Dodger/Cohen spenders means that they are misers constantly looking to hold down payroll when there are numerous counterexamples. I get where the sentiment comes from but framing like this (and other posts talking about payroll being decreased) is pessimism for pessimism's sake.

BBRef's schedule page, the Cubs are 21-24 now and the Marlins are 33-13

He's been a horrific defender all over the diamond this year, and while there's nothing wrong with having a pre-arb DH with a 120ish wRC+, if someone else loves his team control or thinks more highly of his glove, you have the potential to add someone who could be more impactful.

He's a sidearmer, he could probably donate his UCL to a teammate and still make 90 appearances

We can only hope that it doesn't feed his vendetta against Morel who (checks notes) has over 400 PA despite not getting called up til May, having cold spells where he looks like a little leaguer, and generally has played defense like a QWOP character this year

"Ross hates Morel and loves Mastrobuoni" is an incredible bit to try to pull off, I respect the audacity of it

My preseason prediction was 84 wins, so this is about what I expected in the macro. It's a very frustrating way to get to that type of total, but I'm not gonna gnash my teeth over it considering I didn't expect them to be a playoff team and the way the individual performances have added up doesn't make me bearish on their ability to continue to improve next year.

He was only a shade above average offensively at AAA with a 30% K rate in over 150 PA, it's not like he had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt he was ready for MLB. If it were June there would be zero chance he was getting called up, it was only to have his defense and speed(which has proven to be a negative) as an option in a playoff chase since someone had to be there with expanded rosters. More to that playoff chase point, it is not Ross' job to investigate if PCA can hit better with more playing time when they are pushing to make the postseason. He hasn't been the best option to play, so he hasn't played. They aren't going to give up on the playoffs until they're eliminated, so he probably won't play much the last series either.

Correct, despite getting shielded matchups(the idea that he's only gotten PH ops against leverage relievers is absurd, look at that list of names), he's hitless with a 40% K rate, and gotten thrown out twice on the bases despite spending very little time on them.

PCA has been unplayably bad in his MLB time, and Morel is 8th in PA this month(and just 2 PA from 6th). Why are we pretending that they're languishing if not for the dope that plays olds regardless of reality.

I'd like to see him throw some more strikes, the 5+ BB/9, 12-13% BB% makes me a little uneasy. There's guys who get away with close to that and are quite good, and I don't need him to have Alzolay's control if he's K'ing 35% of hitters, but that's the thing I'd watch out for. More broadly, yes he definitely has late inning potential.

I see we're back to pretending that Craig Counsell has the magic touch and not elite bullpen arms. Craig Counsell's 1 run winning percentage before Josh Hader's debut: .437 The Cubs 1 run winning percentage this year from Alzolay taking over as closer until his injury: .700

The Cardinals have lost 90 games for the first time since 1990

My pleasure. The offense returns 2 4-win position players and 2 3-win outfielders, along with a productive catching tandem. Their stalwart position players are well rounded and don't have lopsided offensive profiles, which allows the team to take more risks filling other holes. The rotation will probably feature one of this year's Cy Young contenders, and at least two others we expect to be good SP you'd be fine pitching in a playoff series, based on history and most recent performance(Stroman, Hendricks, Taillon). Wicks was a Top 100 prospect that pitched like a 3 win starter for 20% of the season and will likely be the 5th starter at best. The bullpen only loses Fulmer and Boxberger, and if healthy Alzolay is a great back end keystone. Further investment in the rotation means that decent SP options will be crowded into the pen where they are likely good performers(Smyly, Wesneski, Assad). Other potential pop up options(Palencia, Little, Brown) are younger/less experienced than those we've seen in recent years and more likely to make improvements. Having not traded away the back end of the pen this year, next year's Merryweather or Leiter would be pitching in the 6th/7th rather than the 7th/8th. They will likely graduate a Top 25 overall prospect in the field(PCA) and on the mound(Horton) at some point next year. They have one of the deepest systems in the game to package players in trade to fill holes without jeopardizing the flow of talent. If payroll does not increase at all and Stroman opts in, they'll have roughly 50 million in AAV to make improvements/fill holes. Signs are that payroll will increase and they'll go into the LT. They'll either bring back a 28 y/o 4-win CF/1B and plug a big hole or have a QO pick to empower them to be aggressive in FA

Is this based on what you're seeing day to day or something else? Because these are the team's offensive ranks in run value by (Statcast) pitch type: FA (includes 4 seamers): 19th Cutter: 4th Splitter: 9th Sinker: 9th If you filter to since the All-Star break, the main difference is they got even better against Fastballs, still 10th against Cutters and 3rd against Sinkers.

Trout has averaged 79 games the last 3 seasons, it's extremely difficult to armchair QB what a good choice is because it's entirely dependent on the medical side of things given the diverse and habitual nature of the injuries.

Reds lose

ump should've said the ball hit the net just to see if he could break Murphy

Ozzie Albies is a war criminal

I agree that the biggest mistake is inserting PCA to begin with. He hasn't shown himself to be a productive baserunner at this level in limited time, and while you get the defensive upgrade it strikes me as absurd to do that after Tauchman's 2nd at bat when you are up 4 runs in the *4th*. Plus there was a runner in front of him to blunt the benefit of PCA running to begin with. Also if that's a thing you're considering then you really ought to consider not putting Mastrobuoni right before Tauchman, because this is twice now that has made for an easy late inning RP decision to go after those 2 lefties in succession. If Gomes is straddling those two then you either never get to PCA or he's inheriting a different situation with a more clear PH/don't PH decision.

Mastrobuoni is hitting .390/.415/.491 since his pre-ASB recall

Not sure if you're watching, but yes. Bellinger went and PCA bit on a pump fake from Murphy

how sure are we that PCA is one of the 14 best position players in the organization right this second