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Transmogrified Tiger

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  1. Transmogrified Tiger
    Kingsbury was also the exception in that he wasn't a particularly good college coach either. 35-40 overall, 2 winning seasons out of 6(and none in his most recent 3), never more than 8 wins in a season(his first season). Texas Tech can be hard to recruit to, but not that hard.
  2. Transmogrified Tiger
    Yeah I absolutely understand the wariness around 3B, but it's also a spot where there's no less than 4 internal options(Morel, Wisdom, McKinstry, Mastrobuoni), all of which are at least okay defenders and 2 each that are RH/LH that can make for a functional platoon. It may take some time to get it just right, but I also think last year they showed a willingness to act quickly enough with poor performers(Heyward, Villar, Simmons) that I think they'll be able to avoid it being a black hole. I'll also say that I can marshal enough optimism for McKinstry and Mastrobuoni in particular that I'm not all that enthused about adding someone like Wendle to the mix, as I'm not sure there's a material difference. For example, look at what someone like Brendan Donovan did last year and compare his building blocks to Mastrobuoni.
  3. Transmogrified Tiger
  4. Transmogrified Tiger
    Another factor here could be if they feel that Wisdom's usefulness has mostly run its course and they don't want to count on him making the roster
  5. Transmogrified Tiger
    Are there meaningful at bats at 3B to be had for a bench bat? Morel, Wisdom, and probably one of McKinstry/Mastrobuoni will be on the roster, Mervis & Hosmer are going to get meaningful 1B/DH at bats, and that addition regardless of position will suck up further DH opportunities. You can make a similar point for other positions too, so my point is really I don't think it matters much what the bat can do positionally, though if anything I'd lean towards it needing to be an OF.
  6. Transmogrified Tiger
    Pollock is intriguing, he was pretty poor for someone with his workload last year, but got better as the season went on, and for this roster spot would be a nice addition given his track record and skill set. Kinda wonder if he has an inflated sense of his value that he's still unsigned though, by turning down his player option he essentially bet that he'd do better than 1/8 in FA, and I'm not sure where that would be coming from at this point.
  7. Transmogrified Tiger
    Mixon posted the league rules around game cancellations, saying those should simply be followed here. It's a cancelled game and there's a game cancellation policy. Horrible situation surrounding the cancellation but I'm not sure why the existing policy isn't used. Do you have that handy? If that's true that a policy already exists (which makes sense it would since they probably gamed this with covid), just go with it. It is *basically* what they are doing, except for the unnecessary permutations around home field.
  8. Transmogrified Tiger
  9. Transmogrified Tiger
  10. Transmogrified Tiger
    At a minimum, calling it a tie/not playing the game and going off winning percentage seems like a way better idea than staggering the playoff rounds between conferences(creating a rest advantage for the super bowl and/or weakening the NFC's bye) just to make the game up. I'd argue that's better than changing the playoff structure on a few days notice too.
  11. Transmogrified Tiger
    Looks like the Devers dream is dead
  12. Transmogrified Tiger
    The end of the roster math is starting to get interesting, as much as that can be true even for roster sickos. With the 40 man, it's currently full so Hosmer needs to replace someone. The recently signed Kay is an obvious target, but after that you have to at least squint. Other candidates could be Rucker, one of Mastrobuoni/McKinstry, after that you're having to part with upside(Estrada/Rodriguez) or recent MLB form(Sampson/Assad). Plus this isn't likely to be the last addition of the offseason, I'd expect there to be at least one more reliever brought in, and in optimizing the 26 man roster you could probably stand to add an OF to the mix too. Several 40 man guys could be trade options for one of those(Madrigal, Sampson, maybe Velazquez), and strictly speaking you don't have to have another bat(the bench is already a roster spot heavy unless you're optioning Madrigal, Velazquez can be the reserve OF), but the path gets a little hazy from here.
  13. Transmogrified Tiger
    Would they? Roster Resource has Hudson as the de facto closer, and while there's plenty of talent and 2022 performance in their pen, it is light on MLB late inning experience for a championship contender. My guess is before selling off Hudson they'd kick someone a prospect to eat the last year of Treinen's deal while he rehabs his shoulder.
  14. Transmogrified Tiger
    Jordan Wicks could be up soon too
  15. Transmogrified Tiger
    my 'not trying to get a coach fired after my kid got benched by sharing 30 year old domestic violence incidents with the federation' shirt is generating a lot of questions answered by the shirt
  16. Transmogrified Tiger
    Looking forward to confusing Wick and Wieck again in 2024
  17. Transmogrified Tiger
    I've had a similar thought, my guess is at a certain point the NFL starts dinging you for doing so given how they tend to evaluate players, maybe excepting for players a true cut above the rest. I also think this will probably have some tension with NIL stuff going forward too. Boosters paying big sponsorship bucks probably aren't going to be too jazzed about recipients skipping games that matter.
  18. Transmogrified Tiger
    What matters is how much is paid over the course of the full season, so while we simplify by thinking in round terms there's a lot of micro adjustments in the real number with call-ups and the exact amount paid for player benefits(which on the outside we just roundly estimate). But to your point, I don't know what the exact purpose would be of creeping over the line to start the season and requiring yourself to jump down under it if the team isn't great. The roster doesn't set itself up for that very well in terms of overall quality or tradeable contracts, and the benefit of spending a bit more is pretty muted. The one exception would probably be if Boston gets serious about trading Devers, but that's a big enough upgrade that you're realistic contenders for the division.
  19. Transmogrified Tiger
    things are falling right into Jed's wheelhouse now
  20. Transmogrified Tiger
    Weirdly I think the outfield is probably more shallow when you think about the likely 26 man roster. If Velazquez doesn't make the team, your primary backup OF is...Wisdom? Mastrobuoni/McKinstry?
  21. Transmogrified Tiger
    Tom I owe you an apology for giving you a hard time about Varsho's trade availability. It did take an MLB ready Top 10 overall prospect at a position of need, but I didn't think for a second he was getting dealt until the moment it was announced.
  22. Transmogrified Tiger
    What? This isn't true at all. The team projects to hit a bunch of dongs. Like there's plenty of real things to complain about on this team without making stuff up. I think there's plenty of reason to be skeptical of their power bats. Suzuki, Happ, Bellinger, and Swanson have all either been inconsistent or we haven't seen them be consistent and they lost basically all their power at the catcher position. If everything goes right though, they could hit a bunch of dongs. ZiPS says 7 of their current lineup are going to have at least a .175 IsoP, with 5 of them hitting 20+ HR and Morel and Bellinger at 19 and 18. Velazquez and eventually Canario offer a similar projection from ZiPS off the bench/AAA for depth. There is no 40 HR threat but that doesn't mean they are going to struggle to slug.
  23. Transmogrified Tiger
    So with Smyly officially at 9.5 million AAV, that means they're around 15 million under the LT line, and are likely to add 1-2 bats and 1-2 RP, plus potentially extend Hoerner. Everyone's lives sure would get a lot easier if they could find a way to turn Madrigal into a useful reliever.
  24. Transmogrified Tiger
    I don't think anyone had the chance to get Bote for the league minimum, he was outrighted and any team claiming him would take responsibility for his contract. He does still have negative value because of the contract though. I thought they cut him and he decided to take the assignment to AAA when he could’ve been an outright FA (with Cubs owing him his deal and sign as a league min)? I'm not 100% confident on all the machinations, but I'm going off the wording here: https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/outright-waivers Bote does not have 5 years of service, so while he could have turned down the outright and become a FA, he would've forfeited his remaining guaranteed money.
  25. Transmogrified Tiger
    The Cubs cut Bote and literally nobody took him for league min. He has negative value. I don't think anyone had the chance to get Bote for the league minimum, he was outrighted and any team claiming him would take responsibility for his contract. He does still have negative value because of the contract though.
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