Transmogrified Tiger

It's because those good things start to go away at higher levels because of how bad the hit tool is. Right now the BB, K, and AVG paint the picture of a guy who really struggles to make consistent contact in the zone. What happens when he goes up a level and faces better stuff that has better command/control? The walk rate erodes and IsoP probably does too, and you're getting unplayable production from even a catcher. Now what happens when you go up a level again? And again? Obviously at 21 no one is assuming there can't be improvements made on his end, the point is that there needs to be big ones for him to even have a squint to see MLB future. Which is why people are gobsmacked at statements like Hearn being 'closer to the Top 10 than not'.

Call me crazy here, I might be really stretching it in 2022 by saying this, but batting average is probably not the ideal way to evaluate a catching prospect in A ball or even the low minors. It seems nuts to say, but I'm willing to to go out on the limb. I couldn't even say what the standard is anyway. What do you think it says about a player's hit tool if they're struggling to break .200 with a K rate north of 30% in multiple 200+ PA samples? What do you think that says about their ability to scale 3 higher levels beyond the current one without dramatic changes? Like I get it we all have our favorites that we want to cheer on that aren't necessarily consensus standouts, but we can also be clear eyed about their actual standing as a potential major leaguer.

Swanson is probably the hardest for me to talk myself into enthusiasm about, and it comes down to how confident I am in his bat. I haven't looked into it deeply to see if there's a good reason for his post-pandemic turnaround at the plate, but the career 80 wRC+ up until covid spooks me out of a big contract. Doubly so when the team really needs to get strong offensive production regardless of position out of their big signing given the rest of the roster.

Tom he's at low A with a .710 OPS and striking out 33% of the time, the bar is low for catchers but the Hearn thing is 'touch grass' moment if you're considering him a real prospect without significant sustained changes.

The big name teens have really run out of steam in the last month or so. Since the 4th of July games, Alcantara's hitting .233/.324/.344 and Triantos .207/.250/.304.

Steele pitched yesterday, Smyly is today does Contreras have a knock? He didn't play yesterday and isn't in today's lineup

I think they assumed that since Peter Crouch retired it wasn't necessary anymore. More seriously, it looks like Eurosport has a handful of options that go up to 15 if that helps: https://www.soccer.com/shop/products/footwear/mens-cleats-shoes?order=0&page=1&filter=price__11-250&filter=footwear_men__15

this one right here officer

Until he faced a 30 year old AAAA player who has homered in every game this series Sent from my motorola one 5G UW using Tapatalk Sometimes you're the Schwindel, other times you get Schwindeled

Steele's last 3 starts: 13.1 IP, 16 H, 1 ER, 25/2 K/BB, 0 HR

.310/.428/.724 with 1:1 K/BB since the all-star break is pretty fun

Trusting the TV K-zone is always a little fraught, but per Marquee the ump got all of them right except the pitch he took for ball 3(which dove into the dirt and no one was upset about). There were a lot of very close calls on the corner tonight in general, and the ump seemed to get most all of them.

We went over this last year and it's even more true this year, the benefit of the players on the roster playing well means way more for the team's future than a handful of draft spots, the MLB draft simply does not work that way. This season they've solidified like 5 everyday or rotation spots that they didn't have at the start of the year, and right now the lineup is about half 2023 starters and half 2023 role player candidates, plus Contreras. The rotation is 60% 2023 contributors too. Wishing for the team to play terribly just because they aren't incorporating a bunch of Top 50 prospects is silly, but they did lose on a cheap HR so yay I guess?

Reyes is an enormous dude, it looks like Greg Oden is trying his hand at baseball when he's near any other player

Strumpf with a HR He is having the quietest .400 wOBA season I've ever seen. I feel like I never see him have a big game but the season line is plenty productive. Granted, the K rate is basically disqualifying, but you'd think we'd bring him up more often.

Cross quoting this because I'm getting a similar sense. On top of the reasons mentioned there, I'd also add the prioritization of high minors returns at the deadline(3 of the 4 players and the 3 most valuable being at AA or above), and the roster churn that is mostly closing the door on some players' 2023 chances(first Rivas, then Bote, now Schwindel). What I'm currently grappling with is how intensely they plan on trying to hit the accelerator. 1) I'm not confident how aggressively they'll spend. On one hand, smart money would be on them not going all in to push up to the luxury tax line, especially if to do so they have to add 3 players with 4+ year deals. But on the other hand, the 2024 roster has little in the way of marginal cost increases, and could potentially be dropping almost 50 million of salary(Hendricks/Heyward/Happ) without an urgent need to backfill any of them(depending on how the high minors SP and OF look in 12 months). So if there was a season where some short term aggression could pay off, it's this one. 2) I think they'll try to stay net-zero with QO players, so if they keep Willson that means no Taillon, DeGrom, Bogaerts, Turner, etc. It could mean Correa + Thor + Willson though 3) I'm skeptical that they'll make a significant buy trade. That doesn't mean I don't think they'll explore trades that involve trading minor leaguers for major leaguers, but I think they're just getting comfortable with the level of depth, and if they make a trade it might be less about spending capital to get a clear cut star and more about getting a player who they feel good about breaking out(Spencer Turnbull? Mickey Moniak? Trevor Rogers? a 1B/DH?). An exception to this could be if a star comes available for extenuating circumstances. Maybe the Red Sox need to trade Devers like they did Betts and he's open to an extension and you jump on that because he's 26, maybe the Padres need to sell high on Machado to avoid luxury tax pain. When I add those things together, I feel like the most likely outcome is at the top of the market they'll do something similar to last year, they'll add a significant position player and starting pitcher. I don't think Willson is plan A for that significant position player, and they'll see if his market develops slowly and they can maybe get him on a more opportunistic deal(more Grandal than Realmuto) if that presents itself, but otherwise be a little more aggressive on shorter term deals. That could mean going a little higher in the reliever market for a late inning arm, or finding a bridge position player solution that's higher end than Villar/Simmons, or making the SP acquisition an older arm who will take a shorter term deal(Morton? Verlander? Kershaw?). So in the end it could look something like: Correa, Clevinger, Narvaez, Kiermaier, and a cohort of RP similar to this year. That's not gonna make them surefire playoff contenders, but the biggest weakness(1B/DH) is easier to fix through the market or just luck than most other spots on the roster, and with even a modicum of SP health you'll be staying in the race past the deadline and playing meaningful September games.

Both teams have a Thompson that wears #71 that pitched in today's game, if Pat Hughes hasn't discovered this yet no one tell him or he'll be talking about it until 2026

Quick reaction, seems similar to the Frazier pickup, Frazier has louder tools but Reyes has a longer track record of hitting at the MLB level. Speaking of, this probably says that Frazier is about done getting a meaningful chances as a Cub. It might say something similar about Schwindel too given that Wisdom is moving over there more.

The Field of Dreams game is Thursday, I'm glad they picked a good retro jersey for it

Mervis went 1 for his first 9 at AAA, since those 2 adjustment games he's at 55 PA, .320/.381/.640, 3 HR, 8/4 K/BB. Given his status 3 months ago, it's hilarious to think that it might require MLB pitching to keep him from running roughshod over pitchers and ensure he can take his walks.

Ben Joyce got his pro debut tonight against Tennessee and gave up 4 hits and a run, how did the Angels ever draft Mike Trout

Think the bold are more important to my post than Gregorious specifically Gregorious is most about taking more a complimentary approach to building a position group around Contreras (extend!), Hoerner, Suzuki, and Happ, happens to be the most available nominal LHH SS/IF. Maybe they can approach the hole with a trade for someone like Bryson Stott, Andrew Velazquez, Joe Wendle, or even a higher risk option (since this guy can be as low as your 3rd 2B) like Taylor Walls, Geraldo Perdomo, Lucius Fox... :dontknow: That's fine, but even if you're keeping Happ and Contreras, there still needs to be a significant addition to the offense, they're 19th in wRC+ and 23rd in runs. And if you're keeping Happ and not going after one of the SS, you're limited to basically 1B/DH and CF, of which there aren't many good options.

If the Cubs didn’t get this weird pass for next years these are Phil Coke deals nobody remembers or cares about. “Oh no they spent a whopping $3 million a year on a bench player who could have made much less (even as benches become more and more vital to success)” is like…why are we even talking about that? Do better sure, but passing on a half dozen+ superstars mostly in their 20s since 2018 has more to do with the downfall of Cubs One reason the Cubs use for passing on the superstars is the payroll is bloated with a bunch of IOWA shuttle, 26th player on the roster, AAAA players, broken down projects, etc.

I think the national team hangup with Pefok is that he's not going to give you the pressing intensity and quality that the system requires. Totally on board with him(or Dike) being on the roster so you can toss him on when chasing a goal though.