Transmogrified Tiger

Nothing ventured nothing gained I guess. Now what if Omar Moreno were on the table? They have a glut of catchers - the Toronto fans/media would crucify them if they traded Kirk - but man is he tubby; he's definitely a graduate of the Hector Villanueva Culinary School of Catching. Has anyone with that body type had any sort of sustained success? Prince Fielder for awhile, I guess. They are also desperate for a LH bat. Happ, Thompson, Robertson? Ortega for good measure? Probably could get them to throw in Kikuchi who has disappointed but lefties that throw 95-96 don't grow on trees and maybe the Cubs have the right magic wand to fix him. I'm not eager to trade Thompson but how good is Moreno? For sure, if Effross is the barrier in getting a Top 10 overall prospect back at the deadline(Moreno, Alvarez) then you do that very quickly. But teams don't operate like that when it comes to Top 10 prospects in this day and age, definitely not when the prospects are MLB ready. Mayyybe the Mets are reckless/desperate enough that Willson + Robertson + reliever gets you to Alvarez, but their pen hasn't really been a problem so you'd probably need cascading injury/performance collapses.

I saw the headline and told myself "I bet this is gonna be Robertson and some pre-arb arms that are not getting traded" Nothing ventured nothing gained I guess.

I've been dreaming up different deadline/offseason combinations recently, and I think depending on a few factors next year could be reminiscent of 2015, or a hybrid of 2014-2015. There's two spots that stick out to me that could be really important in which of those two outcomes are more possible. 1. Catcher. Willson is the obvious big decision here, but even if you consider him gone it's a position with a lot of potential outcomes. They could let Gomes soak up most of the playing time while a prospect(deadline return? Amaya?) gets ready, they could sign a starter for non-trivial money like Narvaez, they could do a low cost partner(maybe Barnhart?) to suffice while the position sorts itself out league-wide(robo zones, SB incentives), I honestly don't know 2. "Lefty masher". This person could play a number of positions and (un)fortunately there's some flexibility in their defensive home. The important thing is that the offense needs a big anchor(related to the lack of starpower), and they are in desperate need for left handed production from outside the org. This could come from a deadline return(I mentioned Kirilloff before, but it could be a a power-first prospect that's ready for a shot), an offseason reclamation project, or a bit of a larger investment(Josh Bell?). Unfortunately there are not an abundance of obviously good options here so you kinda have to read between the lines and be more hopeful for unexpectedly positive outcomes.

Tyler Adams to Leeds, Leeds new Team America confirmed

It had already reached the point of absurdity, but there's even more reason to change the rules around plays at 2B/3B if we're gonna let defenders kneel in front of the base without the ball and take away most of the target to slide at.

Devers was awfully galled for a guy taking Strike 4

Jensen cruised through 2 innings and then the wheels came off in the third. Could not throw strikes to about 5 straight hitters.

Stroman and Smyly are both starting rehab assignments in the next 48 hours, so given the expiration date they'll probably make do for the 1, maybe 2 starts until then.

Mervis and Slaughter both with a single and HR, Slaughter adding a BB and 2 K. I'd really like to know how viable a defender Slaughter is at 2B or 3B.

I think the optimistic story we can say about Higgins is this. He's hitting well at the MLB level now with a balanced approach that doesn't point to his production going to zero imminently, and his defensive reviews are that he's competent, no defensive stopper but not a DH masquerading as a C either. I would expect that with enough exposure, Higgins gets figured out or he starts losing just a little sharpness due to age(he's already 29) and that production does go to zero. The good news is that being used as a backup catcher and occasional lefty masher should both prolong that period where he's useful, and it matches up with the team's needs with the potential of Contreras being traded and Amaya's rehab from injury. Long story short, I expect by 2024 no one really wants Higgins on the MLB roster, but I think the potential he has to fill a gap until then is a good and opportune fit for the current personnel.

that one wasn't off a position player boy did Morel get all of it

Higgins is now at 65 PA with a .400 wOBA, and while that obviously won't continue there's nothing outrageously unsustainable going on with his total line.

So if both want to get to 20, B1G taking Oregon, Washington, Notre Dame, and another(Colorado? Utah?) seems to make the most top of head sense. Then the SEC would take their pick of 4 ACC teams: probably Clemson, probably FSU, and 2 of Louisville, UNC, Miami, V-Tech, and Virginia?

Took Sampson 3 pitches for there to be a pitch that wasn't hit over the outfield fence, that is too many

PCA really filling up the box score, 3 for 3 with a BB and 1/2 SB

And now a HR

Morel sliding into first awkwardly after they just showed the replays of Bote wrecking his shoulder was terrifying

You've almost certainly followed this more closely than me, but do the stories about Boehly being super hands on and insisting on American sports-style trades appear to be accurate? The english soccer internet seems to be having a lot of fun with it either way. As for Pulisic, Juventus would be an improvement though it also has that mega-club problem where attackers hardly ever last more than 2 years unless they go supernova(see: Chelsea blowing up their attack *again*).

The only hitter on the 40 man that isn't on the active roster or hurt is Canario, so if they have a new injury requiring a DL stint(Heyward), a 40 man move is a necessity. As for where the move comes from, Hermosillo is a few days from 60 on the IL and they clearly don't care about DFA'ing him if push comes to shove, so 60 day-ing him feels like the play.

Heyward DL feels more likely

yeah have to say he's acquitting himself pretty well, but i'd like to know more about the high H/9 which is in stark contrast to his more dominant teammate [attachment=0]mwl.JPG[/attachment] unfortunately there's really not much prospect firepower in the MWL to compare him to statistically though There's definitely concerns there, though scanning his game log I'm wondering how much is him getting yanked a little early due to single inning pitch count and/or early season buildup. There's a chicken/egg dynamic to this, but when he goes 4+ IP the H/9 comes down a lot, and if you look at the pitch counts it's not as if he's throwing the same 75 pitches and only getting through 2.2 in his bad outings. Maybe if he had kept going in those he would've gotten shelled more, or maybe he would've been able to balance that out a bit were it not for the workload shackles.

BP has a (free) scouting report for Canario: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/prospects/article/75665/eyewitness-accounts-nastrini-is-in-control-can-canario-hit/ More at the link, but this is the overall summary:

That sounds like Close not wanting to sound like a pushover and does nothing for Freeman at all. It would once again be an agent acting in his own best interest over his client's. Most likely yes, but there's probably shades of gray. What if in my example it's actually 1 AM on Day X that the final offer comes from Atlanta, as one hypothetical. The idea is that in order for Close to reflect his client's wishes(in this case on decision timing), he may have to create ultimately arbitrary limits to ensure all the logistics are in order, and that creates room for there to technically be a time where Atlanta sends an offer(whether that's a detailed contract or a text message with years/dollars) that is after that limit but before Freeman deciding or signing with LA. Or maybe he's getting a kickback from the Dodgers. I'm mostly just thinking out loud.

Do you protect Slaughter? I believe he's eligible. I would think of him and Hill pretty similarly, in that you don't make any plans at the deadline with them in mind, and cross that bridge when you get to it. In both cases they were obviously unrosterable until about 6 weeks ago or so, and while players can make adjustments and aren't completely beholden to their past, it's prudent to see how the final couple months of the season play out. Hill for example doesn't even need to play all that poorly to end the season with a line like .320/.350/.450, which is a good line but not one you worry much about insisting on a 40 man spot for a LF only profile. Slaughter's .476 wOBA (!) has more room for error, especially if he's at all playable at 3B/2B, and it'll come down to how sustainable he shows his simultaneous power spike and big drop in K rate is.