Bertz
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Everything posted by Bertz
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I think I like Assad as a starter more than most, but yeah I'd still like to dangle Morel in front of teams like the Mariners and Tigers and grab an optionable young starter like a Bryan Woo or a Reese Olson.
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Matt you've brought up a modified 6 man rotation before and I'm wondering more and more if that might be in the cards. Literally thr entire rotation has some IP questions - You laid out Imanaga’s but he's got some shoulder stuff plus generally as a Japanese import he's used to pitching once a week -Steele's huge innings jump last year would probably necessitate some extra rest - Kyle's not far removed from a major shoulder injury, plus generally he's no longer a spring chicken - Assad's the only one of the youths you'd feel comfortable going much past 150 innings It could stand to help things all around.
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Around 5ish years ago Jim Callis left BA for MLB.com and John Manuel left for a team job (Twins I think?) in pretty quick succession and yeah it's been pretty much a rag since. Really sad too I used to buy the Handbook every year.
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This is an extremely cool gif
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So at this point with Imanaga on board and indications being the team only wants to add one vet SP, it seems very unlikely that we trade Morel for a frontline guy a la Dylan Cease or Jesus Luzardo. Knowing that, which of these do we think is the plan? 1. Sign two bats for 1B/DH, e.g. Bellinger and Hoskins, and Morel's only guaranteed path to everyday playing time comes via playing an adequate 3B. A bit of a high risk high reward proposition 2. Only sign one bat for 1B/DH, Morel will play everyday at one of those spots depending on which bat we end up with. It's a waste of his athleticism but you *know* you can get his bat into the lineup every day 3. Still trade Morel. Instead of being a part of a big time trade, do something more in the challenge trade mold like to the Mariners for Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo. Even if Jed's shopping list has changed Morel's lack of fit on the roster hasn't
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We'll wait for details obviously but sounds like Kenta Maeda's first deal. Wonder if Shota's health is a little more suspect than we realize.
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I'm really excited for this move. I've been stumping for Imanaga and/or Glasnow basically all offseason. And if you had told me Imanaga was only going to get $15M per year I would have been that much more obnoxious about it. I'll also mention for like the 18th time that the projection systems actually think he's better than Yamamoto on a per-inning basis. The lack of groundballs and the resulting dongs are going to keep him from being elite, but he throws A TON of strikes and misses A TON of bats. Unless you're giving up a Lance Lynn-esque number of homers that's still going to lead to strong production. It also sounds like there might be some low-hanging fruit from a pitch design standpoint. I'm hoping that lack of familiarity gives him a strong 1st half season, and they can make whatever repertoire tweaks to keep the ball in the park in time for his second go around the league.
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I don't know if we see any more big signings, I think those are on Boras' timeline rather than Jed's. That said I wouldn't be surprised if any of the trades that Jed is apparently working on are fast follows. Or bullpen arms. It's very clear Bellinger is going to hold out til ST or just moments before, so there's not really any impotice to wait on him to do more. If anything getting everything else locked in probably pushes Boras to the table faster.
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So probably more or less exactly what Senga got? That's awesome.
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I'm most glad about this because rotation options were getting perilously thin. This winter a GM can sign two decent 1B/DH types blindfolded, so if Jed wants to wait until President's Day or whatever to do the rest of his shopping everything should still be fine. (Please Jed for our collective sanity do not wait that long to make your next move)
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There was some thought that the rush of teams saying they weren't going to get him was a sign he wasn't going to get the 9 figure deal he wanted. I'll say with the posting fee he cracks $100M but not without.
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BTW two bits of required reading/watching about Shota
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I swear to God if Bob Bob's this I'm going to lose my mind But also, yay!!!!
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It's possible, the reporting was that he came stateside and did on-site visits over the last week or so. Usually though the physicals come after an agreement though, so my expectation is still that this gets wrapped up tonight so they can travel, hammer out the contract, and do the physical tomorrow.
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Craig Mish is, as far as I know, the most plugged in reporter for the Marlins. So this is pretty meaningful If you're you're wondering if the Marlins are willing to trade someone sounds like the answer is probably yes
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It's tough, he's definitely got a connection or three, with one of them obviously being Ian Happ. But he's also a moron. When I click a BN article and Brett didn't write it I usually react about like this.
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I mentioned him a few pages back. Bell would be a good way to defray the cost of one of their fun pitchers IMO.
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Feels like this is more or less done. I imagine Shota's agent is going around the room one last time to see if anyone wants to add a year or a couple million of AAV and put it away. Gut still says Cubs or Angels.
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Where to hit Hoerner is a really tough question, and I think for me depends on who gets brought in to bolster the offense. He's a contact guy and as you point out here is especially strong against top of zone fastballs. I want him somewhere to help mitigate that weakness of someone else in the lineup. For example Chris Morel gets eaten alive at the top of the zone, so for example something like a 5-6 in the lineup of Morel-Hoerner would for make a lot of sense. If Wisdom and Morel are in the lineup on the same day you definitely want Hoerner somewhere in between them.
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I'm still extremely skeptical the Red Sox pull him down given their self imposed financial woes
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I was reading Grant Brisbees article this morning, and it's a "what if the season started today" sort of roster analysis for the Giants. This stood out to me JD Davis isn't great, he's basically Patrick Wisdom if he wasn't such an extreme launch angle guy. HOWEVER, the Giants pulled some black magic last winter and turned him into a very good 3B. As we know Wisdom’s defensive prowess has cratered the last two years. Davis and Madrigal would IMO be a good 3B tandem if we're not trusting Morel there.
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That further proves the point, right? If the small army of public draft analysts that contribute to the public zeitgeist (many of whom with input directly from teams as well) can get things so hilariously wrong, just imagine how easy it is for one team's scouting department to muck things up.
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You trade up for a QB or when there's an industry agreement on a tier change. E.g. the Eagles moving up for Jalen Carter who was the last consensus blue chipper left on the board. You absolutely 100% do not move up because you think you're smarter than the industry and can tell the difference between two guys the industry thinks are more or less evenly rated.
