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Bertz

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Everything posted by Bertz

  1. The Cubs are mostly tapped out for this year, and considering we're getting the #1 guy in the class we should presume next year's funds are completely spoken for as well. So do we think there's any opportunity to get Rodriguez? Presumably some team has some leftover funds and will swoop in and grab him?
  2. Strumpf going to Tenn for the 3rd year in a row tells you exactly what the org thinks of him, and personally I'm very much in agreement.
  3. Looking at a few recent comps Adam Frazier went 2.8 -> 4.3 -> 8 Amed Rosario went 2.4 -> 4.9 -> 7.8 So a little higher but not a ton. Hoerner's skillset is not one that racks up a lot of dollars in arb unless it's paired with some hardware.
  4. Rule of thumb is guys get a 50% increase each year in arb. So Nico would likely go 4 and 6 his last two arb years. That said if he won the gold glove or started stealing a ton of bases with the new rules he'd probably juice those numbers quite a bit.
  5. Like this a lot. My biggest issue is like TT said this puts him and Seiya into FA the same offseason. A fourth year would have been ideal but I'm much happier with three than I would have been with 5.
  6. I believe the Wick thing becoming official + everything done right before the game means the entire roster is set except for whether the last pen spot goes to Leiter or Borucki? And Leiter seems pretty likely.
  7. Speaking of Spring Training performances that raise an eyebrow: Jameson Taillon ended his spring with 23 strikeouts and 0 walks (1 HBP tho). I reeeeally wish he'd pitched more in front of Statcast so we could know how excited to be about this new sweeper.
  8. Over the last three years collectively he's got a 93 wRC+, and he projects to a 92 this year. The average MLB catcher is at 89 the last few years. So not a monster but solidly above average for the very low bar at the position. I think it's primarily sign that Amaya is not yet physically fit for duty if one of the top two guys hit the IL tomorrow, and they think Torrens is materially better than spinning the waiver roulette wheel to find a guy.
  9. I didn't see this separately but in Brett's writeup on the roster shakeout stuff he linked to a Sun-Times article that indicated Wick hitting waivers is likely So from a 40 man standpoint, it's a pretty clean Mckinstry+Wick out Torrens+Leiter/Borucki in situation? Rucker down when Hughes is back, Torrens down when Seiya is back? I'm still wondering who the horsefeathers the backup CF is. Is Happ or Suzuki now a regular option out there after very much not being considered one last year? Is Mastro a much better defensive OF than I realized and an option there? Is Cody Bellinger planning to only miss an inning if he hits the IL?
  10. The bullpen is monstrous. Like vintage Rays/Brewers good I was going to say Steele sucks as a starter and has to go to the pen (where he dominates) but Steele being bad has been mentioned enough by now that it's maybe not as bold as I thought an hour ago Swanson has a miserable April and we get a ton of Heyward 2.0 discourse, but once the wind starts blowing out he goes HAM and ultimately ends up having his best offensive season No hitter on the roster besides Swanson tops 3.5 WAR, but we still end the season with a top 10 position player group because of the depth guys and the youths Jed does something extremely un-Jed and adds Bryan Reynolds at the trade deadline
  11. A couple surprises in here. Namely the team carrying a 3rd catcher, though I imagine that is only until Seiya gets back?
  12. This is great. You mentioned it here and I most wonder about the velocity. His 94.3 last year was, like you said, pretty much average for a reliever. I'd love to see him get back where he was in 2021 where he was just a smidge under 96. I'm also curious to see where his slider lives at velo wise. Now that he's adding some extra sweep will it trend down to more mid-80's, or does he keep it bumping 90.
  13. A few that have been rattling around my brain - One of Luke Little or Daniel Palencia breaks free from the "probably a reliever" shackles and ends the season as our top pitching prospect - Reggie Preciado earns his way back into the org's top 10 - Kevin Made ends the year on multiple top 100's - Drew Gray doesn't throw a ton of innings, but he has absurd numbers when he finally debuts (think like DJ Herz's 40% K rate in 2021)
  14. I wonder how likely it is Hosmer gets cut this week. His signing always felt like it came with an expiration date, and that he was going to get cut Memorial Day-ish and replaced with Mervis. But with what Edwin Rios is doing and the positive vibes around him in camp, feels like if you're going to give someone 6-8 weeks of runway at 1B to open the season Rios makes a lot more sense. Plus he's far more in the offensive mold Jed laid out at the end of '22 of more power and fewer groundballs. Cutting Hosmer would be one of the easiest ways to open up a needed 40 man spot. Somewhat relatedly, Morel and Mastro started in RF in both split squad games yesterday. With Suzuki looking more and more like he'll only be out a week or two, maybe the team is planning to forego the Tauchman addition and just make do with guys already on the 40.
  15. I wonder if there's an opportunity to link up with the Phillies. Sending them some one of our many RHH 3B so that Bohm can slide across the field against LHP. Even something as small as getting out of Bote's contract.
  16. What does it cost to get the seemingly disgruntled Ed Oliver out of Buffalo? One of our 4ths? He's making $10M+ so I don't think he'd cost one of those day 2 picks?
  17. None of this is outright wrong. Though obviously not the most charitable of reads. On the player side, the pitching is where things are most interesting. Most indications, both from the teams words and actions, is that they believe they're now part of the inner circle of teams that has more or less figured out modern pitching. They think they're a year or two behind the Dodgers/Guardians/Rays, but still ahead of most of the rest of the league. There's some real indication this is true, but for the team to compete it damn sure better be because on the surface they project to have the 21st ranked pitching staff in baseball next year. The position player group is a little more straightforward. They're basically hanging on 3 "D's": Defense, Depth, and Dongs. Even the best iterations of this team are likely going to be middle of the pack in OBP. But aside from catcher they have strong depth everywhere, and so even the spots like 1B that don't look great at the moment should look better closer to Memorial Day after they've had a chance to cycle through some guys. If you want the model for what a successful version of this team looks like on the position player side, it's something like last year's Brewers. 3rd in dongs, 7th in defense, and 13th in OBP despite a clear lack of stars.
  18. Quiroz got sold to the Phillies today. :):) My other read is that it could be in service of giving Morel everyday ABs and letting Mckinstry break with the MLB club
  19. There's a non-negligible chance he's already our best starter.
  20. What in the name of Joey Tribbiani was the reason for putting Pete Alonso's name in quotation marks?
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