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Bertz

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Everything posted by Bertz

  1. Yeah I'm getting here too. I could see him not getting any time this September for purely roster-management reasons (the 40 man is fairly tight), but I'm getting pretty comfortable with the idea of not adding a dedicated 1B this winter despite how horrible this year's production has been. IMO add at 3B, either directly or by adding an OFer to push Morel there full time, and let Wisdom/Mervis own 1B. Feels free to add someone who could play some 1B if needed, e.g. Joey Gallo, but don't go get a dedicated 1B like Josh Bell.
  2. Yeah he's one of the funnest breakouts in the entire system. I don't keep a running list of top prospects, and at this point I'm waiting for the TDL, but he's gotta be top 15 or 20 in the system at this point.
  3. I wouldn't want 100 games of this but I think I actually like this Apple broadcast
  4. I feel like that was a huge overpay for a mariners team that's at least into next year until they are truly threatening Their playoff drought is nearly old enough to drink, the rules are a little different for them
  5. Stroman's been extremely unlucky this year with an inordinate amount of baserunners coming around to score. He's basically trying to completely even the scales in this one start.
  6. Willson likes to stir the pot on social but given what we know is coming this might be a sign it's happening imminently
  7. Gomez is in the Bob/Bowden school of usually wrong but right just often enough that you have to pay attention
  8. I'll just say I like Ross and think he's doing a good job. He was legitimately kind of bad in 2020, which is to be expected as a rookie manager. But at this point the stuff people complain about is the same stuff every team's fans complain about. Stuff like "why not bring in the closer here?" while ignoring that he's pitched 3 of the last four, or "why not pinch hit here" and the why is a minor injury we're not privvy to. The exception is the Heyward stuff. I understand how tough that can be from an interpersonal standpoint given their history playing together but the amount of playing time he got in the first half was downright irresponsible.
  9. I dunno, the smoke around a Happ trade has escalated substantially over the last week or so. It feels pretty inevitable at this point. My thought is basically that Jed needs to come out of this deadline with a position player you can reasonably hand an everyday spot to next year and a SP you'd feel comfortable giving starts to in April/May if there are injuries. So while in my mind's eye that position player is a Luis Campusano type acquisition, we can always fall back on it just being Happ. I mean if you hold onto Happ you could pretty easily run out a lineup like this next year: Until - Morel RF - Suzuki LF - Happ 3B - Carlos Correa 1B - Wisdom SS - Hoerner CF - Ortega/Nelly platoon C - Omar Narvaez/Gomes platoon 2B - Madrigal It's not exactly the Dodgers, but that's a very solid lineup, particularly given that you'll have a very loaded Iowa team nipping at the heels of anybody underperforming from that bottom third of the order. The team needs to compete next year. Dealing Happ and competing are not mutually exclusive, but you can't just deal him for a pitcher in A Ball, no matter how fun.
  10. Seems notable that he's now full on starting games and now just piggybacking Kilian.
  11. I'm of a similar mind, but there's not a super obvious fit that qualifies. Maybe they think they can stretch out Pearson? Or they're confident of a swing change that levels up Groshans? Looking at BTV, a couple other imperfect options: - Gurriel is worth ~half of Happ. It's a bit weird to just swap left fielders but Happ's better and LH, and the Jays may be on the part of the win curve where those incremental improvements are worth burning up a year of cost control and a couple modest prospects? - Danny Jansen and Happ are worth about the same. I hate this idea, but the Jays have Kirk and the Cubs need catching help. Jansen makes Nico look like Cal Ripken, but he's been a star during his intermittent/infrequent playing time - Like I said above Tiedemann and Frasso looks about right, Jed might give zero horsefeathers and go for it to grab the guy who would probably be the top pitcher in the system - The Jays are a candidate for relief help, so maybe Happ plus Robertson and/or Givens opens up some of the options that the Cubs would be more excited about? I don't love any of the above, but I could see them? Or obviously there could be additional pop-up guys not prominent on the current prospect lists and a more traditional trade happens.
  12. Starting to feel like this has legs I am of the mind that a Happ deal does need to net some pretty immediate help. So like even if e.g. Tiedemann/Frasso grades out as a fair trade I don't think it's something the Cubs should do. So I'm very curious what a package would ultimately look like.
  13. This seems oddly specific
  14. It begins
  15. Speaking of Javy's return, something we should all keep in mind is how limited and potentially out of date the information we're working with is. Based on what we knew at the deadline last year the quality of the trade chips we got were roughly: Madrigal Alcantara PCA Canario Vizcaino Deichman Kilian Espinoza Palencia Horn It only took a ~month to realize that Palencia and Kilian were the actual headliners of their respective deals, and once Madrigal and PCA finally got back on the field they very quickly changed our views on them. That's not to say assume everything is roses (both White Sox deals look quite bad!), but moreso that non-famous prospects don't generate a lot of in-season scouting report updates, so we should all allow for some wiggle room in our Tuesday afternoon opinions.
  16. I think he's likely to be the best combination of impactful and realistically available. Add in that he could step into the lineup tomorrow and he's the name I'm most attached to this deadline. Campusano and a quality SP at AAA would be an A+ deadline.
  17. I shook my head when I read this, but now that I look there could be a path. Abrams has been sub-replacement, is currently hurt(albeit a minor injury), Kim is outplaying him this year, and Tatis's return is getting close. If they're a little worried now that he's too swing happy and might be more of an average 2B than playable at SS, that could get you into 'Preller does Preller things' territory. Even moreso if we're talking about a combo deal for Contreras/Happ, Contreras/Robertson, etc. But they have so many other players I'd prefer as a return. Abrams strikes me as just being "better Madrigal". While that's probably not a bad player, it isn't filling any real gaps on this team. The only LH hitting infielder (aside from 1B) worth any sort of damn in the entire org is Reggie Preciado. I'm totally in agreement that I'd rather shoot our shot elsewhere with the Padres but Abrams would fill one of the org's most glaring holes IMO.
  18. Both Mooney and the Padres' beat writer suggest the team's will hook up
  19. Assuming he's done after 7, Keegan Thompson since implementing his slider: 7 starts, 39.1 IP, 34 H, 2 HR, 11 BB, 43 K, 31.5% GB, 2.52 ERA, 2.58 FIP, 3.68 xFIP He's been lucky to only give up 2 dongs with how few groundballs he's getting, but he's been legitimately fantastic. Only 25 qualified pitchers this year have a 3.68 or better xFIP.
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