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Bertz

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Everything posted by Bertz

  1. Bertz
    I think the thing that also hurts, is this is one fewer source of potential star power. The White Sox, currently on paper, have enough talent to maybe get past the Twins, but then inevitably get curb stomped by the Yankees. IMO that's because they lack stars. They have Giolito and Grandma, and then ymmv on Lynn and Moncada. To join that top echelon of teams, they need another 2-3 stars, and Eloy was clearly one of the prime opportunities to get one.
  2. Bertz
    I think everything from the team, both said outright and on background to the beat writers, says that they think what he did last year is real. You don't let that guy go, you bend over backwards to make it work. So if he hadn't gotten the option, I think they would have done whatever gymnastics they could to limit his innings on the big league club (long relief, phantom IL stints, etc.), and then slid him into the rotation for good around midseason. Now with the option, they can limit his innings in a much more straightforward way in the first part of the year, and then call him up once we're deep enough into the year where they can treat him like a normal starter the rest of the way. I do wonder what happens if another starter gets hurt or bombs early in the year. Does he get the call up, and gets sent back down for a breather later in the year? Or do we see some of those aforementioned gymnastics in like August?
  3. Bertz
    I'm not going to judge anyone for not watching last year, but if you watched him last year you wouldn't think he's some anonymous fungible nothing
  4. Bertz
    I'm curious how much of this is shoved down Baseball Ops' throats versus how much they agreed was a good idea. Like, do they think with kids that young it's better to have loosely defined "games" and mostly focus on weights/mechanics/nutrition/etc.? I'm guessing no, but I'd believe yes? And I probably need to sit on it more, but I think I like the changes to the calendar in future years. I've liked how in ST this year there's been a higher proportion of "real" players in each game. Like as fun as a stray inning or two from Kohl Franklin would be, I'm happy that the lineup isn't dominated by 26 year olds ticketed for High A by the end of every game. And I've always hated the minor league season ending so much earlier than the major league one, so I'm unequivocally happy on the back end.
  5. Bertz
    We're going to have to fill a lot of innings with a group of pitchers that missed 2/3rds of a year last year, if not more. Healthy, able arms, even if marginal, are going to help a lot. In terms of getting through 2021, sure. I'm talking more about whether Adbert can provide actual quality innings. Major league mediocrity can be underrated for a pitcher, especially one that can eat innings. But if you can't make the major league roster as a 26 y/o, and have significant doubts about health, that's not happening. He's not gonna make the roster for inning management reasons, not performance. If he hadn't gotten the extra year he 10000% would have made the roster.
  6. Bertz
    Haven't seen a velo reading yet, but if his curve is doing this and he's sitting 93 we've basically got 2017 Jake back
  7. Bertz
    Like Brett says I'm pretty sure this applies to Alzolay. So these appear to be the seven locks to make the pen: Kimbrel Chafin Workman Adam Winkler Tepera Alzolay And then there's been back and forth on whether they're going with 8 relievers or nine. So one or two spots for Shelby Miller, Rex Brothers, Dillon Maples, or Pedro Strop. I would think Miller and Maples, but I could see any of those four.
  8. Bertz
  9. Bertz
    This is great. Nice to see a national outlet back up something we discussed here earlier in the winter. I also wouldn't be surprised if the leap in the rankings comes pretty fast. The Cubs have talent, while they get fairly dinged for lack of proximity. But Tennessee's lineup is going to have Davis and Amaya for sure, and probably Morel and Strumpf. The rotation will have Marquez, a no longer a joke Brendon Little, and possibly Riley Thompson. Burl Carraway is the rare relief prospect who gets national attention. Strong performances out of that group would change the story very quickly.
  10. Bertz
    Kimbrel hit 98 according to the broadcast. He was mostly good, but the command is still coming on a bit. Definitely good enough that any concern from his first few outings has subsided for me.
  11. Bertz
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  13. Bertz
    I assume Brothers is the second lefty to open the year, but I'm rooting for Wieck to take the job quickly
  14. Bertz
    "I have limited resources, and feel really good about my ability to coach up defense, so I'm going to concentrate my resources on offense" is ironically the same exact thing Jed Hoyer is trying. Jed has earned a benefit of the doubt with me that Pace hasn't, and I'm already annoyed with the particulars, but it's not a bad plan.
  15. Bertz
    Cryptic tweets ftw. If I was an athlete I would kind of love just messing with fans. Willson Contreras has admitted he horsefeathering loves doing this
  16. Bertz
    I'm more than happy to bag on Pace, but I don't think he has any magic QB blindspot in the draft. Drafting QBs is incredibly hard, and I tend to think mostly dumb luck. The numbers say that even in the top half of the first guys have something like a 50% chance of being a bust and a 25% chance of being merely solid. So that leaves a one in four shot of getting a *good* QB, even amongst the primo prospects. Pace's problem is the reckless misuse of resources. So it's going to hurt more than it ought to to move up for the guy (because we don't have any extra picks lying around), and if we do hit on him the cast around him sucks and there's limited resources to do the whole deal where you push your chips in on your QBs rookie deal.
  17. Bertz
    This'll help
  18. Bertz
    No velo readings on the Cleveland broadcast but I thought he looked really good just now too
  19. Bertz
    5 Outings - 26 batters faced, 9 strikeouts, 0 walks, 1 HBP, 1 dong, 10 groundballs
  20. Bertz
  21. Bertz
    Really fun pitching day today. Of course Cleveland's park doesn't have Statcast.
  22. Bertz
    So do we think this is the plan? 1. Trade some or all of Robinson/Fuller/Hicks/Foles/Miller for picks and cap relief 2. Use the cap relief on a bunch of short term depth types 3. Trade up into the top 10 to nab a quarterback. Because of #1, the '21/'22 drafts shouldn't be a total disaster behind the QB Minshew is the backup plan if the QB(s) they want are gone earlier than they are able to trade up in the draft?
  23. Bertz
    Last year he was a hilarious disaster for a few weeks, then wobbly but mostly effective for a few weeks, and then dominant from then onwards. The same trajectory would have him hitting dominant right around opening day.
  24. Bertz
    That's about all you can do. That doesn't excuse everything before and since, but they did what they could on the Russ front.
  25. Bertz
    This is probably relevant right now:
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