Bertz

That is extremely annoying I really hope this is because we're aiming higher for our starting OF spot and Grossman wanted a full-time gig. But my confidence in that being the case is...not high.

Very relevant to this conversation. Interesting to me that you'd let Rea go if you think you're really going to go 9+ deep in starters. To me that says one of these: 1. It's beyond courtesy, more like an unwritten rule that you've gotta let a fringey guy like that take his talents to the NPB/KBO 2. The org is gonna bring in multiple additional starters, whether they be MLB or Iowa 3. Rea was WAY further down the depth chart than I was giving him credit for

I will be happy if/when Javy hits better but for reasons I can't explain I have a visceral 'they should just deal with it' reaction to players needing in-game video to be successful. That was my gut reaction too. Though this on twitter from Eno was a good point ~90% of the player-improvement tech is pitcher focused, so we probably do need to throw hitters this bone.

This is good, though I think the best solution I've read came from a few years ago: http://www.captainsblog.info/2019/02/02/solving-baseballs-free-agency-freeze-requires-addressing-a-crisis-of-competition/24919/

If you want to feel better about Javy's (but also Yelich's) chances of rebounding next season

I wonder if that came down to a conversation where the cubs wanted him to convert to reliever and he wanted a shot at being an SP somewhere. My guess is he's further down both the SP and the RP depth chart than I realized. Like if he's currently 8th on the SP depth chart and 11th on the RP one, that's a guy you'd like to have around but you're not gonna fight for him to stay. The Cubs have had their problems from a labor relations perspective, but they're pretty good about doing guys solids like this.

Cleveland makes A LOT of sense for a Contreras deal. This is a laughably deep farm system. Though who knows how much of Lindor's salary they're willing to reinvest after they trade him

Welp, Rea's gone. Hopefully more Iowa SP depth gets brought in.

I really like Profar's fit as a bat, but I worry about his 2B defense. He was borderline unplayable in 2019, and I know at one point there was a little bit of talk about the Yips. The numbers say he was still bad last year, but in very limited time (so it could be a rust/reps thing). So if he's actually a 2B/LF, he's kind of a perfect fit on the roster. If he's just a LF, much less so.

I would imagine at the moment the battle for the fifth starter spot would be Rea and Miller fighting it out, with Abbott as someone they would hope is viable around midseason. I'm certain it won't come to that though. There'll be at least one veteran added, possibly more. I'm hoping that they use Rea exclusively out of the bullpen. He looked fantastic in short relief before they started yo-yoing him back and forth. There's clearly merit to taking a finesse guy and letting him air it out to the point he's touching 96. Especially since most of our other relief guys (save Kyle Ryan) are spin or velocity monsters with modest-at-best command. I also HATE the idea of bringing Lester back. There are three things a SP can give you: reliability, upside, and flexibility. Lester gives you reliability in terms of innings, but nothing else. His upside is gone at this point, and because of his status with the org he has a WAY longer leash than his current ability would dictate. It's a recipe for a 5.50 ERA in July still getting run out there every 5th day. My ideal would be to add at least two, ideally all three, of the following: - A super high upside veteran on a pillow deal. James Paxton, Corey Kluber, Garrett Richards, Chris Archer, etc. A guy who, while it's certainly not the mean outcome, could legitimately fill Darvish's hole in the rotation - Another pre-arb SP with minor league options. Spencer Howard as part of a Contreras deal would probably be my platonic ideal here? - A decently high floor SP on a Minor league deal. Wade Miley, Gio Gonzalez, and Anibal Sanchez have all paid off huge as MiLB signings in the last few years. Obviously if they're on a minor league deal they're not a guy you can count on, but someone more likely to give you 5+ IP/start and an ERA south of 5 than Tyson Miller is You open 2021 with this rotation: Hendricks James Paxton type Davies Alzolay Mills But this rotation is certainly not going to go 162. Paxton and Alzolay are severe injury risks, while Mills and Alzolay are significant performance risks. You run these top 5 guys out there, but between injuries, ineffectiveness, plus some planned stretches of utilizing a 6 man rotation, you will give plenty of starts to the Iowa guys. Likely enough to figure out which one (or hopefully two!) of the Iowa kids are ready to perform moving forward. I'd love to have 4 spots pretty well figured out going into next offseason. From there bring in another quality vet, and have Brailyn lurking as the injury/performance replacement.

If there is a guy that could be, Boog is probably it. Every time I've ever heard him call a game, he's had great rapport with whoever the color guy is, so I'm as excited for Boog and JD fun as I am for him actually calling games. Yeah to me the thing that makes this so exciting is how fun he is. There are announcers who are better (though not many), but not many who bring much color to the broadcast. Him and JD is going to be a horsefeathering blast.

Thank goodness for the Rams

Sounds like the national emergency clause in the CBA likely won't allow the owners to start the season late unless there are new lockdowns/restrictions. So if the league wants to start on May 1st like they've been floating, they've gotta make it worth it to the players.

I don't like that Miller is currently slated as the 5th or 6th starter, but I love that our Iowa SP depth is finally actually interesting

Mooney has an article on trading Contreras up in The Athletic that kind of echoes this point. Also mentions that the team is looking at Jason Castro to replace Caratini.

Is Brailyn's arm going to explode or will he just disappoint? I assume if he stays a starter he's a guy we can hope is in the rotation but we can't count on it? At least to start the year? Same with Davis in the outfield. I'd love for them to whoop ass in MiLB this season and make that prediction needlessly conservative though. I do also think the bullpen will be a strength regardless though. Too many fun arms are floating around at Tennessee or higher for them to not have 5-6 work out at any given time.

Davies? FA after this year, right? FG has him at 5+ years of service heading into this season.

I think it's making fun of Alec Baldwin's new wife

So the current rumors are that Contreras is getting shopped and that Baez and Rizzo extensions are pretty likely. Take that all together, and this would presumably be the team heading into 2022: SP - Hendricks, Alzolay, Mills, Colin Rea, Cory Abbott C - Amaya 1B - Rizzo 2B - Hoerner SS - Baez 3B - Bote LF - Ervin CF - Happ RF - Heyward Bullpen - TBD/Doesn't Matter That's.... bleak. Payroll's $110ish million though, so there's money to play with even if the plan is to stay comfortably south of the luxury tax for another year. Though for this to even be fixable via FA, you probably need 2021 to turn 4-5 of those question mark positions into places where you can count on at least solid production. That's a big ask, and why getting back MLB or near-MLB talent back for Contreras is so key.

I'm cool trading Willson, but IMO it has to go one of two ways: 1. This truly is a fire sale and you're going scorched earth. In that case Hendricks needs to go too. Happ probably as well (maybe he's young/controlled enough you don't *have* to?). Any of the guys in their walk years you can hang onto til the deadline if you'd like to gamble on them/your coaching 2. You have to get MLB or near MLB pieces back. If you're not going the fire sale route, you wanna do what you can to make this dip as short as possible. Darvish freed up money for next winter's FA bonanza, but did nothing to directy improve the '22 team. If you can fill a spot or (ideally) two on the '22 roster with a Willson trade, it starts being more likely that there are few enough cracks on the '22 roster that you can paper over them with cash The question with Contreras though is where. Phillies are an obvious destination if they miss on Realmuto. Angels and Nationals as well. That's....about it? Are the Indians willing to reinvest ~1/3rd of Lindor's salary? Maybe the Tigers or Marlins want to start adding guys a star a year early in anticipation of really going for it next winter?

he's a nancy boy soft tosser and he's not kyle hendricks what's there not to get His numbers are goodish so :dontknow: Devil's Advocate Post: 2020: Yu Darvish - 76 IP, 2.01 ERA Zach Davies - 69.1 IP, 2.73 ERA 2019-2020: Yu Darvish - 254.2 IP, 3.39 ERA Zach Davies - 229 IP, 3.30 ERA 2018-2020: Yu Darvish - 294.2 IP, 3.60 ERA Zach Davies - 295 IP, 3.60 ERA 2017-2020: Yu Darvish - 481.1 IP, 3.70 ERA Zach Davies - 486.1 IP, 3.74 ERA I don't actually think Davies is anywhere near as good as Darvish, but it's kinda remarkable how similar the top line results are for both guys.