Bertz

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Don't love selling low on him, but understand it Man, next year's bullpen is going to look a lot different

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I understand that midseason lists have a lot more inertia tied to them than offseason ones, but Davis is a top 100 prospect at this point and to say otherwise is laughable. Also, Jack Patterson turning into a thing is fun. I'd assume ultimately a reliever but still can't complain about essentially found money.

Holland is very solid against lefties, so I could see him being strong in a more traditional short reliever role than he's been used in to this point. Kind of like De La Rosa last year. As long as this isn't the only pen move I'm cool with it

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Curious to see the roster machinations over the next week between this and what seems likely to be multiple trades. Descalso is an easy casualty, but beyond that do we just see some combo of Vic/Robel/Almora/Bote sent to Iowa, or do we see someone(s) like Schwarber sent out via trade.

I posted this in a game thread, but there's only one week without an off day until September. Russell is going to hang out in Iowa in case god forbid there's an injury, but thanks to the schedule Javy could probably ironman it until 9/1. If that's too aggressive, Bote or Robel could handle SS for the game or two necessary.

[tweet] [/tweet] Brewers losing their one good starting pitcher for at least a month.

We might be getting the Giants at the right time. In the 10 days since the ASB, they have played 11 games thanks to a double-header. Of those 11 games, 4 were in Coors with its well-known hangover effect, and 5 have gone to extras. Also, in those 11 games their bullpen has pitched 49 innings, including 7 (and counting) today. They're hot right now and obviously at home, but this could be a really good situation.

What is there record when Russell sits? If we just appease the baseball gods and dfa Russell do we turn back into supercobs? They won't DFA him, because without him they're not equipped to handle a Javy injury. But, I could see him in Iowa after the deadline. There's only one week in the next 6 that doesn't have an off day. Javy could probably Ironman through August, but even if that's a little aggressive Bote or Robel could handle it for a day or two.

We're gonna need Twitter to up the character limit if this game goes more than 9

Oh man, I think they've got a couple of young kids too. Awful.

The Duane Underwood conversion to relief looks like it's bearing fruit. He converted May 31st and his first appearance sucked, but since June 1st: 13 Gs, 19 IP, 15 H, 5 BB, 0 HR, 25 K 1.89/2.11 ERA/FIP I dont have anything on his groundball rate since the switch, but given how the ball is flying in AAA this year I'd imagine it's strong as well.

Football Outsiders released their 2019 almanac today. Still digging through, but some interesting nuggets so far: - The Bears project as the 16th best team in the NFL, with 7.9 wins. 18th on Offense, 4th on defense, 28th on ST, and the 5th hardest schedule - The Packers project to win the division, but not run away with it. They're pegged at #10 wand with 8.6 wins. That's a tiny gap, win Week 1 and you've pretty much erased it - Trubisky improved much more from year 1 to year 2 than a typical QB. Optimistically, you could attribute that to his lack of starting experience in college and expect another above average jump from year 2 to 3, BUT there's not a lot of objective evidence to back that up - A few more Mitch nuggets: he was great under pressure last year; but he kind of sucked with a clean pocket. Unfortunately the latter is usually more predictive than the former - The Bears sucked on Play Action, one of only a few teams to be worse with PA than without - The Bears ran the ball 43% of the time in the first half last year. For two points of comparison the 2017 Bears were at 46% rate in 2017 while last year's Chiefs were 32%. Spending so many plays getting the running game going meant less opportunities to pass - The Bears were one of 4 teams to run the ball against an 8 man box less than 10% of the time, which makes the team's poor running numbers that much worse

Power is streaky. UMFan did a great job of showing it with Rizzo, but it's true for everyone. If a guy hits 26 homeruns in a year, he's not hitting 1 per week. He's gonna have a few different weeks with 3 to 5 and a few months with only 1 or 2.

I think Montgomery had more value than this, but not way more. and so ultimately it was about the softer factors: - Having an extra roster opening in the bullpen to use on actual relievers - Depth in case one of our top 2 guys suffers a more substantial injury - Any sort of mentorship or whatever Martin can impart on Willson and Vic - Doing right by Montgomery Ultimately, they must have felt that those were worth the surplus value they just lit on fire. I don't know if they're right, but I'd guess that if they're wrong it's not by a ton.

I feel like some people have a weird obsession with balance. Willson's been the 4th best catcher in baseball this year. If he were 9th, but had positive numbers on both offense and defense, he'd get practically no criticism.

Yeah wtf this trade makes no horsefeathering sense It's certainly not efficient, but think ultimately it's about opening up the roster spot more than anything. Monty was like 7th or 8th on the starter depth chart now, and has proven he sucks as a reliever. He was just kinda there taking up space in the pen. Between this and probably a phantom DL for Brach, they can recall Edwards and add a lefty reliever from outside the org.

Caratini has been great this year. He looks like a solid if unspectacular 2.5-3 win catcher. He could probably bring back something pretty legit given the price and control. Maybe the headliner for Whit Merrifield? Or Willson's foot is dead, but that's too sad of a scenario for me to think about.

Even with a strong finish to the season I don't think Heyward opts out. If he were a FA this winter I think he'd be in line for something like what McCutchen got last winter. Maybe a 4th year because he's younger? Regardless that's obviously less than what he's currently owed. That being said, he could probably be traded at this point without it being too painful. Although given the state of the outfield I can't imagine why he would be dealt unless the next two months are a complete disaster and Theo blows it all up.