Bertz

Also worth noting Cabrera got stronger as last year went on. His post June 1st numbers, which has always in good faith been brought up as a period where stats matter more, were a 3.23 ERA / 3.43 xFIP. In line with guys like Max Fried, Ranger Suarez, Jacob deGrom, etc.

Like Wiggins I think no matter how high you are on him the short term hope for MLB contribution has to top out in relief

I'm hoping for a controllable starter, but unfortunately the ones who have the right combo of oomf and control I want are Brown, Detmers and Webb. and those orgs can't be counted on to act rationally. If we have to settle on a rental SP I'm okay being a little more prospective. I think buying a little low on Gausman would be smart, I think buying a lot low on Peralta would be smart. I think buying low on Bieber is risky but might be smart? I know people would screech at another 92 MPH lefty but Foster Griffin isn't slowing down at all? I don't get too attached to specific relievers, but Luke Weaver feels like the goldilocks solution. I probably would ultimately say no but at the moment I'm more amenable to a Miller or a Hader than I'd typically be, especially if we settle for a rental SP. I'd love for the team to try and get creative in addition to shopping for name brands. The Tigers have this guy Drew Anderson who quietly has been a weapon in long relief after coming back over from the KBO. The Orioles have this rando named Rico Garcia who is literally leading the league in in-zone contact rate. Add someone who the nerds in the pitch lab are gaga over even if it takes us civilians some research to figure out what his deal is. My ideal deadline is probably Detmers, Weaver, and a really tough right on right reliever like Jonathan Loaisiga. But mainly I just need quality innings and some 2027 shopping done early.

Jose Escobar on base 5x, ho hum

Anecdotally it feels like he has "one bad inning" disease, so I'm really hopeful that at some point things are going to click and he'll just take off. Honestly for the rest of this year I'm looking at him building innings and seeing the 5th/6th more often as much as I'm looking at rate performance.

The farm's a lot deeper than it was a year ago. I think that package for Gausman is probably light but Caple's a grade higher than either guy we gave up for Soroka and Bateman's very comparable to Franklin.

I think with all the ups and downs Hoffman's had they'd probably take the opportunity to sell him on an up rather than risk holding onto him long enough for the next down. Bieber's interesting too. There's nothing obviously wrong with him and we know this team has had a hard on for him for a while. I *think* his issues are just pitch mix. If you told me we were going to have a two SP deadline I'd happily take Bieber as the second.

Luke Weaver got specifically name-checked by Mooney this AM, often a meaningful sign:

I mentioned this a few weeks back but I do think there's some merit to just steering into the skid rotation-wise and going bullpen of doom. Like don't totally punt on the rotation, but e.g. use one of your blue chippers on Mason Miller and then pair that with something like a Freddy Peralta/Luke Weaver trade (which given Peralta's struggles should be doable with just mid-level guys).

Cubs are 5 games up on a playoff spot and, because of the tiebreaker with the Phillies, essentially 2 games up on hosting in the Wildcard round

Christian Olivo pulled after the first inning. He stole a base so I'm assuming he hurt himself on that, though he stayed in long enough to come around to score. It's hug watch season though so keep it back of mind.

Kepley back in the lineup, so whatever pulled him from the game was thankfully minor

This to me is the most interesting thing this deadline is what approach do you take from a pure volume/bodies standpoint. The pen is at least three, you could easily argue five guys short at the moment. But like you say the injury risk SPs all fit well in the pen. The back-end SPs also fit well in the pen. Aside from Taillon they all have previous bullpen success. Doesn't feel like wishful thinking to assume we get quality innings from multiple guys ostensibly labeled SPs. So like, do you just go get one closer type to tie things together up top and then let Craig go all "out getters" everywhere else? Or do you add some volume knowing that it's not a guarantee that from here on out hurt guys get healthy faster than healthy guys get hurt?

I think if you wanted to spend big on a bat you'd add an outfielder rather than a catcher. When you combine catcher attrition with our depth there it's just not justifiable. An outfielder's not my favorite use of resources but I think he (or Seiya) could be a semi-full time DH for the next two months and then the new guy would get a starting spot for '27. Offense is fine with marginal tweaks. Get Pedro in there more against RHP, shorten Happ's leash against LHP. Maybe add a RHH 4th outfielder (Lane Thomas?) to help with the latter, but anything more than that carries significant opportunity cost.

This is maybe the most fun story on the farm right now. It's this or Jace Beck's ascent.

Yeah that's basically Adam Frazier and feels like a very reasonable comp. Triantos has more speed but alsoas a righty won't be as easily slid into a platoon in years where the bat is lagging more.

I'd be really curious to hear from the team side how they'd evaluate someone like James Triantos On the one hand, he's about 900 PAs into his AAA tenure and still hovering right around league average for total offensive output. Not great. On the other hand he's doing a lot of things right - His GB rate, long his biggest issue, is down to a roughly average 43% - His chase rate is down to just a hair below 30% (slightly worse than average) and his z-swing is way up - His power numbers are poor but not awful, a ~14th percentile barrel rate and a ~29th percentile hard hit rate - His contact numbers are great, ~90th percentile - He is at this point because of his speed I believe he is considered a good baserunner, good defensive 2B, and solid defensive 3B and OFer - He's still just 23. In an org with a less crowded infield he'd almost certainly be a big leaguer before his 24th birthday So like when you're projecting how he'll be as a major leaguer, do you take his wRC+ and apply an adjustment (e.g. knock 25 points off)? Or do you take each of his component skills, adjust those for MLB, and try to back into a slashline? Feels like those approaches would lead to very different results

Only 48 PA's because of the ASB but he's hitting .250/.354/.675 with a 25% K-rate in July. Juan Tomas also has his K-rate down to 25% in July. Hopefully these guys can take these gains and hit the ground running at MB next spring. Cruz/Tomas/Cabada, plus probably Bailey for a little bit...Myrtle should be fun as hell to open next year.

My app says it should be done before 8 🤷‍♂️

Joe Ryan and the Twins trying to get his enrire HR rate regression out of the way in one start ahead of the deadline. Smart

2025 Jameson Taillon 2026 Michael Wacha

Jameson Taillon is probably cooked. That said two of his first three years here he's given up a stupid number of homeruns in the first half of the year and just randomly stopped in the second half. Hell, last year the switch flipped while he was on the IL with a leg injury. Maybe we can make it three of four. If not I just hope the leash is short.

Pedro is honestly the platonic ideal of what we'd want a 10th man on this roster to look like. I'm not going to throw out words like untouchable for him but he's not someone you go to market trying to cash in, he's someone you're willing to listen on for the right return. I think Rojas and Kepley are the most obvious trade bait in the org. I also think Jed and co need to take a breather and have an honest convo about Mo's defense. Because this org suddenly pretty flush with LHH bats with thump. so if Mo's not a catcher or barely a catcher it's probably best to cash him in as well.

Sharma this AM *sigh*