Bertz

Much in the same way that we dodged a bullet in not getting Logan O'Hoppe, I'm hoping that one of Brown/Wicks/Birdsell gets some innings that they otherwise wouldn't have and force their way into 2026 opening day plans. That said, I think we need to the Brewers to collapse for the team to get enough wiggle room for Craig to feel comfortable giving sufficient innings to the kids.

I don't have the record but I think it's actually really good. The vibes around here get rancid, like when we swept the Rockies but apparently not hard enough. But I think the actual results are good. It's been when the wind has been blowing out where things have gone more poorly, like that Mariners series.

As far as SP matchups go, this is probably the toughest one this weekend. Rogers isn't nearly as good as his ERA but he is good. That said the O's bullpen should be in shambles this weekend, and the bottom half of their lineup likely a mess. We're probably getting them at about as opportune time as possible.

There's an episode of Scrubs that always stuck with me. Elizabeth Banks plays a star surgeon, I don't remember what kind exactly. JD's got a patient that needs her type of surgery, but she refuses to take on the operation because the patient has a bunch of factors that make it risky. Turns out Banks' character has a history of dodging these tough patients in order to keep her stats up and look better for fellowships, etc. Anyway Jed made four good trades and but refused to engage with the most glaring hole on the roster for the second transaction period in a row. I gave him a D.

Yeah his average fastball last year was 95.0, and he pretty regularly hit 97. Last night it was 93.6 and he topped out at 95.3. I'm not worried, it's basically the equivalent of late early April for him, but he's just a little further away from being an MLB option than he was late last year IMO.

I suspect Berti goes for Amaya. I think Castro ultimately made both Brujan and Berti redundant. Team carries three catchers for a month and then a kid gets the last bench spot in September. On the pitching front, I suspect one of Brown/Horton for one and Pomeranz for the other, barring an injury making the decision for them.

Birdsell's velo was down a good bit tonight. Good night overall but I don't think he's quite back to where he left off last September.

Things I Like - I love Willi Castro for this team. Love love love. I would have taken him over any non-Cease rental arm. Pitching clearly didn't work out like I wanted but this was Plan A by a mile for me on the position player side - I suspect the team added a lot of quality innings. Probably not impact innings, but quality innings - There is a certain extent to which it's nice to push the Caissie/Alcantara decision until after the Tucker situation is resolved - I prefer the second reliever addition to an Adrian Houser type rotation arm - Probably grasping at straws, but is the lack of another SP a signal that we've all been overestimating Horton's innings restrictions? If the team thinks it can get closer to 150 innings out of him while we've been earmarking 120, it changes the calculus quite a bit - I am glad the team did not sell low on Brown or Wicks Things I don't Like - Jameson Taillon’s our 3rd starter in the playoffs...cool - The reason I accepted not making another SP move last winter was an expectation that powder was being kept dry for this summer. Well that powder's still bone dry, so how many more times are we going to kick this can down the road? - Owen Caissie's going to enter the winter with ~1100 AAA plate appearances. Ballesteros around 800. Alcantara's last option year is next year. What's the endgame here? - If SP prices were too exhorbitant, the team should have aimed higher on the RP front. I would have gladly done the deals the Yankees did for Bednar or Doval for instance - If the division was comfortably in hand, I would like taking a lighter touch on SP additions in order to give runway to Brown/Wicks. But the division VERY MUCH IS NOT in hand

I have not followed the Blue Jays closely this season but I see no reason they can't just use Barger full time at 3B instead of splitting between 3B and RF.

Making space for a LHH RFer I see

So the Twins are trading everything not nailed down and every team that had a need at 3B has I believe filled it. If we don't get Castro I'm going to be so annoyed

4.98 ERA/5.01 xFIP since late June for Morton. Basically as soon as people started noticing he wasn't quite cooked he went back in the oven.

I like this, but I'd take it a step further and say top 5. It's time to cash in one of Caissie/Alcantara, full stop.

Castellanos is a notable recent example. That got reported like 20-30 minutes post deadline

It doesn't matter. A few years ago when the Cards had Goldschmidt and Arenado and Contreras at the peak of their powers maybe you worry, but not right now. If anything it might be a plus.

IMO the bat options remaining look something like this: Willi Castro <large gap> Yoan Moncada <small gap> Luis Urias Luis Rengifo I know some names like Taylor Ward have been bandied about, but even as someone who has been stumping for not blocking Shaw even when he was in his deep slump, you need *some* added coverage at 3B.

Following up here, this just got posted on the Athletic Sounds like the Marlins are pretty prepared to send a lot of talent out the door. All of these guys are under control next year and a few of them aren't even in arb yet.

I haven't seen any rumors say it's an either/or deal. And that came up a lot with Gallen/Kelly so I assume it'd get reported.

I have no earthly idea why the Orioles didn't take an arm back instead. You have Rockies-caliber pitching, two months of low leverage innings on tap, and are about to free up like seven 40 man spots this deadline. They should have gotten like Ethan Roberts and Connor Noland back or something.

Really curious what the plan is bat-wise if they don't end up with Castro. Suarez really took up all the oxygen in the room on the non pitching rumor front.

Brett acting like he and Cerami don't work together is so obnoxious Kittredge is solid though. Very acceptable RP get if the team pulls down a primo starter.

Via Sharma a little while ago. Reading that, plus my expectations coming into this, I'd personally expect two more pitchers tomorrow, one SP and one traditional single inning reliever.

I would be VERY surprised if they get two SPs beyond Soroka. A lot of why we've talked about 2 SPs is depth, and having Soroka in the pen in long relief would provide that depth.

Two more thoughts: - The Nationals are pretty bad at pitching development. so there might be additional magic Hottovy can work - Losing Franklin likely means Kevin Alcantara sticks around. While not a slam dunk that felt like a bit of an either/or situation