Hairyducked Idiot

That lineup is a new low.

Even if Watkins might be capable of that, I'm not in a particular hurry to clear a spot just to find out if he does it or not.

Watkins kind of sucks, but we don't really have anyone better and he's not enough of a prospect for me to care if he gets service time in a situation like this. MLE of his Iowa line (using http://mlsplits.drivelinebaseball.com/mlsplits/mlecalc): 197/264/295

Three or four, I think. Unless you buy into the theory that the real Mike Olt died and Texas managed to salvage some value by trading an imposter who had taken his identity.

What made me throw it out there: Rusin 2012-13: 50 MLB innings as a starter, 4.47 xFIP Russell 2012-13: 108.1 MLB innings as a reliever, 4.48 xFIP Russell's been really good at keeping his HR/FB% down to insane levels the last two seasons, but that's about the only difference. If Rusin gets a bit of an effectiveness boost from coming out of the pen, I could see him being better.

Let's say it's spring 2014, and you are evaluating the relievers in camp. You need to pick two lefties out of the trio of Russell, Rosscup and Rusin. How sure are we that Russell isn't the odd man out in that situation?

the hits can be a result of bad luck or they can be a result of him having poor command within the strike zone and throwing too many hittable strikes. he's 18 years old, probably barely speaks english and pitching his first year outside of his home country. i'm sure he is being challenged. He pitched outside of his home country last year.

About $2m, so that's like two "second-round talents!" that you can get in later rounds that will be really exciting on draft day and then stall out in Daytona in four years.

Sounds exactly like something a team with a mediocre roster would do. We have a mediocre roster with a maddening history of getting somewhat worse than mediocre results.

It'd be different if we were in the top of the draft. The difference between 1st and 4th is pretty huge. But we're not.

I hope we draft 14th at best.

he's 18 and is allowing more than a hit per inning, let's relax. People still care about hits?

I was taking a closer look at Junior Lake this evening and I have to admit there might be a tiny bit more there than I've been giving him credit for. The BABIP and HR/FB rates are still stupidly unsustainable, but he put up a 19.4% K rate in Iowa in 170 PAs and now he's at 20% in 70 PAs in the majors. Before this year, his best K rate was 22.1% at Daytona. So he's having the best contact year of his life at the highest levels he's ever faced, which is always a really nifty sign for a toolsy prospect. ZIPS thinks he's a 260/298/399 hitter with a 27% K-rate in the majors. If he can keep that K-rate down to, say, 22% long-term. Take that ZIPS line and lower the K-rate 5% and it turns into 279/313/418. The league average MLB LF is 254/320/407. So that's two big ifs. First, whether or not he can really keep his K-rate down to the low 20s. Second, whether or not his raw athleticism can translate into being a decent MLB outfielder. But if both of those are the case, I can see him being a 2-win player out there. The problem, though, is that we have two better outfielders already here for 2014 and it's the most obvious spot for us to add a position-player FA, so there's not really any room for him without making the team worse. He still probably needs to be used as a platoon caddy/4th outfielder for 2014.

I'm not so much worried about it as I am cheering for us to lose it. And I still think we might.

37-year-old veteran Japanese Korean sidearming closer we picked up on a super-cheap deal this spring because he wanted to rehab with an MLB team after TJS. He came back a few weeks ago and has been shooting up from rookie ball to Iowa. He's K-ing a little more than 1 per inning, not walking many, and there are reports his velocity is in the low 90s. If he can stay healthy and maintain that velocity, he might be an interesting bullpen piece for next year.

I wonder who the 40-man spot is for. Lim?

You owe us this one, Carlos.

Though not quite as hard as 4 HRs and 4 Rs.

Barney's defense kind of sucks lately.

I literally can't think of a more appropriate time to use Michael Bowden.

Mattingley's face while he yells "No! You walked into me!" was awesome.

Hahaha. All that complaining got the Cubs a call.

Castillo better hope that .350 career BABIP is a real thing.

It doesn't look to me like he's getting squeezed. It looks to me like he's missing.

Rizzo needs to get Lake to teach him how to get those crappy ground balls to go for hits.