Around Baseball 2020

[Orgfiller]

Today in: trades which neither team needed to make.

 

 

The Padres' only remaining CF is Franchy Cordero who spent the majority of last season injured. Their other internal options that have played above AA are Abraham Almonte who has all of 1.5 WAR in 369 games and Michael Gettys who isn't a good hitter.

 

The Rays on the other hand, add another superfluous OF to a group containing Kiermaier, Austin Meadows, Hunter Renfroe, Randy Arozarena and Jose Martinez (if you want to call him an outfielder).

[Laika]

Today in: trades which neither team needed to make.

 

 

The Padres' only remaining CF is Franchy Cordero who spent the majority of last season injured. Their other internal options that have played above AA are Abraham Almonte who has all of 1.5 WAR in 369 games and Michael Gettys who isn't a good hitter.

 

The Rays on the other hand, add another superfluous OF to a group containing Kiermaier, Austin Meadows, Hunter Renfroe, Randy Arozarena and Jose Martinez (if you want to call him an outfielder).

 

Rays also have Tsutsugo as a s***** LF option. Maybe the Padres are going to poach Betts

[BTS]

Yates

Pagan

Pomeranz

Munoz

Stammen

 

And a bunch of other interesting dudes. Might be the best bullpen in baseball.

[Daniel Labude]

Rays also have Tsutsugo as a s***** LF option. Maybe the Padres are going to poach Betts

 

Wasnt Tsutsugo gonna play 1B?

[Spanky__99]

Wasnt Tsutsugo gonna play 1B?

 

1B/3B and OF bruh.

[TheHurl]

Everyone gets a platoon in Tampa.

[sdyment]

So Peterson to LAA is off. Do we have what it takes?

[Grant77]

So Peterson to LAA is off. Do we have what it takes?

 

Of course we do. Does it make sense to add another corner outfielder on a 1 year deal?

[RobinThicc]

Considering what the Angels gave up for Stripling and Pederson, I would say the Jays should cause it wasnt much.

[Orgfiller]

Considering what the Angels gave up for Stripling and Pederson, I would say the Jays should cause it wasnt much.

 

I think Rengifo is a lot more valuable than people are giving him credit for. Young infielder who can play all over the diamond well and had good offensive numbers while being young for the level as recently as last year. Not to mention the obvious years of cheap control.

[Pendleton]

I think Rengifo is a lot more valuable than people are giving him credit for. Young infielder who can play all over the diamond well and had good offensive numbers while being young for the level as recently as last year. Not to mention the obvious years of cheap control.

 

If they change gears and decide to try and upgrade their pen, Rengifo would be a good piece to acquire in a Giles deal.

[Abomination]

The Dodgers might be looking for a specific skill set in return though considering all their position players are pretty much set. Basically some sort of souped up utility guy which is what Rengifo might be.

 

They could have been planning on replacing Kiki with Rengifo to cut some more salary.

[jays4life19]

I think Rengifo is a lot more valuable than people are giving him credit for. Young infielder who can play all over the diamond well and had good offensive numbers while being young for the level as recently as last year. Not to mention the obvious years of cheap control.

 

Just going to leave this here: Rengifo IS (Unless Lord Pendleton says he's not) available in BORED

[BTS]

Apparently Ohtani won't pitch until at least mid May.

[Spanky__99]

Apparently Ohtani won't pitch until at least mid May.

 

Yeah duh, TJS? We spoke of this at the end of '18, bad decision.

[BTS]

Yeah duh, TJS? We spoke of this at the end of '18, bad decision.

 

They had been saying all offseason that he might be ready for the start of the season. It’s been well over a year since his surgery.

[Spanky__99]

They had been saying all offseason that he might be ready for the start of the season. It’s been well over a year since his surgery.

 

No man, TJS is normally 18 months to game play on average, save for relievers and position players.

[BTS]

No man, TJS is normally 18 months to game play on average, save for relievers and position players.

 

He had the surgery 18 months ago on April 1st.

[Dr. Dinger]

Apparently Ohtani won't pitch until at least mid May.

 

Sweet, and then he can pitch 4 innings every 7 days.

[BTS]

Sweet, and then he can pitch 4 innings every 7 days.

 

He really should just be turned into a 5+ win OF

[Spanky__99]

He had the surgery 18 months ago on April 1st.

 

Yet he played ball, don't ask me it's all great.

[Terminator]

They should just give up on the idea of him being anything close to resembling a starting pitcher and just make him a high leverage reliever.

 

He could be a DH/OF/RP that pitches 50 innings and is used in high leverage spots as much as possible. So even though he doesn't get a ton of innings (which protects his arm and allows for more ABs), the limited innings are at least maximized because of the WPA.

[Bobthe4th]

They should just give up on the idea of him being anything close to resembling a starting pitcher and just make him a high leverage reliever.

 

He could be a DH/OF/RP that pitches 50 innings and is used in high leverage spots as much as possible. So even though he doesn't get a ton of innings (which protects his arm and allows for more ABs), the limited innings are at least maximized because of the WPA.[/QUOte]

 

He's only 25 and is by far their best starter. If he avoids another major injury then he's got another 4 seasons at least as a starter.

[Terminator]

He's only 25 and is by far their best starter. If he avoids another major injury then he's got another 4 seasons at least as a starter.

 

The overwhelming demand for being a major league starter eats into his value as a position player. Right off the bat he takes a hit because he's a DH and not an OF. Then factor in rest/injury time and I'm not sure that the juice is worth the squeeze.

 

Would probably be worth more WAR as an OF only rather than a SP/DH. But if they do want to squeeze some value out of his pitching talent, I think being a RP might be the best way forward.

[Bobthe4th]

I feel like Ohtani is if you had 80-90% of Cody Bellinger but wanted Bellinger to pitch.

 

Which is one of the reasons why it'd be a travesty if Ohtani was converted to a full time outfielder. Going from the most exciting player in baseball to just one of the best outfielders smh.

[BTS]

I feel like Ohtani is if you had 80-90% of Cody Bellinger but wanted Bellinger to pitch.

 

Yup. I think you can reasonably make the argument that pitching him has cost the team 4-5 wins already, and you can add more to that total this year. He’s probably an elite defensive corner OF with a cannon arm and 70 speed with a 130 wRC+ bat. Not really dissimilar from Mookie Betts maybe.

[BTS]

Which is one of the reasons why it'd be a travesty if Ohtani was converted to a full time outfielder. Going from the most exciting player in baseball to just one of the best outfielders smh.

 

Bellinger is a lot more exciting than Ohtani. Cutting his PAs by 50%, moving him to DH, and giving him 70 ace level innings as a pitcher wouldn’t make a more useful or exciting player.

[Bobthe4th]

 

Based on past tweets Heyman really seems to love Pillar, haha.

[glory]

So Pillar will be able to get his return curtain call in front of a sold out crowd (or as close to a sellout as the 2020 Jays will probably get). Good for him. Unfortunately Donaldson's return was in front of the same amount of people you'd see in line at Costco on a Wednesday afternoon, so it didn't feel as special.

[Brownie19]

Bellinger is a lot more exciting than Ohtani. Cutting his PAs by 50%, moving him to DH, and giving him 70 ace level innings as a pitcher wouldn’t make a more useful or exciting player.

 

I don't know man. While I understand that from a WAR perspective, he might be more valuable as a full time RFer, you can't deny it's pretty exciting and unique to see a player who can dominate on the mound and in the batters box. Selfishly - I hope we get to see what he can do as a starter/DH over a couple full seasons. Then it would be interesting if they transitions him into a RF/DH/RP.

 

The other consideration is the Angels probably have an agreement with Ohtani in terms of how he'll be used. They may not yet have the ability to change the original approach (which was part of his original signing).