Around Baseball 2023

[BTS]

I don't see Baltimore paying the prospect capital to rent Soto for a year, and I don't see Angelos paying Soto's extension after the comments he's made about their own young core.

[BTS]

Mookie the WAR leader, ahead of Acuna. Did not expect to see that.

 

Soto a fair bit down at #13. With his s***** D I doubt he hits top 5 again.

 

One of these years Soto is going to completely go off and put up a wRC+ of like 180.

[Masterbather]

Verlander throwing a side session out there. Not breaking a sweat.

[Jimcanuck]

One of these years Soto is going to completely go off and put up a wRC+ of like 180.

 

Seager at 175 this year. I'm reminded of having both Seager and Franco in BORED, and deciding Seager is the one to move. F***.

[John_Havok]

Nah, just one of the possible destinations among many.

 

There could be some interesting suitors, Seattle for example. I could see Baltimore trading some surplus young talent for him.

 

ROFL at the notion of Angelos green lighting a trade for someone who’s gonna make near 30 million next season.

[Grant77]

Baltimore’s owner finding out he has to spend $30m on one player would make his head explode. Doubt they’d acquire Soto. Seattle makes sense.

 

I hope he doesn't go to the hitter's graveyard. I'd like to see him stay in the NL and succeed, as he's fun to watch and still on an upper tier HOF trajectory.

[mellowgold]

I didn't know Trent Thornton was a Mariner.

[John_Havok]

Yeah, if the directive actually is 200M, Soto is as good as gone. It just doesn't work. But from an ownership perspective, I have no idea how how you spend 630M on Machado and Bogaerts until they're 40 while a year later not having 400M or whatever for a 25-year old Juan Soto. Just a brutal lack of foresight and planning.

 

Or, it was the plan all along to go balls out for one year and trade Soto after 2023 regardless of the results to reload the farm. It’s not like they could really foresee being under .500, and they probably really shouldn’t be that bad. They likely just got every bad coin flip result they could get this season.

[Jimcanuck]

Or, it was the plan all along to go balls out for one year and trade Soto after 2023 regardless of the results. It’s not like they could really foresee being under .500, and they probably really shouldn’t be that bad. They likely just got every bad coin flip result they could get this season.

 

If that is the case, that is incredibly stupid, saddling oneself with a bunch of long term contracts to get a short window of contention.

[Jimcanuck]

ROFL at the notion of Angelos green lighting a trade for someone who’s gonna make near 30 million next season.

 

Say what you will about Angelos, but he did put together a strong front office. After getting a taste of playoffs this year, and offseason lobbying by that front office, it could happen. They are the team with the low payroll and the young talent that can easily absorb the cost of Soto (and the locals are well familiar with Soto from has Nats days = ticket sales).

[Grant77]

I didn't know Trent Thornton was a Mariner.

 

Him and Saucedo have been getting a fair bit of innings there lately. They probably miss Swanson a lot.

[mellowgold]

Him and Saucedo have been getting a fair bit of innings there lately. They probably miss Swanson a lot.

 

Gross

[John_Havok]

Say what you will about Angelos, but he did put together a strong front office. After getting a taste of playoffs this year, and offseason lobbying by that front office, it could happen. They are the team with the low payroll and the young talent that can easily absorb the cost of Soto (and the locals are well familiar with Soto from has Nats days = ticket sales).

 

Putting together a good front office means a whole lot of nothing when you’re not willing to sign cheques.

 

…..without big changes, the only way the team could retain its core of young stars would be to raise prices, "dramatically." - Angelos.

 

Really sounds like a guy willing to drop 30 million on one player when he’s already priming the fan base to say good bye to his current crop of studs?

[mellowgold]

LOL. Thornton, Saucedo, and Leone. Who's next out of Seattle's pen, Biagini?

[Terminator]

The Mariners are cooked.

 

They'll be 3 games back with 6 to go against the Rangers and Astros.

 

Jays' Magic Number is down to 2. It's over. Print your playoff tickets.

[Jimcanuck]

Putting together a good front office means a whole lot of nothing when you’re not willing to sign cheques.

 

…..without big changes, the only way the team could retain its core of young stars would be to raise prices, "dramatically." - Angelos.

 

Really sounds like a guy willing to drop 30 million on one player?

 

No, but then, owners and GMs have been known to say one thing and do another. Time and time again.

[Masterbather]

Gross

Saucedo isn't bad, he's a serviceable lefty. Keeps the ball on the ground, doesn't give up a lot of home runs.

[BTS]

Imagine being Seattle and having your playoff hopes dashed with your ace on the mound because your bats got dominated by senior citizen.

[Grant77]

Seattle is such a weird offense. They are really strong up the middle with Crawford and Raleigh having breakout years but total s*** on the corners. Suarez and Teo lead the league in strikeouts. Kelenic would be ahead of them had he played enough and has an 89 wRC+ since April. Ty France hasn't reverted to a replacement level 1B. Imst3ad of addressing it, they run out s***** ass AAA players like Canzone and Moore. It should be an easy problem to address in the offseason, but more than any team, they have a knack for destroying good hitters.

[Masterbather]

Verlander could probably pitch another game tomorrow, he'll barely feel this one in the morning lol

[Omar]

The Mariners are cooked.

 

They'll be 3 games back with 6 to go against the Rangers and Astros.

 

Jays' Magic Number is down to 2. It's over. Print your playoff tickets.

 

Verlander through 8 shutout innings and at less than a hundred pitches thrown. Pretty damn impressive tonight.

[Jimcanuck]

Verlander could probably pitch another game tomorrow, he'll barely feel this one in the morning lol

 

Yes, and after shagging Kate all night

[Terminator]

Seattle is such a weird offense. They are really strong up the middle with Crawford and Raleigh having breakout years but total s*** on the corners. Suarez and Teo lead the league in strikeouts. Kelenic would be ahead of them had he played enough and has an 89 wRC+ since April. Ty France hasn't reverted to a replacement level 1B. Imst3ad of addressing it, they run out s***** ass AAA players like Canzone and Moore. It should be an easy problem to address in the offseason, but more than any team, they have a knack for destroying good hitters.

 

They have had the same lineup issues for a few years now. Tried filling the holes with Winker, Adam Frazier and Carlos Santana in 2022. Didn't really work, except for Game 2 against us.

 

Then this year they try Teoscar, Wong and Pollock and that didn't work either. On top of it France has bottomed out.

 

Back to the drawing board this offseason. They still have a strong rotation and the core pieces for a good bullpen.

[Grant77]

The Mariners are cooked.

 

They'll be 3 games back with 6 to go against the Rangers and Astros.

 

Jays' Magic Number is down to 2. It's over. Print your playoff tickets.

 

I believe the magic number is 3 if this game holds, but I could be mistaken.

 

It's 4 if we're looking specifically at Seattle, but the Houston thing makes it more complicated.

[Masterbather]

Yes, and after shagging Kate all night

 

It's a good f***ing life for Verlander isn't it? The man truly has it all.

[BTS]

They have had the same lineup issues for a few years now. Tried filling the holes with Winker, Adam Frazier and Carlos Santana in 2022. Didn't really work, except for Game 2 against us.

 

Then this year they try Teoscar, Wong and Pollock and that didn't work either. On top of it France has bottomed out.

 

Back to the drawing board this offseason. They still have a strong rotation and the core pieces for a good bullpen.

 

The most Mariners thing possible is for them to pay for JD Martinez's dead cat bounce, have him put of a 95 wRC+, and finish a game out of the last wild card.

[Terminator]

I believe the magic number is 3 if this game holds, but I could be mistaken.

 

It's 4 if we're looking specifically at Seattle, but the Houston thing makes it more complicated.

 

Yeah you are right. It's 4 if we are looking at Seattle. But it gets complicated because if they avoid losses down the stretch it means our other competition is adding them.

[Jimcanuck]

Yeah you are right. It's 4 if we are looking at Seattle. But it gets complicated because if they avoid losses down the stretch it means our other competition is adding them.

 

Still print the tix?

[Masterbather]

Yeah you are right. It's 4 if we are looking at Seattle. But it gets complicated because if they avoid losses down the stretch it means our other competition is adding them.

 

The thing is, we're in the short run now, there's only one week left. Every team is prone to the extreme variability of short run baseball. We're one terrible series against the Yankees from a butt clenching weekend. Keep in mind Texas might pretty much have the West clinched by the end of the Angels series, it will impact how competitive they are against Seattle for the return matchup.

 

This is why I keep saying we're not in yet, playoff probabilities mean little in the short run.

[Grant77]

Yeah you are right. It's 4 if we are looking at Seattle. But it gets complicated because if they avoid losses down the stretch it means our other competition is adding them.

 

There's a scenario where they split the last 2 games and win out meaning Seattle is 89-73 and Houston is 90-72.

 

That means we would have to win 3 more games, which combined with their loss, gives a magic number 4.

 

That's highly unlikely, but I think I did it right. Either way, the playoffs will be easy to make.

 

Best case scenario in my view at least is that Houston just sweeps Seattle and we can tank our way to a matchup with the Twins.