Around Baseball 2025

[L54]

9 hours ago, BTS said:

So the Orioles need Suarez, Valdez, or Imai now 

O’s should trade for a starter. Coby Mayo has nowhere to play now 

[mphenhef]

50 minutes ago, L54 said:

O’s should trade for a starter. Coby Mayo has nowhere to play now 

We could probably get Gunnar and Holliday if we were to dangle Berrios. 

[glory]

 

[Orgfiller]

3 minutes ago, glory said:

 

Interesting. Strahm is very good and on a cheap 1/7.5 deal. Return must be at least decent even if it's only a one year reliever rental.

[BTS]

4 minutes ago, glory said:

 

For Jonathan Bowlan. I don't understand this at all from Philly's perspective 

 

[Orgfiller]

1 minute ago, BTS said:

For Jonathan Bowlan. I don't understand this at all from Philly's perspective 

 

What the f***. Bowlan has some upside, but he's already 29 and good lefty relievers are probably much more valuable than average/slightly above average right handed ones.

[glory]

Strahm would have made a lot of sense as a Jays target, and the Royals got him for not much.

[Orgfiller]

I like what the Royals have been doing this offseason. If they could upgrade one of their sub replacement options at 2B and get a breakout year from Pasquantino/Caglianone then they could do very well in the AL Central.

[Brownie19]

25 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

I like what the Royals have been doing this offseason. If they could upgrade one of their sub replacement options at 2B and get a breakout year from Pasquantino/Caglianone then they could do very well in the AL Central.

Pasquantino had 32/116 last year.  I'm not sure he can breakout anymore.  Caglianone can though.  He could be a beast - which is exactly what KC needs.

[Brownie19]

Phillies pen was is already thin.  They must really like Bowlan.  Maybe repurposing Strahm's salary to sign another FA?

[sliderguy35]

idk, i see what the phillies are going for.

strahm lost a tick and a half of velo last year & posted his worst Stuff, Swinging Strike rate & K-BB% as a phillie. he also posted the highest flyball rate among qualified relief pitchers in the league last year while also having one of the lowest HR/FB rates in baseball.

bowlan's got a plus fastball & slider, he doesn't walk the yard & he's got a comparable swinging strike rate to guys like raisel iglesias, andrew kittredge and emilio pagan who just made $10M+ per year in free agency. plus they get him for cheap controllable years the entire time that he's going to be good.

seems like a classic case of getting out a year early rather than a year late on strahm and they get a nice medium leverage piece for their bullpen moving forward. tidy work

[Orgfiller]

22 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Pasquantino had 32/116 last year.  I'm not sure he can breakout anymore.  Caglianone can though.  He could be a beast - which is exactly what KC needs.

A 116 wRC+ as a 1B with bad defense, which is pretty mediocre, is not a breakout. A breakout would be like a >130 wRC+ at least. He has the exit velos and contact profile to get it done, just needs to get to his power more often which is easier said than done.

[Orgfiller]

20 minutes ago, sliderguy35 said:

idk, i see what the phillies are going for.

strahm lost a tick and a half of velo last year & posted his worst Stuff, Swinging Strike rate & K-BB% as a phillie. he also posted the highest flyball rate among qualified relief pitchers in the league last year while also having one of the lowest HR/FB rates in baseball.

bowlan's got a plus fastball & slider, he doesn't walk the yard & he's got a comparable swinging strike rate to guys like raisel iglesias, andrew kittredge and emilio pagan who just made $10M+ per year in free agency. plus they get him for cheap controllable years the entire time that he's going to be good.

seems like a classic case of getting out a year early rather than a year late on strahm and they get a nice medium leverage piece for their bullpen moving forward. tidy work

Is it not a weird move from an opportunity cost POV? Even if they were down on Strahm and wanted to cut ties before the bottom fell out, he has quite solid surface level stats, and is a lefty which teams are always looking for good options for their bullpen.

Even if the Phillies love the potential with Bowlan, it feels like they could've at least gotten a 40 FV prospect tacked on or something, or looked elsewhere for a deal that got them a 45+ FV or better prospect from a contending team. Idk, I'm looking at how the reliever market is going, and Strahm could easily double his 2026 salary on a one year deal if he were a FA.

[Laika]

Jose Ferrer and Angel Zerpa cost a lot

Weird to see Strahm... not 

[sliderguy35]

9 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

Is it not a weird move from an opportunity cost POV? Even if they were down on Strahm and wanted to cut ties before the bottom fell out, he has quite solid surface level stats, and is a lefty which teams are always looking for good options for their bullpen.

Even if the Phillies love the potential with Bowlan, it feels like they could've at least gotten a 40 FV prospect tacked on or something, or looked elsewhere for a deal that got them a 45+ FV or better prospect from a contending team. Idk, I'm looking at how the reliever market is going, and Strahm could easily double his 2026 salary on a one year deal if he were a FA.

teams aren't going to give up a 45+ FV guy for an expiring reliever with declining peripherals, that's like a mid-late first round pick. ferrer & zerpa both got larger returns because they're controllable for 4 & 3 years respectively and still potentially have upside because of their age & stuff. maybe the phillies could have gotten an additional 35+ FV guy tacked on but that seems like haggling, especially if they already liked bowlan.

fwiw i like this deal a lot for the royals as well. they desperately needed someone who could get lefties out after they traded zerpa and have a lot of bowlan-esque depth in guys like luinder avila / james mcarthur / steven cruz. it absolutely makes them better next year

i kinda like everything they've done this offseason. if you factor in that they basically lost a ragans season last year & believe the hype on cags & carter jensen (i do), i think they're going to take that division pretty handily.

[Terminator]

Life is pretty good for Royals fans these days.

• Extended their superstar
• World Series hero is still on the team 11 years later (just go with it)
• They actually try to win by making moves in FA and via trade

They are basically doing what the Pirates should be doing.

[Orgfiller]

16 minutes ago, Laika said:

Jose Ferrer and Angel Zerpa cost a lot

Weird to see Strahm... not 

Cheap lefties who throw gas and have team control vs soft(er) throwing lefty with one year left. Strahm has been MUCH better than all 3 of them last two seasons, but actually projects similarly/worse than all of them.

[Pendleton]

2 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Life is pretty good for Royals fans these days.

• Extended their superstar
• World Series hero is still on the team 11 years later (just go with it)
• They actually try to win by making moves in FA and via trade

They are basically doing what the Pirates should be doing.

I look at their lineup and see a need for a big bat for legitimacy. But overall they are building a pretty solid team 

[Orgfiller]

3 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Life is pretty good for Royals fans these days.

• Extended their superstar
• World Series hero is still on the team 11 years later (just go with it)
• They actually try to win by making moves in FA and via trade

They are basically doing what the Pirates should be doing.

They've actually extended two of their young stars since they locked in to Maikel Garcia as well. Just a competent mid market organization that makes the kind of moves they should be making. It's a breath of fresh air.

[Pendleton]

1 hour ago, sliderguy35 said:

idk, i see what the phillies are going for.

strahm lost a tick and a half of velo last year & posted his worst Stuff, Swinging Strike rate & K-BB% as a phillie. he also posted the highest flyball rate among qualified relief pitchers in the league last year while also having one of the lowest HR/FB rates in baseball.

bowlan's got a plus fastball & slider, he doesn't walk the yard & he's got a comparable swinging strike rate to guys like raisel iglesias, andrew kittredge and emilio pagan who just made $10M+ per year in free agency. plus they get him for cheap controllable years the entire time that he's going to be good.

seems like a classic case of getting out a year early rather than a year late on strahm and they get a nice medium leverage piece for their bullpen moving forward. tidy work

Rumor has it Bowlan is available in LoD in exchange for picks 

[Jonn]

Brandon Lowe is glad he doesn’t have to see Trey Yesavage anymore.

[Laika]

1 hour ago, Orgfiller said:

Cheap lefties who throw gas and have team control vs soft(er) throwing lefty with one year left. Strahm has been MUCH better than all 3 of them last two seasons, but actually projects similarly/worse than all of them.

And maybe Bowlan is underrated

He is interesting, I remember drafting him in one of the dynasty leagues at some point 

[Laika]

7 minutes ago, Jonn said:

Brandon Lowe is glad he doesn’t have to see Trey Yesavage anymore.

Crazy potential trade brewing eh 

PIT gets

Brandon Lowe (TBR)
Jake Mangum (TBR)
Mason Montgomery (TBR)

HOU gets

Mike Burrows (PIT)

TBR gets

Jacob Melton (HOU)(MLB ready former top 100)
Anderson Brito (HOU)(A+ pitcher)

 

[Jays24]

19 minutes ago, Laika said:

Crazy potential trade brewing eh 

PIT gets

Brandon Lowe (TBR)
Jake Mangum (TBR)
Mason Montgomery (TBR)

HOU gets

Mike Burrows (PIT)

TBR gets

Jacob Melton (HOU)(MLB ready former top 100)
Anderson Brito (HOU)(A+ pitcher)

 

I am so happy to see Lowe leave our division.  Not sure what the numbers say but always felt like he came up with big home runs against us.  

[glory]

Stove suddenly getting hot. 

[Laika]

That is the full 3 team trade. Seems weird for TBR at a glance, but Lowe does not actually have a ton of value over his contract and maybe they don't think Mason Montgomery, who has huge stuff, will have enough command to be viable? 

Jake Mangum just had 1.8 and is controllable forever but he is 29. Throw him in the Isaac Collins bucket. Teams seem to not value these guys much at all. Late career / post-peak dudes who finally get a chance and are solid (Nathan Lukes...) 

[Laika]

 

 

[sliderguy35]

29 minutes ago, Laika said:

Crazy potential trade brewing eh 

PIT gets

Brandon Lowe (TBR)
Jake Mangum (TBR)
Mason Montgomery (TBR)

HOU gets

Mike Burrows (PIT)

TBR gets

Jacob Melton (HOU)(MLB ready former top 100)
Anderson Brito (HOU)(A+ pitcher)

i like mike burrows but i am lost as to why houston would do this

melton is the best asset in the deal (his data is absolutely nuts) as a strong-side platoon guy who can play a passable center field. houston doesn't have anyone who can play center (why they didnt get mangum in this deal idk) and they're also throwing in a 40FV guy in brito for a guy who projects at the back end of a rotation??

good for tampa and pittsburgh (mason montgomery had one of the unluckiest reliever seasons i've ever seen last year, he's dynamite & mangum is a nice outfield rotational guy) for getting real assets and not giving up a ton.

[glory]

[Laika]

1 minute ago, glory said:

Interesting, bulk package

Some of those guys are backend top 10 types for BAL