Abomination

This is going to spark some really interesting debates across baseball no matter what the decision is.

Just when you think you've seen every type of play possible ...

Ah, the full Little experience on display. At least he got out of it.

Kirk understood the assignment.

It had more to do with pitch count by someone who had an extended layoff. I don't have a problem with that one.

Only at the plate. He's been great with the challenges while catching. That one was baffling though.

Is Little back? That was pretty dominant.

I still don't think Vladdy is healthy. He's certainly not the only highly paid guy having a bad year either. He'll be fine. Bo is getting $42M and has been even worse. Tucker has a 98 wRC+ Raleigh hit 60 bombs last year and has a 71 wRC+ and 12 this year. Corey Seager has an 89 wRC+ this year after putting up 138, 142, and 173 the last 3 years.

The one time you need Vladdy to kill some worms ...

That was a hell of a play. I think it was a combination of crazy spin and hitting a seam.

Ump is having a rough start to the game lol.

Well, I guess I'd think of the trades like this: Taillon + cash for cash -> Don't like it. Unless the Cubs are eating most of the contract, which is unlikely, this seems like a terrible idea for a team trying to get under the 2nd penalty tier. Gausman for Southisene and Bateman. -> Don't really like it. Bateman is at least mildly interesting and can probably be brought straight up if they wish. I think I'd rather they just hand the job to Clase for the rest of the year and see what happens (as soon as he returns). Soriano for Nimmala+ -> Really like it. Hate losing Nimmala, but I think this was a perfect move for this year and beyond. Josh Smith and Josh Stephan for Adam Macko -> After thinking about this one some more, I think I like it. Smith would be just about a perfect utility player who will probably get into a good portion of the games as a defensive replacement. Could be really valuable next year. Stephan is probably equivalent to Macko. Varsho for Arrighetti -> I think I like it. Arrighetti could be a guy on the verge of being unlocked. He's certainly shown some flashes of it. Seems like a smart return. It would be nice to see his velocity get back up to where it was in 2024. Hoffman for Hill, Klein, Pena -> Unsure. If they can get Dasan Hill in the strike zone it could be brilliant. Klein seems like rotation protection for next year. Pena is the obligatory slap hitting infielder, although he doesn't even seem great at that.

It's kind of shocking how many trades there's been within the divisions this year. In the past you'd almost never see these happen.

Ah, Dameury Pena. There's the slap hitting infielder. I guess Dasan Hill could be interesting, but he's gotta learn to hit the broadside of a barn first. Then the barn door.

It had better not be for another slap hitting infielder. I wonder if it's for a slap hitting outfielder (Austin Martin)

I like this trade. IMO it's probably an underpay by us. It sucks to lose Nimmala, but this helps fill a major hole in our starting staff for next year (if next year happens) that was going to be hard to fill via free agency. An equivalent pitcher probably gets 5/125 on the open market.

I could maybe get behind it if we hadn't done the Taillon deal, but that kind of makes this trade be of marginal benefit at best. I'd have greatly preferred to just keep Gausman and hope we can go on a run. Atkins sure loves his no power slap hitters.

Remember that there's a decent chance next year may not happen, or at least most of it may not.

They're definitely moving someone, because Taillon isn't an inconsequential amount of salary to eat, especially when it's possible they could have gotten under the 2nd cap tier.

You're more likely to get one or two guys like a Yoho who was in the Bo Naylor trade. Relief prospects are probably where you're going to get bang for the buck.

They got Aidan Smith, Emilien Pitre, and Gary Gill Hill ... so no. Pitre is interesting although he's not considered a top prospect.

You could even make it a 300M cap, but don't count salaries under 2M towards it or something. That gives teams a little bit of flexibility in the event of injuries. A hard cap is fine if it's generous enough. The NBA and NHL caps are probably too low.

I doubt they'd do Alcantara, but that would at least be somewhat intriguing. Caple could also make some sense if we aren't eating any salary. I kind of feel like I'd rather just keep Hoffman though.

Why? They basically got 2 top prospects for an expiring contract. That's a great return for them.

Gausman for Teoscar would make some sense for both teams imo.