BTS

Yes. There's a decent chance that a healthy Paulino is in the rotation to start 2019, and his numbers support him having a good chance to succeed as at least a back of the rotation type. I'm looking forward to seeing him.

Trigger warning: Sheryl Ring triggers me. She's so, so stupid.

Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if they picked up an asset for Loup.

Who does everyone think gets traded today? My predictions: Clippard and Granderson get traded for minor returns (international bonus money or some team's 30th prospect or something)

Where that ******* will play out his days as a glorified Denard Span. f*** Tommy Pham.

Does Harper get $300M this offseason? Harper might have played his way to a new contract with the Nats this year. Outside of 2015, he's been more 'very good' than 'generational superstar'.

What a stupid article.

Has there been any indication as to where the new guys will be assigned?

I don't think you're giving a fair assessment to either side if this trade. Osuna never had one of the highest trade values in the league, and Paulino and Perez are not middle relief prospects. They both have upside as mid-rotation starters, even if there's a lot of risk, especially in Perez's case. Back end bullpen arm or good #4 starter would not even be remotely surprising outcomes for Paulino as early as 2018. That's not a 'middle relief prospect'.

Details on his stuff not being as good without the PEDs?

Lance Lynn traded for Tyler Austin.

His season last year in AAA was insane, and the stuff backs that up. I was really disappointed in his 2018 though. He's been mediocre in relief, which means the ship has probably sailed on him as a starter. I was hoping for dominant numbers from the pen if that was where he was going to end up.

Meh, his season has been pretty bad for a full time reliever who’s about to turn 25.

Beacause it's hard to adjust my perception after you were a laughingstock for so long, even if your current success is deserved.

Still a lot of pieces I'd like to see go: Granderson, Tepera, Solarte, Clippard Loup and Axford if anyone wants them. Hopefully there's still a few trades left.

Yeah, same for me

I think Giles will step in to the closer spot immediately. He'll be quite a valuable trade chip in a year if he performs to expectations.

I was pretty worried Osuna was going to be flipped for pennies on the dollar when the tweets dropped earlier today saying that teams weren't interested. Very happy to see that wasn't the case.

Giles is elite, and these prospects are legit high-upside arms, one of which is MLB-ready now. This trade is an absolute coup, especially given the circumstances.

BP from December: 8. David Paulino, RHP DOB: 2/6/1994 Height/Weight: 6’7”, 215 lbs. Bats/Throws: R/R Drafted/Acquired: Signed September 2010 by the Detroit Tigers out of the Dominican Republic for $75,000; acquired via trade from Detroit. Previous Ranking(s): #3 (Org), #83 (Top 101) 2017 Stats: 6.52 ERA, 6.52 DRA, 29 IP, 36 H, 7 BB, 34 K in 6 games at the major league level; 4.50 ERA, 7.94 DRA, 14 IP, 11 H, 9 BB, 13 K in 3 games at Triple-A Fresno The Good: Paulino has shown Top 101 stuff on the mound throughout his minor league career. He has a plus fastball that gets extreme plane due to his height and extension. He has a full four-pitch mix with two useable breakers. The curve is potentially plus. The change isn’t too bad. He already has major league time. The Bad: Generally Paulino has had trouble staying on the mound due to durability issues. This year it was an 80-game PED suspension. We are not arbiters of morality here, but it was even more lost development time, time that may have come against major-league bats. He’s going to have to make adjustments there too, as his command hasn’t been great against them. The change isn’t too bad, but it’s not going to keep people from throwing reliever projections on him. The Role: OFP 55—Frustrating third starter that racks up Ks but occasionally just gets shelled Likely 40—Good middle reliever The Risks: Hoo boy. Yeah, I mean. He has had Tommy John surgery, and elbow tendinitis after that. An 80-game PED suspension after that, and he hasn’t consistently shown major league command or a third pitch. That’s a bigger spread OFP/Likely spread than I am generally comfortable with for a guy who is going to be 24 and is a handful of starts from graduating, but it may understate the risk here. Major league ETA: Debuted in 2016 Ben Carsley’s Fantasy Take: For fantasy purposes I prefer Paulino to Armenteros, but there’s nothing I can say that reduces Paulino’s risk profile. The strikeout potential is big, but that won’t matter much if Paulino can’t reign in his command, and obviously the suspension doesn’t help. Odds are Paulino is a reliever, but he might be a damn good one. If he does manage to start he could be a high-WHIP, high-K SP5/6. That means he’ll flirt with top-150 status, but he’s certainly not a lock to get there.

BP from December: Hector Perez, RHP, High-A Buies Creek This Perez has nasty stuff as well. Seriously nasty. It’s a plus fastball/slider combination, and plus might be light on the ultimate slider projection. However, “strikethrower” is not an epithet we will be using in this blurb. Perez walked more batters than he struck out the last month of the season, and that isn’t wildly out of character with his season in general. There’s a lot of effort here, a not always repeatable release point, and another bullpen future. This Perez may have a bit more of a winding road to the majors, but you could certainly argue there is closer stuff in here. He also may be one of those guys that walks 7 per 9 in Triple-A for a while but keeps getting chances because the stuff is…well, nasty.

David Paulino is ready to get a shot in the rotation now, and Perez looks like an interesting arm as well.

Ah, that would do it. Velo and PD stats are all fine. Projections are fine. BABIP and LOB% up. There's no reason to believe he's not still elite.

I wonder if his demotion was partially Houston leveraging his ERA into service time manipulation?