Laika

Nah it could be the opposite. "we like Kasevich if we need a long-term solution, and we will try to add some other MiLB deal shitbag to cover an emergency, short term bench role"

lmao that's catastrophic, last night's game was a snooze fest

Someone explain to me why Bob Manfred thinks these single games are a good idea for opening day? 98% of fans with blue balls don't care that much about watching the Yankees or Dodgers plan some random team pulled out of a hat. Every team in baseball should play on the league's opening day. You can do a single isolated game at 1 PM ET if you want, and then everyone else later. This would be more in the spirit of baseball. And then some of these weird early off days. Several teams don't even play today. The Yankees and Giants are off today and then off again on Sunday. lmao, why?

Putting Luis Arraez at 2B behind Logan Webb is certainly... a decision

It sucks to lose Jimenez but it happens in the sport He has always been solid in the minors and was getting 50 grade defense rankings as a shortstop. Just burned up his option years and then had some injuries that kind of robbed him of a chance to get better or show how good he could be, while he was on the 40 man. He played like a 1.5 WAR shortstop in the majors in 2024 and projects similarly right now. But kind of one of those guys who is either a starter or a pure backup... not super useful as a utility guy since he's not a base stealer or a pinch hit homer dude or someone who has demonstrated that he can cover, say, SS and CF. Could be an Otto Lopez situation. He was a solid prospect, got squeezed, then was immediately a capable starter elsewhere.

Yeah that all makes sense If he can repeat that pitch and command it at all, it really should be okay as a 10% pitch It just needs to be better than his 8% curveball which gets hammered for some reason. Probably just hangs it too much. A high vert CH is so weird though. Like, where do you try and throw it? Above the zone? Low in the zone and people pop it up a lot?

I think that was largely ironic or sardonic. Cards used to be too proud of their old school system and ways of doing things. The Cardinal Way, all that crap. Outsiders kind of always saw it as BS.

Here is the full list of potentially comparable changeups to the 11 Cease threw on the weekend. As you can see, nobody is really comparable. Most of these are much lower velo. Like, Clippard and Estrada had 88 mph fastballs at this time. If you try to find a velo comparable you can see 2017 Blake Snell, but he changed the pitch a lot since then. I find it interesting that Cease did not throw this in his other starts, he just busted it out now. Is this a random game where it worked or is this a new toy? Very fun. Here is Cease on Mar 22::: Mar 22 11 changeups 17 IVB 9 IHB 1808 rpm 86.8 mph vs FB, -10.5 mph 7 swings, 4 whiffs, 57% per swing And the list since 2017 with 50 minimum pitches thrown. BTW Estrada had like 2000 rpm on his changeup. Logan Webb is like 1450. 1808 rpm is not that unusual or abnormally high for a changeup, but they are weird pitches man. Whole spectrum from dead fish droppers to high spin Devin Williams types. I'm not sure where the IVB comes from. Release angle? year last_name, first_name team_name_abbrev pitch_hand avg_speed pitches_thrown total_pitches pitch_per pitcher_break_z league_break_z diff_z rise pitcher_break_z_induced pitcher_break_x 2017 McGrath, Kyle SD L 78 119 291 0.408934708 23.4 -30.7 -7.3 -24 21.8 5.3 2017 Estrada, Marco TOR R 77.5 1033 3242 0.318630475 27.4 -31.3 -3.9 -12 20.4 11.8 2018 Estrada, Marco TOR R 76.8 923 2497 0.369643572 29.6 -32 -2.4 -7 18.6 10 2019 Means, John BAL L 80.9 775 2680 0.289179104 24.6 -31.1 -6.5 -21 18.4 12.3 2017 Montgomery, Jordan NYY L 84.3 477 2525 0.188910891 20.9 -26.9 -6 -22 18.2 9.5 2019 Estrada, Marco ATH R 75.7 105 333 0.315315315 31.5 -34.2 -2.7 -8 18.2 12.3 2017 Collmenter, Josh ATL R 76.9 104 306 0.339869281 29.9 -28.7 1.2 4 18.1 6.8 2017 Abad, Fernando BOS L 77.8 173 769 0.22496749 30.1 -34.3 -4.2 -12 17.8 8.1 2021 Webb, Tyler STL L 79.6 73 392 0.18622449 25.6 -29.4 -3.8 -13 17.6 5.3 2017 Moore, Andrew SEA R 81.5 171 917 0.186477644 23.4 -30.4 -7 -23 17.4 10.2 2020 Means, John BAL L 84.9 184 745 0.246979866 20.9 -28.7 -7.8 -27 17.3 13.4 2021 Whitley, Kodi STL R 84.7 112 401 0.279301746 21.1 -29.2 -8.1 -28 17.1 9.1 2021 Means, John BAL L 83.4 634 2328 0.27233677 22.7 -29.6 -6.9 -23 17 12.8 2017 Santiago, Héctor MIN L 82.9 245 1233 0.198702352 24.6 -31.6 -7.1 -22 16.9 15.4 2018 Montgomery, Jordan NYY L 83 100 453 0.220750552 23.6 -31.1 -7.5 -24 16.8 9.4 2017 Urías, Julio LAD L 81.3 104 412 0.252427184 25.7 -32 -6.3 -20 16.8 16.6 2018 Webb, Tyler STL L 78.4 56 354 0.15819209 27.4 -32.2 -4.8 -15 16.7 6.8 2019 Webb, Tyler STL L 79.7 171 881 0.194097616 26.3 -29.6 -3.3 -11 16.6 6.6 2018 Clippard, Tyler TOR R 78.5 361 1147 0.314734089 28.8 -33.9 -5 -15 16.6 11.8 2024 Means, John BAL L 82 91 320 0.284375 24.2 -32.3 -8.1 -25 16.5 12.5 2023 Means, John BAL L 80.9 113 339 0.333333333 25.4 -32.8 -7.4 -22 16.5 11.6 2017 Clippard, Tyler HOU R 79.1 399 1113 0.358490566 28 -31.6 -3.6 -11 16.4 14.5 2020 Webb, Tyler STL L 78.6 82 346 0.23699422 27.7 -30.5 -2.8 -9 16.4 5.4 2017 Osich, Josh SF L 84.3 67 759 0.088274045 23 -28.6 -5.6 -20 16.3 12.3 2017 Santana, Ervin MIN R 85.8 329 3231 0.10182606 21.4 -27.5 -6.1 -22 16.2 11.1 2017 Garrett, Amir CIN L 80.8 182 1235 0.147368421 25.5 -31 -5.6 -18 16.1 8.7 2017 Wimmers, Alex MIN R 85.1 57 155 0.367741935 21.7 -29.1 -7.4 -25 15.9 12.2 2017 Snell, Blake TB L 86.3 481 2275 0.211428571 20.7 -25.4 -4.7 -19 15.8 9.4 2019 Clippard, Tyler CLE R 78.4 283 929 0.304628633 29.1 -34.9 -5.9 -17 15.8 12.5 2023 Cease, Dylan CWS R 74.6 99 3262 0.030349479 33.3 -37.9 -4.5 -12 15.8 7 2020 Garcia, Rico SF R 85.7 56 177 0.316384181 21.5 -30.5 -9 -30 15.7 11.9 2023 Falter, Bailey PIT L 84.6 59 1296 0.045524691 22.6 -32.4 -9.8 -30 15.7 7.6 2019 Petit, Yusmeiro ATH R 81.5 219 1137 0.192612137 24.2 -31.9 -7.7 -24 15.7 10.2 2017 Weaver, Jered SD R 77.1 118 664 0.177710843 31.3 -33.7 -2.4 -7 15.6 13.6 2018 Petit, Yusmeiro ATH R 81.9 245 1307 0.187452181 24 -31.1 -7.1 -23 15.5 9.5 2021 Cease, Dylan CWS R 78 213 2957 0.072032465 29.3 -35.4 -6.1 -17 15.5 7.3 2022 Smith, Caleb AZ L 83.6 274 1234 0.222042139 24.2 -30.9 -6.7 -22 15.3 13.7 2017 Breslow, Craig CLE L 78.9 109 593 0.18381113 30.7 -36.7 -6 -16 15.3 14.5 2021 Clippard, Tyler AZ R 78.3 140 410 0.341463415 29.8 -35.6 -5.8 -16 15.2 13 2020 Clippard, Tyler MIN R 78 144 416 0.346153846 29.8 -34.9 -5 -14 15.2 13.6 2022 Cease, Dylan CWS R 77.9 76 3120 0.024358974 29.9 -36.2 -6.2 -17 15.2 8.3 2020 Holland, Derek PIT L 84.3 115 719 0.159944367 23.4 -30.5 -7.1 -23 15.1 12.1 2017 Anderson, Chase MIL R 83.6 362 2251 0.160817414 25.7 -30.9 -5.2 -17 15.1 18.3 2022 Whitley, Kodi STL R 83.5 93 272 0.341911765 24.2 -30.8 -6.6 -22 15.1 12.1 2019 Báez, Pedro LAD R 86.2 348 1090 0.319266055 21.7 -28.9 -7.2 -25 15 10.2 2019 Smyly, Drew PHI L 82.4 103 2130 0.048356808 27.1 -31.1 -4 -13 15 3.5 2020 Petit, Yusmeiro ATH R 81.2 57 315 0.180952381 26.3 -34.2 -7.9 -23 15 10.1

Jordan Walker needs to talk to Jo Adell. Maybe he can just be more aggressive, swing a bit more often to try and get to his power BEFORE he falls behind in the count or strikes out.

But the problem is that they were assembling their rotation without caring about injury risk Strider, max effort guy. Schwellenbach, history and limited innings. Sale, everyone knows. Lopez, RP convert with massive IP jump. Not sure about any red flags for the rest

Not really! If we are looking for something like 17 IVB and 9 inches of horizontal break... Rico Garcia is like 14 and 14 so more run Tyler Wells is similar to Garcia Giolito is like 12 and 12 John Means and some other lefties had/have high IVB changeups in recent years but I would be more hesitant to comp a LHP. Cantillo has a high IVB changeup. Honestly the best comps I can find seem to be John Means (but he is LHP), Kodi Whitley, and Dylan Cease himself but his old version that was in the 70s for mph. lol So maybe Kodi Whitley is the only comp? WAIT. MARCO ESTRADA. MARCO ESTRADA ALERT. 18 IVB CHANGEUP WITHOUT HUGE ARMSIDE RUN. 12 MPH SEPARATION. Josh Collmenter and Tyler Clippard also enter the conversation This could get weird.

Yeah the opposite Think of it as a "straight change"

Soooo Bastardo, Seabold, Alcala, Yariel Rodriguez all didn't make it. That should mean Spencer Miles is the final RP. The Eloy and Leo decisions are left. They probably both don't make it.

Hilarious thread

I don't think it's really a strong preference It's more about creating healthy competition. Depth. If Lukes is superior he will win the job before June

They play 7 straight days but then get 4 off days within the rest of April. Fisher was so good last year. Would hate to option him if he projects as a top 5 RP. Nance is 35 years old... how much stock do you put in 30 good innings in 2025? Does letting him go or trading him make sense? I thought Bastardo was having a better spring but I just looked and he actually has been s*****. lol

Seems like it. He was building up before the Jays signed him.

Springer Vlad Barger Kirk Varsho Okamoto Sanchez Clement Gimenez Is what I would do against RHP Separates all the LHB from each other Varsho's low OBP high ISO projection is good for hitting 5th or 6th Okamoto and Kirk are close in projected offense so you could flip them depending on how they are playing. Same for Sanchez and Varsho and Barger. Against LHP I'm inserting Schneider for Sanchez: Springer Vlad Kirk Barger Okamoto Schneider Varsho Clement Gimenez

The bullpen decisions are narrowing too. Lauer in the rotation means Miles and Bastardo can make it if they option Fisher.

So now the team makes a difficult decision I guess. MLB IL would mean he is still getting service time and would be PPI eligible if he comes back in a few weeks then wins rookie of the year or whatever. Would get a full year of service time regardless of awards, unless he gets demoted later. Optioning him and putting him on the minor league IL and bringing him along more slowly would negate the PPI upside, add PPI downside (him getting a full year of service time without the team using him that much), but leave the possibility of getting an additional year of control over him.

Without thinking about it too much I kind of like that.

Yes and they can choke on it too.