Laika

I believe Espinal and Biggio can both be optioned so there is this theoretical roster where someone like JD is the starting 3B out of spring, IKF is the bench infielder/LF, and Ernie Clement is on the bench because he is out of options, and both Biggio and Espinal are in AAA (lmao, eat s***). But not sure if Biggio can be optioned. Seems weird. He might have enough service time to void his options.

Bunch of that has to be bad luck. .115 is just not possible as a true talent BABIP, unless the player is a high school kid or small Japanese woman or something.

He might be a more interesting watch than Biggio or Espinal Espinal can't steal bases or hit homers. At least IKF can swipe a few bags every month. Biggio can just f*** off too. Dude has been getting the STRONG SIDE PLATOON ADVANTAGE for most of his career and he hits like 7 dingers a season. They f***ing suckkkkkkkkkkk. Biggio is only good for walks. IKF actually has a higher maxEV than Espinal. I think the only argument for Espinal offensively is something like, he has a demonstrated ability to hit the gaps for doubles a bit more often? I dunno.

The problem is defense None of these guys should be expected or would project to play a GOOD third base. We have seen Espinal and Biggio there and they are not good entertainment.

No point responding to troll posts But, I still have a decent amount of hope for Varsho, there are a few paths he could take to offensive improvement. His K rate is not a nightmare so he should be able to make enough contact to hit .250 or so. He also has raw pop, as evidenced by his 112.5 maxEV and his 10.2% barrel rate in 2022 In 2020 and 2021 his Pull% was about 37%, but in 2022 and 2023 it ballooned to about 52% His FB rate also ticked up from 42% to 44% in 2022 then 47% in 2023 We all saw the downside of this in 2023! Pop ups, too many can of corn flyballs, and a disastrous .256 BABIP He can do either of these to be better: 1. Lean into his approach even more. Refine this all or nothing, launch baseballs approach. Basic improvement like comfort and putting a few better swings on balls would make him a 30 HR hitter. He would probably hit .230, though. .230/.300/.450. He's like Cal Raleigh, but a CF. 2. Go back to 2021 Daulton Varsho. 7 of his 11 HR that year were actually to CF or LCF/RCF so he still has HR power even if he isn't a pull monster. Letting the ball travel more might lead to a slightly higher BB% as well. I think he could be a .250/.320/.440 guy if he unwound his all or nothing approach just a bit.

Is his ceiling even lower? The Dodgers got the most out of him in 2021 and he played 143 games at 3B, at 36 years old. His offensive skills that year were in line with 2023. He had a -5 UZR/150. He has only played 73 games at 3B since then, across two seasons. What if this f***ing geezer can actually play 80 semi-competent defensive innings at 3B this year, and put up a 120 wRC+? I think 3 WAR is in reach. 4 WAR is hard to fathom but not unfathomable. The World Series will be easy to make

his source was full of s***

Yikes. Yeah, this sounds like a possible 1B/DH profile. Even lumbering RF like Hunter Renfroe tend to enter the league with average-ish sprint speed at least.

ZIPS also likes him, 1.7 fWAR in 507 PA Dude walked more than he struck out in AAA and hit for some power Has done that at a couple levels The flaws are obvious (defensive profile, middling pop, age) but you can't fake this s*** He outhit guys like Matt Walner, Matt Mervis, Miguel Andujar, Bobby Dalbec, Jordan Westburg, etc in AAA in 2023 If Toronto doesn't want to give him a chance he has a guaranteed 500 PA chance with Oakland

Joc - chose Arizona over Toronto JDM - probably wants a bigger AAV and possibly 2 years Soler - wants multi year deal Belt - major concerns about injury risk and hitting skills Hoskins - got his 2 year deal Turner is just the "bird in hand" at this point.

blah blah blah

Not sure this table is current DC has the WAR totals https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=14 Add the WAR totals to 47.7 (replacement level team win total). At least, that's the replacement level team win total I remember.

Why are you like this? Springer is not a DH. But yes, it makes it very unlikely. Soler would only be a logical full time DH. Now, JT likely slots in for a decent portion of DH duties. Kind of think the only possible addition they might make (budget allowing...) is some sort of RBH OF willing to sign on as a presumptive 4th OF to begin the year. Tommy Pham the obvious dude but he might cost too much.

I think he had a $6M buyout on the option though So it was more like turning down a $7.4M option

I just love it. I love everything Ross does. Perfect player at the perfect price. A perfect cherry on top of the end of a perfect offseason. Smitten.

Belt's health issues and K rate, pretty big red flags He limped to a good platoon season in 2023 but man a lot of it was accomplished by just jumping fastballs and guess hitting, right? I don't have much confidence at all that he will be good in 2024. Feel like Turner is a better "hitter" still and obviously has better health despite age; he just played 146 games. Also, can hold his own against RHP so can just be a full time player if need be.

Nice

Nice Curious to see the AAV In an ideal world it's less than Pederson, and then we can think there might be a remote possibility of squeezing one more FA bat onto the roster

Yeah all of these guys have serious warts. There are valid reasons that Soler has better projections than JDM and Turner, but most of that is simply age. I've never really liked or wanted Jorge Soler so the idea of giving him something like 3/$45M makes me squirm a bit. Would very much prefer to throw some money at JT or JDM for one year. Kind of feels like JD Martinez is holding out for a big AAV on a 2 year deal though.

Their off-season has been so convoluted and I'm not sure they improved by more than one win Trash org tbh

They might be very overconfident in their ability to create good relievers They've done it a few times for a few years but really pushing the theory now

Yeah Not the sexy 38 HR upside but better floor. Maybe.

Damn. The Twins killed it here. But, that happens when the infielder FA market is so weak

Who is flexing? Buster Olney just decided to use the words "went hard" in his article Probably a side effect of his Cialis

I don't know if they really "want" Disco. He's a salary dump on them. But they probably think he can be useful for them in baseball terms.