Laika

You think so? I think Shapiro would still say that the "total body of work" for Atkins is solid. Shapiro is probably too objective to make a decision based on a small string of 1-3 game "series".

Yeah that sounds bad enough to warrant this. It's like betting on your own games but worse because of the sneakiness.

Nola was jekyl/hyde all year long so you think smart feely Rob Thomson could have taken him out a bit sooner than 82 pitches, in his stinker. Not sure if there were any other objectionable decisions. Maybe not asking Christopher Sanchez for another inning or two.

If Atkins is feeling any heat it's just from the media/fans. As far as the org is concerned his job is probably not close to at risk. We can assume Rogers is happy with Shapiro, and we know Shapiro thinks Atkins is solid. And ownership probably does not care at all about the fan/media stuff being negative right now.

WTF could he have done to warrant that suspension? It would need to be pretty dark. If all he did was gamble on some other sport then we've jumped the shark. Gambling is legal, these teams/leagues/media entities lean into it in an aggressive way, and this is a 22 year old kid. Just batshit insane. It's like Anheuser-Busch suspending an employee for drinking a Bud. So if we give the Senators the benefit of the doubt, Pinto must have done something bizarre. I'm having trouble thinking of what it could be but some type of degenerate gambling.

Bonkers

Gee whiz. Maybe with a better script they would have beat the middling Diamondbacks.

never too early

How why what no I blame Jim

That's a good point. It will be hard for Baltimore to keep finding multiple stud relievers for nothing. Toronto should be operating more like the other high payroll teams. Actually, their bullpen churning has negative consequences people don't often talk about. August 2 2021 they released Evan Phillips...

Maybe They've also made progress with some SP arms though Bradish in particular but to a lesser extent they are getting the most out of Kremer. They had Wells going well for a bit. They get credit for drafting and developing Grayson. Shrewd Gibson signing.

Yeah I agree. The professional development has been s***. And the MLB scouting/analysis when it comes to acquisitions has also not been good. Hit or miss. They have a small track record of acquiring pitchers who can be immediately better (Matz, Francis, Ray, Cabrera) but that's kind of the only thing they have shown any strength at. Throw Kikuchi in there and you can say they are kind of good at finding pitchers who would be better by just aiming for the middle of the strike zone half the time, and telling them to do that. But this is nothing at the level of the Orioles who just steal pitchers in various ways and then make them studs.

$13M isn't nothing. Plus they get a player with 2 years of control. They could also be looking to dump Soto and some bad money on a team. If the Yankees and Padres make a deal maybe the Yankees also take on Suarez or Cronenworth.

The poker analogy is attractive but I dunno. I agree that there were some similarities between the Stroman and Moreno trades. It does seem like the league just saw his position from a mile away in both instances. On the other hand, he shot from the hip with the Teoscar deal and that was good value in hindsight. And in 2022 offseason everybody knew Toronto needed a 3B and they still ended up getting Matt Chapman for a song. Dumped Panik and Groshans on Kim Ng in separate trades for useful relievers, when the whole league would have known Toronto was desperate for RP. Stole Bowden Francis and Trevor Richards from Milwaukee in the same context. Made good trades for Ray, Taijuan Walker, and Matz. The Stripling trade worked out but Ryan Noda does seem like he was a piece worth keeping... The White-Frasso trade doesn't look great. I think on balance when you look at his complete trade record, there is much more good than bad. But a good chunk of the good trades are with bad orgs or GMs. Which I guess does support the characterization of him as a middle tier GM. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/transactions/toronto-blue-jays/trade/

• Acquire Jake Fraley for Nate Pearson and Spencer Horwitz • Acquire Dylan Carlson for Alek Manoah • Acquire prospects or cash considerations for Santiago Espinal He is going HARD for these moves. Can't say I dislike any of them.

lol he really wants to trade Santiago Espinal

Honestly, what the f*** is wrong with you people. What is the difference between that what I said? It's almost like you are saying that connorp is saying that "The 2023 Diamondbacks are a lesson in playoff roster construction that nerds should pay attention to."

I still don't get your point. You popped in to make fun of people who are comparing the Blue Jays and them. Nobody is "shocked" that the Diamondbacks are rolling. It's the baseball playoffs. It's very [insert forbidden R word here]

connorp and many others

Nobody here is MAD that the Diamondbacks are in the World Series. It's fun to see high variance youngsters like Brandon Pfaadt perform in the playoffs. It's fun to see journeyman relievers find their stuff and shove for a couple of weeks. People just take objection to all the corollary arguments. The Diamondbacks succeeding is not a conclusion to the Moreno/Varsho trade evaluation. The 2023 Diamondbacks are not a lesson in playoff roster construction that nerds should pay attention to.

I can't really see why you think they are "better" than their 162 game run differential would demonstrate, but alrighty then.

The somewhat knowledgeable fan would just be an fWAR skeptic, basically. They think Varsho doesn't have the potential that fWAR illustrates and Moreno is better than the green website gives him credit for. The more casual fans are just reacting to the obvious optics. Moreno is hitting 3rd on a team going to the World Series. Varsho was hitting 7-9th and getting pinch hit for on one of the most depressing Jays teams ever.

Pfaadt has a nasty sweeper

That definitely explains why Alek Thomas and Gabe Moreno have 7 playoff home runs!

jaysblue really cementing his 2023 LVP case connorp is trying to make it a close vote but I don't think he has enough time left