Laika

He might already be that, just by switching teams. Wonder how much being on the ANGELS sewered his numbers all around.

Funny how prospect lists work. A guy like Brett Bateman gets completely written off, vs some of the prospects traded this deadline who show up on team top 20 lists. Fans don't even consider him an asset. They got hosed for 10 Gausman starts. But Bateman is: MLB ready, but not some overaged raisin K-BB stud in minors, OBP stud in minors Speed and Defense. Might even be plus CF defense. Already projects for 85 wRC+ so no dreaming is required for him to be an MLB contributor Guys like this: Outperform the random team #14 prospect in A ball, 9 times out of 10. Perhaps more. Have more upside than fans tend to think. It's entirely possible and reasonable to be a 90 wRC+, 2 WAR CF. That's a thing that happens, all the time. And platoons help.

It looks like this is true. Highest K rate, lowest GB rate of his career, this season. But he's not any better by xERA, FIP, xFIP so he's just treaded water in a different way. I am not entirely sure what the four seamer accomplishes for him. It might end up on the shelf. If he went closer to Sinker-Splitter-BreakingBall, one third one third one third, he could be like a power Logan Webb? I really don't know what exactly to make of him, other than to think that there is some form of SP1 in there. Is Luis Castillo another possible reference?

Yes the teams suck But, Toronto has to play good teams and Cleveland, Minnesota, Seattle, Texas, and Houston mostly play the horrible teams from their s***** divisions. The Mariners have a tough August but in September they play the A's 7 times, Angels 7 times, Rockies 3 times. Seventeen games which are absolutely cake.

Jose Soriano has a 102 career Location+ (105 in 2026) yet a 10.8% BB rate in his career. So he is above average at commanding his pitches, but markedly below average at avoiding walks. It seems counterintuitive until you read up on what Location+ is. Location+ is NOT about throwing strikes. At least not directly. Location+ is about putting your pitches in the "right" locations in certain counts. What matters to the model is pitch type and where it lands. Movement and velo are not part of the model. The main factors are pitch type, count, and handedness. Example: Throwing a slider and missing down and away on an 0-2 count right on right is a good result for Location+ Example: Throwing a fastball down the middle in a 0-2 count is a poor result for Location+ Expect to see a guy who doesn't like to give in and "just misses" the zone a lot due to the movement on his pitches. This actually sort of fits the Dylan Cease mold. 100 career Location+ but has always been more like 25th percentile in BB avoidance. Soriano more extreme. Freddy Peralta is another example from around the league. Blake Snell. BUT these guys are all strikeout chasers, whereas Soriano is a groundball factory. It's weird, historically. Groundball guys traditionally are zone pounders. How often do you see a guy who can get groundballs at an extreme rate but chooses to nibble? Groundball guys "give in" on purpose all the time. Guys since 1990 with minimum 400 IP, predominantly starters, who have a GB% of 55 or higher and a K% of 20% or higher: Cristopher Sanchez, Framber Valdez, Jose Soriano, Logan Webb. That is the whole list. The "just missed" or DNQ list includes guys like Stroman, Brandon Webb, Justin Masterson, Clay Holmes (mostly RP), Zack Britton (RP). I don't know what to conclude other than to say he is a pretty unique pitcher, a rare breed, and I feel like there are a few different paths to development - could he better if he leans into his whiff capabilities (off speed arsenal) and throws less fastballs, which would cause K-BB expansion but GB% reduction, OR would he be better served to lean more towards GB tendencies and reduce the walks? You sort of get the sense that he is trying to be everything and it may not be the best plan for him. Not that he has been bad. But he could be better. Who are you?

be patient

Somehow Vlad is getting worse and worse. The swing decisions are truly horrendous recently. Hacking so much. He would be better if he just didn't swing

Not sure Detmers would have been a better target anyway He's a better strikeout pitcher and is outperforming by K-BB and therefore FIP right now but he has historic gas can tendencies

Why are we comparing Soriano with Chris Bassitt? lmfao he's more like a Framber Valdez than anything. Slots into virtually any playoff rotation

I can see why they traded Macko. This Little guy is dynamite

Great deadline all things considered. The market was soft for SP simply because the supply was high. That influenced the Jay's return for Gausman but I trust the org and like that they do their own thing and don't care about prospect lists and s***. Hoffman return is so good. Varsho return is good. I enjoy the Soriano deal and the Smith-Macko deal. I'm not surprised nobody wants Scherzer, Bieber, Springer... they have a combined -0.1 fWAR.

Nice trade!!!! Wow.

Bit of a project but he has options "Optionable starting pitching depth" 100 Stuff+

Holy farts that's a lot

I would love a good flip

Good trade.

Macko for Josh Smith Love that.

Yes his recent commentary about losing Bassitt being a big issue was weird

South is 5'7" so God wasn't even high on him

Not always an available guy Unless you the Yankees then the Marlins will always trade you some good MLB player for four org guys

But... someone else would trade for him

They are ecstatic to be "actually selling" and they think Nimmala alone is a good get

Adding the other two prospects seems.... gratuitous

Sir, the 5'6" guy they just got is the SSOTF

Initial reaction - dislike But now that Nimmala is an Angel all of his flaws are obvious. They were always trading him. Can't hit spin etc.