Laika

Devers + Sale + Betts for Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, James Tibbs, Jose Bello, Jeter Downs, Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong, Vaughn Grissom say what you want about Devers, and say what you want about $/WAR and payroll considerations, but this trade history looks like what the worst owner in your dynasty league might do on a snap rebuild one year before quitting the league without notice

Green and Swanson in June 10.1 IP 13 ER 4 HR 7 BB 6 K

Looks like some good hittin' to me.

Sandlin has had 4 rehab games so he should be good to go... unless he is not 100% physically Yimi had a bullpen session but no rehab games yet Burr, dunno what he is doing. Paxton Schultz is the obvious swap on the 40 man roster and he should be here over Swanson, for sure. I would say over Green as well. Yeah Nance is one of the obvious non-40 man choices. His projections are better then Green or Swanson, I think. But if they select Nance, he can't just be demoted later if they want. Lazara Estrada and Ryan Jennings are two other non-40 man choices. I think the 40 man roster is at 39.

Green + Swanson + Francis -2.0 WAR combined projections of Green and Swanson are replacement level or below we are at or over the line where giving any of them any more MLB innings, other than in a blowout, is incompetent Schneider has to use them at certain points if they are on the roster so Ross needs to make some aggressive cuts here. I understand having to stick with Francis until a replacement (Scherzer) is ready but the other two, I see no reason for them to still be here.

Because it wasn't intended to be formally/legally binding; because there is no precedent for it and for all we know the CBA doesn't even allow it. It would be a hard to operate provision in a sport where things can change so quickly due to decline, injury, etc. But if it was said it was said. In the world of negotiating contracts that can have certain implications. You could consider it a moral obligation that both sides understand cannot be enforced legally or formally. You could consider it a representation to induce contract, also. I am not saying Devers acted well in all of this but he did at the first instance do what was best for the team. He went to DH, and hit well. The Red Sox compounded this by telling him to "put his glove away" or whatever. And he does not actually have a formal responsibility to "put the team and his teammates first". His contact does not say that. If his employer is going to ignore moral responsibilities, why should the employee Devers live up to his moral obligations? He is paid to play baseball. He continued to play baseball. He was doing his job. All the power to him. I kind of respect him not being a pushover. The line between doing what is best for the team and being a pushover for a s***** organization employer, is pretty blurry.

Boston now has a lengthy track record of doing things like this to star players. Have to think it at least becomes a thought for any free agent thinking of going there. Devers, Mookie, Adrian Gonzalez getting traded a year after signing there. Are there others?

Grant isn't completely out to lunch (this time). If the GM of the Boston Red Sox made a verbal promise that Devers would be the 3B for a long time, he was speaking on behalf of the team. It is valid for Devers to interpret that promise as coming from the team, and it is valid for him to think the moral obligations to honour it should run with the team regardless of who the GM is. I guess that makes mistake #1 simply telling a defender like Devers he is the 3B forever, in the first place. Mistake #2 is taking the inhumane position that since the GM changed you no longer have to honour any of these assurances and moral obligations. Then they made another mistake after signing Bregman, and that was to tell Devers to put his glove away. "You are the DH of the Boston Red Sox". A second false assurance. Yeah Devers doesn't look like a great team player after the Casas injury but I don't know if he is fully to blame. I feel like the organization could have and should have handled the situation differently and better, at multiple points in time. Up until this saga Rafael Devers had absolutely no reputation is a sourpuss or a bad teammate, quite the opposite, actually.

He's pretty close to one He would be SP1 on Toronto

He was good then completely lost the strike zone

Have to think they are debating bumping him for Scherzer next start, assuming Max feels good after his 65 pitch game in Buffalo yesterday

Will Robertson getting called up before we have a bunch of lefties is kinda funny

Sigh Gausman

The team looks so much better right now than they did in April so I am fine to just ignore the run differential. Spots like Barnes, Lovelady, and Tate have been upgraded significantly. Bats like Roden and Wagner who were hurting the team have been replaced by guys who look like legitimate contributors. When Santander comes back he will probably be healthy, finally, and he won't be pressing anymore. I also feel better about the minor league depth to cover injuries. Macko is back, Yesavage is in AA, Manoah is throwing off a mound to hitters. There are a handful of guys doing really well at the plate in Buffalo. And that blossoming minor league system will help in trades. Teams might covet guys like Gage Stanifer for example. The playoffs will be easy to make with the waves of prospects coming.

The money was made even on it so that's not a factor. I think from the White Sox perspective, they have probably explored Vaughn trades and realize he has no value at all. Civale might be able to salvage a modicum of trade value between now and the deadline. From the Brewers perspective, perhaps they think the bat they can stick in AAA is a bit better for them than a surly Aaron Civale in long relief? They presently have Ashby and Hall in the pen and those guys have good stuff and can go 3 innings. So Civale is pointless.

did not expect that

Crazy stuff. The obvious risks are command and injuries. He is lanky and awkward, lol. Rolled his ankle and had to leave the game - looked like a doofus doing it! Obvious Ace Ace upside though, I am jealous

His front side seems to really be f***ed up in that 2024 video. Flies open so early. Probably why he couldn't throw strikes before this season.

I had no idea this guy had such a good fastball. wow! waves and waves and waves of prospects!

I'm not expecting Turnbull to ever be "ready" He had a 95 stuff+ in relief; if he had to go 5 innings that's probably a 92. Coincidentally, that is Lauer's stuff+ right now. I am thinking that Lauer is just getting really lucky and BABIP, LOB% and HR/FB support this. Not sure Turnbull and Lauer are really viable options with the stuff they have now, other than as craftily used long reliever types. But I guess that does beg the question, would some dude + Lauer as a tandem be better than Civale? Maybe. Remember, Max Scherzer is a con artist so his goal is probably to wait and see if a playoff spot is on lock then decide he wants to pitch five games plus the postseason. The wild cards are Manoah, Macko, and Yesavage. I guess if you acquire Civale you probably only want to pay for like 5 or 6 starts by him, since there is a decent chance he gets bumped and cut after that. God I am just so sick of Bowden Francis and now the projections even hate him so it just seems stupid to roll him out there at all.

Should be almost free tbh. Replacement level and still owed several million bucks this year. But an veteran SP6 has some inherent value. Milwaukee needs offense more than anything. 90 team wRC+. Maybe some random Buffalo dude works. Joey Ortiz looks like he has been a disaster

Brewers bumped Aaron Civale from their rotation in favour of Misiorowski. Civale has requested a trade. 30 years old. Free agent after 2025. $8M salary this year. 5.53 FIP on the year (0.0 fWAR) in 5 starts, and 4.74 last year (0.9 fWAR) in 161 innings split between Tampa and Milwaukee. So he has not been very good since 2024 began. ZiPS projects a 4.55 ERA/FIP if used as a starter which would be about a 1.5 fWAR pitcher in a full season. His Stuff+ this year is 95, down from 106 and 108 the last two seasons. It seems like the cutter, which he throws a lot, is specifically worse (from a 102 to a 90). Bowden Francis now sits at a 6.91 FIP and 6+ ERA, bad for -1.0 fWAR. Projection systems all seem to like Civale more than him. They all seem to rate Francis going forward as replacement level or slightly above replacement level. Francis' Stuff+ is 94 this year. The Stuff and Command package you get between Francis and Civale is similar, but Civale has a wider arsenal and maybe more "pitchability." Francis has an option and is under team control through 2029. Toronto could acquire Civale and just demote Francis, keeping him around as SP depth for this year and a project entering 2026. \ Do it! Go get Civale. Slight upgrade. Or, set the sights higher?

Lincecum had a 6.1 to 6.4 foot release point with 6.5 feet of extension (high percentile). Pretty "normal" compared to today where most pitchers want extension, because of effective velocity. They talk about "getting down the mound" and when Lincecum was peaking he was phenomenal at it. Yesavage has a freaking 7 foot release point height with 5.5 to 6 foot extension. He's like a weirdo "tall and fall" guy who does not care about getting down the mound. Crazy small extension, so small that it comps with sidearming lefty relievers. I've seen Chris Flexen, Justin Verlander, and Ross Stripling as comps for his release height and extension but he's on the extreme end even compared to them. On top of that he seems to do something weird or unique with his spine or legs, and it's like his whole body is tilted to the left at release. Those other RHSP had normal movement profiles on their pitches - Yesavage has nothing that moves left. His bullet slider has a few inches of arm side break. Yes. Weird. He kind of looks more like a cricket bowler than a baseball pitcher.

I have been obsessed with reading the posts on the Cardinals message boards all series

tons of pitches again for Little he needs a break