Grant77

Oh yeah?

I second that. HM to Mayza.

Vladdy you magnificent son of a bitch!

Embarrassing, unprofessional AB from Springer.

Hats off to you, John Schneider.

Yeah I prefer Bass vs Judge here.

Huge K

Holmes is so wild. We need to take advantage.

Romano dominant

Just 2 games ago, many were saying he should never see another leverage inning. It's funny how opinions differ.

Sorry, you're locked in already. Good pick!

Yeah if I'm all over that if I'm Zach Pop.

I expected to see some Boston predictions. They sure have some money to spend.

Vladdy - 1 Point - Grant77 Bichette - 1 Point - Springer- 2 Points - JaysAllMighty Chapman - 2 Points - LTBF Hernandez - 2 Points - Stangstag Kirk - 2 Points - Jansen - 3 Points - Deadpool Merrifield - 6 Points - wilko Tapia - 8 points - Off the bench: 10 Points-

As Ross Atkins has said multiple times, progression isn't linear. We forget how young Vlad is and just how good his 2021 season was. It would be nearly unprecedented for a player that young and that good to fail to live up to expectations. It just almost never happens. We can't make predictions until we see what he asks for, but I have an extremely high degree of confidence that 2021 will be the norm for Vlad once he enters his prime.

Most vulnerable? Perhaps. The worst? I think not, but you're not that far off base. Luckily, we are the best hitting team in the AL by wRC+, peaking at the right time, and mostly healthy.

Top heavy is less of a problem in the playoffs than it would be in the regular season. The bullpen has also been quite a bit better since we made some deadline additions. No team can put out a better pair than Gausman and Manoah. Tampa probably has the most talented pitching, but there's a lot of uncertainty with McClanahan and the bullpen hasn't been as good as in recent years. Seattle has the best depth of the three, but are well behind the other teams from a results standpoint. The bullpen has also imploded in September, which is concerning. I can see an argument for any of the teams, but it's not as clear cut as you make it out to be in my opinion.

None

1) New York Yankees 2) 8 years 3) 270 million

Agreed. People just don't seem to grasp how much age matters with players like this and are evaluating him like he's 27 years old or something.

Whit Merrifield has a 227 wRC+ over the past 2 weeks. Do you continue to give him regular at-bats when Espinal returns? I think I do. The playoff experience could be huge for us. I don't care what he's done up to this point.

Same here. Teo or Gurriel for a SP and adding Bellinger would be a nice series of moves.

I don't think he would be eligible for the playoff roster.

We're comparing the quality of pitchers based on their last contract instead of advanced metrics now? This is too funny. Robbie Ray has seen decreased strikeouts, increased walks, and decreased velocity this year. They haven't dropped by small amounts either. He's a good pitcher, but this isn't 2021 Robbie Ray anymore and there a lot of red flags. That's all reflected in his 2022 WAR, which is half of his 2021 total. Kevin Gausman has maintained his strikeouts, while decreasing his walks significantly and gaining velocity. The signing could not have been more successful to this point. He's better than Robbie Ray right now. You are wrong period. I didn't even mention Eugenio Suarez' BABIP in my comment, instead focusing on a defensive resurgence in his 30's, which most (except you) would find a little surprising and may involve some element of luck. It's also fair to say that a player coming off of 86 and 100 wRC+ seasons bouncing back to have a career year in his 30's would also involve some element of luck, even if scouting surely played a role. Jerry DiPoto would even tell you that. Here's what MLBTR had to say at the time of the trade: "Clearly, the Mariners assumed Suárez’s deal as a means to acquire Winker." "For a Reds team now looking to trim payroll, Suarez stands out as an expenditure that the club would probably prefer to not have on the books. Finding a suitor for Suarez in the wake of his 2021 down year won’t be easy, as teams may now see Suarez only as a one-dimensional power bat who doesn’t make much contact." It was pretty much universally agreed at the time that this was a salary dump used to reduce the prospect cost of Winker and not a player that they targeted.

AL pitching WAR (playoff contenders): 1. Houston: 25.1 2. New York: 18.1 3. Cleveland: 17.0 5. Toronto: 15.6 6. Tampa: 15.2 8. Seattle 13.6 9. Baltimore: 12.9 WAR of top 3 starters: 1. Houston: 12.4 2. Toronto: 12.3 3. Cleveland: 9.6 4. Tampa: 9 5. New York: 8.6 6. Seattle: 8 7. Baltimore: 4.8 Bullpen WAR: 1. Houston: 7.4 2. Cleveland: 5.9 3. New York: 5.6 5. Baltimore: 4.7 7. Seattle: 3.8 9. Tampa: 3.1 10. Toronto: 2.6