John_Havok

Angles just hit 7 solo HRs in their game to account for all their runs (1st time in MLB ever) and lost.

Man, if Vlad is looking the other way and is pulling-off like that, not sure what to say

Every swing he’s favouring the right arm, can we just sit the guy please? Give him a 10 day DL now that Merrifield is here. Can tell his swing is all kinds of broken right now.

And only swung at 1 of them. Yeah just a PA where he was guessing at what was coming and guessing wrong

Just can’t locate the fastball right now

Ground balls go for hits more often than flyballs, but generally do less damage. It's something that evens out over the course of a season and a pitcher cannot truly control what happens when he induces a ground ball, that's why it's not overly important when judging a pitcher's skill. Can have a guy with a 60% ground ball rate that sucks just as easily as a pitcher with a 30% GB rate. That's why K rate and walk rate are more important.

Not really, he was in the majors from 22-25 putting up .800 OPS seasons. He didnt reach stardom until later, but he was still a pretty good hitter early on and made the bigs at a young age. Not what I would call a late bloomer when comparing to guys like Donaldson.

Nope, author “ With the player summaries complete, there’s an elephant in the room I wish I didn’t need to address but is breathing down my neck, so here goes. Is Merrifield legally allowed to enter the country of Canada? It’s absurd that this question needs to be asked, but as we know all too well, a recent three-game series between the Blue Jays and Royals revealed that he had not been vaccinated for COVID-19, which is required for entry into Canada. Toronto has given a Merrfield a shot, yes, but can it give him the shot? As of this writing, there’s been no confirmation of Merrifield’s vaccination status. In an interview, Jays GM Ross Atkins declined to comment further on the matter, saying he would let Merrifield discuss it with his family. Based on the fact that he circumvented a simple yes/no question, it seems like the Blue Jays acquired Merrifield before confirming whether or not he would agree to a vaccine. If so, it’s a move that reeks of irresponsibility. I’m no GM, but I’d want my deadline acquisition to appear in front of the home crowd and not skip half the remaining games. It’s not as if the prospect of a U.S.-only Merrifield was accounted for in the acquisition cost, either. Parting with two 40 FV prospects for a utility bat, albeit an established one with bounce-back potential, is not a bargain.” What kinda moron thinks the GM of a multi-billion dollar sports franchise doesn’t bother to check this kind of thing before trading for him?

I'd say the yankees, we dont teams gaining ground in the WC, and there's virtually no chance of cathing NY for the division.

That's not to say that Frasso dominating high A hitters at 23 isn't nothing, but as a guy whos had an incredibly short track record in pro ball overall, I'm less inclined to discount it fully but at the same time, it's exactly what I would expect him to do so... also don't really go overboard in giving him a ton of credit either. Like, if I see another SP whos already pitched 3 full years in the minors or something and is just now starting to dominate at High A, I would likely give that guy less credit than Frasso, who's already doing it with not even 50 innings under his belt. But, like you and Laika said, orgs have access to infinitely more information and data than we do, so.... any thing we come up with as fans is just stat scouting at it's finest and trying to compare 1 guys stats with another guys, and figuring that whoever is younger at the same level must therefore be the better talent. There's nothing truly linear about it, just general trends that younger than league average and performing = better than being older than league average and performing. Then there's all the nuance, background, development behind the scenes that we know nothing about.

I definitely think age level is very important, but less so for pitchers than hitters. Not dramatically less important, but I'm not going to hold it as much against a pitcher who is 23 pitching against 22 year olds, than I am a hitter who's 23 mashing against 22 year olds. I just think theres so much more to a pitcher's development with innings limits and all the other ******** that they just take a bit longer to ripen and it's not the end of the world if they're not 2 or 3 years younger than the average hitter in their league.

I think it's like a breakup with someone who you thought you really liked, but they broke up with you and you just spend the next week or so really focusing on what you didnt like about them to make yourself feel better.

Not to derail this wonderful trolling thread, but how is Frasso remotely comparable to Manoah?

we're trying to judge based on 20 inning and 10 inning sample sizes?

B Team floor overall is better, bench is better, pen is better - though neither is better monumentally. These are smaller type of moves but still move the needle the right way without losing any top end prospects. Didn’t get anyone elite though so can’t give it an A

Cash is good. Beasley was acquired for cash, so I guess his Jays life cycle has come full circle.

If it's a hit and run... yeah kinda. Didnt seem like it was even that far out

I mean, Tapia has to at least try to wave at it right? Just to try and foul it off?

Yeah i guess. Beasley has the kind of stuff where you wouldnt be surprised if he was a shutdown reliever in a year or 2.

Not much other details to share here... seems like a weird move.

Return is Samad Taylor and MAx Castillo 5:04pm: Kansas City is receiving Samad Taylor and Max Castillo, Feinsand reports. 5:03pm: The Royals have traded Whit Merrifield, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). He’s going to the Blue Jays, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (on Twitter).

This is the kind of thing ive been really digging into recently. Basically, he's been taking way more crushable pitches over the heart of the plate (-4 take runs over the heart already this season when he was -5 takes runs over the heart in all of 2021), and doing far less damage with them when he does get them. The take runs are worst, but then that is only maybe a 5 runs difference by the end of the season. His swinging runs this year (+2 so far) vs last year (+29) over the heart are like night and day. He's also trending noticeably worse in the Chase zone, but still good in the waste zone.

Nah, more like the team is as fine as it's going to get this season so wishing for more is irrelevant

The only thing they'll be doing in a couple years is trading any of those prospects that actually play well before they get to Arb 2.