Terminator

Wow, first he says the clubhouse atmosphere sucks because we didn't bring his buddy Bassitt back and now he's saying we don't focus on baseball? Maybe he was the problem all along. Let's light him up tomorrow.

They are still waiting on the MRI results but they still threw him on the IL anyway so it's kind of bad if anything. If the MRI results show something serious, then they could move him to the 60. That said, surely this is just a mild strain and they are being precautious.

You both couldn't be more wrong about this. Ozuna is innocent. He was the victim of domestic violence in 2020 when his wife threw glass at him and cut his eye. She was arrested, charged, and a protective order was issued. In 2021, the most flimsy and overcharged case in the history of domestic violence was levied against him. It was all based solely on body cam footage which you can see here: His hand is on her neck but he's pushing her away as she appears to be trying to take a phone out of his injured hand. Remember, this is a woman with a history of DV and Ozuna almost lost an eye after her previous attacks. And as big as he is, he appears to be showing quite a bit of restraint in trying to get his phone back. If he wanted to, he could have taken far more aggressive measures in defending himself. But prosecutors charged him with felony strangulation and battery anyway. Any lawyer worth a lick could get that tossed and indeed the strangulation charge was dropped almost immediately. The remaining charges were also dropped after he completed a short pretrial program. He has no criminal record other than a DUI arrest in 2022 (one of America's favorite past times). So no, he's not a domestic abuser. If anything, the more accurate sentiment would be to express hope that Mrs. Ozuna doesn't take out her frustrations on HIM being cut, or to refer to her as the "domestic abuser". Ozuna himself is a victim of DV, not a perpetrator. Now with all that said, I have reached out to Mr. Ozuna to see if he'd like me to represent him in a defamation case against the both of you. In the meantime, please retain and preserve all documents, correspondence, electronic communications, and other records relating to this matter. You will hear from me shortly.

Bateman kind of looks like Myles Straw? Straw is faster and is a better defender. Bateman bats lefty though which makes him a more valuable strong side platoon partner instead of short side. And Bateman's power has ticked up a little bit (he's doubled his ISO this year). Straw has a pretty good launch angle and Bateman is a worm burner but since he bats left that could be okay? IDK this Gausman trade has been a head scratcher for me. But there's got to be something they see with Bateman.

Mets are up 3-0 on the Guardians

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/winners-and-losers-from-the-2026-trade-deadline/ There's a lot of truth to this. Skubal trade was a damn joke. And I think Ross might be on to something with Bateman but even so, the Cubs gave up Rojas who is a Top 100 prospect for Clay Holmes the next day.

The path to the playoffs is right there: Soriano sees immediate gains in switching teams and is an improvement over Gausman Bieber starts pitching like a 3/4 Scherzer pitches like a #5 Kirk and Springer remain hot Vlad hits an entire season's worth of home runs in the final 50 games If most of that happens, I think you could argue that the playoffs will be easy to make.

Brett Bateman: Lighting up AAA, OBP machine, plus defender in CF, MLB ready, average height, can occasionally hit a home run. Ty Southisene: A-ball, might be able to play SS, years away from MLB, he's a midget and physically incapable of hitting a home run Every single Prospect Rag: "Ty Southisene comes in at #10 on the Cubs' prospect list, meanwhile Brett Bateman ranks 30th..." How do they expect us to take them seriously?

There used to be an equivalency calculator and you could punch in the minor league numbers and it would give you the MLB equivalency. Since the projection systems provide some form of that (and a form that most consider better) I think people quit using them and I can't find it anymore.

What if we immediately fix Jose Soriano and he's another ace to pair at the top of the rotation along with Cease?

I think Jameson will be in the pen for now and Miles will take some of Hoffman's late innings

Dear god

If Bieber, Little and Scherzer are in deed back from the dead this team may just slap hit it’s way into the playoffs

Team looked focused tonight. Only 4 games back of a playoff spot. Some are saying that the season is back on?

Brendon Little looks incredible

Pour one out for the Orioles Fanboys Adley Rutschman’s tenure with the O’s ends with ZERO playoff wins

I think Ross cooked with this one. Macko is nothing special and he's out of options after this year. Somehow Josh Smith still has a couple of options after this year. Prior to this year he put up a 3 WAR and 2 WAR season and then dealing with the illness this year. So he has shown that he is a good MLB player. We also got Stephan who is a Top 30 prospect in this deal as well. I'm not sure he's THAT much worse than Macko, especially because he has 3 options and Macko will have none.

Hmm that's not good. He does have a good splitter though and Stuff models don't always pick up on that pitch. And you can bet your bottom dollar the Jays will be leaning into that.

The floodgates are open and the trades are happening people! RIP to my work day

Everyone always defaults to veterans being great clubhouse guys but they are often the worst offenders. Omar Vizquel was a crusty old fart that had fallen behind the times and was horrible in the clubhouse. Mark DeRosa's version of veteran leadership was taking Brett Lawrie out for beers.

Trying to talk myself into liking this deal more. Bateman The true prize of this trade. I don't care what the prospect rags say, he's better than Southisene. I think his ceiling is a Nathan Lukes type of player, only with better CF defense and baserunning. And that would be a pretty damn good player. Southisene I'm not high on this guy at all but after trading Nimmala we've got the room for another SS prospect and maybe he can turn into a good bench player for us. He signed for a million bucks out of high school so he does have a little bit of pedigree.

Yep, it's the same playbook we used with Dylan Cease, just on a smaller scale. Take a talented pitcher with elite stuff who needs help with his control and being more efficient. Tinker with some things and give them a good defense behind them and you'll be able to squeeze that extra gear out of them. Cease was a #2 that we have turned into a bon a fide ace. Soriano is a solid #3 that we can try to turn into a good #2.

We'll see if he even makes the start!

I never liked that Nimmala kid anyway. He's a bum who is hitting .230 in the minors and those guys never pan out. On the flip side, Soriano is a fun guy to get. In his current form he's a solid middle of the rotation starter for a playoff team. But his stuff is good and his velo is outstanding, plus he's coming from a crappy org in LAA. So you can dream on squeezing more out of him and maybe he becomes a #2. I wonder if they will try and extend him.