Terminator

Kiermaier with a no doubter for his 4th homer of the spring. Tiedemann is dealing. Espinal traded for a Vanderbilt pitcher. The vibes are great. Everyone is in the best shape of their lives. This team looks incredible. Joey Votto.

He's actually worse than nothing because keeping him around on the 40-man all year means we have to cut someone else. Plus, the guy wasn't good enough to last on the Rockies 40-man roster (one of the worst rosters ever assembled) but somehow he's supposed to make ours. Not following the logic here.

Why do you care if Serven is scooped up? He probably passes through waivers anyway and if not who cares. He sucks.

I think it would make sense for this guy to have access to his accounts. He is his interpreter but that doesn't mean he's only his interpreter. He could also be his errand boy, pseudo-manager, lead entourage member, etc. He's also apparently Ohtani's fall guy.

Great point about Serven. That makes a ton of sense. When Jansen gets healthy in a week or two: -DFA Serven, he probably passes through waivers and if not who cares -Option Lukes -Activate Jansen from the IL -40-man roster spot is open, add Votto and activate him to the 26-man -Print the playoff tickets

Agreed, none of this is adding up. Ohtani has got to know that you can't just make 4.5M in cash transfers like that. Or he should at least know enough to ask someone if that's kosher, at which point he would find out that he can't transfer money like that. The IRS is obviously going to take a look at those transactions lol. But maybe he had a plan to conceal it somehow and was just hoping sneak by with plan #1. The story blew up in their faces, Ohtani's lawyers told him he is potentially facing felony wire charges and now they have to resort to #2? That kind of seems somewhat plausible I guess? But so does Ohtani being completely bored out of his mind in Orange County so he and his interpreter buddy bet on sports. And they bet big sums of money to make it interesting.

Ohtani has to know this. Or at least know enough that when you make 4.5M in transfers that it would likely get some scrutiny from the feds.

He's definitely a contender. If he's any good it'd be nice to keep him around as a lefty with 3 option years.

Yep. Dude was a good player for us and the Reds probably get the better end of this one. But that's what happens when you run into 40-man probs.

41. Chris McElvain, SP Drafted: 8th Round, 2022 from Vanderbilt (CIN) Age 22.3 Height 6′ 0″ Weight 205 Bat /Thr R/R FV 35+ Tool Grades (Present/Future) Fastball Slider Changeup Command Sits/Tops 40/45 55/60 30/50 30/45 89-93 / 95 McElvain spent his first couple of years at Vanderbilt in the bullpen, then moved to the rotation in his draft year. He has a plus two-plane breaking ball and his fastball plays up due to its riding life, but it isn’t hard enough to miss bats within the zone, so McElvain needs to live above the zone to avoid getting hurt. For this reason, he was walk-prone in 2022, but his command actually isn’t bad — it’s just what he has to do to get by. Because he’s so new to a rotation, he may just be scratching the surface in some pitchability areas (that’s where the changeup projection is derived from here), but Vanderbilt isn’t a school that tends to leave developmental meat on the bone, and it’s rare for pitchers moving from the ‘pen to the rotation to add velocity, something McElvain will ideally do. The Reds didn’t send him to an affiliate after the draft, so he’s poised to be rested for the start of 2023, important context to keep in mind if he’s throwing harder at the onset of camp. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/cincinnati-reds-top-46-prospects-2023/

I basically agree with that but if they wait a week or two someone might hit the 60 day DL and then they don't have to cut anyone for Votto.

With Espinal gone I think this is likely to be the squad.

Espinal traded to the Reds! Problems solved.

I love that shoeless guy in the Leafs shirt that stands up and wildly celebrates as it lands. Probably the most Canadian-in-Florida thing I've ever seen lol.

I wonder if Ross has a 60-day IL trick up his sleeve. He could threaten to option Manoah again, thus screwing up his service time. The alternative for him would be that they could put him on the 60-day DL and he could accrue service time at least. I guess if s*** hits the fan in the next couple of months we might need him. Another option is to put Zulu on the 60-day IL with a phantom injury. With the way he's throwing I don't think anyone would question if he's actually hurt or not.

Thanks Dean. It's no Swiss Chalet gift card but that was a nice gesture. Hopefully it's the first of many that I justifiably deserve after all the attacks you've thrown my way these past few weeks. Regardless, consider the hatchet buried. And to add to the Vogelbach discussion, not only would they have to pay him, they'd have to clear ANOTHER 40-man spot for him. They already have to clear one for Serven and I'm scratching my head as to what they'll do there. Having to clear another one for Vogelbach seems really difficult. I agree with this. It's early in the year and some of these guys have been slowly ramping up. Adding another multi-inning guy could be helpful early on. And in the case where Parsons does throw 3+ innings they can just option him down for a fresh arm in Pop anyway.

The Espinal/Biggio two headed monster is eternal. It feels like these guys have been around since the 2015 team. We will never get rid of them and Babe Schneider is the latest casualty.

He definitely is. He projects for 1.9 Steamer600 WAR. That's better than every infielder we have except Bo and Babe Schneider.

Giants currently have Nick Ahmed penciled in as their starting SS. Surely they'd give up a ham sandwich for Espinal.

Yeah I don't even care if they are paying anymore. I'd rather go by myself and pay than be seen with them wearing sweatshirts. My dad even considered shorts once when we went in the summer time but I yelled at him and he changed in to jeans.

Settle an argument for me. When you guys go to Swiss Chalet do you dress up or not? My parents say it's more casual and they laughed at me when I wore a tie and jacket the last time we ate there. But they were wearing sweatshirts and I thought they looked ridiculous. Who is right?

So I take it that you're NOT getting me the Swiss Chalet gift card then?

Not sure I like the idea of an "express" version. The sit-down service is key to the whole experience.

Try and name a better Canadian restaurant than Swiss Chalet. You can't. It is my go to place for fine Canadian cuisine and it's always my first stop as soon as I land at Pearson.

No but I'm willing to travel