Orgfiller

I see what you're saying. Personally I value McClanahan more simply because he'd been better and projects better, and I feel like it's such a fool's errand trying to project which of the two has greater injury risk. Manoah is absolutely built and looks like he could handle starting more, but McClanahan could be Chris Sale in his 20s for all we know in terms of endurance. I feel like the additional velo (from the left side to boot) if anything just gives him the higher ceiling and both can spin some filthy breaking balls.

In a heartbeat. Manoah is excellent, McClanahan is better.

I distinctly remember Merryweather having a lights out performance at Yankee Stadium in 2021 where he struck out the side and made Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres look silly pumping 100 past them with a disgusting bugs bunny changeup.

Romano, Pearson and Merryweather have all hit triple digits. The Cards have Junior Fernandez and Jordan Hicks who routinely throw 100 but are f***ing awful, so I mean it's not like that's all there is to it.

Yeah for all the talk about us giving up on Rowdy too soon and missing that lefty bat he's basically a replacement level player. You need to do a lot more in the MLB than to just be an okay hitter with no defensive or baserunning value - in his case actually costing the team a lot of value in both aspects.

To be fair Jansen's value is probably similarly too low, unless for MLB players they update in-season as projections adjust.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/gabriel-moreno/22664/game-log?position=C&season=&gds=2022-07-13&gde=2022-07-26&type=-2 Too lazy to take a screenshot. 28 PAs, 7 H, 3 2B (no other XBH), 3:3 K/BB (10.7% for each), 1 SB, .292/.393/.417, 124 wRC+

I wonder how much it would take to acquire Victor Robles. Capable CF defender with good speed, swings an absolute pool noodle but projects well enough to be better than Zimmer. Also another Latin guy who could mesh well with the team and potentially give him the motivation to unlock his prospect tools, is only 25 and has a couple of years of control, but his value should be so diminished that you wouldn't need to pay very much for him and we know the Nats are selling. Just looked, his max exit velos aren't awful so there's at least the potential to hit the ball hard, but the majority of the time currently he might as well be tossing grounders and soft liners into the outfield himself rather than bringing a bat.

Yeah, the ironic thing is this team is actually better against RHP than LHP. Team wRC+ against righties is 116 which is third in the league, vs. lefties it's 109 which is 13th in the league. So even if we factor in some splits regression the team is probably at worst equally good against either handedness? We already often platoon guys like Biggio and Espinal or Tapia even though neither of these lefties actually have severe splits. So with that said I agree there's no real reason for us to go and pick up an ok lefty simply for the sake of them being a left handed hitter. Maybe you look for an upgrade on Zimmer in the form of a Billy Hamilton type, although even he isn't the runner or fielder that he used to be at this point and at least with the former there's some tools there for him to literally not be completely useless at the plate despite his being so thus far.

You're severely overreacting lol. First of all, by wRC+ Bo did better in 2021 than in 2020. The "gone down every single year of his 4 year career" can be explained by: Rookie year: only 212 PAs Sophomore year: only 128 PAs, shortened season, pandemic, couldn't even play in his home park Third year: his only actual full year, split between three different home parks Fourth year: is 2/3 of the way through, he can regress to his mean Bichette is whiffing and striking out more this year compared to last, while walking a bit more. His BABIP is the lowest in his career, so maybe that's regression to the mean or he's just being unlucky relative to his true talent. His avg. exit velo is 85th percentile, same as 2021, hard hit rate actually better - 89th percentile this year vs 83rd in 2021, barrel rate about the same, and there's nothing glaring in his batted ball data that indicates his swing has changed. Bo is fine, he's basically a ~120 wRC+ true talent hitter which is reflected in his projections, and due to his swing happy tendencies is prone to being streaky. He's likely not a 140 wRC+ monster like his rookie season, but still a very good hitter that should slot within the top 5 of the lineup.

Okay he's not that bad lol. Romano would have finished the job regardless.

Tapia is now at a 97 wRC+ and replacement level. Grichuk at 77 wRC+ and -0.7 WAR. Atkins did this while shedding salary and gaining a C level prospect in the process.

I think people are making way too big of a deal out of Soto turning down the money that he got. He's already won a championship and is a 23 year old superstar on track for the Hall of Fame. He has complete control over the rest of his career. He's earning $17M this season and even if he breaks his leg tomorrow and is out for the year he's still getting $20M+ the next year and likely $25M+ the year after. He's already set for life as are his future generations. The odds of him sustaining a literally career ending injury are very low, and his 50th percentile outcome as a player moving forward is still earning him $200-300M on the conservative side. When you have no risk, why not bet on yourself and see how well you can really do without being constrained to negotiating against only one (bad) team? This isn't an Ozzie Albies scenario where you might accept getting swindled when you're making league min. because you have to consider that the risk of sustaining an injury could actually screw up you and your family's future especially given the situation you grew up in. Juan Soto retires tomorrow and he's already in the 1%, or he retires 2.5 seasons from now and he has $60M in earnings, or most likely he continues down his current path and he's making an absurd amount of money but his lifestyle isn't changing that much.

Teoscar might be underperforming relative to 2020-2021 levels, but he has a 114 wRC+ and 1.2 WAR and projects to be a good hitter. I wouldn't exactly call it rock bottom, he hasn't been that bad and still demolishes the ball when he makes contact.

Adrian Pinto is quietly putting up a 121 wRC+ as a 19 year old in A with excellent K/BB and at least a >.100 ISO, while spending the majority of his time at SS, with some action at CF and a decent amount of reps at 2B. Grichuk now sitting at -1.0 WAR for the Rox, which as bad as it is, is only 0.6 WAR worse than Tapia. But money savings plus a decent prospect is something you can't complain about for a sunk cost.

Kevin Smith might be broken. As you might all remember he had a resurgence last year to the tune of a 144 wRC+ in more or less a full season at AAA. This season though? After a brutal showing at the MLB level over 150 PAs of 46 wRC+ he's been worse across the board in AAA over 100 PAs. 23 wRC+ (TWENTY THREE) with more Ks than in the bigs and zero power output. Zach Logue has been similarly horrible across both levels, Kirby Snead is a replacement level anti-vaxxer (relevant due to implications of playing in Toronto) and Hoglund has yet to throw a professional pitch as he recovers from TJS. Safe to say Chapman, even at his disappointing league average hitting (although he continues to crush the ball with little results to show for it) with good-as-advertised defense was a major coup by the FO for the value paid to acquire him.

If he can tread water in AA it definitely puts him in the radar. I think he has a really good arm and some power, not sure about his actual defensive ability though and if he's a real SS - even a mildly below average one would be big for his prospect status - but the team has given him reps there, at 3B and 2B + 1B last season. He's tracking a bit like Biggio who can play some SS with more raw power and worse on base skills. Arguably a year ahead in the development process with this promotion.

2020 Vlad made a brief appearance there, luckily he got to his senses in time.

Holy f***ing s*** Vlad. Get better f***ing gloves, what the f***.

I think if anything him being rule V eligible means they won't rush him much this season. Hard to justify sticking a 20 year old who hasn't touched AA in your MLB roster as a position player for a full year. I don't think the team will see much/any risk in him being picked, even if they value him highly.

Are you f***ing kidding me.

The one thing I like more than an ump who's terrible at calling balls and strikes is one who is inconsistent with his calls to go along with it.

What the actual f*** was that strike 1 call.

Is that Devon White at first?

The Stripling for Kendall Williams + Ryan Noda deal is looking pretty good. Strip has been a godsend eating up valuable innings effectively and Williams hasn't exactly been tearing it up in the low minors.