Orgfiller

What the f***. Bowlan has some upside, but he's already 29 and good lefty relievers are probably much more valuable than average/slightly above average right handed ones.

Interesting. Strahm is very good and on a cheap 1/7.5 deal. Return must be at least decent even if it's only a one year reliever rental.

Logan Webb was confirmed to be pitching for them too.

My first reaction to this was: "I like that less than Keller for 2/22", but on second look maybe that's not the right way to think about it? Weaver has much better K/BB over the last two seasons, including, importantly, more Ks period. One of them saw the performance back up, the other broke out. Keller is a GB machine, Weaver is an extreme flyball guy with not as many pop outs as you would think from such a pitcher. Track record of success is equally limited for the two of them, although Weaver was generally more promising during his starting days than Keller was, and has one more season of good performance. Keller has the age advantage and the velo trending up.

Like that deal for the Phils. Have to imagine the lack of track record for Keller hurt his market, and the projections aren't super sexy. Good upside play. Makes it even better that they're signing him to be the setup man for Duran, doesn't need to be the top arm in the BP.

Meh, as a fan of the WBC and growing baseball's popularity internationally, I always advocate for the best players participating, especially the pitchers who tend to chicken out and muddle the talent pool. Obviously guys rehabbing from TJS should take it easy, but it still just effectively works as a tune up for these guys to be ready to pitch competitively during the regular season. If anything, Berrios participating should give us an idea on how his stuff is looking, and if his arm can hold up in the capacity of having a rotation spot.

I don't think the Angels are winning 95 games even if Manoah and Romano turn back into their 2022 versions lol. Maybe if that happens and Trout puts up another 8+ WAR season they have a shot.

I think this is a fair take from the perspective of, we're in the top of the 9th in game 7, do we have that one guy we're comfortable with closing the door? Anecdotally, we obviously saw what happened to "our guy" in that exact scenario - although he otherwise had a pretty excellent playoff run, but I digress. I still think Hoffman has a chance to be that guy, but he'll need to build up that trust again. On the other hand, it's a very deep group in terms of: our starter struggles through 3-4 innings, can we reasonably expect the bullpen to keep us in the game? Despite the bullpen reasonably doing an okay job at that at times these playoffs, it certainly wasn't the group you had the most hope in. This is obviously evidenced by our usage of guys like Bassitt, Gausman and Yesavage in crucial games when other teams may have considered leaning on their top bullpen arms. With this group, aside from like Little, there's not a guy that you're cringing your teeth and praying they're not the ones coming in to stop the bleeding.

I'm assuming they're using the Positional Depth Charts: https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=RP Dodgers over Padres as the top BP is a very interesting take by the projection models.

I think realistically one of Miles or Nance isn't on the team by OD, and are replaced by a lefty in Little or Fluharty. Absurd depth though lol, Braydon Fisher beginning in AAA after the season he just had I think falls in the category of "embarrassment of riches". And naturally, injuries will sort the roster jam by themselves.

He's a below average hitter who is a right handed DH at this point. Projects for a 94 wRC+ and below replacement value. I think he's released and lowkey might be out of the league unless a really bad team signs him to be a platoon bench bat, mentor type vetrin presence.

We likely see someone traded for minor league depth shortly I would assume. Unless they’ve completely given up on someone like Clase, they don’t trade for Lee to take up a roster spot without having a follow up move I think.

Polanco can barely play 2B, he is not the Lindor SS replacement lol.

The numbers speak for themselves honestly. It’s unorthodox in every way, but Rogers gets the job done as well as anyone else. By RA9-WAR he’s arguably the best non Diaz option available in FA.

Now we got Rogers and Rogers lite.

FO always seems to like having one of these funky delivery arms who give you a different look out of the pen. Lee having options makes him attractive as depth. K/BB in the minors has always been excellent, classic ROOGY guy.

Royals extend Maikel Garcia for 5/$57.5M guarantee with a club option for a 6th season that could bring the total value to ~6/85. This buys out one FA year and a potential second for his ages 30-31 seasons. The Royals are generally pretty good about retaining their guys, and now have an enviable young left side of the infield locked up at very reasonable prices for the next half decade+. Garcia is only 25, just put up a 5.6 WAR season, has excellent exit velos and plays good to elite defense all over the diamond - he'd probably be an everyday SS in any other team that didn't have Bobby Witt Jr. Tidy little extension for the Royals, nice to see a low-mid market team actually retain their good talent.

Shapiro has spearheaded revitalizing the Rogers Centre into a modern facility that improves both the baseball and casual fan experience. He's helped make our ST complex top of the line, and just in general brought up this organization to be among the most respected in the league, including the signing of several top free agents, and leading the team to its most successful run since the 90s. No brainer decision to continue with him at the helm.

Nice to get the elephant in the room sorted out. Ross Atkins extension news should follow shortly now.

I could be proven wrong by the TJStats models, but Stuff+ on fangraphs grades his sinker at 97, albeit they think he commands it perfectly which shoots up the Pitching+ model on it. Curve wise it's the opposite, a near elite grade on the raw stuff but poor location of it leading it to be a below average offering. Just sounds like the kind of guy that can easily be awful if the command backs up again, and there's a long history of that being a problem for him.

Aside from what you brought up, some issues for them are depth, which AA has always struggled with. Some of their core building blocks like Riley, Albies and Harris have been trending down since 2023 to the point where two of those guys are below average, and Riley is average but being paid like a star. The projections are still positive, so they might not be totally screwed, but it's a dangerous spot to be in. SS has been a total black hole ever since they lost Dansby Swanson. On the pitching side of things, there's upside but the rotation is completely filled with ticking time bombs. Strider broke and then came back looking pretty bad, he should hopefully be better in his second season of return. Sale is going on 37 and hasn't been dependably healthy in quite some time. Schwellenbach looks potentially special but lost half the season with elbow troubles. Reynaldo Lopez is a total unknown, was great after converting back to starting, and then broke. Their best case scenario is one of the better teams in the league, but the 50th percentile case is a bunch of injuries and little depth to tread water when their big pieces are predictably out, or struggling from playing through nagging injuries.

I'd be pretty scared of Newcomb. Not sure how much I buy him suddenly fixing his command, and the stuff doesn't pop off the page. Stuff+ is about average, with all of his fastball shapes being mediocre, and poor Location+. He has a lot of Little like characteristics, except the fastball isn't special if located well.

Considering 3 non Diaz relievers this offseason have already gotten 15M+ AAV, you should maybe consider recalibrating your perception of what market value for these guys is around the league.

Can't believe we signed the top starter on the market and some people can still act like Ross Atkins is just sitting on his ass lol.