Orgfiller

Holy s*** back to back HR.

If Roden isn't getting starts in these kinds of games then I don't really get why he's on the team tbh. Just demote him and let him get regular playing time to fix his swing issues. Warming the bench while equally inept hitters try to provide offense doesn't seem like the best way to go about it. I think this also makes it clear that they think Barger is a 3B in the same way they think Kirk can play CF. And I get it, he was awful from my memories of him at third. But then we actually just have way too many outfielders, most of which are the same handedness.

A's player Jacob Wilson has an insane profile, particularly as a rookie. In 112 PAs this season, he has 6 strikeouts and 2 walks!! You'd think he's just some s***** slap hitter, but he has a pretty solid 127 wRC+ and an ISO of .138 with 3 HRs. 97th percentile xBA, 100th percentile squared up with a 98th percentile whiff rate. Expectedly, his K rate is in the 99th percentile and the walk rate in the 1st. SS Luis Arraez with like 40th percentile power could be an interesting player to look out for in the future.

Yeah I think this makes sense. I just posted inquiring about Jimenez's status, because I feel like he's that missing INF piece who's already on the 40-man. Either 60-day IL him and bring up Stefanic or he takes over for one of the extra OF like Roden.

Any update on Leo Jimenez and the injury he sustained in camp? Still hasn't made an appearance at AAA, but not seeing any actual reason or status update for what's up with him.

Yeah I think it basically plays out as: Varsho - everyday CF Springer/Santander - everyday RF/DH, occasionally both play the corners Barger - platoon 3B with Ernie, pinch hits often late in games Straw + Lukes - platoon 4th OF, spell Varsho in the early going if necessary. Lukes used more often to pinch hit, Straw to pinch run Roden - sink or swim LF. I think he'll be given a few weeks more of rope as a regular LF, and either he succeeds and sticks, or gets sent down to work on his issues in AAA

Which Seager did you use to think this about? Because Corey always raked in the minors with the power to show for it. The question on him was always if he was too big for SS, and maybe some strikeout concerns but given the age those were always kind of silly.

Talk about minor league ballpark dimensions lol, 357 to straight CF. It's no wonder Nimmala made that stadium look small, his HR cleared the fence by 25 feet vertically. He's looking good down there, K's are in check if not altogether down, big power still there, 138 wRC+ as a 19 year old.

Looks like he was saving some velo on purpose for when he needed to get big outs.

Austin Wells with some brutal "blocking" attempts this game already.

Infield playing back with Vlad who's a GB machine is an odd, if not baffling decision. We'll take the free run.

This is a good thing with us having to use all of our good relievers yesterday.

Gimenez with some of the best baserunning I’ve ever seen from a Blue Jay.

Kirk’s been elite at throwing out runners since 2024.

Yeah I feel you, but bases loaded to a good lefty isn’t exactly inspiring for Berrios. Could just as easily be 4-0 with one swing.

Ben Rice is no slouch and Berrios gets clobbered by lefties.

Roden and Wagner in the doghouse facing a crappy righty, damn. To be fair, we probably need Ernie at third with the rockets that are gonna be hit to the hot corner against Berrios.

bWAR is pretty bad for evaluating catcher value since it misses a lot of modern components involved in catcher defense. Kirk is at 0.1 (similarly bad) fWAR since his defense generally grades as elite or near elite.

The big difference here is that Schneider literally could not touch the high fastball. Roden is just driving it into the ground, and he's demonstrated a much better hit tool that should allow him to make adjustments to these pitches.

I'm of the opinion that as much as Wagner and Roden have been swinging a pool noodle to date, it's far too early to give up on them. They're not being completely overpowered or the K/whiff rates would be bad. Roden in particularly hasn't been drawing as many walks as you would want, but he's a guy getting his first taste at the MLB level so he could be pressing, or just hasn't made the adjustments to make himself feel comfortable with taking more pitches. The projections for both these guys are what they are because their success at the upper minors was legit, despite merely okay power numbers. Not many Ks, good amount of walks, lots of line drives, that's been their profile. I don't think there's any good reason to send them to AAA just yet, this could just make things worse. Roden needs to fix his swing path, there's no question about this, to what extent the team believes this can be worked on at the MLB level versus a lower pressure environment will be the determining factor. He's providing value in other areas which has been a surprising development, so while he's not totally killing you, see if he can make adjustments on the fly.

Crochet struggling with his command and the M's broadcast is picking up every single F bomb he's dropping clear as day lol.

Not buying that at all just yet. His top end exit velos aren't that good, and he's overperforming his xWOBA pretty significantly. He's probably a true talent 15-20 HR bat unless he significantly alters his approach. His K/BB rates are pretty bad and I don't know if he has a Bichette hit tool or Javy Baez bat speed + power tool to make up for it.

Romano blows another one. Going for the 10th inning save, he allows a groundball to advance the runner, a deep double to score the tying run, IBB, strikeout, bloop single to lose the game. Bunch of hanging sliders. Fastball didn't even look bad but he hardly used it.

Barger is one of the stiffest dudes I can think of, so I think the infield dream for him is over. The arm is excellent but I just don't think he can move laterally very well, and I shudder remembering what he looked like at third last season.

It's weird that they continue to sit Barger, which makes me think he's the one heading down once Varsho returns to the team. I thought Lukes was a shoo-in for a demotion but his performance and the fact that he won't care whether he's playing or not might keep him on the roster for a bit longer.