BigCecil

I’m not pessimistic really. Just reflective and I think realistic. I don’t think we can assume our core today will all succeed at MLB level. It’s too early to tell. Like what I see but injuries and adjustments will always play. Watched Hinske, Wells and Rios etc peaks and valleys etc. The FO does have some pitching options on the horizon and can augment that in the rotation. Pens are one of the easiest areas to improve agree. I really hope the D improves. Bo Vlad Biggio and Tellez right now is one scary IF for an arm. 😂

Random Thoughts: Was listening to Atkins on "At the Letters" podcast, talking about building around the core with what we can see now. 15 people locked in a room to dream up the Stro and Sanchez deals etc etc. Got me thinking our "Mount Crushmore" teams were built around 3 basically found money projects from other orgs that weren't highly touted prospects - JD, Jose and Edwin. Then some other key pieces I never imagined would play the role they did....remember Adam Lind for who? Estrada. We got lucky on Edwin and Jose and AA took risks locking them down cheap. JD was arguably his best deal. Other deals were a disaster. This FO is trying to build around a young controllable core. But in terms of the pitching and D issues it seems to me we are also going to need a lot of luck and the other pieces assembled. I don't know if I have any faith in Atkins. He is f***ing painful to listen to. Whatever it is its going to look a lot different than we envision today. ...that is all.

I like Biggio and I’m not saying it was easy at 98, but the most hittable pitch he saw was strike 1. He ended up swinging at ball 4 to K. Love his eye but would like to see him more aggressive early.

LOVE watching these kids battle Chapman.

f*** off Yankees. Vlad Biggio and others are constantly getting s*** strike calls against them on anything remotely borderline and beyond. Judge got ripped off. Welcome to the club. Can’t wait for roboumps.

PVR’ed yesterday’s game and watched it last night. 118 MPH single by Vlad that pretty much almost went through the wall. This kid does some jaw dropping things. Unfortunately he also does this @ 3B, and not in a good way lol. I had to watch that hit 5 times. Our D and pitching are massive issues but the team offensively is fun to watch now.

It’s annoying “Bo will be way better than Vladdy” stuff. Enjoy it for what it is a handful of games in. It’s great. But it’s a mirage. What did Rowdy do last year? I think Bo is going to be very solid long term offensively and I love what I see but we just need all these kids to make slow steady progress on both O and D. Celebrate the successes without too much hype.

. I see that. Bo smash. Great slide by Biggio. Feel like we are going to have an exciting offence over next couple seasons.

Yikes. PVRed game and it’s 8-0 in 3rd so far. Can we go back to BALT please?

JD's average exit velocity exceeds 2015 and 2016 as does his hard hit %. Avg FB/LD exit velocity also up from those years to 98.2. He is in elite company and pulverizing baseballs. It was a smart f***ing AA move, whether it worked out or not, to take a one year on JD at that price.

Atkins public spin: - We have run some new models and believe that optimum OF defensive performance can be achieved via catching the ball with the face versus the glove. - I'm thrilled for Aaron and Joe. They are great people and performed well for the Jays and we hope that every inning they pitch for Houston is hitless. Atkins private comments to Shapiro: - That blistered up f*** was useless for 3 years and we were going to non tender the prick. - That f***ing nutjob Biagini hadn't pitched a hitless inning all season and he picks last night to do it. 6 inning no hits?? - On this roll Cal Stevenson is going to turn into Juan cocksucking Soto. (its only one game but it does make me chuckle the irony of last night)

You can’t make this up lol. Fisher human f*** up catch and BOTH Ex Jays are in on the no hitter. Only thing missing was astros calling up Cal Stevenson tonight to hit a walk off. Atkins must be face palming as the call in shows light up and roast him more.

Too bad. Drury ripped that.

Holy f*** Vlad. He crushes balls at 110 and we yawn. Making it normal. Nice!

Sanchez goes 6 hitless innings with 6 K and 2 BB. And fisher tries to catch a ball with his face. Atkins can’t catch a break.

Please be inconclusive. Please.

Reece! Nice jack! Can we always play Balt?

Does Vladdy remind you of Scott Rolen at 3B?

f*** Baltimore is bad. At least we have some potentially elite bats and Nate Pearson to look forward to. If I was Orioles fan they would find me swinging from the rafters in the basement.

Jansen full on part of youth takeover now. Bat has come alive and solid D. That was a great AB.

I don't subscribe to the notion that Sanchez would dominate in pen. Low K rate and high BB. Not enough swinging strikes. All we really have is quite strong performance there in a small sample size from 2015. League has changed since then. So has he. Only question is could you resurrect more value that what we got now. We'll never know now. On the Bauer 3 way...no I'm not sure. But that's what it looks like to me. Hey, if Kay and/or our 18 year pan out all will be forgotten/forgiven.

Smart gamble with JD by AA. 3 WAR and the upside of Donaldson was worth the risk even if he had a terrible season. Dangerous bat in the playoffs.

I don't like the timing of the Stro deal or the return much. Stro was so annoying, but when I look at the Bauer 3 way deal and the rush signing of Grich over a player like Stro it causes me to pause. I don't know what Stro wanted but maybe it was a joke. In terms of head cases...Bauer is right up there with Stro if not worse. Some of the rationalizations of the deal puzzle me. They seem convenient. "Well those arms aren't in the Top 100 now but they could be next month" etc. Would we apply that same standard if we were giving up a Top 100 guy? "Well he is Top 100 but you know...next month he might not be, so no big deal". "Hey Giles is hurt now...but it shouldn't affect any deal...cause you know....he might be fine in couple weeks". lol I guess one question is was Fisher worth Cal A. too? Sanchez has sucked since 2016, but we aren't winning next year so was there potential to try to resurrect more value in pen or rotation? Impossible to know now...he has been awful and I HATED watching him. Rationale for Fisher in part is he is LHH OF. Ok, so is Billy McKinney. Fisher is 26. The sample size is small but 35% MLB K rate. His AAA numbers this year are interesting but again...small sample. He gets on base. For a s***** Sanchez with possible return to some form and an milquetoast RHP middle reliever? Sure. But Anderson too? I don't know. Seems expensive for us. The rest of the trades with Hudson etc are fine...they were found money and Joe Smith kind of deals. I don't pretend to be an expert in evaluating these deals. With what knowledge I have, I calls em' as I see em'.

Went into deadline still having confidence in FO. Was concerned about some of their decision making but gave them benefit of doubt Rogers made them hold on to JD etc. I’ve read all the posts and analysis on the deadline deals. No chicken little but I’m not as impressed as many for a lot of reasons. Seems to be a lot of convenient rationalization that would not be consistently applied to AA or others deals. The overall return and timing of their deals is underwhelming to me. Plus Ross Atkins face makes me want to punch it for some reason.

The board would be excited, happy, pissed and indifferent = all of the above.