BigCecil

Was on a flight last night and missed gm so caught highlights this am. Who isn't glad to have Romano back? Its easy to overlook and nitpick Romano. "Too many sliders, V down, FB command" etc etc, But he is found money, a Canadian kid and great story. A 10th rounder drafted in '14. Almost lost him via Rule 5 in 2018 and now he is kind of taken for granted, although most would agree he is a better leverage back end option than our guy who can touch 103, and is also good. Its a pretty special situation when you think about it. Some props are due to the FO.

Very happy about the Yanks season. Yanks got played into the deal with Judge after his '22 season. They have tons of dough so not sure if they care but the whole back half of that 9/360M will be a sunk cost for a sugar high. Flags fly forever so if he can get them a ring few will care. Not looking good at the moment.

The worm has turned on the Ms hot streak. A walk off bunt and I’m there for it.

Freddie is going to the HOF and a few years ago I never envisioned that. 56 career WAR already mostly at 1B. He is just a great hitter.

Whit his 3 WAR self this year. Career 104 wRC+. Speed is a big part of his game (87th percentile) and age comes for us all. Given we were able to backfill the roster with 1/9M year deals for Belt & KK(both worked out) what makes sense for Whit/us at 35?

He is an All star 3 times in part because he played in KC. Espy and Kirk are also former all stars. Zobrist had a 42 WAR career including an 8+ WAR season. Whit has been great but he has been super hot which gives us all a lot of recency bias.

Vintage Ryu painting. CB, change, spotting the FB. Great to see.

Exactly what I expected. Big V and good not great stuff. Command issues. He is a really nice piece but he isn’t a lights out pen arm. That game sucked badly. What was Vlad trying to steal for with 2 out and Chappy up who could score him on a double?

Caught it today with my son and a bud. It was nice. What great memories. Me and bud were puddles. Lol

Still on Vlads Fangraph page: Prospects TLDR: Guerrero has a messianic bat, and while he may have to move off of third base quite soon, he'll probably hit enough to be a superstar anyway.

Have you never eaten a smartie? As in the candy. Been around since 1937.

Very true. We don’t know or see all that goes on. CC struggled badly with booze for years. It wasn’t talked about much publicly until he came unglued and got treatment. Others have with diet etc. I can imagine the Red Sox pulled their hair out after they signed Panda to that big deal watching him over eat and pop his belt in a swing. We just need Kirky to kick his churro addiction. Hopefully Vlad, Manoah and Kirk can deal with the challenges.

Our core players projections vs actual production are down something like 12 WAR. 12! Chris Black was going through the numbers a couple days ago. Bonkers.

LOL on LTBF gif!! If he doesnt do it here in the next 2 seasons whoever turns those EV's into actual production again will get a steal with Vlad. Its mind boggling to think some were talking a $400M ish ext in 2021. You simply can't pay a 1B worth 0.4 WAR with a 117 wRC+ big dough on a long term deal - especially with his body type. Nobody should give a F about the stupid "gold glove". Olerud isn't wrong in the sense he is actually a non tender candidate now on some planet. He hasn't been worth the $14.5M he is making. We aren't going to non tender him of course, but not an unfair argument.

Got to tip your cap to the FO & players on the pitching and D. They nailed that this year, including an improved pen. If more of our guys were hitting to their projections we would be topping the Division most likely. At least right there. Lets hope we get on a roll like the M's are now. 9-1 in last 10 is nuts.

Don't use it much but just that Meta4 on my IL. A too far gone Ross Fapper, s***** troll and blathering El Homer Del Homers - inferring a week sample size means anything definitive. Dumb. As if we don't all want Varsho to be the 5 ish WAR player we bought. It would be awesome. Flying from CAL to TOR today with my son and brother to catch 3 games and I hope Varsho hits 5 bombs and makes a bunch of plays.

Trading 1-0 Wins I'm not sure I've seen before. Wins a Win. I hope to god they crush the pitcher formerly known as Thor tomorrow.

Another nice catch. Two Mitt Whit!

LOL. Be nice to the Term now...he went all in and is still living that down, and his undying support of Biggio. Always a strong backer of that kid.

Man what a nice lay out for that catch by Whit! Two Mitt Whit? lol

On the one hand Pham sucks...cause a week proves it....but Varsho rakes now....cause a week proves it. LMAO. By that "logic" when AA added Joc Pederson, Soler and Rosario to ATL, Jorge Soler wasn't an upgrade because he only really destroyed the ball in the World Series winning MVP.

Thats what I thought he meant. Regarding Pham or anyone...a sample size of since the trade deadline a week ago doesn't determine if an add is an upgrade or not LMAO.

True on the $19M AAV and the cost SP Free Agent market. Last year he was worth just 1 WAR mostly because he did pitch 170 innings. It wasn't a bargain. Recently, as in this season, he has been solid and worth what you project. Few would have posted ^ last season. Jose has 1200 IP already at 28. Bassit is 34 and has 900 career IP in contrast, who might end up worth 2 WAR in '23 for $21M. Berrios career FIP and ERA are over 4. Nothing too elite but pretty consistent. Its just fact that a lot of his value has come from eating lots of innings. The risk is that he has a lot of wear and tear on him already. Some would make the case that his career durability to date is a strong indicator that it will continue perpetually through 34-35. I get that argument but its not probable. The bet on his contract term/AAV is that he will continue to stay healthy and pitch 150 ish IP + season through 35. Most pitchers don't stay that durable to that age, and this FO made the bet he will. I think the last few years will be no bargain at $19M AAV. 5 of 6 of the current rotation are FA signings. Lasts years Free Agent cost/WAR was $8.5M. Looking forward to the day we have more & cheaper in house developed rotation components.

If only CLE had a couple Reece McGuires on the roster we could find a way to win this one.

Kikuchi pitching a gem.