Brownie19

Who do you think his comparables are at the ML level? Sean Casey? Keith Hernandez? Tony Gwynn (at 1st base)?

This is so f***ing incredibly sad for baseball. Why can't we have nice things? Unfortunately, this seems like the baseball gods punishing Arte Moreno and the FO office for being so turrrible.

Lots of talk this morning that the contract could include a ton of incentive based options on the pitching side. Basically if he stays healthy, he'll get all that extra coin, if he doesn't, he won't.

That's great, but his wRC+ was still 88 in AAA before tonight.

Well that's encouraging I guess. Potential for this to be a tangible/sustainable improvement and not just a lucky season for a guy who's 'old' for AAA

Huge W. Belt has been f***ing incredible. We'd be f***ed without him this year.

Rob Friedman (@pitchingninja) • Instagram reel WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM 43K likes, 163 comments - pitchingninja on August 22, 2023: "Luis Castillo threw 47 Consecutive Fastballs yesterday. 😂". Castillo threw 47 straight fastballs yesterday. That is insane.

He's had 10 PA's in the majors this year and he trails Vlad in WAR by 0.2 He's really never hit at all before though - did he go into the lab and make big changes or something? Anyone know? Also, anyone know if he's a lefty killer at AAA? It certainly seems like you could give him a shot over f***ing Espinal.

Yeah buddy. He's living his best life right now.

well he had lost it, but he's rediscovered his elite velo.

It doesn't get much more genuine than that. Polar Bear = good guy.

Is there evidence to suggest the Jays didn't want Dante back? If I recall correctly, he terminated his agreement with the Jays during the strike/lockout so he was allowed to continue working with his son (and other players). I never saw anything on why he didn't sign back on when that ended...

They gotta show Ohtani that they will do everything they can to make the playoffs I guess.

Why wouldn't Bo be in the lineup for tonight? Why's he say Saturday?

and the Angels just called up Nolan Schanuel after 21 games in the minors!!! holy crap

That's a really good article. It addressed several of the potential issues we've discussed on this board, including the one about how he needs to pull the ball more: While it’s popular to say that he’s not pulling the ball in the air enough, which we’ll get to in a second, that seems to be an oversimplification, because he’s A) pulling those high-value barrels more than he did in 2021, and getting less distance on his pulled barrels (352 feet) than he is towards center field (379 feet) or opposite field (358 feet). He’s lost dozens of feet of distance just on pulled barrels, which makes it hard to say “do that more.” and lineup protection (a casual fan favourite argument): Aside from the fact that many studies have been done over the years that suggest that lineup protection doesn’t manifest in the way tradition would have you believe – mostly because if the point is to not walk a lesser hitter ahead of a good hitter, why pitch to the lesser hitter in a way that makes him a better hitter? – the specifics of this case don’t match up. Guerrero isn’t seeing fewer pitches in the zone than in 2021; he’s seeing more. It doesn’t address the weird home/road split, or the gap between his actual and expected contact. Besides, Chapman, Belt and Springer are established veterans behind him who are hardly Minor League fill-ins. It’s almost certainly not this. It’s never this. Thanks for posting friend

I'm right there with you man - on every point. It was a bit eerie reading it to be honest, but I'm always rooting for Cavan.

I heard Buck on an interview say he thinks it's because he has no separation between his hands and his front foot. Which he's never had - and of course I highly doubt Buck has any idea how to teach a hitter to succeed against the velo we see in the majors right now.

Anyone think we'll reach a point anytime soon where fans turn on Vlad? Has he ever been boo'd?

I think that's total ********, but agree that's what happens in sports. Vlad will get a raise at the end of the year, which he 10000% doesn't deserve, while coaches and FO staff who probably deserve the raise for keeping us in the playoff run, will get fired. And 'most' fans will agree with it. That's professional sports.

I've told this already, but I have heard first hand that the Leafs are dealing with this with multiple players right now. Guys who don't want to hear about the holes in their games, nor work to fix them. The team has now changed GM's, coaches and training staff and it's the same result, no matter who tries to get through to them. I suspect this is pretty common in pro sports. Bringing in a 'new voice' works with high school kids - but rarely works with 26 year old millionaires.

I would tend to agree with this. I don't get that impression with Kirk or Vlad.

There are already reports that Vlad won't listen to the coaching staff and the team has had to cater to this diva by bringing in his uncle Wilton, EE and others because he refuses to work with the team. This happens in hockey too (I have direct contacts who confirm this). Some players don't want to hear the truth. They want 'yes men' around them or people they 'trust' and if you deny that, you risk alienating them and hurting the relationship. It's a f***ing tough position to be in. Would a different Manager or Hitting Coach change that? I mean there's a chance they would, but there's a much higher chance they won't be able to. If Vlad is playing to his potential, there's literally 0 discussion about firing anyone. Vlad inability to be in shape and the necessary adjustments is holding this team back and if he's unwilling to work with team personnel to fix this - everyone's hands are somewhat tied unfortunately. You can trade this cancer for 10 cents on the dollar if you want, or you ride this out and hope he figures it out. Those are the options. This is such a polarizing situation. I f***ing hate Vlad for all of this because it certainly seems like he doesn't give 2 shits.

I thought there were already reports that the girl and her mother told Wander she was 18 when they first met and asked for $200,000 and a Mercedes after he ended it and Wander said no. Probably speculation of course, but all the more reason for everyone to chill with the opinions until the real details come out.