Bobthe4th

His ratings do seem to be a bit off. Gurriel A+ I mean sure since he’s been back, but he was sent to the minors earlier in the season for being worse than Alen Hanson. Jansen as an F I also think is ignoring that he’s doing ok as a rookie catcher. Obviously his bat has been bad, but surely a fail should be sucking at catching too?

Disagree. He’s not a genuine ace, but he’s absolutely capable of being a number 2 on a playoff team. Realistically how many actually ace level pitchers are there around the league - 15? You seem really down on Stroman. But a 3 WAR starter is good for top 20-25 in the game.

Hell yeah. Ohtani and Trout should be the main faces of MLB. Even though neither really seem interested in that side, their talent showcased in the playoffs would help MLB’s popularity overall IMO.

I assume it’ll be Giles who is our All Star this year. If he and Stroman are traded though, er Sogard I guess?

http://i.imgur.com/PAPKwox.jpg

Hunter Pence as the AL All Star DH - did not see that coming at the start of the season! http://i.imgur.com/LriK2TJ.jpg

1-2 league average starters won’t allow us to compete, but will solidify the rotation in the second year of a (hopefully) relatively quick rebuild. Extending Stroman won’t allow us to compete next year either. I want to extend Stroman too, but it’s clear it’s not going to happen as the FO doesn’t want to pay him what he wants. I guess from their point of view they’d rather overpay a starter when we are close to competing again. There will always be pitchers who will sign wherever the money is.

He is quoting Vlad’s stats when he hits second in the lineup.

There is no way Isaac Bonga is a real player. It’s a NBA 2k randomly generated name surely.

Cheers. It says 7 day so hopefully it’s something minor and he can replace McKinney on the 25 man when Alford is back next week.

That’s terrible news. Can’t find this confirmed anywhere though, where did you see this and which IL is it?

There’s a big AL wildcard 4 game series starting tonight between the A’s and Angels. Was checking out the A’s and old friend Liam Hendriks has been lights out so far this year.

To quote you - "what the hell are you talking about?" I was trying to be funny, comparing Jordan's terrible tenure with the Wizards and the Hornets, to LeBron's repeated need to surround himself with veterans like JR Smith. If you want to take it literally you should have mentioned that Jordan has never been a GM either (he was president of basketball operations and is now an owner).

We can cobble together a rotation next year: return from Giles/Stroman, a free agent, Merryweather, Thornton, Borucki, Shoemaker, Pearson by September, Zeuch/Diaz/Perez. There's a wide range of outcomes from a rotation like that, it could end up being great if everything went right. But if it isn't then it's not the end of the world as long as we get at least a few serviceable starters out of it. We can then add elite starters when we are ready to compete again. Relievers are entirely unpredictable anyway, it's pointless trying to predict what the bullpen will look like in 2 years. Jansen only needs to be OK with the bat (rather than atrocious) to be a quality starting catcher. He should be given all of this and next season to turn it around. Of the disappointments, I'd give Tellez and Teoscar more time to see if they can build on their obvious power, Drury can be shot into the sun for all I care, McKinney/Urena/Davis etc are just 40 man depth. Alford needs to be up to audition for the CF role. Pompey too if he ever comes back. Grichuk's extension was not a "good" decision but it's not really a bad one either as he's easily movable if he doesn't improve. And if he's just the 2 War outfielder he usually is, then no it wasn't worth locking him up but he's still a net positive. Overall this is a rebuilding year, wins are basically irrelevant. What would make it a disappointing year is failure for more than a handful of young players to develop, and bad trades returns at the deadline. A good year would be things like Gurriel and Biggio continuing to play well, Jansen and Guerrero to go on hot streaks, a trade haul at the deadline, prospects tearing up the minors. Right now, I'd give us a C- grade. IMO the biggest thing that's going to effect the end of season grade is what happens at the trade deadline. If we manage to maximise the Stroman and Giles returns, and add to that with trading people like Smoak and Galvis then we could be in a really nice situation.

You just answered your own question.

No doubt and LeBron the player is a god. But in an ideal world he shouldn’t be anywhere near roster decisions. The NBA is such a player driven league though, piss off a star player and they’ll just leave and destroy your team construction anyway.

Yeah me too. I guess he wants the long term security now in case his rehab ends up going badly. It’d be such a Knicks move if they sign him to a max contract and he never comes back.

Who is the worst GM/decision maker - LeBron or Jordan? Apparently JR Smith is being linked with the Lakers haha.

Durant opts out. In a way, this actually helps the Warriors. Having $30m tied up on an injured player who is going to leave possibly without playing again would have been tough to deal with. Now they either sign him long term, or more likely spend on improving their overall roster.

You’re going to be disappointed when the biggest signing we make is Wade LeBlanc.

I assume that the 9 teams not on the list have more than Scherzer.

They don’t do it randomly. Their research must show that not enough people would watch it to make a deal for the rights worthwhile.

Nice idea, but you’re dreaming if you think we’re going to give Rendon what he wants (easily $200m plus) to play 3B here. He’s a Boras client. Ok we will have lots of payroll space, but that’s because the majority of our players are s***. We would need 10 new players to compete next year, no chance we give a mega contract to one guy. Maybe the year after, when we hopefully have a much more solid squad. Maybe.