Pendleton

Every failed power hitter should be studying video of his swing adjustments. He went from taking big looping HR cuts to just letting his hands explode through the ball, way shorter path to the baseball. Found my post from last year that showed a side by side comparison https://www.bluejaysmessageboard.com/threads/10601-Around-Baseball-2023?p=1695031&highlight=Rooker#post1695031

Yeah I wouldn't be able to shrug it off as no big deal. It's about as unprofessional as you can get from someone paid to try and win baseball games, not to mention the complete lack of respect for his teammates and their aspirations.

I hope the Twins are able to sue him to recoup the 300k signing bonus he just received in July, what a f***ing loser.

I haven't seen any recent projections but I'm thinking 5 years in the 85-100M range depending on how the market plays out. Gausman was slightly older but had a more proven recent track record of frontline pitching results when we gave him 110M/5. The free agent pool seems deep enough that Flaherty isn't a lock to get 9 figures despite the great season.

Yeah but in his age 28 season after basically first becoming a flop and being given up on by the team that drafted him (plus two others). But anyway, my point was that Rooker is a very unique case of a hitter who was far below league average until basically reinventing himself in his late 20s. I don't know if his minor league numbers have much value for comparison in the context you are using them, as that version of Rooker went on to flop in the MLB. Should add that I'm not disagreeing at all with your general thesis here, I'm very intrigued by what Nimmala has shown.

Rooker made a huge adjustment to his swing prior to his breakout last year, significantly shortened his path to the ball, it can easily be seen by video comparison.

I have always been big on Flaherty, wanted to sign him last off season. He was looking like an future ace early in his career, had a stretch where his slider was on the very best pitches in baseball and was 4th in NL Cy Young voting at age 23. Always has had a nasty curveball as well. Something happened to his slider effectiveness from 2020-2023 where it went from elite to average to downright bad last year, and his overall results followed just about the same path. No doubt some injuries factored in along the way but there may be an interesting case study into how trying to diversify his arsenal by introducing a cutter, may have actually managed to zap Flaherty's slider and fastball. My point being, 2024 doesn't strike me as an random outlier from out of nowhere. This is the pitcher he was expected to become based on how he was tracking as a young SP. He got off track for three or four years after a pretty strong start to his career, bottomed out last season and now seems to have rediscovered what made him successful. I still don't think teams are going to be diving headfirst into giving him ace money, so there should be a chance at getting surplus value out of signing him (ie pay him #3 starter type money but he may keep pitching like a frontline guy).

It looked like he bulked up at some point, probably trying to add some power at the plate but sacrificed a fair bit of his range and flexibility on the defensive side.

Soto + Flaherty Jacko is the same age as AJ Burnett when we signed him back in 2006 (55M/5 years was the largest contract signed by any FA pitcher in four years at the time)

Nick Senzel elected free agency after being DFA'd by the ChiSox, that has to be rock bottom for the 29 year old former top prospect.

The reports from the deadline were that they were reluctant to move him https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/07/as-reluctant-to-trade-brent-rooker.html They shouldn't move him unless they get a haul, but they also may continue to have a weird interpretation of what a haul should look like. Unless they are given the greenlight to spend and try to build up more of a contender, he seems like a classic sell high situation for a bad club.

Not saying it's impossible but he's only been a 3+ WAR player once and that was 2019, came close last season. Just not someone I'd want to commit to any multi year deal heading into his age 32 season. If we strike out on all the bigger name corner OF, a one year deal is a different story.

Richards has been DFA'd to make way for waiver claim Michael Tonkin

All in for Soto first. If you strike out on him, just go back to sending a package of close to the majors talent to the A's for their star, in this case Brent Rooker (still arb eligible the next three off seasons)

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-players-with-options-for-2025 ^ List of notable players with 2025 options (team/player/mutual) with brief speculation on how they may be handled

Gotta love the twitter responses chalking it up to not being fit for the pressure of the closers role.

Both those two (Clase and Bloss) seemed a bit rushed to the MLB this year and perhaps just not quite ready. In Clase's case he's struggled in a small sample since joining the Bisons. I'd probably just leave both those two in AAA for the remaining 5ish weeks (last game is Sept 22 for the Bisons). There are quite a few older options on the 40 man to call up (Cuas, Danner, Eisert, Espino, Frias, Rodriguez, De Los Santos, Lukes) even if a lot of them suck.

MLB.com has released an updated top 100 as well as new top 30 rankings for each team. They have newcomers (recent draft picks and trade acquisitions) making up nearly half of the Jays list, 13/30. https://www.mlb.com/prospects/bluejays/

McCarthy has been on fire