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Bell really isn't a great fit for the Jays as his presence would only serve to cut into available DH at bats for the likes of Kirk, Vladdy, Springer etc.

And conversely he's had pretty good starts against really good offences including twice against the Yankees and once against the Red Sox.

Inability to place his pitches in or even near the strike zone has been Kikuchi's primary issue. If he's properly commanding his fastball the stuff should play just fine at the back of the rotation.

If that's the case you would think it really increases the pressure on the Angels to move Ohtani.

Moreno has shown power in the past, but it really hasn't re-emerged since the broken thumb of last year. Hopefully it's just a matter of rebuilding strength over time, but it's been over a full calendar year now and he's still primarily a singles hitter since the injury.

The article definitely throws plenty of shade at Kirk's defensive contributions. That portion of the breakdown is very poorly researched. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2022-trade-value-21-to-30/

I've dug into the various catcher statistics and metrics and Kirk is better than average at every measurable aspect of defense behind the plate. He ranks very well in blocking, throwing, framing and pitch calling.

I suspect just about everyone on here would make this trade in a heartbeat. If Pearson could actually stay on the mound he theoretically could provide more value as a starter, however it's become increasingly apparent that ship has sailed. Bednar is likely a best case scenario for what Pearson could turn into with better health.

It would be pretty hard to get away with using sticky stuff as the umpires are checking each pitchers pitching hand after every inning. If I recall correctly the Yankees played a pretty easy schedule in the first half of the season. Another potential factor that could explain the increased offense as the season has gone on is the use of humidors in all of MLB's stadiums. This was expected to have an offense suppressing effect in the earlier months as humidity levels and temperatures are lower in the spring. As the season went on the humidors were expected to lead to an increase in exit velocities as the season went on in hot/humid climates.

I don't think Banda keeps his pen spot past the trade deadline, he and Beasley are the obvious choices to be dropped from the roster if/when reinforcements are brought aboard. Castillo has remaining options but he's been a pleasant surprise up to this point.

I'm cautiously optimistic for his next start after the reports during last night's game about Kikuchi refining his delivery and mechanics. His comments about throwing from a different arm slot every start this season were very interesting, hopefully he's managed to find a little more consistency. I still semi expect him to walk the ballpark in the first inning though so who the f*** knows how things will turn out.

Shoulder discomfort was the initial report. It was reported shortly afterwards that he suffered a strained lat. All things considered that's preferable to shoulder issues.

Manoah is easily on track for a similar innings jump if the team goes on a post season run. He doesn't have a checkered health history like Strasburg but the team should try to be cautious with his overall inning count as the season goes on.

Was the body language a result of frustration over lack of command due to mechanical issues? This is the sort of thing that's hard to prove one way or the other without really diving into his mechanics. At any rate hopefully he does well, his one tune-up start in AAA was decent. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to just skip over the 5th starter spot and give Kikuchi another tune-up start in the minors. Perhaps the team wanted to limit the innings a bit for the likes of Stripling and Manoah in particular to keep them fresh for the stretch run.

Was his complete lack of fastball command a "trust" related issue? Was it primarily mechanical or mental in nature? At any rate this is a very big start for him to work towards proving he deserves a rotation spot in the second half.

Yay time to strap in for another trip on Kooches wild ride. Hopefully the bullpen is in good shape going into this game as there will most likely be a lot of innings to cover.

A lot of the lustre has been coming off of the Yankees lately as the inevitable injuries and rotation correction to the mean has been occurring. I fully expect them to make notable additions at the trade deadline to reinforce their pen in particular.

That's surprising that the Tigers would entertain moving Skubal, he would seem to be more of a long term rotation building block that you would want to build around. Plus they made several expensive win now type moves in the offseason so this doesn't seem to fit the direction they appeared to be moving in.

Espinal could likely contend for a gold glove at any of the infield positions, he's just that good with the glove. It remains to be seen whether he can continue to provide enough with the bat to continue being a full time regular. He has interesting splits this season, where he's mashed LHP to the tune of a 159 WRC+, but struggled against RHP with a 77 WRC+. When you break down his RHP splits a little further an interesting picture emerges, where he's perfectly passable at home with a 97 WRC+, but he's been terrible on the road at 60 WRC+. This is pretty odd as his splits vs LHP are basically even between home and away. Is this a bit of a random fluke? Has he faced better quality RHP opposition on the road vs at home?

Robertson would likely be a fine pickup. It looks like his stuff still really plays at this point of his career, the only real cause for concern in the high walk rate.

I'm not sure why you keep beating this dead horse. The endless proclamations about how Bo is being "babied" or "coddled" aren't painting you in a very favorable light. Bo has been handed the shortstop reins for this season, and has been accordingly spending all of his defensive developmental time working to improve his play at the short stop position. Do you honestly think it would be beneficial for him or the team to start spending crucial early career defensive developmental time learning how to play second base instead in the middle of the season? Outside of a stretch of a few weeks of play where Bo made a lot of errors in the field has his short stop play been a cause for concern? He ended 2021 on a nice run of mostly error free play in the field, and started 2022 in a similar fashion. He had a rough stretch where he mishandled a lot of balls and made some throwing errors, but has pretty much eliminated that issue as the season has continued. There is no need to panic here or keep harping on about moving Bo off of shortstop until he proves that he can't play it. The club has largely been playing stellar infield defense with Bo manning short stop. There is no need to fix something that isn't broken.

The 2019 Nationals had an elite starting rotation so their pen didn't need to be as good/cover as many innings as most other recent World Series winners.

I would likely pencil in Syndergaard as 5th starter given how good Stripling has been in the rotation. I wonder what a package of Syndergaard and Iglesias would cost in return? Those two would check off a good chunk of the Jays pitching needs in one fell swoop.

By shutdown I basically meant someone at least in the same vein as Garcia who can pitch late game high leverage innings on a regular basis. If the club doesn't add several relievers who at least project to be slightly above average taking a chance on somebody like Trivino has serious potential to blow up in the Atkins' face. I recall the club was in negotiation with Liam Hendriks when he was a free agent, so Atkins has shopped in the premium aisle at the bullpen supermarket previously. It looks to be a real sellers market this season so bullpen help is likely to be pretty expensive this year.

This seems like a potential recipe for disaster. If Kikuchi can't improve his command to the point where he can reliably throw strikes he provides no more utility out of the pen than he does as a starter.