Ray

Travis' batting stance looked a little different. He's resting his bat on his shoulders now.

With Aaron Hicks signing the extension, the already weak OF market for next season is looking none too encouraging. We have a plethora of good INF in our system for the foreseeable future, but I'm worried about our OF options for 2020 and on. Pillar is obviously not a piece going forward, but beyond that, none of McKinney, Hernandez, Pompey, Dwight Smith Jr., Jonathan Davis seem like they can be everyday OF. Alford is the only guy with every day player potential, and he still has a pretty high variance of outcomes. I'm hoping we can sign Grichuk to a reasonable extension so we have at least one guy we can count on. The farm system seems pretty barren too. The next best guy is...Chavez Young? He's still a whiles away.

Fangraphs: Dreaded R/R first baseman without physical projection or plus-plus raw power, but he had a cartoonish sophomore year (.400/.530/.820) and no one doubts he'll hit.

Pitching prospects suck

Spring training injury news: - Kershaw shut down indefinitely. Something is off with his arm. - Mike Soroka shut down due to shoulder troubles. - TJ Zeuch not going to pitch at all this Spring Training due to a lat strain

I'm glancing over the Twins depth chart right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if they win the division over the Indians this season. Their lineup besides Lindor, Ramirez, and Santana is not that good, and Lindor will likely start the beginning of the season on the DL.

Isn't Iglesias kind of a clubhouse cancer? It may be that they're counting on Galvis to help out future infield grow defensively. He also seems to be willing to sacrifice his play time in order to let the kids play. Iglesias probably wants to play everyday at short.

I know his profile sucks, but Andrew Vaughn may very well end up being the safest pick in this draft. He's trending towards having a better season than Kris Bryant did in his Jr. season, in a far better college division as well. Also hit well in the Cape Cod league.

Also, Marwin Gonzalez to the Twins. 2yrs $21M

Jeff Sullivan is leaving Fangraphs for an analyst position for the Rays. I really enjoyed him on Effectively Wild. He filled in well for Sam Miller. Rumours are Grant Brisbee will be replacing him as cohost.

For those interested, Mariners/A's are playing today.

Have you talked to his mom, though?

Just for fun, I went back and looked at the top 10 LHP/RHP pitching prospects at the end of 2015. RHP: 1. Lucas Giolito (near bust) 2. Tyler Glasnow (opener/long man?) 3. Alex Reyes (electric stuff if healthy) 4. Jose Berrios (pretty good, has potential to be even better) 5. Jose De Leon (hasn't pitched since 2017 due to TJ) 6. Jon Gray (a trade away from being good) 7. Robert Stephenson (can't throw strikes) 8. Archie Bradley (saved by the bullpen) 9. Carson Fulmer (terrible control) 10. Mark Appel (out of baseball) LHP: 1. Julio Urias (injured, but could very well still pan out) 2. Steven Matz (good, but durability concerns) 3. Sean Newcomb (pretty erratic control) 4. Brian Johnson (already 27 and has been a spot starter/long reliever) 5. Blake Snell (ace) 6. Tyler Jay (shifted to bullpen, left unprotected in the Rule 5 and still goes unclaimed) 7. Amir Garrett (chances are he's a bullpen arm) 8. Robert Kaminsky (who?) 9. Kolby Allard (jurys out) 10. Sean Manaea (solid mid rotation guy with #2 upside on a good year, but just got TJ) So out of those 20, you can argue only 5 have panned out (Manaea, Snell, Matz, Gray, and Berrios). That's a 25% hit rate on even the best arms, and only one that became an ace. Ouch You compare that with the Top 10 SS prospects here: http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2015?list=ss You could say at least 5 of those guys have panned out (depending on where you land on Dansby).

If they really wanted clubhouse leadership, we could've traded them Kendrys Morales.

What the f*** is going on?

Absolutely head scratcher of a signing. Hated that deal the moment it was announced. This one is a lot more palatable.

Now would be the perfect time to trade Stroman to the Padres and get Preller to overpay.

3B Machado SS Fernando Tatis Jr 2B Luis Urias C Francisco Mejia 1B Hosmer I know Hosmer is overrated and Mejia might not stick at catcher, but that infield is really nice.

Machado gets $300M 10 years according to Rosenthal. That’s a hell of a lot better than I thought he would get at this point. And Harper should get more now too.

A team with a top farm system looking to compete within the next 1-2 seasons supplements their young core with a superstar. Sounds like something we should be doing. We have even less money committed than them going forward. Massive respect to the Padres for going for it. They’re going to be really good soon.

Vandy vs. UVA live stream if anyones interested: https://www.mlb.com/video/vanderbilt-vs-virginia/c-2522331183?tid=7417714

They have games scheduled today according to this schedule: https://www.ncaa.com/scoreboard/baseball/d1/2019/02/15/southeastern

Opening day for College baseball. Looking forward to seeing how Josh Jung does this season.

If we want a $20M OF, I'd rather we use those funds towards signing Harper than getting Ellsbury for prospects who we hope end up providing the value that Harper does.

Would anyone be able to post this? https://theathletic.com/817340/2019/02/14/rosenthal-old-friends-and-new-managers-rocco-baldelli-and-charlie-montoyo-know-how-to-have-fun/