Ray

It's kind of interesting how even the best run teams end up making some poor choices in the heat of the moment when they have a chance to compete: Dodgers traded Yordan Alvarez to the Astros for Josh Fields Astros traded Teoscar Hernandez to us for Francisco Liriano There's probably many more examples of this, but some teams really are willing to overpay a bit to try and make a run. I think that was the rationale here, but obviously it backfired tremendously with Hand being a negative-value guy.

In hindsight, this might actually be the worst trade Shatkins has made during their tenure thus far. I thought Adams was a little steep at the time for a rental reliever making a decent amount of money with poor peripherals, but it's just aged poorly with Adams have a short sample hot streak, and Brad Hand legitimately costing us games. It is what it is. They've still made much more good trades than bad though. Gotta look at the overall body of work in the grand scheme of things instead of focusing on one particular transaction.

No you can’t confirm that. All I said was that he’s had a better ERA this month so far, which is factually correct: Matz: 5GS, 1.30 ERA Ray: 6GS, 1.76 ERA

He’s been fantastic in August. A better ERA than Robbie Ray this month. I wouldn’t mind throwing the Tanner Roark deal at him, but the goal should obviously be that we try to extend Ray first and foremost. We could comfortably fill in Stripling for Matz in the 5th spot next season.

Definitely a contract that has aged poorly. At the time, I saw the case for it, but Randal has trended the opposite direction. Not like it’s an albatross or anything. 2 more years left at $9M per. Could probably move him if we eat some of it, but our CF depth beyond Springer would be severely compromised. At least Grichuk has filled in adequately for Springer on defense.

Looks like Marco Luciano A 40% K-rate is pretty horrid.

I agree it's been a disappointing because we've let so many winnable games slip by, but at the beginning of the season, had you mentioned that we would win 88-90 games, that certainly was the high end of most peoples predictions and a pretty large step in the right direction for a team that lost nearly 100 games just 2 seasons ago. Kind of reminds me of the 2018 Rays. They ended up winning 90 games and just couldn't crack the postseason because the AL was stupidly good.

I’ve been saying for a while that AJ Preller might be the most overrated executive in the league. The Padres are such an oddly constructed team, and he often makes moves that seem poorly thought out and reactionary. The Tatis trade might be one of the best of all time. It’s looking like he stole Cronenworth from the Rays. You could’ve said that the Grisham for Urias trade was a clear win for the Padres, but Urias is having himself a pretty nice season so it may end up being more even than was thought. Other than that, his other moves have been puzzling. He seems like a great evaluator of amateur talent, but I don’t know if I want that guy running my team as a GM. Weird move after weird move have compounded into the Padres becoming a sort of mess.

What the hells up with Christian Yelich?

Tommy John for Cavan?

Anybody have any extra info on Yaifer Perfomo? Looks like he's having a dominant season starting in the FCL as a 19 year old (almost 2 years younger than average): 33.0IP, 16.1 K/9, 2.45 ERA (2.52 FIP, 2.99 xFIP).

And Lindor might be another “meh” hitting season away from having the worst contract in baseball. Defense and speed are the first thing to go when you age, so if he’s going to be a roughly league average bat making that much money in his early to late 30’s, good luck.

Something I find mildly amusing: Amed Rosario: 103 OPS+ on the season Francisco Lindor: 93 OPS+ on the season Doesn’t tell the whole story obviously. Lindor has been significantly better defensively and was heating up before he got injured, but I just find it funny that the Mets traded for Lindor and gave him a massive extension, when his surplus value compared to the guy he was traded for has been negligible at best.

Marlins just called up Edward Cabrera, who’s going to be really good. Their starting pitching depth is ridiculous: 1. Sandy Alcantara 2. Trevor Rogers 3. Jesus Luzardo 4. Pablo Lopez 5. Edward Cabrera And then they have Sixto Sanchez (if/when he returns), Eliaser Hernandez, Max Meyer, Zach Thompson, and Jake Eder either in the minors or currently injured. Embarrassment of riches.

That entire bottom of the 9th inning against the Tigers was just really horrifically bad managing.

Two Jays in Longenhagens daily prospect update: Sem Robberse: The most fun prospects are the ones heading in the right direction, with plenty to do between here and the big leagues. That describes Robberse, who was signed out of the Netherlands during the 2018 international signing period. At the time, it was a bet on athleticism: Robberse is a very agile and fluid athlete but his fastball peaked in the mid-80s as an amateur. Fast forward a few years, and the Dutchman is now hitting the mid-90s and sitting 91-94 mph. As you’d expect based on the athleticism, he has a clean delivery, and he’s also shown impressive pitchability for a 19-year-old. For those who really like to dive deep, Robberse has made starts in Low-A Southeast, which has Trackman data from some of his outings. You can grind through that here, but the TLDR is that he has above average spin for his velo band and misses bats with both breaking pitches. It’s also worth mentioning that his pedestrian-looking walk rate was actually one of the top marks in his league, where the robots are handing out free passes by the dozen. Robberse’s outing on Wednesday was a tale of two parts, which is not uncommon for pitchers his age. In the first three innings, he was the best version of himself: he got ahead consistently, moved his fastball to both sides of the plate, back-doored his two-plane slider, elevated for whiffs, and lured hitters out of the zone with his curve. The wheels came off in the fourth, though, as three frustrating errors and a series of hits seemed to put the teenager off of his game. By the end of his outing, he’d lost velocity, he was consistently missing armside with the fastball, and he had to be removed before the end of the frame. Ultimately, there’s plenty to like here. He’s progressed through the Jays system at a blistering pace and, in bursts, he flashes a lot of starter traits. We’ll see if more consistency, and perhaps a bit more arm strength, comes with age. Hayden Juenger: Toronto’s sixth-round pick, Juenger is a three-pitch reliever. He works with a low-three quarters arm slot and it seemed like righties in particular were having trouble picking up the ball. In my look earlier this week, he consistently hit 94 mph throughout his two innings of work, and was particularly effective attacking the gloveside corner against righties. Not surprisingly given the slot, his slider is a predominantly horizontal sweeper, and the pitch is murder when he starts it on the plate and runs it away from right-handed hitters with a little late tilt. While he throws strikes, he’s prone to missing badly, and will need to button up that issue as he climbs Toronto’s ladder.

Trent Palmer just threw a 7 inning no hitter for the Dunedin Blue Jays. 7IP, 0R/ER, 3BB, 10K, 92 pitches That’s great to see. I really liked that pick coming out of the draft last year. Took a while for him to get adjusted, but he’s been throwing well since then. Filthy stuff, but still needs to work on getting those walks down. Sinker: 93-95 mph, which he was maintaining deep into the game Slider: 81-84 Curveball: 73-75 Change: 78-80 Looks like he primarily threw sinker/slider though.

Alek Manoah is an animal.

Ended his outing with 4ER in 5 innings, but also 11K and only 1BB. What a weird season he’s having.

I thought this too, but the split between the two has been pretty even since Kirk returned (July 23rd) Kirk: 8 games started McGuire 10 games started Kirk should be playing more, but maybe they're just trying to manage his hip injury? With Jansen & Moreno out, and Riley Adams traded, we don't really have a decent catcher to fill in if Kirk gets hurt again.

Bichette minor leagues slashline: .321/.380/.515, 8.3% BB%, 17.3% K% Moreno minor leagues slashine: .313/.367/.501, 7% BB%, 10.6% K% So he’s basically Bo with with more defensive tools at his position and maybe a better ability to make contact? Damn.

More Moreno hype from Baseball America Q: What kind of upside are we looking at with Gabriel Moreno? J.J. Cooper: Massive. When we were doing our midseason calls, we did talk to evaluators who would argue ranking him ahead of Adley Rutschman. We're not going there, but that is something we heard on multiple occasions.

A guy like Grichuk as a 4th OF is the type of depth a great team should have. Sure, it's not great that he's making $10M/season, but it's clear they thought he had more in the tank when they signed him to that extension coming into his age 27 season. Sometimes these gambles pay off (like Justin Smoak), and other times they don't like Grichuk. You could still probably move him to a position player starved team like the Marlins after eating half his salary.

JB Wendelken DFA'd by the A's in a kind of surprising move. He was fantastic last season and throws heat with a hammer curve. He's suffered a slight velo decrease this season, but I'd be all over trying to acquire him. Doubt he makes it through waivers though. He'd represent an upgrade for most bullpens. Numbers aren't even that bad this year.

Jose Berrios hasn't been a #1 so far, but I think this front office truly believes he can & will be. While position players are usually in their primes by age 27, there are a ton of examples of starting pitchers that didn't truly hit their stride until their late 20's like Scherzer, DeGrom, Lynn, Verlander, Cole, Bauer, etc. Guys like Kershaw, Bieber, Kluber, etc. that are great almost right away are more the exception, not the rule. Berrios has the pure stuff, the ability to go deep into games, and the durability to be like those guys imo. Ross Atkins made an interesting comment not too long ago. When he was asked "What the most important quality do you look for in a starting pitcher?", he mentioned "durability". Because it's not just about having the stuff or velo, but staying healthy enough so that you can mature into a potential ace with more reps and experience.