mphenhef

Magic only has HIV not full blown Aids.

Given his first inning splits last year, I'm not positive this would work out...although I will admit going in knowing you are only throwing 1 inning is completely different.

He got Donny Baseball out of his head. Glad he is gone.

Something Buster Olney recently mentioned that I hadn't heard or read anywhere else is that Vlad started focusing more on the opposing pitchers in the playoffs and less on his own mechanics. If that is a meaningful change (hard to say if it would be) it could unlock a better season overall for him too. I have long said Kirk is a better batter when he gets more time. Hopefully they continue to trust him at the work rate he had last year.

You should look into Tyler Rogers a bit more. While he isn't the flamethrowing high strikeout guy he is an elite bullpen arm who will thrive with our Ernie/Andres middle infield.

He did, but his splits versus lefties are a serious concern.

Did he pitch 2 more innings in the pen after the Smith homerun?

I thought he signed with the Red Sox but looks like the Pirates brought IKF in to practice plays at the plate. Joshua Shiffman | This is a very interesting drill. The Pittsburgh... WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM js9innings on February 18, 2026: "This is a very interesting drill. The Pittsburgh Pirates are using a bag to practice catcher drills 👀 - Follow (@js9innings) for insane baseball content⬅️ - Use...

It's a B for me. Good offseason, but where they got so much value out of playing matchups and versatility last year I am a little worried they have lost some of that with so many left handed outfielders and right handed infielders. It feels like they are missing the lefty bat who can shift into 2B against a tough right handed pitcher.

I'd love to see the opposite end of that list.

The stadium situations are 100% a thing for the commissioner to help the teams get through. Manfred noted is as at the top of his list of long term concerns when he took over. Perhaps it is good to have less teams at the bottom of the minors but it is also taking baseball out of many smaller markets in the US. It's also led to a smaller draft that could cause some great players to go undeveloped. Some late round draft picks (Piazza (62), Smoltz(22), Keith Hernandez(42), Pettitte (22)). Maybe those guys would have been found eventually, but who knows. And yes, Selig was among the worst (see steroids, Expos, Loria) but saw franchise valuations explode (which nearly anyone could have done in that heyday) and made some serious coin for owners with MLB Advanced Media/BAMTech.

I think Manfred is set on some things in this upcoming CBA that he is far too willing to lose games over, which scares me. As for his record: * Two of the biggest issues in baseball when he started were the stadium situations in Oakland and Tampa. both of those teams played in minor league stadiums last year. Oakland no longer had a team and Tampa has no resolution in sight. * He's got 9 teams with their media rights now under MLB. We'll see how this holds up. He has stated a goal to get control of all 30. Does he really think the big teams are going to give back their local TV rights for whatever Manfred wants to do with it. I can't see that happening. * He was commissioner during the Astros cheating scandal and I would argue did not handle the punishments well. Perhaps this was so wide spread there wasn't much to be done. * He completely gutted the minor leagues removing over a quarter of the affiliates. * The rule changes. I think for the most part these have been good for the game of baseball so I'll give him that. I would have liked to see shifting stay around as I'm a firm believer we would have had youth who grew up playing against shifts become better batters in order to beat it and it would have led to a better game long term. Yes, he's done good, but it hasn't been all good.

Can we get rid of Manfred too while we are at it? Maybe then we can avoid losing any games.

I was just trying to remember if the talk of betting on the return of Jesus was here or somewhere else lol.

I'm not sure what's confusing about that. The likely starting outfielders on this team are all left handed (Barger, Lukes, Varsho). Acquiring Sanchez, who has big platoon numbers, moves one of them out of the lineup, which I guess is fine for Lukes. However, It would have been a better fit to have a right handed hitting corner outfield who hits lefties better than righties in order to have better options than Schneider and Straw to replace them. I suppose this allows Barger to shift back to 3B against tough righties, but the player you want to remove in that case is likely Ernie and who do you put at 2B?

I don't mind the pickup but I can't help but feel a lefty mashing outfielder would have been a better fit. It's important to note, this also costs about 14 million dollars with taxes.

It's like someone made an agent from the typical Bluejays fan on reddit or facebook and unleashed it here. Every post is like word vomit.

Santander out 5-6 months. Having Labrum surgery. Bowden out for the season with UCL reconstruction. It sounds like neither surgery has happened yet in which case I hope someone asks why the delay?

My comment was a general comment on the state of minor league baseball. yes, there are guys who signed big bonuses who can afford it, but many are not like that.

49 days until opening day (AKA the day we can retire this thread!)

A well deserved retirement from a man who has impacted this organization in so many different ways. I wish things would have ended differently in November to send him off on even more of a high!

Can they just put Clarke and Young in the outfield and use a 5 player infield instead? Also, wouldn't this lineup look way better with Freddie at DH?

Very true, but it will impact Skenes if he makes it to his last year of arb. Other than that, I'm not sure we are likely to see a comparable anytime soon.

I feel like this might be either price enforcing for the Orioles or a report coming from his agent to try to get more. that being said, I'd be ecstatic to add a lefty of this quality to the rotation.

Suarez was offered 2 years by the Pirates at least that we know of. He chose 1 year with a known org instead.