Considering the offensive numbers in A-, A and AA, Baseball America has posited that those leagues are using juiced baseballs. It wouldn't be the first time this has happened. The pitching numbers at the low levels have been disgusting this year.
Gray and Suarez didn't replace Harrison, Drohan or Dobbins. They came in to be #2 and #3 starters, so replacing Giolito and Bello. Other rotation arms that left at the end of the season: Richard Fitts, Dustin May, Walker Buehler and Cooper Criswell.
It's always a rollercoaster for guys coming off TJS. The first year is typically the worst. IMO, his last good season was '22. Unfortunately, his current pitching isn't that far off from how he performed in '24. He's not a guy I'd look into bring back next season unless he's even cheaper than he is now.
You can repackage an argument into a turd if you want. I don't care.
They traded away their depth. Their depth last season was atrocious and the reason they got knocked from the playoffs. They fixed their rotation for 2026, BUT traded away much of their depth options. Both parts can be true.
Ziehl doesn't exactly have a lot of MiLB experience and currently has a 801 OPS at WOO. Not sure it would have been much better. This is just what happens when you trade all of your pitching depth over 12 months.
They had some good 2b performances from '19-'25 (Kiké, Story, Romy, Holt) mixed in with some really rancid ones (Hamilton, Marco Hernadez, Peraza, Marwin Gonzalez, Vaughn Grissom, Eduardo Nunez).
He had a lot of time in AA and barely any time in AAA. His stuff is command heavy with hard contact. The chance that he becomes a dominant starter is very slim. At best, he's a back of the rotation guy, but he was definitely not ready. The most likely outcome is that he's never a viable big league starter TBH. He can dominate lesser MiLB guys, but he won't fool MLB guys as his stuff isn't good enough.
A mid rotation starter would have cost less than the Adley trade. Adley has been injured an unproductive for a few years now. They overpaid for a name brand, in division player. He's going to really have to turn it around for it to be worth while.
The team is limited in the amount of pitchers it can carry, but not position players. Not sure how many pitchers it had for that 2 game stretch and don't feel like checking TBH.
Only 3 starts above AA. He's a control pitcher who gets hit hard. The jump to MLB is going to be a lot for him. It may not go well. I'm lower on him than I was the other starting prospects that have appeared recently. His velo has ticked up this year, which is huge for him.
The ump got lucky with his call. I think the angle from the YES (?) feed shows that it hit the ground. I don't think one call should have ruined the whole start. Suarez needed to be able to move on from it rather than throwing another 30ish pitches.