moonslav59

So, true.

I mentioned that, too. If he goes unprotected and unselected, maybe it will look more like a reason.

Yes, I took your list as you intended. We've talked about this, before. Quick question, do you see Sandlin as a 100% lock to be protected?

TOR & NYY lost. We coulda, shoulda....

I thought my OCD was bad! LOL!

Woo is looking to go above .500, tonight. Drohan has gone 4 IP, 2H, 0ER, 0BB, 2 K. His ERA is 2.13 after 4 IP. Romero has 2 hits, including a homer. Campbell has 2 hits (.823.) Toro has 2 (.850.) Hot Hickey has been walked twice. Speaking of Mullins, he's pitching for POR tonight and struggling: 5 BB in 4 IP, 4H, 3ER and 4 Ks. Dean is doing well, so far. Erhard and Liendo have 2 hits and Miller homered.

There is still more to come, as Brez's draft picks, prospects traded for and IFA will start coming up, and hopefully be pluses. We've all heard about the bad trades and signings, over and over. There have been a few, but way less than Bloom- not that he set the bar high. The 26 is way better. The 40 is way better. The farm took a hit with the graduations of several prospects, but I still think it is strong. If you had to go back beyond the last couple years, when was the farm as strong as right now: Tolle, Arias, Perales, Witherspoon, Jh Garcia, Valera, Early, Soto, Gonzales, Phillips, Eyanson, Fajardo, Taylor, Romero, Godbout and a bunch more? Of course, when you look in hindsight at DD's early farm (mostly Ben's) that was highly regarded, it doesn't look so good, now.

I know this happens to every team to some extent, and maybe I just notice it more when it happens to us. I player misses a chance to break the game open with an RBI hit, and makes and out, but the next time up, with nobody on they got the hit. 1st inning: Duran DBLs and Bregman, Lowe and Story make outs. 3rd Inning: Sogard on 2B w 2 outs, Duran Ks. 4th inning: nobody on Bregman DBLs. (Story does drive him in with a DBL.) 4th innings: 2 on and Duran grounds out. Bregman grounds into FC (Wong out at plate) 9th inning: Ref on 2B with 1 out: Duran and Lowe make outs sandwiched around an IBB to Breggie. This time it was Duran multiple times and a couple others once, but it seems like this is our MO way too often.

Tough loss. Not a bad road trip. Gotta go home and get some wins!

I thought Sandlin was a lock to be protected, and he may still be, but even he is a bit borderline. None of the others look like "must keeps." I like Mullins and Paez, but have lost too much faith in Bleis. Uberstine is borderline. Bye-bye to Castro or Hoppe, if someone want one. I think we add one- maybe two.

POR's season ends Sunday. I still don't get why Mullins never got the call to WOO.

Agreed, and the AAV was almost half of Buehler's and maybe enough to keep us under the tax line.

...and Burdi with his 0.00 ERA over 5.1 IP! If you are counting 2024 additions like Slaten and Gio, then count Weissert, Fitts, Criswell, too. (O'Neal was nice but is gone, now.)

Bregman is at 100, now, but I agree. No way I pencil in Mayer as our FT 3B for even 2026, let alone 5 years. We'd need a viable plan B for 3B, and we still need a 2Bman- like for forever!

Taking back a big(ger) salary is one way to unload Yoshida. Adding a decent prospect or two to the deal might be another. Paying $12-14M a year is another. I do think an important step towards building a winning 26 and 40 man roster is that when you feel you are close to getting "there," you need to identify the highest areas of improvement needed and where you have depth that is as good or nearly as good as the starter and use those two aspects as driving forces to create a trade. Almost every MLB roster, at some point in the season, carries players like Toro, Eaton and Sanchez, but also guys like Grissom and Yoshida, who offer just enough hope and value to think they should get another chance. When you look back at 2020, the 5 guys I just listed are probably better than 10-15 on that roster, but that doesn't make it okay. 1 -2, okay- maybe 3, but 5 or more is limiting your manager's choices. With 10 guys on the 60, we were able to expand the choices, and many have worked out well. I'd really like to see us go into 2026 with no Yoshida, Grissom, or guys like Toro, Eaton and Sanchez. Maybe one guy like Sogard is okay. Guys like DHam are borderline, but he plays good 2B D (a weak area) and can PR, too. Okay, so Sogard and DHam are our 39th and 40th roster slots. The rest need to have better value that them. We've backed ourselves into a roster crunch by needing to add Tolle and early to the 40 before Rule 5. Chances are, they'd have been added in 2026, anyway, but adding them now creates a winter 40 man crunch, since there is no 60 Day IL to stash players and make the 40 man into a 50 man roster. We don't have big Rule 5 crunch, this year (maybe Sandlin, Mullins and ___?) That will help. I'm also thinking our roster is at the point where we need to narrow the focus on additions that are higher quality and not be thinking quantity by trying to half-fill our 5-6 biggest need areas. We don't have 5-6 open slots. Better to choose 2-3 major areas of concern and add just 2-3 top quality players. No more Buehlers, Wilsons and Hicks types. I'm thinking maybe even Lowe needs to be nontendered and upgraded. Fred is right about there being too much "mediocrity," but just don't tell him I said that. (Also, I disagree that guys like Rafaela or sub mediocre or at the mediocrity level.) If we can pull off a 3 for 1 trade for someone like Ryan or Keller, then maybe we can go from 2-3 to 3-5 major additions, but then we start butting aginst JH's wallet.

Yoshida is always my elephant. Duran could DH and be the 4th OF'er. Ref, KC or Jh Garcia could be kept around as a RHB option, but not all 3.

I thought so, too.

Many wondered if Dave Roberts was enough. Did the scorecard change afterwards? Was Nate viewed as a coup, at the time? So, May + Matz+ Lowe has not been better than we expected from these 3? Nothing has changed?

Part of the issue with trying to make trades at the deadline, is everyone wants a guy(s) better than the one Brez offered. We have a lot of talent on the farm, and maybe GMs thought the deserved better, because we have better, where other teams do not. Or, other teams have 1-2 guys better, but all they have are 1-2, so they cling to their pair. Until I see firm offers made, I'm withholding judgement, and we may never know for sure offers out their. Tolle plus others for Ryan scares me. I was one throwing Early's name around with Duran or Abreu, and maybe that would have been a bad idea trading him. Brez got us Lowe and Matz at or after the deadline. He missed on May, but that ended up forcing Tolle and Early to get a look-see. Maybe they do better than Ryan or keller have and will do since the deadline. Maybe not. This site is famous for hindsight judgements, which is normal, but why is the focus only on May for some? Matz and Lowe have more than made up for May's 3 bad starts in 5 outings. Newcomb had 3 of 5 bad starts. Even Dobbins had 5 of 11 starts that were bad. That's not much better than 3 out of 5. Houck had 6 of 9 bad starts. We are 2-8 in Fitts starts. Joe Ryan has a 5.05 ERA since the deadline and has 3 bad starts in 7.

I was talking about why we did not choose to promote Mulline to AAA, after the AA season ended. Murphy was going to be demoted for Harrison's promotion, and yes, that's 14 pitchers and the limit. I haven't seen it announced, yet, and apparently Tolle starts, today- not Harrison.

I've been a big Pivetta supporter and have claimed he's been better than many claim he is (was,) but even I was not banging the drum to bring him back. I was not high on Buehler, but he did get just 1 year, so I was not upset or complaining we chose him over Nick.

Maybe Tolle goes 3-4 IP and Harrison follows with 3-4 IP. Day off, then a 6 man rotation, except we have another day off on Monday and then the next Monday. The only time we have 6 straight games is from Sept 16-21 and then 23-29. If we called up Harrison, then, it would work better. Here is the day off schedule: today off 3 games off 6 games off 6 games end of regular season

That's how I feel, but I am not so sure Rafaela deserves a slot all that much more than Abreu and Duran. Abreu should be given a chance to play FT. He improved more vs LHPs, this year and has the same two year OPS vs LHPs as Duran. He's a way better defender than Duran and his abilities in RF make him pretty close to Rafaela's defensive value in CF. Duran might be a platoon batter, if his speed wasn't such an extra asset. He's a good defender but not like Rafaela and Abreu. My guess is Jh Garcia is better on D than he is and can play RF better. (Maybe not CF.) As much as we've talked about the need to trade a LHB OF'er, I'm wondering if trading Rafaela, Jh Garcia or Campbell might be a better choice. The return value changes things, too. IMO, Anthony is the only "Keeper," although I'll trade anyone for a better return. I'm a big fan of defense and Rafaela, but I like Abreu's D and everything Duran brings to the table, too. We could keep the 4 of them, if the DH slot was open, but it isn't, as of now. We don't get Ryan for KC + JH Garcia + 2 from Clarke, Paez, Sandlin & Mullins.

He has to be better with the bat to beat our Jh Garcia for a corner OF slot. I'm not sure he can be "that much" better, but he does seem to have the potential to be so. Both are RHBs, as is Rafaela, so I'm not sure we keep all 3 as FT or near FT OF'ers, since we have 3 more proven LHB OF'ers in Anthony, Duran and Abreu. I seriously doubt we start next year with these 6 still on the 40.

What happened to the 6 man rotation with Harrison, today and Tolle on Friday? I know the day off would give a 5 man rotation and extra day off, but why the change?