moonslav59

We won't be winning 20 straight.

Yes, either "This is what should be expected when you play weak teams" and the ugly sister, "Wait til we play good teams."

Sounds kinda flattering, but also kind of a read between the lines kinda thing to say. Duran's quotes can't be taken at face value, IMO. Are there several quotes of players saying they were shocked? Why is the team selling? Bitching at the GM for trading a star? These things happen in many cases like this. I didn't hear much, this time.

There is not need for rewriting history to support the idea that trading Devers was or may have been the right move. Devers was a top 15 hitter in MLB, IMO- last 2-3-4-5 years, whatever you pick and almost any stat of choice. He's a career .855 batter. His .747 split v L if a very respectable for a L v L and .906 vs the bigger split is awesome. His Home v Away splits are just 45 points apart. His AUG (.759) and SEP (.798) OPS were concerning, but the guy played injured, when we needed him to play. I'm not a believer in "clutch" as a skill but consider his career OPS is .855, and... 893 RISP (.881 2 outs and RISP) .872 Men On Base .851 High Leverage (.820 Low Leverage) .880 v NYY

Any trade is a big risk. Keeping players is risky, too. We shoulda traded Dalbec after '21. Some say, we shoulda traded Duran after '24. We might have gotten something for DHam after '24. We coulda traded Houck and Crawford. I'm not against great depth. I love it! To me, it's simple: the step down from Duran or Abreu to Anthony is was less than the step up some other team gets by acquiring one. They have much higher value to another team. They have something we value more: a pitcher with more than 2-3 months of control. Maybe, I'm too high on Campbell, Jh Garcia and Masa-Ref as the new OF depth, but to me, it's a risk worth taking. I'd much prefer this to trading Arias or Garcia plus Clarke or Valera for a top rental SP'er. (That might not even be enough to get it done. We might have to trade 3 or add Early/Sandlin/Romero types)

That's not all that goes into making someone a better hitter. Power and BB% matter, too. Yes, I agree Masa is a better contact hitter. You did not qualify your statement, at first. As an offensive weapon, I'll take Duran & his speed and more power over Masas. I'll take the Abreu-Ref platoon easily over Masa FT or even a Masa-Ref platoon. They are better overall hitters and offer other offensive skills beyond just pure batting skills.

How is keeping Duran or Abreu helping 3B depth issues? I get the line-up issues, but we need pitching. That's a known. Injuries are unknown, and we still have decent OF depth and line up depth, if we lose an OF'er. We can't play 6 guys in 4 slots. It's more like 5, if you count Abreu & Ref as one, but we also have Campbell & Jh Garcia as OF depth. If it gets real bad, we can put Yoshida-Ref in LF and DH an IF'er- maybe the "hobbling" Bregman, so his bat stays fresh and healthy. We still have plus depth, even after trading an OF'er.

We have a massive gap, right now. It's known and ugly. If we do lose a key player to injury, we'd get back down to even. Plus, assume we trade Abreu and play Anthony FT in RF and platoon Yoshida & Ref at DH. Now, another OF'er gets hurt for the season: lets say Duran. Our OF would be: LF KC or Garcia/Refsnyder (Romy platoons at DH with Yoshida or Masa goes FT DH) CF Rafaela RF Anthony We still have a decent OF AND a Joe Ryan type. Now, assume no trade, and Duran gets hurt: We'd have a better OF with Abreu instead of KC or Garcia, but we'd still have Buehler as our #5 and an iffy Fitts as our #4. I'll take Joe Ryan and hope we extend him like we did with Crochet.

So does Duran, since 2023.

A bigger NOPE on Merrill Kelly, if we have to trade a top prospect for the soon to be 37 year old rental. I'm not for trusting it on 3 rehab guys, either. I'm for going bigger and bolder for someone as good or better than Kelly, but with more control years. Duran or Abreu plus maybe Arias or Romero and 1-2 prospects below #10 or 11 in our rankings. Maybe involve a thirst team, but get it done!

I think we do just that. No big prospects traded, unless it's for a Joe Ryan type non rental. I think we should trade an OF'er, but I'm not sure that's even a 50-50 bet. It's probably not likely.

Yup. It's a brutal stretch. We did hear this about the TBR series, prior to game one, too.

Probably heard comments like this when we traded similar prospects for Schwarber and Nate. People talk badly about Luis Garcia and Lucas Sims, as they should, but at the time of those trades, they were decent pitchers. Sims: 3.10 the previous season (61 IP) & 3.57 after 35 IP, before we got him for Garcia: 3.24 in '21, 3.39 in '22, then 4.07 and was at 3.71, when we got him for M Lugo (13th ranked by sp.com), Zeferjahn & Kavadas for Ovis Portes (29th ranked) Those two were picked up with a #13 and #29 and scraps. What can we get with a... #7 Tibbs & #17 Paez? #13 Bleis & #21 Uberstine? #16 Cespedes, #19 Jordan & #23 Mullins? Or add/sub in 24 Castro, 26 Wehunt or 31 Monegro If anyone wants a 40 man guy, we can offer: Wong (if we add a catcher) DHam, Sogard or Grissom Kelly or Guerrero-assuming we are getting a pitcher(s) I'm very hesitant to trade anyone not listed here for a rental. (Maybe I missed a few names plus players lower ranked than Monegro.)

Looks like they overvalue Young. 🙂

Famous last words.

Of course, I'd want every player to be significant better than average in every category of measurement. I'll take a positionally average SS, CF and sub avg Catcher, as a hitter, if they are clear plusses on D. (All ours are: Narvaez, Story & Rafaela.) If Rafaela bats average, he's a big net plus, when you factor D and baserunning. Can a team with with 9 average batters that are GG on D and decent runners? Maybe- maybe not. The pitching would tip the balance. I don't need all my 9 to be significant plusses on D and O.

2023-2025 Splits: vs R .873 Duran .842 Abreu .811 Yoshida vs L .896 Refsnyder (.932 IN '25) .663 Yoshida .640 Duran (.564 IN '25) .582 Abreu (.703 in 44 PAS IN '25.) Romy. KC, Eaton and Sogard are better v L in 2025 than everybody on this list, except Refsnyder. If we are talking DH...

He is a good hitter, and I'd be fine with a Yoshida-Refsnyder platoon at DH, and Masa is not bad vs LHPs, but better than Duran and Abreu? 2023-2025 OPS: .802 Duran (120 wRC+) .797 Abreu (117) .764 Yoshida (116) Yoshida does have a better BA and OBP, and many feel OBP>SLG, so it can be viewed as close, but I'd rather have Abreu-Ref than Yoshida-Ref. I'd rather have Duran FT DH than Yoshida, and that's before looking at baserunning. It's not a slam dunk, but looking forward, I'd go with youth about to reach prime than Masa. Now, Masa is untradable, so I see an OF'er trade as making the most sense. Involve a 3rd team, if need be. No rentals.

Depends on what time sample size you choose and what numbers/metrics, but many show him as top 12 to 20. I don't see him as top 10, but he's not far away.

Max, if Bloom promised Devers he could play 3B for X years, but Brez comes in and changes the plan, it's not a lie. There was no deliberate untrue statement made by Brez or Cora, that we know of. It has to be an intentional mistruth to be a lie.

Mullins, Paez & Cespedes for 2 months of Galen (and playoffs?) Maybe sub Bleis for one?

The 2025 MLB OPS is .715, now. (CF is .695.) You may think, well that includes subs, but out of the top 30 CF'ers in MLB by PAs (150+) the #15 guy is at .683. Out of the top 270 batters at all positions by PAs (200+) the number 135 batter is at .723.

I like the Mitch Keller idea, if we don't have to give up a top prospect. Zac Gallen might be possible.

No, not at all, but adding and ace is no guarantee, either. Also, some of these guys have been good for much longer than 4 weeks. Bello has one bad start and was under 2.90 before and after that start. Gio goes back like 6 starts. I'm all for getting a solid #2, just not a rental for a top 10 prospect.

I'd rather just hope for Sandoval, Houck, or Criswell to step in.