Nick

He's making $5.35M this year. If we happen to DFA Kluber, I'm not sure if we can afford to move away from Pivetta just yet. I was hoping we'd get a solid reliever for Pivetta in July.

I read somewhere Cora has stated Story will be the ss.

Keeping track of series wins and losses is the most meaningless exercise. On our road trip, we won two and lost 1 series. Yet we had a losing record.

You are right......but in my defense, when the board talks about all the catching defensive metrics, it's way over my head. So although I didn't compliment McGuire, I didn't tear him down either. Sometimes it's good to be dumb or stupid. I'm more with Red, I have to watch to see how good they are...my eye test told me Duran and Casas sucked today.

I'm messing with you all....disappointing day.

I would say maybe if our window of winning opens up next year and coincides with this acquisition. So we will have 3 years of this Marlins pitcher?

I didn't like pitch selection in 1st inning. Nothing but hard stuff. All the Rays pitchers learn to throw a changeup. Whitlock was successul in part due to speed differentials last night. So i will blow up two over blown thoughts. 1 Houk gets worse second and third time around. How did that work today? 2 Wong is sooooo much better defesively. Who caught Whitlock last night? Now I do like Wong better because of his athleticism.

Good deals should work for both sides. Maybe this does. We do need to replace Paxton at minimum.

I am all for upgrading our roster at every turn. Although the wheels turn slowly at times, it's encouraging that we have moved from Brasier and Ort along with going away fron Kluber and Pivetta as starters. At least Bloom is trying and not just sit on his ass.

Not only are getting back Duvall and Story, we should have money to pick up some rentals in July without giving away top prospects. Our 6 through 8 in the bullpen may need an upgrade.

So I got to see Whitlock pitch (on TV) last night and today it's Houck. Tuesday it's back to Bello. We are unlikely to win the world series this year. But I'm going to enjoy our youngters play. My expectation isn't as high as some of yours.

Best thing about Whitlock outing last night was he can improve on it. He must have gone full count at least six times. I thought he got some bad calls based on the square I see watching TV. Also encouraging to see many swings and misses. Glad he is back and he obviously came back with a better change up.

Looks to me like our new starting 5 can't do much worse.

Baseball indeed is a business. One unusual aspect is you can't be 100% sure of the personnel you are acquiring. We have been obsessed with Jose Abreu from the time we supposedly barely missed out on the slugger who went to the White Sox. On the heels of that we bid and got a player the following year for big money. He was so bad that we had to hide his enormous contract in the minors. He did not make our 40 man roster. We did not wanted to be further penalized by the luxury tax. It's very disconcerting to think we were set to sign Abreu for almost $60M over 3 years. Fortunately for Bloom Abreu at the last minute picked Houston instead of the Sox. He's having a horrendous year. Bloom lucked out.

Good news is that all five have the "stuff" to be successful. Who knows how it will all turn out. But we have a succession plan in place with our younger pitchers. Is it too far fetched to think Kutter will take Paxton"s spot next year?

We have proven it's easier to build a bullpen. When you have young talent that may have the ability to start then you go with it. I will freakin' guarantee you that management did not extend Whitlock to be a middle reliever. So you guys rather watch Kluber and Pivetta pitch today and tomorrow? I can hear the TV sets going off. Get real.

My top 10 players who have not met their ceiling. 1 Devers 2 Bello 3 Casas 4 Houck 5 Whitlock 6 Duran 7 Wong 8 Valdez 9 Verdugo 10 Yoshida

We have veterans in Devers, Yoshida, Turner, Duvall (I know he's hurt), Story, Verdugo, Kike and Story (also hurt). It's a veteran group. We have a young catcher who appears to be ready defensively in the majors. Anything he gives us offensively is a big plus. His back up possess some offense. We have enough offense to carry Casas. Or should I say we should what with all the veterans we have on our roster. What would be an alternative? Send him back down to AAA? To do what? Isn't it better at this stage for Casas to be surrounded by plethora of baseball people to work on his hitting, mechanically and approach wise? We have the ability to shield him somewhat by playing Turner against lefties and move Yoshida as DH. We have Refsnyder and Tapia to fill in when needed. Plus Duvall is set to come back. Maybe he spends his first week just as a DH. Further down the road, Story will come back. This will allow Kike to play some outfield. Again, we can protect Casas if need be...... He's our future. We base our decisions here on board by the last series or last twenty at bats. I'm perfectly happy to have Casas on our roster of 26. We have control of his baseball life for five plus years. He has more upside than anyone other than Devers, positionally.

I'm not sure if the Padres can afford Soto with other contracts. He's the type I would throw money at. Turner will be gone after 2024 when Soto becomes FA. Yoshida appears destined for DH role. Position players are not as high risk.

He's s keeper. I'm sure he will have his ups and downs but I got to think his ceiling is high. He will always be a better hitter than Duran. And I like Duran

I like having the option of Ref and Tapia in the outfield. Tapia gives us athleticism that we lack. Speed kills.

That's the Casas we've been waiting for...looks like a rock star.

I bet our highest trade chip is Bello right now. 5 more years of team control?

I think we are committed to Bello Whit and Houck. We are not giving up high level prospects to get someone who has higher ceiling than the three. It would cost too much.

Any interest in picking up E Rod if he opts out with the Tigers? He's having a good year and I bet he opts out to recoup some of the money he lost last year.