Flash- bd

I don't think you can ever have more pitching and as I say, the better and better the team gets the smaller the margins are for upgrading, so have to think about it pretty differently as we move into this stage, IMO. Fact is ~.800 OPS 1B don't retrieve that much on the trade market. We know postseason is something of a crapshoot but we also know that Wettland-Rivera-Nelson Rivera-Nelson-Stanton can help increase your odds a little bit at least. Re: the bolded I'm talking about next season. I'm okay with Mayo only getting his feet wet this season but I really think he should probably be our starting day 1B. Fair point, but I still think Mayo is a special bat, and I'm also setting an extremely optimistic bar for Mountcastle there. If you change the question to, will Mayo be able to outperform Mountcastle in his first full season or at least match his performance, I am pretty confident the answer is yes, and that is meaning no disrespect to Mountcastle who I've really come to like and value.

Well, I mean, Mayo seems basically ready now and I think we're talking about a pretty special hitter, there. Let's overact and say Mounty is having a breakout season based on this SSS...we're still talking about probably an .850 OPS season tops. Maybe I'm overly optimistic but I think Mayo can likely replicate that in his first full season (if we can find some ABs for him somehow this season, obviously, that'd be great) and the upside is much, much higher. Would I package Mountcastle, Norby, and Stowers for a top arm? Yes. Would I package even a few of them for just a top relief arm? Perhaps, too, depending on the arm and the package. Next season we'll be getting into that part of the project where even the smallest upgrades we'll need to be aggressive in pursuing them.

Agree with you that Mayo is special, and that if I were going to be on one of our players being an impact, middle of the order bat, it's him (though if Cowser and Westburg continue to hit anything like this we'll have a few of them! And I'm a big believer in Kjerstad's bat too). I don't think it's really that complicated, though, no? Santander will leave next season and Kjerstad takes that place. Trade Mountcastle and that's Mayo's spot. Basallo is still a ways off and things will probably work themselves out with injury or what not by then. Norby, Stowers, and Ortiz were always going to be the three that it was going to really be a struggle to find a spot for, and the Ortiz trade solved the Ortiz issue, and now I think you're in a situation where, barring injury, Stowers probably ought to be trade bait and Norby could become a really valuable 12th hitter off the bench next season.

Fair, fair.

You're talking about his Ks in recent starts (SSS) and using it to speculate about a gray future, no? Or have I misunderstood?

Isn't that exactly what you're doing?

No.

Almost Jackson Holliday levels of futility What is with this organization and it's horrible drafting?!? *sarcasm off

Ahem...Gunnar overrated...

From the reports of Means stuff, and the way Wells is pitching, I think Irvin is comfortably in our top 5 starters at the moment.

Manny Machado was worth 7.5 rWAR in his age 22 season, Gunnar 6.2. I'd say he's in okay company and on a decent trajectory. I can understand a little bit more with Rutsch but Gunnar looks to me very much on the superstar track, and I wonder if he won't age a bit better than Machado has (Machado's age 24-27 seasons were relatively average minus his 2015 contract year), or follow a more traditional trajectory.

Is Grayson's FB velocity a bit down? Or is it just the early season colder weather? Haven't seen any 99s that I can remember this season nor many 98s and he's more 95-96...

Mateo, surely, no? I have no idea why Holliday would start tomorrow other than it being his t-shirt / home debut night but I doubt that factors much into decisions...obviously he can come in when Hall comes out.

I think he was quite, quite unlucky yesterday. Between the ump and the homer coming after it, and the other runs coming on pretty soft contact / finding holes...for me he was much better than the stat line suggests.

We haven't done too bad with Bradish and Grayson, it would seem.