24fps

What was that glued to Melanie's forehead?

Has Suarez thrown a pitch below the belt yet?

Good eye Mateo.

Somehow they're worse than Red Sox bandwagoners? I don't think such a thing is possible.

The Gambler's Fallacy says it's probably not a good idea to bet the house.

The Astros are $24 million over the competitive balance tax threshold, so it might the Pressley that they would want to unload if they decide to fold on 2024. I agree that Abreu is an interesting reliever, but as you say, not worth Kjerstad.

I sincerely hope you're right, but honestly I'm skeptical.

How is being sent down at this point going to be viewed as anything but utter failure and how is that going to help his confidence? With all the fanfare that came with his call up, the genie is out of the bottle, so enough with the psychology. If Holliday gets sent down, it should be to improve on identified problems and it should be with his complete buy-in. There should be enough observational data pretty soon to start isolating areas a little more precisely than "oh, he just looks lost..." But you know what worries me the most? I'm worried that Holliday is getting conflicting opinions from his dad and the coaching staff right now. That's a whole different level of complicated.

I don't want to see him back in AAA - at least not yet. I'm intrigued by the notion that ML pitchers are taking advantage of a swing that needs to be simplified. It that's the case than a trip back to AAA is probably what's needed. That would go for anything fundamental like that. Otherwise let him take a few more lumps at the ML level and hope the coaches can tweak a couple things to get him back on track.

Hall's not looking too great at the moment. 4 starts, 16 IP, 7.71 ERA. 2.265 WHIP, -0.4 WAR. As always, command is the issue. Will that change if he returns to the bullpen? Who knows, but trading him was hardly a mistake as it stands now.

The OP stipulates an elite reliever which to my thinking is an established reliever. Clase was suggested and that is an appropriate suggestion IMO in terms of the top tier. Kjerstad is still a prospect, so the acquiring team would be taking on risk that the potential actually translates to the ML level. Sadly Holliday's current struggles show us that's a genuine concern.

Consider it? Clase is probably the best reliever in baseball an not a free agent until 2027 - unless two $10 million options are picked up, then it's 2029. Elias would - and should - make that deal the very second he stopped drooling.

If the reliever was clearly THE missing piece, then yeah. I think it will be at least July 1 before we can know that.

I'm hoping that KB soon realizes what a resource Ben McDonald is. Not that Kevin doesn't have a clue, but Ben really brings something to the party that helps everybody IMO.

It wouldn't be good to send Holliday out tonight, but Hyde has to get Hays and Urias going somehow. Why not give it a try tonight?