I'm gonna miss Thorne, Tom Davis, and Dempsey.  Enjoyed their delivery and enthusiasm as much as anything.  It's sad when the voices you get very used to are no longer there.  Tom Davis cackling at every quip Dempsey threw always cracked me up. Would have rather done some creative accounting to defund and disembark Chris Davis instead of excising these more valuable pieces to the club.

1) Yes ....but that doesn’t mean you know how they decided on Kjerstad internally. We know they wanted to overslot players later. The exact details can be speculated about but no one outside the organization can claim them as fact. 2) Yes ,...but again, The exact formula for why they like him over Martin or the Lacy in not known. We do know he accepted considerably less money than Martin wanted. And based on their signing bonuses with the teams that selected him it’s fair to assume who wanted fair slot value and who might have been willing to cut a deal. I think it’s fair to say that guys that signed for slot probably wanted slot at #2 as well. In my opinion, if you want a guy to sign for considerably less than slot you have to reach.    3) Most scout sites agree....But, I’m not sure how this helps your argument. So was Torkleson and Martin. I’m not sure about the other hitters they passed on to get to Kjerstad. Also, I think the money issue is more conclusive. 4)Obviously there were more than just Martin that they didn’t want to pay number 2 money. Kjerstad accepted 7.5 million dollars less than #2 money. Why would he do that? We are talking a million or two that might make your argument more playable. It’s obvious they wanted to play the over slot game later. Because, that’s exactly what they did!    5) I don’t think this proves anything! But, ok ....He was willing to accept 7.5 million less.    6) Obviously! The scouting services are in the business of evaluating players. Obviously there are differing opinions, what’s your point? That you know better than them? Elias had $7.5 million dollars as a reason why he chose Kjerstad over the 8 or so other guys that most places had him rated.

I think its harder for a competitive team to delay a player's call up from the minors because if he can add to a playoff run he is likely to get the call.  Think Manny.

1) it’s true that Elias is an experienced and well thought of professional. 2) It’s true that they like Kjerstad. 3) it’s true that they view him as an advanced hitter 4). It’s true that they didn’t want to pay Martin full slot. 5) it’s true that they took Kjerstad and not the other college/HS bats. 6) It’s true that your whole opinion is based off of what he was ranked by people who have very little idea, especially after a 2020 season that saw these guys get very little Playing time.

Let’s say this is the truth..that’s still awful that you need to stretch out 2.5M over multiple years to fit a mediocre, cheap player under your payroll.