scarey1999

I spent 6 days in Sarasota at last years ST (my first!) and it was more than what I’d thought it was going to be. Awesome experience, to say the least. For Twin Lakes, I spent 2 of my days there. 1st day, I walked into the main/office building and was greeted by a receptionist who had just started working there. She didn’t know much in terms of where/when/how to watch players and games but was a very nice lady. So, I just took the mentality of “walk around like you own the place” and see what happens. Walked around the side of the complex and made my way to that bleacher area. I was the only fan there each day. It was awesome as a former player and baseball enthusiast to get that close to the action. I had a couple of conversations with Creed Willems (we both live in TX), he signed a couple balls. I was also able to pick out Basallo and Maikol Hernandez. They both signed a couple cards and balls as well. Overall, highly recommend checking out Twin Lakes, especially if you’re into the minor league side of things. Very unique and intimate experience. One thing to note. They usually are done by around 2pm as the afternoon sun starts to get going. So plan to get there earlier in the day. Enjoy your time there. Going again this year for 11 days this time. Cannot wait.

Bingo. The vet Means should get the road start. This lets Grayson get the boost from the home crowd support. We should trust Hyde. He’s given us little to doubt him, pulling almost all the right strings so far.

Means lives in Dallas, so that may have had more to do with his rehab location than anything. Will be interesting to see where Felix does his.

The Braves did the same exact thing today for their fans. I’d never heard of teams doing this until this year. Really cool idea.

I realize he had a HR today, but Garcia was awful in the 2nd half. Rangers fans down here were ready to get rid of him. But you’re right, scary offense when they are on. So is ours.

The Devil Rays throwbacks? Most people like them. They’re pretty clean. Better than some of the other ones they wear IMO.

I saw him play at AA Frisco in April and then again at AAA OKC when he made his debut for Round Rock. Despite having an unusual swing, he definitely passed the eye test. Made the game look easy, very fluid athlete. He’s also several years younger than HK and Cowser, having just turned 21 on Aug 29. Kudos to the Rangers for identifying and sticking to their man in the 2020 draft. They were a lot of raised eyebrows when he was selected when he was.

I’m in DFW so this is my ideal scenario too. But if Tampa wins, I’m flying there so I guess I’m covered either way. The Rangers winning keeps a few $$ in my bank account lol.

I’d forgotten how bad Tampa has been on the playoffs the past 4 years, minus when they made the WS in the shortened 2020 season, until I saw the graphic on the screen during today’s broadcast. They’ve only won one series other than 2020. Got swept last year and only one one game, losing 3 games to 1 in the 2021 ALDS.

1 million percent. This right here. I’ve said this before in other posts. KB really has a knack for speaking these things into existence. It’s pretty amazing. Never seen it happen with such frequency ever before with any other announcer.

They wait until after the World Series to announce all award winners. The past two years, maybe coincidental, they started announcing them on Nov 15th.

She should be charged to the fullest extent of the law with (not an attorney so I don’t know what the exact legal terms or limitations are) extortion, falsifying statements, perjury, etc or whatever else they can and be subject to the same jail time and monetary sanctions Bauer was facing. It’s pretty ridiculous that people think they can continue to try to pull these stunts. They need to set an example so that it stops.

Man, this is really cool. It’s times like this that I miss not living “back home” and being there for this sort of thing.

Texas. Want zero part of TPA In the playoffs. We’ve seen how they turn up come postseason. No thank you. Also,if TX, then I can go watch these Oreos play right here in my backyard.

With all due respect to Westy, who I really like as a player, he’s already a few months away from being 25. Mayo is tracking to be a much better and more valuable prospect than Westburg ever was given what he showed in his age 21 season. I realize Westburg may have pretty good defensive value as some sort of super utility type, but it’s pretty clear the Orioles don’t trust him at the dish against RHP. I’m in the camp that believes Westburg is on Elias’ trade commodity list. It would not be surprising to see him moved sometime between end of this season and next trade deadline. Basallo obviously can’t play 3rd, and we’re presuming he’d split time between C and 1B, so this also helps with the thinking of trying to keep Mayo at 3rd long term. I don’t think Mounty is on the team any longer by the time Basallo is ready, so this would free up ABs for Basallo + who over else we run out there at 1st in ‘25. So, here’s to hoping Mayo continues to improve his footwork and overall defense at 3rd and he puts all this talk to bed. BTW he made a really nice play recently (playoff game I think?), charging in from 3rd on a softly hit ball and throwing to 1st for the out. It was definitely a MLB caliber play. He made it look easy, showing off that laser rocket arm too.

What a shame. This man essentially lost two pitching life years, had his MLB contract wrongfully terminated and instead was forced to take significantly less money to play overseas. Terrible. We have a lot improve upon in the way we handle things in this country. When will we learn? I’m very glad he was able to win this case and I’ll just leave it at that.

Haha I said in this thread maybe (or somewhere on the OH) that they need to get Jackson in touch with Gunnar’s helmet guy!

Jackson Holliday never went consecutive games all season long without reaching base.

Do they? In 2019, Riley’s rookie year, they had Josh Donaldson at his peak manning 3rd base. Matter of fact, they stuck Riley out in LF just to get his bat in the lineup. Then in 2020, Donaldson left, and Riley moved back to 3rd and his defense was atrocious. He heard the whispers, worked hard and has been vastly improved since. Certainly not a GG’er, but definitely more than serviceable. It is my opinion Mayo is hearing these same whispers (similar to those that said Gunnar is going to move off SS…and look at what he’s done) and has been working his tail off so he can stick at 3rd a la Riley. Anyway, Riley is an outstanding comp for Mayo.

I’ve seen OKC play in person a few times this year. I’m there on business about once a month. Cool town btw, very underrated IMO. Their stadium is great, but they don’t seem to draw well despite having a good record unless a big name Dodger is there on rehab. Saw Marisnick play on a recent rehab assignment actually. Their roster has had a lot of turnover all season with a mix of vet retread types, as well as players (pitchers mostly) who’ve shuttled back and forth between LA and OKC. Jorbit Vivas is a young player they have high regard for, though his numbers haven’t shown much yet. The Norfolk roster has been 100x more static than OKC’s. I was supposed to be out in Vegas this weekend, but had to reschedule. Pretty bummed about that now. Will be a cool experience for the young core there who’ll be helping out the big club very soon. Go Tides!!

Until/if he moves off 3B, I’m sticking with Austin Riley as the comp, but with a much better arm. There was a strong sentiment that Riley would have to move off third too through his rookie year and into his 2nd season. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/austin-riley-663586?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb

You wouldn’t have to convince me much. The argument is definitely there. However, the way BA works, they will always give such awards to guys who they ranked higher for longer (in this case Jackson or Caminero), rather than someone with helium that rose up very quickly (almost unanticipated) like Mayo did. This way it validates their ranking system and their staff opinions.

FWIW and somewhat SSS, but Prieto really tailed off after he was traded. Prieto may have the better hit tool, but you could easily argue after his performance this season, Hernaiz has the better overall tools and higher ceiling, especially when considering age.

Someone needs to put him in touch with Gunnar’s helmet guy.

I’m not disagreeing but what was the catch probability on the RF pop fly hit? I’m guessing it was fairly low, like 5% or less. Also didn’t help that Hicks was positioned well into the gap defensively and had all but zero chance to get to that ball. It was a lucky hit and about as poorly placed ball you could have, unless you’re a CLE fan.