Ruzious

I see the logic on both sides, but as I've said a couple of times, I think it makes the most sense to make him our closer, and he's got a much better chance of success in that role.

Agreed on all points. I brought Norby up because I hadn't heard his name mentioned in a long time. Notice, the most recent post in this thread before mine was September 9th. Same thing with Ortiz, btw - I don't think he's talked about very much and could be an important part of the rebuild. Westburg gets talked about quite a lot - as he should be.

And I never meant to imply that they were comparable to Greinke. I only meant what I said - that I'd prefer an inexperienced hard-thrower like Strider to an experienced player who can't get people out.

I feel like Cowser wins because it's a battle of a quality 2-way OFer who can play CF vs someone who has talent but got injured and could end up as a reliever.

And the answer is... none of the above - as Atlanta activates lefty Tucker Davidson - who was on the 60 day DL.

Which is why I hope the Braves activate young Spencer Strider (who can throw 100 MPH) to replace Morton on the roster - rather than someone like Jacob Webb or Josh Tomlin. Actually, I don't think it'll be any of those. I think it'll be either Toukki Toussaint (sp?) or Kyle Muller. And I think the game 4 or 5 starter will be Kyle Wright rather soft-tosser Drew Smyly.

Norby should probably be mentioned more. He actually did well at Delmarva - with an .847 OPS in 126 plate appearances and the SO rate per plate appearance wasn't so bad - at 22.2%. He did have several errors, but I don't think that's an issue.

Pretty awesome that Morton got 2 K's after he broke his fibula. He must have been incredibly focused.

Lol, Amazing that was the first leadoff homer in WS history. Soler power! Rosario will be the leadoff hitter against righties. As hot as he is, maybe he'll be the second player to lead off a WS game with a homer. Urquidy (a righty) is starting for Houston.

Hey, if Tony thinks he's a better prospect than Cowser is, that's a good thing, because Cowser is - relatively speaking - a known quantity.

And in his minor league career, he's struck out 40 times in 216 plate appearances - a rate of 18.52%. Per 600 plate appearances, that'd be 111. Not great, but I don't think that's a big concern for a 19 year old OPSing .981.

That'll work - along with Heston being the next Killebrew.

And it's awesome when unknown guys like Rosario and Matzek are the heroes. Rosario had arguably the best league Championship Series of all time, and Matzek maybe the best ever by a reliever who's a non-closer - the situations he came in were harder than their closer's (Will Smith). Rosario was OPSing well under .700 and was injured when he was traded to Atlanta at the trade deadline, and Matzek was out of MLB for 4 straight seasons until last year. 2 of Atlanta's all-time all-timers - Hank Aaron and Phil Niekro - Hammerin Hank and Knucksie - who are the reasons I grew up a Braves fan - died less than a year ago - hopefully they're enjoying front row seats.

Really, in baseball, the NY and LA markets are so dramatically larger than the others - when teams like Houston and Atlanta make it to the WS at 8 and 7 sizes, they should be considered mid-market teams.

I went with Cowser over Mayo because Cowser's more likely to make it as a 2-way player and is more heralded. Outside of Baltimore, only hard core baseball fans have heard of Mayo.

Check your posts on Davies in September 3rd in the Eduardo Rodriquez thread - starting on page 3.

I know you were kidding, but there was a discussion I think a couple weeks ago about whether or not the O's should go after Davies, and there was actually some support for doing it and paying him a significant amount of money.

One thing interesting about the Mets' situation - because they didn't sign Rocker, they get the 11th pick in the 2022 draft - in addition to having the 14th pick based on their 2021 record. So, if they sign a qualified free agent, they lose their 2nd pick in the draft - which is pick # 14. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/10/which-draft-picks-each-team-would-forfeit-by-signing-a-qualified-free-agent.html

Ed-Rod yes, Davies no, and Melewski's options plech.

I think it does matter how he does - especially if he does particularly well or particularly poorly. The most recent data is usually the most important data - though it doesn't wipe away the importance of data from prior years.

True, but he does have an impressive out pitch with his changeup, and his fastball might play up as a reliever. Seems like he has a good chance to succeed as a middle reliever.

2 more years before free agency.

Technically, Seager should have had his glove down lower, but the instincts on a ball hit that hard are to protect one's life. I think the results probably would have been the same if Turner was playing SS.

Amen - it's about time!

Rosario must be on cloud 9 right now. He's not regarded as a good defensive OFer, but he he made a great catch in the 1st inning last night - preventing extra bases for Tre Turner - one of the Dodgers soon to be free agents. He's a pure hitter - though he is prone to bad streaks and did not play well with Cleveland. Rosario's walk-off liner went 105 MPH and Cory Seager (another soon to be free agent) understandably could not handle it.