Say O!

My takeaway is the contrast between a young team versus an aging team. Judge, Stanton, Rizzo, Rodon, Stroman, Cole are on the wrong side of 30 and more likely to decline (or be injured) over the course of the year.

Last year Webb fastball was 95mph. Earlier this year Webb fastball was 91mph. The last couple outings the velo has ticked back up to the 93-94mph range and his secondaries (both changeup and sweeper) are noticeably sharper with swing+miss. I wonder if Webb went through the proverbial “dead arm” period in April and has now reverted back to normal.

Roy reverse jinx in mid-season form today.

Re: opener. For guys coming back from injury like Bradish (or Means), starting the game (vs relief) allows them to prepare and manage warm ups with known timing in getting ready. Whereas the RP following the opener may come 20 mins into the game, may come 40 mins into the game…there’s just variance depending upon how the initial innings play out. Just a variable that would rather not work with when returning from arm troubles.

Indeed. He looks like a different guy tonight when rested, pumping 98mph with nasty change and cutter/slider.

Nice to see these two getting recognition. Their emergence has taken an above average offense to league leading levels. While the Os broadcast mentioned Cowser hand set further from his body, I had not previously heard about to the subtle changes Westburg made to his stance and bat set. Makes sense as he is tapping into even more power and EV than he displayed in the minors.

Not sure if this was mentioned in other game threads, but I have noticed it in several games now that Os catcher (regardless of Adley or McCann) looks into dugout once runners get on. I had thought initially it was to set the play (I.e if runners on 1st and 3rd) but almost appears to be getting sign for the pitch from the dugout. Anyone else notice?

That 98mph high fastball would be lethal in the bullpen.

Adley is calling too many changeups. Just give em the heater Rickey!

That has to be like 4th or 5th K on Gunnar where ump got the call wrong.

After some left handed Pedro Cerrano wave over offspeed pitches, Cowser must have cursed Jabu and finally hit the curveball!

May need to consider piggybacking these guys, rather than throwing 5 innings and turning it over to bullpen. Thus far, Hyde seems to exclusively prefer 1 inning outings from relievers so the BP is racking up appearances.

He’s 21yrs old. Plenty of development time ahead of him.

Regarding the overall league offensive environment, I think it’s less injuries/depth and more to do with putridness of CWS and MIA offenses, with COL not much better. Those three are wRC+ of 62, 67, 75 respectively. Most years shake out with the worst team around 80. FYI the Os are currently 127 wRC+ only trailing the LAD 128. Also note that Os are second in BSR, only trailing CIN, with CIN, Os, KCR significantly better than rest of league.

Updated thru yesterdays game, Gunnar now at 1.9 fWAR which is second in majors only trailing Mookie Betts 2.1 fWAR.

18 swings and misses today for Kremer. I liked how he indicated in post game interview that his pitch mix and sequencing was guided by reading hitters reactions, and he adapted accordingly. Mixed pitches well, cutter was vastly sharper today. Still hasn’t displayed the nasty splitter from first 2 starts.

Encouraged to see FB velo tick back up with the improved weather…averaged 95mph today and touched 97mph.

Helluva tag by Gunnar

This game is Gunnar’s MVP highlight reel.

Aram loves the pitch metrics on Povich and McDermott. Was effusive in his spring podcast going through Os top prospects.

Grayson command (at least to me) is unusually poor for an elite starter. He often gets away with it because his stuff is so darn nasty. Even last night, Grayson got 14 swing and misses. all that being said, I do wonder if Grayson was tipping his pitches again (it was speculated in 1H23). Because the Angels got such high EVs on a variety of different pitch types, and not just sitting on one specific pitch.

A key variable is how (in)expensive each theoretical player and future years of control. i think the Os prefer to have mixture of player types, and hope that strategic deployment can have either A, B, or C in exceed their production norms.

While I would not go as far to say the system is “balanced,” there does seem to be more quantity of interesting arms to follow this year. For instance, 2-3 years ago it was just Grayson & Hall then utter nothingness, and last year it was really just Povich McDermott and unknowns….whereas this year we can dream on guys like DeLeon, Baumeister, Bright, Chace, Forret and still hope for injury bounce backs from Johnson and Baumler. And then interesting wild card reliever types like Gilles, Sharkey, Lord. Inevitably there will be attrition because TINSTAPP, but I’m excited to follow the development journey these young fellas make in 2024.

Yeah we will find out quite a bit over the next several weeks, whether the injured guys can come back and then how the BP shakes out. Would Elias ever consider an early strike of the trade market in June — Norby + Johnson for Hunter Harvey reunion? I kinda like that route because with expanded playoffs more teams will try for WC, so there may not be much available quality out there among the bottom feeders (OAK, MIA, WAS, COL). And OAK is not trading Mason Miller.

LOL at Verducci trying to pigeon hole a “type” preference when (at least for the talked about guys) there seems to be variance in selections. The not drafting HS arms high in draft is not unique. Gunnar, Holliday = HS athletes Adley = catcher unicorn Cowser, Kjerstad, Westburg, Norby = bat first college guys (at time of draft) Beavers, Fabian = college athlete with known swing holes Bradfield = speed and defense college guy Mayo = bat first HS Im struggling to see any pattern there. Now where Os do seem to have biases come later in draft with college bat profiles and college arm profiles but those guys are lower in system and prospect lists for now.