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I'm glad to see him working to improve. That said, I think he's still a 1B/DH at the end of the day. That's not a bad thing, it's just that the team needs to make a decision on whether his bat will justify moving Mancini or Nunez. I don't see room for all three of them.

Infrastructure is good, as long as they're all working off of the same sheet of music. Hopefully they will be.

Things like this are the main thing that I'm interested in (and hoping for) this season. It'll be good to see some of these guys break into the majors and (hopefully) establish themselves. With hopefully more to come in 2021 and beyond.

I don't get it. I just don't get it. What kind of fetish do the Dodgers have with taking horrible contracts off of Boston's hands (as they did with Crawford, AGON, and Beckett some years ago)? I wanted to see Boston choke on that Price deal for the next few years. SMH.

Let's just say you're much, much more optimistic than I am.

Let's hope for a Tim Wakefield redux.

I just hope Diaz can either make the team out of ST as the LFer or earn a promotion early in the season. If he can stick, and OF of him in LF, Hays in CF, and Santander in RF is probably one of the best positives we can hope for to occur in 2020.

Thanks, I was wondering about that. Either way, a tragic loss for all involved. Another reminder that life is fleeting.

I don't see why a manager could choose to NOT have a DH if a pitcher is a good hitter. Doubt any of them will, but I think technically you could allow your pitcher to hit in the AL, correct. Doesn't Shohei Otani hit?

Lol.....well said.....

Interesting. I'm 100% sure he doesn't make the team, but I'm sure the ML crew wants to get a nice look at him. If he performs well, he could end up being one of the later cuts. Being a college guy, you have to think they want him to hit the majors in 2021. I can't see it being this year, even in September.

Not sure where you're getting this. I've seen zero info implicating Elias in any way.

More and more keeps coming out, and as it does, I'm re-evaluating my initial "meh" reaction to the whole thing. As I said in another thread, stealing signs and gamesmanship have been part of the game for decades. But this takes it to a whole other level. I still struggle a bit with where the line is exactly, but this is clearly over it. I think Manfred needs to use this "new" evidence to punish Altuve, Beltran, and any others that there may be evidence of wearing an electronic device. Beltran is obviously retired, but he should get a punishment similar to Hinch, IMO. Altuve and other active players, I dunno. 80 games? An entire season? I'm not sure.

I hope he gets it. One thing's for certain, Buck will run a clean and tight ship. That would be a smart hire by Crane to change the culture and image of the team. If they win, they'll have earned it. I'd love to see Buck get a ring.

Honestly I was surprised it was as harsh as it was, and I would've been fine if they went lighter than they did. Sign stealing has been around the game since it's inception, though the use of technology has taken it to a different level. I dunno why, but I just don't put this in the same category as using PEDs. Studying your opponent's tendencies to gain an edge is part of the game, right? Though I concede that the Astro's and apparently Red Sox stepped over the line, personally I didn't think it was THAT far over the line. And the dirty little secret is a lot more teams are doing it, maybe most or even all of them. Though maybe not to the level of Houston and Boston.

Elias isn't going anywhere, IMO. He's under contract to the O's. No way they let him go. Plus, I doubt Elias or Crane would want it anyway. Elias wants to distance himself from this whole deal, why would we want to go back and give the optic of "same old, same old?" Same thing for Crane really. He wants to turn the page and put this to rest. If he were to bring Elias back, it presents that same bad optic.

No way. I think he's more at fault than Luhnow, since he was in the dugout and had to know exactly what was going on. I could buy Luhnow not fully knowing since he's the GM and isn't in the dugout. But I doubt either of them works in MLB for a long, long, time, if ever. I think Alex Cora is probably on very thin ice as well.

What league did he pitch in? California Penal.

This too.

What Mr. Folk said. And I'm fine with that approach.

I'm pretty bearish on Sisco at this point. He's below average defensively by all accounts, so he needs to hit, and hit well, to be a player of any import to a good team. I'm not getting the sense he'll do that, but we'll see how 2020 goes.

You assume that won't happen anyway with Cashner. He's not good.

Meh. As was said, I'd rather through a ton of cheap, young, "lottery ticket" type guys out there than pay money to a veteran like Cashner who would be nothing but a mediocre-at-best placeholder.

That's surprising. Having not watched Manny last season, maybe he regressed or had an off year, but honestly it makes me question the validity of this stat and how it's computed.

That's opposite of what I would've expected. Or am I not understanding it correctly. +6 means 6 above average (i.e. good), and -6 would be 6 below average (bad). Right?