Malike

I'd feel better if Cowser was in a corner tonight.

I never said he was. I'm saying he's the best defensive shortstop we currently have in the system, and he's going to hit more than Belanger.

It's a really good problem to have. We have so many options, that it makes for very hard decisions.

I was listening to the Rays broadcast and they were both befuddled we played small ball in the 10th, I knew they would bring Felix back out and when they did, both guys said, oh that makes sense now.

Ortiz is most assuredly going to hit a lot more than Belanger and by most accounts, he's the best defensive player in our system right now.

Well deserving. The team payroll is low and they did little in the off-season to make that team better in Texas.

I know they probably want to rest Felix, but it wouldn't totally shock me if they went to him for a 3rd day in a row in a tight game and we're up in the 9th. He threw 12 pitches on Wed and 15 last night.

There are a lot of teams out-performing the pythag this year, it's nuts. Reds, Miami, and Milwaukee are all in the negative and well over .500. Odd times.

That opposite-field HR over the great wall of Baltimore was impressive as hell. The kid has real power.

No doubt about Britton, that was just insane what he did.

I mean, being strong up the middle is every team's dream, 2B is a part of that and the teams that have had superior fielding 2B have a big advantage up the middle. I haven't checked in a while but the positional value at 2B for fWAR and rWAR are +2.5 - +2.5 and at third they were +2.5 and +2 respectively.

I think it's going to take some time but we're already seeing the impact of having a 2B with poor range and how it now affects the game. You can't hide guys like Frazier anymore at 2B without the shift to back him up.

I think because we're so used to 3 IF on the right side of the infield, we've forgotten how important is to have someone with range and the arm to turn a DP at 2B. Ramon made a fantastic play last night that would have been a routine groundout last season. A lot of 2B do not get to that ball.

Maybe they can't find an interpreter? /rollseyes /sarcasm on. I expect he'll be available at some point during the series, I hope he keeps rolling!

2B is going to be valued a lot differently without the shift. Guys with Alomar's range are going to be extremely valuable going forward.

I think what people sometimes forget when talking about trading for Ohtani, you're essentially getting two players. A top of the rotation starter and a legitimate MOO bat. We haven't seen this type of dominance since Ruth on both sides of the ball. The price will not be cheap, even for a rental.

I was thinking about this and what I did was started taking notes of other teams' managers doing things that I thought were head-scratchers, turns out, they all seem to do it.

He better be a legit Cy Young candidate. He's got more strikeouts than some qualified starters. What an impressive season.

He's also signed through 2030 at 13.8M per year, he's ridiculously cheap for the production. He's also had more ABs than Gunnar this year, how chronic is his injury? If we could get Gunnar for 8/111 then that would be something, and we clearly won't.

It's a bit more realistic than ESPN's article. They said Cowser, Kjerstad and Mayo+ lol.

MLB.com thinks this gets Ohtani. I still think they keep him, they are still only 4.5 out of the Wildcard.

I'm fairly confident that Corbin Carroll is at the top of a lot of folks' lists. He's also 22 years old.

Sort of reminded me of Elly stealing home, the pitcher was staring into the outfield and he walked 3/4's of the way there before anyone knew what was going on.

Gunnar's arm rates higher but his fielding rates lower. Holliday is rated currently as a 55 fielder with a 55 arm. Gunnar a 50 fielder with a 65 arm, he has a cannon, but much like a cannon he frequently misses the mark. They have a remarkably close scouting profile, it's a gain for us if they both live up to their potential.

Urias made the play of the game, if we go down 4-3 if that ball gets past him, we're not in first place very likely. Hell of a play. I know Bautista pitched 2 innings, but he only threw 15 pitches. That was awesome.