Pickles

Can't locate every pitch either the middle of the zone or a foot off the plate.

Can't hang breaking balls. This is the big leagues.

That is true as well. You boys are way ahead of me with all this.

I did not know that. Thanks. I was going to speculate the OF experiment was the cause.

Interesting that Ortiz is the next man up and not Westburg.

That's tin foil stuff. Keegan Akin going on paternity leave isn't a form of punishment, and if it was, the Union would file a grievance before Akin had reached the airport.

I thought Adley had a hand in it.

Fangraphs has them at about 15%, which honestly seems a little low to me. Prospectus has them at like 4%, which is laughable to me. Personally, I'd put it at like 25%.

Acquiring someone for a role and then placing them in that role is not "gifting" them something imo. But you are free to call it that if you want.

I know. That's why they traded for him. We all knew that. Except for wildcard.

Ok. He would have been in the rotation even if he had performed worse in ST. Sure. He was aquired to be in the starting rotation based on his body of work. If you want to call that a "gift" you are free to do so.

Well, so long as you admit they were both gifted a roster spot. LOL. I have no desire for a semantic debate. Gifted or not, it should be noted Irvin pitched well in ST, and his issues did not crop up until the regular season.

I know it wasn't a serious comp; I was just pointing out that even if you can find someone "successful" with Vavra levels of power, they will have skills that made that possible that he clearly doesn't.

That's a blast from the past. Not a good comp though. Belliard could really pick it at SS, and Vavra's below average everywhere.

How so?

Ok. But by that same logic Gunnar Henderson was gifted a roster spot.

I expect him back in 10 days.

Irvin pitched very well in ST. Even if he was penciled in to a rotation spot, he was gifted nothing.

I'm not. Because it means something didn't go according to plan.

I don't have a problem with that. You're likely correct. But I would not give up on him starting yet. I just mentioned averagish, because it was pushed back when I suggested "all-star" relief pitcher.

If this team makes the playoffs this year, I would expect they would not be favored in many playoff matchups. That's a world's difference than saying there's no way they could win and are doomed to fail. This year is also only the beginning of what I expect to be many years of competing for the playoffs, and in general, I expect the teams going forward to be better than this team. And yes, it would be nice to add a TOR HOF starter to this roster. That would help.

So the OH consensus is that Hall is expected to be an averagish relief pitcher?

Yeah, and that's my point. Nobody does know. That's why they're risk-averse. That's why they're cautious. Because it makes sense to be.

That's the point. You don't know. Neither does Elias. Hence the conservative, cautious, and risk-averse approach. Any team that makes the playoffs is "seriously contending." This team has a legitimate chance of making the playoffs. They're "contending" now. This is what it looks like. They're not curbstomping their competition. That's very rare.

Ok, so Grayson becomes an Ace, and Hall becomes an all-star reliever and you still think the upside of the franchise is "sniffing the last willdcard?"