Pickles

Vavra has been more consistently good on offense this spring, sure, but spring batting stats certainly aren't the only consideration.

IMO if anybody played like they deserved a starting spot it was Westburg.

I like Andy MacPhail's phrase for it: "A snapshot in time." He said that regarding system rankings but it of course applies to individual prospects as well. It would devolve into subjective opinion, but I still contend Holliday should be considered the most "talented" as his absolute upside at SS is hightest in the system. IMO.

I didn't mean you personally; I meant the royal you.

Good for Mateo. I hope he manages to establish himself enough this year to ensure generational wealth for himself and his family. That has been one of the funner things about watching young guys in this rebuild, and I remember very strongly having that feeling about Mullins in 2021. Mullins went from very close to washing out of the bigs, similar to Mateo before last year, and in the course of 2021 essentialy guaranteed that he would make 10+ million dollars in his career. That's life changing and I like to see it happen for the guys I'm rooting for.

My "point" was simply talent isn't everything. If your argument is that Rodriguez should be up because he's the most "talented" while ignoring that he hasn't been able to consistently throw his breaking balls for strikes since he as injured almost 10 months ago, it's not a good argument.

No complaints here. This is the decsion I would have made as well.

Holliday was a 1:1 draft pick. Ortiz isn't even in the same category, nor is Mateo, as much as I love him. Gunnar was an excellent prospect, global #1, but even he doesn't have Holliday's talent, or he wouldn't have lasted to the second round of the draft. That's not to say Holliday will develop as well, or have a better career, but he is certainly the most talented SS in the system. So I repeat: Should he be in the majors?

Holliday is the most talented SS in the organization. Should he be in the major leagues?

Oh, ok I see I missed it. Well, slightly revise my statement. He's pitched 1.2 innings this spring.

Definitely. Also, is your CF really capable of playing a deep 2b? Most aren't. Ours, despite being a GG candidate in CF, isn't.

Hall hasn't pitched yet this spring so I can assure you that is not the plan.

Eh. He's going to play a ton, at least early in the year. How he does with that will determine how long a look he gets. But yea, he's not going to be in the lineup everyday, and they are going to put Frazier in the COF on ocassion it appears.

As expected.

I'm starting to think he won't start the year in the majors.

Since several people have chosen him, I have to ask: What does a career year for Gibson look like? He's had 3 seasons in his career eclipsing 3 WAR, going as high as 3.5 WAR. Does anybody really expect him to put up ~5 WAR this year?

Since you took Mountcastle, I'm going to take Hays. On the pitching side, I'll take Bradish.

That's a pretty good name. How could I forget Chemical Toilet though, and their big hit, "Nightman."

I always preferred Electric Dream Machine.

In such a scenario we'd probably end up with like 110 million in 3 players. That's leaving 40 million for the rest of your roster. In the most literal sense of the word, they can afford him. In the sense of can they afford him and continue to have a healthy, competitive franchise, I would lean no. And that's not even factoring in the injury risks.

Well, we have these rate stats so we can compare across eras, so we can't use the rate stats and simeltaneously bemoan the "lack" of competition. I'll concede that Ohtani has a chance to have a better pitching career than Ruth. He's not there yet, but a few more good seasons would seal that. However, he's not really in the same category as a hitter.

If we're going to allocate 30% of our payroll to one player, he'd be the one to do it with. It would almost certainly guarantee we couldn't consistently put a good team around him. So can we afford him and have a healthy, functioning franchise around him? I'd say no.

My response to this would be Ruth was a better pitcher than Ohtani and he was a better hitter than Ohtani. Ohtani's career high OPS+ for a year is lower than the Babe's career mark. And if it had existed, Babe should/would have won the 1916 Cy Young award. As good as Ohtani has been on the mound, he has never been the league's best pitcher.

Well, the only reason to not go after him would be because we can't afford him. So again it comes back to the harsh reality: He won't sign here, and we can't afford him.