ChosenOne21

Then we lose the DH for a game. Not that big of a deal

Sounds like that time the Yankees turned that double play with Jeter being like three feet off the bag and Trembley got tossed for arguing and on his way out "ejected" the umpire

I don't remember Lakins throwing 95-96

Agreed. I thought maybe, MAYBE, they'd let him throw ten. Got to ease him back into things. Can't have him getting injured again

Not really, although I've never understood the obsession with shortening baseball games. NFL games routinely go longer than three hours and no one cares

1.5 is an average. It's certainly possible for a manager to add more than 1.5 wins to a team compared to the guy he replaced. What I'd like to know is how many wins in 2011 you think are attributable to Buck Showalter and why you think that.

I remember some years ago Baseball Prospectus tried to quantify the difference between the best and worst MLB managers in a given season and came up with something like 1.5 additional wins on average. Buck Britton would likely be a great major league manager and might improve the team by his presence alone, but 8-10 wins is hyperbole

So is Baumann in the pen or the rotation?

I've done the comparison before, but Mountcastle is basically Mark Trumbo, IMO. That's fine as long as you don't break the bank for him

Yeah, I wouldn't offer that deal either, since he's almost certainly going to opt out after a year and we're still at least that far away from being interesting. With no opt outs, I would have done it in a heartbeat though

I like it. Guy has been around forever and has a career OPS+ of 100 which is pretty good for a catcher. Should be a good mentor and backup to Adley

I feel like it's incredibly likely Rutschman finishes in the top three of ROY voting, so I'd like him on the roster for the whole year

MLB and MLBPA talking about limiting the number of times a player could be optioned in one year got me thinking. A player has three option years (sometimes four). Once those years are used, removing them from your roster makes them a free agent. Would it be possible to sign an out-of-options player to a contract where, in exchange for extra pay perhaps, he agrees to resign with your team on a minor-league deal for an already agreed upon amount the first three or four times you cut him during the year? This basically has the effect of giving the team an "optionable" pitcher and might create job opportunities for and give some stability to a class of fringe Major Leaguers. Good idea or is this just breaking the rules?

This is really hard to answer because we haven't really seen Norby play and who knows what Prieto is going to look like as he adjusts to MLB. I'm not especially impressed with Vavra, and Prieto is going to have to add power to have a MLB future. I think Norby is the best combination of ceiling and probability, but it's possible Prieto has a higher ceiling

Happy birthday to the young man! Hope he's healthy and has a monster season

My understanding is that anyone on a team's 40 man roster is ineligible to play major or minor league baseball until the lockout is lifted. I believe everyone else can proceed as normal

Well, no. He's a rotting corpse

My favorite comp for Ryan Mountcastle is a more athletic Mark Trumbo. They're both low-plate discipline high-power hitters. Trumbo had a career .249/.302/.459 line, while Mountcastle is at .270/.324/.492. Take out Mountcastle's hot 2020 and you get .255/.309/.487 In the minors, Trumbo hit .275/.330/.478. Mountcastle hit .295/.328/.471 I do think Mountcastle will have the better career when all is said and done, but he doesn't have his decline years dragging down his career averages yet either. Although Trumbo's best season was his age 30 campaign with us where he hit 47 homers and OPS'd .850

"It plays up due to his high arm slot and downhill plane he generates" or something like that from the scouting report

I never get how three average MLB pitches and plus control/command leads to a grade of solidly below average, but somehow it does

We've signed worse

Someone else made the Steve Brault comparison, and I agree. This guy is rich-man's Steve Brault. Would have rather just had Brault for less money

Maybe they're planning on making Urias the full-time SS? Otherwise I don't get it

This team needs a Jesus miracle though

I think the idea here is that we aren't spending on a middling team so much as we're putting the pieces in place for a year or two from now when we're ready to be competitive