LookinUp

I have no idea how signability will play out, but do wonder what affect NIL could have on the MLB draft. There are a ton of high school kids this year. I'd wager we see the inevitable falls of a few highly rated ones. A couple will have deals with teams, which happens every year, and a couple others might just have such a high number because of NIL money that they don't get picked until after round 10.

1. Holliday will be the SS if Ortiz isn't on the team. Westburg is the 2b. I think it's a tossup if Ortiz is here, with Holliday at 2B a real possibility. That's an all around elite infield defense. 2. I did have Norby in there. I agree, he probably has to be traded. I really like the bat, but he's the odd man out unfortunately for him. 3. Fabian should stay because he's the heir apparent to Mullins, but I'd be willing to trade him for relatively short term gain if the value is right. He's where my cutoff is, even though I know that leaves a future hole in CF. Now if in 2 months, he's torn up AA and still playing really good CF, we might be looking at another top 100 guy.

Personally, I'm not trading any of our young stud hitters, regardless of our need for pitching, and I am trying to have this team in September include Ortiz, Kjerstad and maybe even Mayo, assuming he does good in AAA the next 2 months. This future of this team, IMO, needs to be: Adley (C), Gunnar (3B), Ortiz (SS), Holliday (2B), Mayo (1B/DH), Kjerstad (1B/DH), Cowser (LF), Westburg (2b, 3b, DH, OF), Basallo (C, DH, OF). Now, most of you, and often me, probably want to trade 1 of our middle infielders since they can get the best return, but I personally wouldn't. So that means I'd trade Norby, Prieto, Povich, Willems, Fabian (hate this one), Haskin and maybe some of the young DR guys for middle relievers, since that's all these guys would likely return. If I'm Elias, I'm keeping these dudes and trying to find pitching under any rock I can now or in the offseason.

I think Bazardo before him.

I just can't believe this system. Crazy. Holliday is 1. I think it's debatable between Cowser and Mayo. Then after the top 7 (which I have no idea how to order 4-7), I think you can make a case for various guys. I'll say Showalter is the high flyer pitcher this year, and still pray that Baumler has 1/2 a great season and puts himself up here. Then there's the upcoming draft. 1. Holliday 2. Mayo 3. Cowser 4. Basallo 5. Kjerstad 6. Ortiz 7. Westburg 8. Showalter 9. Hall 10. Fabian

Christian Walker is the one that got away and nobody seems to remember. Bumbs me out. Would like that bat in the lineup.

I think part of the cold streaks is observed as they're "fighting pitches off" instead of barreling them up. The problem is, they're not trying to hit foul balls. They're just missing balls that they hit harder when they're hot. This is the art of hitting. When to take. When to be aggressive. Being aggressive allows the hitter to time a guy up earlier in the count, but also results in the hitter either swinging and missing at bad pitches or (worse) making weak contact on pitcher's pitches. I could argue you want to be aggressive on a guy throwing 100 because you're more likely to swing and miss on your first swing than you are on a guy who's just average. But that's the trap. It varies by pitcher and count, and the other team has guys running analytics and working hard to get you out too. It's really just so incredibly hard to be a great hitter these days.

Feel like I heard Baumler is due back soon. I have no idea what his issue has been, but he's missed a lot of time. Brnovich was a guy I had some hope for. Not sure if his stuff plays at the ML level, but glad to have him back so we can find out.

I've seen a ton of kids with this balance issue and resulting weak contact. I know just the hitting coach for him. Local guy originally from Puerto Rico. Focuses all on the lower half. Dylan, if you're reading this, let me know. I'll give you his info!

Something like this for first year of service time*. 2022: Adley, Bradish 2023: Gunnar, Ortiz, Westburg, Cowser 2024: Kjerstad, Mayo, Norby, Povich, Fabian 2025: Holliday, Basallo, Showalter... * first year of service time means end of prior year promotions are a possibility.

Not sure you're saying this, but they'll do what's best for Willems and Basallo on each's timeframe, regardless of anything Ardoin does. If I remember correctly, Ardoin did hit in college, but there were always questions of how that would translate. Seems like those questions are coming to fruition. I have to assume that they're making major mechanical changes on certain guys, and that Ardoin's one of them. Either that or he just won't ever hit much. But re: Basallo, they'll move him when they see fit regardless of who's in his way. He's a top level guy. It's just a matter of when, unless he's no longer with us after the trade deadline.

I'd score that a single and 2 errors.

Not naming any names, but if you look through various top 100 lists, you see guys really struggling. I guess we're still in SSS territory, but reputation definitely carries the day in these rankings. That doesn't mean I'm sold on Mayo. I'm not, but on age and actual production, he belongs as much as several guys above him.

19 page thread so far. Excellent.

He said "bunts don't slump though" and you said "sure they do." I didn't say anything about bunting every at bat, or Mateo playing CF or the Webb telescope spying on high schools. That's a red herring. I'm not sure why you challenged his innocuous comment about bunts not slumping in the first place. It was a throw away line, not a proposal to get through cold spells by bunting every AB.

Patience with this guy. I still fear the elbow, but either way he's not owed anything. They should keep him down until they can get him right. When right, he absolutely belongs.

A single bad rep /= a slump. Now if he starts to flub, pop up, hit into double plays AND hurt himself bunting, you'll have a point.

For those complaining about how long he and others are in the minors, all I can say is that they have the service time rules for a reason. You can't keep them there forever, but Elias will certainly maximize control within those rules. I'm not saying that's the right thing to do, and the Frazier signing still makes zero sense to me, but I do agree that Elias is maximizing control, and thus value, of young talent over time.

I know Jackson Holliday is a dude, and I know these are power rankings, and I know it'll be moot point in a few weeks when he's no longer eligible, and I know the order doesn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things, but Grayson Rodriguez sure looks like a #1 guy to me.

I couldn't disagree with this more. Did Rose break a rule? Yes. Should he have been punished? Yes. Should it be literally for decades? Seems needlessly extreme to me, regardless of MLB's current embrace of gambling. Either way, I think the real cardinal rule Rose broke was being an a-hole who refused to bend the knee to the commish after he was busted. If he just shut up and said he was sorry, he'd have been in the HoF decades ago. Instead he burnt bridges at every step, so he's still banned.

The body shape is out of place. The power is not, unless it belongs at a higher level. Add in a plus arm and you've got something to work with. Let's hope his improvement last year and so far this year is a sign of a better hit tool. Add that to the power and you have a prospect on your hands.

If the O's win 78, they come in 4th. I'd take the under on the Red Sox. In fact, I'm going to check on their o/u now. Edit: Lol. Their over/under on Fan Duel is set at 78.5. Baltimore's is 76.5.

When they trade Westburg and Norby for a TOR SP in July, maybe the offseason grade goes up. Who knows?

Hate the Frazier move and the fallout. Irvin trade was solid. McCann trade was solid. Gibson signing was ok. Urias and Mateo still on the team. Top young talent at same positions still here. None of the young studs (or anyone for that matter) signed long term. Other than Frazier, the fact there was nothing major is what hurts. An opportunity is here and we're seemingly still waiting to go for it. In that sense, it's less about what they did do than what they didn't do. The other good thing they didn't do was mortgage their future. It's the positive byproduct of the negative nothing major piece. So I guess there's two sides to those stories. Still, with the opportunity staring at us and so little accomplished, it's a D for me.

Is the "right thing" to put the popular kid on the team even though he's not as good as the other kids (right now)?