luismatos4prez

Self-shout out here. I correctly guessed the 5 players that were added to the 40-man last year and the 0 players this year. It's fun for me to track throughout the year. I'll see if I can make it 3 straight years next year. Mayo, Povich, Norby, McDermott, Armbreuster, Rhodes, and Haskin are the early candidates.

That was an absolute bomb. Bases loaded down a run, 2 strikes, 2 outs, left on left. Nice job Cowser, I still believe in you.

Epic WWE-style moment. I can hear Jim Ross now. "Bah Gawd, that's The Mountain's music. It can't be!"

As Urias was fielding that ball, Fangraphs still had TB at 68% chance of winning the division.

Final Update I like them but wouldn't protect them 1. Hudson Haskin - .268/.368/.463 in 95 AAA PAs. He's a backup OF type anyway so a team could take him despite his lack of AAA experience. 2. Brandon Young - 4.26 ERA, 4.46 FIP in AA coming back from TJ. 3. Garrett Stallings - 5.47 ERA, 4.30 FIP in AAA. Good AAA SP depth, but that's it right now. 4. Jean Pinto - 3.72 ERA, 4.48 FIP in AA at age 22. Scouting reports say he doesn't have much of a fastball, not someone you'd expect to be selected. Had a chance but didn't do enough 5. Wandisson Charles - 8.40 BB/9 in AAA 6. Maverick Handley - .329 SLG in AAA 7. Kyle Brnovich - 6.70 FIP in AA coming back from TJ -- I'm probably the only one that cares about this, but I had fun tracking these guys this year. There will be plenty of 40-man spots, but my final opinion is none of them are worth protecting in my opinion. Any disagreements?

I was working today and didn't suffer through his performance, but I'll go against the grain and say Fuji is still a playoff arm for me. He really isn't that wild if you look at his total numbers as an Oriole. Pretty standard wildness for a strikeout reliever. He reminds me a lot of Tanner Scott when he was with the Orioles. When he's got it, he's dominant. When he doesn't, we're going to suffer for 3 batters. He averages out to a useful reliever though. I'd take him over Baumann, Baker, Wells, etc. as the 3rd pen righty.

I know you all know this, but a 3 game series is chaos and anything can happen. Especially against a good team like TOR/SEA/TEX/HOU. It's huge to win the division and avoid that. If each series is a coin flip, teams that don't get a bye have a 1/16 chance of winning the WS. Teams that do get a bye have a 1/8 chance of winning the WS. Getting the bye doubles my odds of seeing a parade That is to say, thank you Angels.

I've decided I like Cole Irvin. He's been solid out of the bullpen (3.98 FIP before tonight's strong outing) and competitive as a swingman starter (4.71 FIP). I hope they offer him a couple million in arbitration to reprise that role next year.

As much as I like Fuji, he has a 3.95 FIP as an Oriole. 169 relievers have thrown 10+ IP with a better FIP this year. I would be happy to bring Fuji back on a 1 year deal, but I don't even trust him with the 7th inning on opening day next year. My bullpen next year before any acquisitions is Cano, Wells, Hall, Irvin, Webb, Coulombe, Perez, and Lopez. Tate and Akin will be non-tendered, Baumann and Krehbiel will be DFAd. Vespi, Zimmermann, and Baker can be optioned.

We're going to have to put them down and win the division ourselves this week. No one is going to help.

I strongly believe Basallo is a Top 20 prospect in baseball right now.

September Lock Kjerstad On the Bubble Brandon Young - Last outing 4.2 IP 7 K 1 BB 3 H, that's enough to get me interested. Let's see how his last few outings go. Outside the Bubble Hudson Haskin - Looks like a Ryan McKenna type with only 96 AAA PAs. Hard to see adding him with our OF depth. Maverick Handley - Below average AAA hitter, his defense would have to be transcendental to get added as a 3rd C. Jean Pinto - 4.57 FIP in AA at age 22 is good but not good enough to get added. Garrett Stallings - Spenser Watkins / Asher Wojciechowski type. 4.76 FIP in AAA. Kyle Brnovich - Looked alright back from TJ then got hurt again and hasn't pitched since 8/10. Wandisson Charles - Couldn't find the strike zone after getting promoted to AAA.

They're so good, but playoff baseball is chaos.. Fangraphs agrees Atlanta is the best team in baseball, but they estimate only a 42% chance ATL even advances to the World Series. (We're at 12%)

Good for Rom. He's had a good year in AAA. I remember thinking "This guy doesn't have the stuff to be a ML starter" about Zach Davies when we traded him and he ended up having a solid career.

I've started comparing him to Martin Prado in my head. Similar profiles of glove first at 2B/3B/LF but solid hitter and well-known as a great clubhouse guy. Prado had a 27.7 WAR career which would be an awesome outcome for Westburg.

Uh oh, did he just imply that we didn't score any runs in the first nine innings? Back to the Gulag for KB.

Westburg is getting underrated due to the young talent level on this team. On many teams in baseball, he'd be the most exciting young player they had. In 32 games, he's been worth 0.9 WAR (and 0.9 fWAR). His peripherals look solid and that's a 4.5 WAR pace over a full year. I'm not saying he's a 4.5 WAR player long-term, but he's fast, he's a solid 2B/3B defender, and he looks like a league average hitter. That's a very valuable guy to have.

Thanks for the info. Do you work for the Ironbirds?

That's interesting, thank you. I misunderstood the rule. I thought a whole year was granted, not just completing the year.

Angelos's Razor says "The cheapest possible future is the most likely one." So I agree. I think it's more likely Hays and Santander are traded.

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/competitive-balance-draft-picks IIRC, we get an A one year (Beavers last year) and a B the next year (Baumeister this year). So next year would be A. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/mlb-prospect-promotion-incentive-rookie-year-cba/ja5ts8eaxcuv85xujnzriafb He gets a year of service time if he finishes Top 2. We only get the pick if he wins (and was on the OD roster).

Elias has taken Henderson, Westburg, Haskin, Beavers, and Norby in the 30-45 range. Could have 3 picks in that range if we get Comp A and Gunnar wins ROTY (Mariners got #29 for Julio winning). Keep that farm system stocked.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/how-much-luck-is-involved-in-one-run-games/ Calling it purely luck is a mistake. Calling it purely grit and clutch is a mistake.

They just switched the assists to Prado Who knows what happened? The official game scorer in Aberdeen might have had one too many tonight.

3!!! OF assists today. Can't remember the last time I saw that. It's too bad this guy can't hit, he seems like he'd be a fun player to watch. 43/48 SB this year.