luismatos4prez

2023 Hicks = 2012 McLouth

I'm loving the hot streak, but if we're being honest with ourselves, O'Hearn a DJ Stewart/Renato Nunes caliber player. Capable of putting up a 100 wRC+ in the right situations, but no value otherwise. I'd give the position back to Mountcastle full time when he's back for a month. If Mounty still can't hit or aim the ball right, we start thinking about Santander at 1B full time, or Kjerstad if he's mashing. But Ryan O'Hearn is not the answer anymore than Tim Beckham was.

15 up, 15 down, 10Ks, only 65 pitches so far.

I'm beating a very dead horse, but this is a big game and I'm certain O'Hearn in RF and Lester at 1B is not the best this organization is capable of tonight. Hopefully O'Hearn will make a great play in right and Lester will have 3 RBIs to prove me wrong. But I'm disappointed right now.

Implementing a salary floor is a better way of getting teams to spend more on payroll, which seems like the ultimate goal of this move anyway.

Hicks is reminding me of Nate McLouth in 2012 right now.

I did the math once. A day of ML service time is worth around $2,000 after taxes if you're making league minimum. Not bad for a night of work although catching Cionel Perez can't have been fun.

This is actually great strategy by Hyde. Pitching Voth takes the lead down to 7 meaning they have to use a bullpen arm for another inning rather than using a position player pitching.

It's very likely that Kolosvary was already in the locker room on the taxi squad and they didn't have time to get another guy here before the game once they decided to IL Mounty. He's probably just here for the day and I'll go ahead and hope he's cut tomorrow for Westburg, Cowser, or Ortiz.

Rule proposal: If the 4th wild card team has a better record than a division winner, the two teams play one game to see who makes the playoffs.

Really good series win. Don't take that one for granted. They have a decent lineup and play great defense, and we scraped one by their ace and beat up a good #3 pitcher.

Reading the tea leaves, I don't think he likes Haskin or Pinto much either. Rom got moved to Bowie after 67 strong innings in Aberdeen at age 21. Pinto is still in Aberdeen at age 22 after 134 strong innings. IIRC, Haskin didn't receive a ML ST invite despite a good statline last year at Bowie. Haskin and Handley need to get healthy and rake to get added. Pinto needs 50+ IP with a sub 4 FIP at Bowie to get added.

June Update Locks: 1. Jordan Westburg 2. Heston Kjerstad - Nothing needs to be said about these two. On the Bubble: 3. Hudson Haskin - You can't make the club from the tub. He needs to get back and hit. 4. Jean Pinto - 2.58 ERA, 2.36 FIP, 13.85 K/9 in A+, he needs to be promoted. 5. Maverick Handley - Same as Haskin, .232/.398/.261 won't get him protected Other notes on eligible guys: - Easton Lucas has a 1.69 ERA, 2.99 FIP in 16 IP in Bowie. - Garrett Stallings has a 3.89 FIP, only 1.63 BB/9 in 38.2 IP in Bowie. - Xavier Moore has 18 Ks in only 10 IP but also 10 BBs in AA. We'll see how it plays out with Haskin, Pinto, and Handley. Anyone have strong feelings at this point?

Then Alek Manoah is both a MOO and a TOR.

Don't get fooled by a strong run, this is a below average ML rotation. Means coming back will help, but acquiring another starter will be necessary to be a WS contender.

Harrison Bader has Nick Swisher energy. That is to say, I dislike him.

Frazier is who he is, a 1-2 WAR player. I'm fine with acknowledging that he was a bad use of 8M for a team with a lot of talented infielders. But people acted like we had given 8M to a Brandon Fahey level scrub and he's not.

I remember something Weams used to say when Manny was coming up. "This is what they look like." That popped into my head about Holliday tonight.

I'm rooting for him, but there's a 99.9% chance he goes the way of JD Mundy.

Cedric should be leading off every night regardless of the starter.

May Update Locks: 1. Jordan Westburg - [career .283/.365/.515 hitter in 504 AAA PAs] 2. Heston Kjerstad - [.284/.392/.612 in AA] On the Bubble: 3. Hudson Haskin - [hot start pre-injury: .391/.500/.652 in 56 PA in AAA, but with a .615 BABIP and 32.1% K] 4. Maverick Handley - [.222/.407/.267 in 59 PAs in AAA] 5. Jean Pinto - [2.50 ERA, 2.91 FIP in 18 IP in A+] Others notes on eligible guys: - I’m leaving Young, Brnovich, and Peek off until they pitch in games again. - Easton Lucas has a 1.59 ERA, 0.67 FIP, in just 5.2 IP in AA. - Xavier Moore has 8K in 3.2 IP in AA, but also has a 14.73 ERA - I can’t tell if Stiven Acevedo is eligible, but he’s had a decent start in Delmarva and is in Tony’s Top 30. Can’t imagine him being protected or drafted though, even if eligible. If I had to pick today, I'd protect all 5, but the 3 bubble guys have more to prove.

Bringing Hall, Stowers, and Ortiz up and down as needed is fine with me, but it's also a direct contradiction to Mike's "I bring them up to stay" spiel. I hope he's still working hard to swing a prospects for SP trade.

Westburg, Norby, Stowers, and Hall for Cease* and let's go get a championship. * I put very little thought into that proposal, but with an ace and healthy John Means, I think this team is a serious WS contender.

We should talk more about what a good player Cedric has become. Since 2021, only 21 position players have been more valuable per Fangraphs. He's ahead of guys like Devers, Guerrero Jr., Trout, Alonso, and Harper. Elite range in CF, elite baserunning, perfect leadoff hitter. It was only 4 years ago that he couldn't even hit AAA pitching, now he's been playing at an All-Star level for years.

Tremendous. He looks like Jim Edmonds here.