Sessh

We don't have a lot of snakes (or rodents) around here, but plenty of spiders. I always put bugs I find in the house outside.. except ants and gnats. I have a bug zapper indoors for gnats and F ants. We have possums, groundhogs and the occasional residential area fox running around looking for rabbits, though.

Hirano pitches a lot like Uehara. Similar windup, too.

Renato Wolters on deck.

I like the new musical diddys played on MASN in the background during games and going into breaks. Got rid of the old stuff. I like it, change everything.

While it's nice and everything, it doesn't change the fact that Smith is a huge liability defensively and that far outweighs the offense he brings. He's got to hit like Ortiz to offset that if we're going to keep putting him in left field.

Santander with another homer.

Sisco threw it into center field. Nunez home run. I'm asleep by the way.

On that, we can agree completely.

Nor am I, but it does make me wonder how much we will be able to depend on him. CoC's point about Hardy is valid, but he was injury prone most of his career. We'll see. In fully expect Hays and Mountcastle to spend a great deal of time with the Orioles next season. I would say Harvey as well, but he hasn't gotten off to a good start at all at Norfolk. I hope he can make it eventually.

I forgot the ankle injury required reconstruction actually, but he has been injury prone overall. Had a minor hamstring injury as well, wrist injury, thumb injury.. not the most durable guy overall.

I didn't say Hays. I think we should either bring Stewart up and either demote or DFA Smith or trade Stewart somewhere where he can get a chance. I'd rather the former.

He got some MLB time in 2017 and has been awful performance wise ever since until this year right now in AAA. No harm in letting him finish the year down there and get a real chance to earn a spot on the roster out of spring training. Same with Mountcastle.

Not sure what the point is. Stewart is the only one I think we should do something with. I'm fine with the rest of it.. except I'd rather not have Trumbo in the organization and certainly not taking up another roster spot on the ML club. We have Davis, that's enough.

Some of the stars don't really need it like the aforementioned Machado's and Markakis's of the world who are developed far more than the average minor leaguer when the get to A ball. It will be interesting to see how Elias manages Rutschman's ascent.

I would agree that it's probably not insurmountable, but if that guy comes up to the majors and struggles mightily as a result of that, he may get sent back down and maybe he gets blocked while he's down there or maybe he gets DFA'd. I want guys to be as ready as possible when they get to the major league club, but I see where you're coming from.

Ok, so you don't think AAA pitchers couldn't expose weaknesses than an AA pitcher wasn't developed enough to attack effectively? Maybe his pitches aren't good enough yet or his command needs too much work. Certainly, MLB pitchers can identify and attack just about any weakness relentlessly, so what if some weaknesses that would have been exposed by AAA pitchers was completely skipped and they go right to the majors where those pitchers not only expose the AAA level weaknesses, but also weaknesses he didn't even know he had. That's a lot to deal with all at once.

I said looking like they are wrong. If you still don't think Santander is starting to look like a major league player, you haven't been watching. Smith is a huge liability on defense and has no elite skills to speak of. Smith isn't looking anything like a major league player.. in any way.

Ok, here's a question for you. What would you have to see to think a positional player in the majors was suffering from a lack of minor league development?

The Indians thought the same thing about Santander and it's looking like they were wrong.

Fair enough. I do think there is something to be said for smoothing a player's transition by having him spend some time in AAA ball to get that extra increment of development. There are exceptions especially for first rounders like Machado and Markakis who were first rounders for a reason. Schoop wasn't even drafted, was he? He was an IFA signing, I think. Those guys are wild cards and can also have that kind of ability. I would say Rutschman is another guy though I do think he will end up spending a little time there at least under this regime. I am not generally in favor of promoting guys to the majors from Bowie because it's a huge leap. Just because some guys can do it doesn't really change my mind much. I will say that it's easier to see how a pitcher's development was hurt than it is a hitter's development. I do think many hitters benefit from at least some time in AAA. Some guys can only hit AAA pitching and ultimately end up being AAAA players, so there must be a significant difference in difficulty there and I'm not sure it's necessarily good to skip it altogether. The easier a player can transition to the next level, the better it is for them. Elias does seem to regard AAA as a beneficial level of development.

Based on what, though? He had a very solid season at AA before jumping to the majors.

Richie Martin?

I think it's actually a change up he's throwing, but can't tell for sure.

Kline's off speed stuff looks better.

Nunez doing a Tony Wolters again on deck.