7Mo

Was #15 on the Red Sox prospects list as of March 2019: The righty is not really the type of reliever we’ve gotten used to around the league over the last few years. Instead of pairing a huge fastball and a devastating breaking ball, Lakins boasts four pitches that could be average or better. One of those is a big fastball that can get up to the upper-90s in shorter stints. Beyond that he throws both a cutter and a slider, which share similar movement but come in at different speeds, as well as a curveball and a changeup that may be scrapped. The repertoire was never the issue for starting, and it carries over to his relief profile. However, the arsenal is not a finished product, as he needs to work on commanding all of his pitches in any situation. https://www.overthemonster.com/2019/3/15/18266925/red-sox-top-prospects-travis-lakins-bullpen-depth

He probably meant it wouldn't require anyone from the major league roster.

Jose Siri maybe? The Reds announced Monday that they’ve designated outfielder Jose Siri for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to fellow outfielder Nicholas Castellanos, whose previously reported four-year, $64MM contract has now been formally announced. Siri, 24, was considered to be among Cincinnati’s best farmhands just two years ago. FanGraphs, in fact, ranked him near the back end of the game’s 100 best prospects (No. 93 overall) heading into the 2018 campaign. At that point, he was a 22-year-old who was fresh off an impressive .293/.341/.530 slash with 24 homers and 46 steals in the Class-A Midwest League. Since that time, however, Siri has turned in a pair of disappointing seasons, logging a combined on-base percentage south of .300 in 2018-19 between Class-A Advanced, Double-A and Triple-A. This past season, Siri mustered a lackluster .237/.300/.357 showing through 517 plate appearances in the minors, and he’s struggled even more heavily in the Dominican Winter League (.196/.264/.411 in 125 plate appearances). Siri has a minor league option remaining and is a plus runner who has been touted as a potentially plus defensive player, making him a reasonable bounceback target for a club that’s lacking outfield depth. The Reds will have a week to trade him, place him on outright waivers or release him.

I agree with this part. Didn't mean to suggest otherwise.

I differ only in the sense that I think he gets 6 weeks of the regular season to fail. Then he's gone. And that will coincide with the Mountcastle call up.

I'd like to think Davis rejecting the suggestions to work with someone and work on swing changes over the offseason was the last straw, realizing he'll have a chance in ST to prove otherwise. Even with decision makers wanting to give him every opportunity given the size of the contract, refusing suggestions and refusing the plan for improvement might have done the trick.

He just had surgery for a torn capsule in his shoulder. https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/astros-aaron-sanchez-could-miss-all-of-2020/

Not to mention that no one else in the Astro's front office is implicated.

The Reds seem interested in Holt. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/01/reds-rumors-interested-brock-holt.html

Brodie says he never asked. No one ever asked Beltran. Seems a tad bit shy of competent to me. Or believable.

I understand. But I could feel really good about a Givens and Mancini trade (and maybe 1-2 more) if the return looks good and if prospects are developing well. That could make for a pretty bad 2020 season but would give me even more hope going forward.

Not sure how you look at it but I can see a scenario where we have a top 5 pick in 2021 (even top 3) and I could still feel really good about progress and where the organization is going.

If he's throwing well by July, we should find out if the O's are willing to eat some salary to trade him. And whether they will eat a lot to increase the prospect return.

Wilcox doesn't fit the profile we've been looking for in pitchers according to Luke. The pick at 30 should be really interesting. It's likely that there's a very good high school talent available there with huge signing demands. Do you take a risk with the high ceiling high school guy there? Obviously it depends on who is available but it'll be interesting to me to see which direction they go.

Hope you're right.

You're more confident than I am. Cora gets killed. Not as sure the Sox do.

Yes.

And for how many years and years and years.

Twitter says they'll promote Pete Putila.

And Jim Crane calls this a speed bump. Doubt that goes over well.

Maybe he's a guy known for putting a little extra effort into helping a young pitching staff (meaning at AAA). I remember watching him at TCU so I hope he does well.

The O's also hired Kevin Carter (@KevinWC7) yesterday who had been writing for Baseball Prospectus and a Rangers website.

I had a post written out blaming you but wasn''t sure you'd know I was joking.

Outstanding. Congrats.

Right on the money: “There’s also some pitch-mix usage things that they’re going to look at, as well,” he said. “I think that the things they’ve given me so far, the intent was to clean up my delivery and they think there’s some added velo potential and maybe some increased usage of my slider. They see some low-hanging fruit is kind of the way they expressed it to me. “Those are just a few of the things. I know it’s going to get a lot deeper once we get into spring training and we can really sit down and talk about it more. But those are just on the forefront some of the things that they mentioned.” The Orioles also suggested that Stewart go back to throwing his four-seam fastball, which became his fourth pitch last season. https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2020/01/stewart-embracing-chance-to-be-role-model-while-trying-to-make-club.html