7Mo

Chapter 7 of the Unwritten Rules of Baseball. Summarized it says "it's better to catch the ball in the air and get an out when you're on defense".

Agreed. I doubt it would even be discussed.

With the only exception being if signing him to an extension made him MORE valuable in trade, which is extremely unlikely.

That makes a lot of sense but I'm gonna hold out hope that at least one team, somewhere, falls in love with him and structures a trade accordingly.

Sorry to disagree with you but I don't think Elias is focusing on 50 wins or 70 wins. The goal isn't the highest draft pick possible. The goal is to improve the talent level from the lowest minor league team to the 25 man roster. And the biggest key to doing that is to develop players at all stages, whether that's the GCL or DSL or Bowie or anywhere in between, including someone like Means at Balt. And I think it means we're going to have guys in AA or AAA that could be rushed that could help, but they won't be because the overriding goal is development. Another part of the overall goal is to draft as well as possible and certainly having 1-1 or 1-2 helps the chances. But it also means someone like Welk in later rounds who might have a future. And after round 5 or so, does it matter if you're picking first that round or 12th? in the sense that Elias isn't focused on 70 wins instead of 50 wins, I do agree with that. I think almost everyone on the MLB roster is being viewed as a chip to trade for something that could become a better chip. An example would be Villar. I don't think there were "no" offers for Villar at the trade deadline but I believe there weren't offers that Elias thought made the club better in the long run. A day or so ago, Elias mentioned being in place this year to sign some guys who could help, and cited Wojo as an example. But I don't believe the point of that kind of signing is to win 70 games. I think it's to find another chip that can be traded in July for something that improves the club long term. Elias has something that few clubs have. He has 3 spots where he can sign a minor league free agent who needs 10-12 starts to prove his worth. Maybe 1 or 2 of 3-4 signings take the opportunity and run with it and become a valuable chip in July. I also believe some guys who are having MLB success, like Mancini will be traded when Elias gets an offer he views as helpful long term. But if he isn't, I'm going to interpret that to mean that the offers just weren't of enough value rather than it being important to leave a MLB asset that might contribute to a few more wins. I agree with a lot of your post otherwise.

Agree with all you said with the only exception being that Elias quote which I remember to be something to the effect of "giving Davis some things to work on this offseason". That's not an exact quote but I think it's close. To me, that means Davis gets one more spring training to show worth and maybe the time it takes to set the Mountcastle clock early in the year.

He went on the IL in June.

I think you're a little more passionate about this than I am. I'm not trying to deflect anything but I didn't intend to start an argument either. I'll leave the rest to you.

Or send him home with instructions. Most of these guys work out all offseason. I don't know why they didn't bring him up but I'm positive they know the player better than I do. If it's solely a service time decision, I don't disagree with that in the slightest. The lack of walks is often an issue for a player coming to MLB. Being below average at any defensive position seems like an issue. I trust Elias has a well thought out plan.

I'm curious how you know that.

Yea, no. You and I disagree. No big deal. The kids in the minors are well aware this is a business.

The message Mountcastle should get is he can improve defensively and recognizing/controlling the strike zone.

That was into the wind.

Read it as answering David Hall's tweet.

Agreed and hopefully Cobb by July and maybe Severino.

I agree. Austin Martin is my guy but from the Callis article above, take a look at this: 4. Garrett Mitchell, OF, UCLA A better all-around player than Torkelson or Martin, Mitchell is a lefty hitter who already gets some plus grades for his bat, speed, arm and center-field defense, and he also has the bat speed to develop similar power. He broke out as a sophomore, batting .349/.418/.566 with 32 extra-base hits and 26 steals, though his Type 1 diabetes is a concern for some clubs.

Nathan Witt, 17th round pick in '17. In Class A now.

Just released from the A's. This is a guy Luhnow and Elias drafted with the Cards. Might be an interest. From MLB Traderumors: The Athletics have designated outfielder Nick Martini for assignment, per a club announcement. Martini was a seventh-round pick of the Cardinals in 2011 who proved to be a shrewd minor league signing for the Athletics last season. He earned his first major league promotion in the first week of June in 2018 and then proceeded to slash an impressive .296/.397/.414 (129 wRC+) with 1.3 fWAR in 179 plate appearances, though he only hit one home run over that span. Unsurprisingly, the left-handed Martini did just about all of his damage against righty pitchers. Even though Martini was an easily above-average hitter at the major league level a year ago, he hasn’t been much of a factor in the bigs this season. The 29-year-old collected just 13 PA with the 2019 A’s before they cut him, instead spending almost all of the campaign with their Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas. Across 329 trips to the plate, Martini has put up a strong .328/432/.482 line in the minors with eight home runs and almost as many walks (49) as strikeouts (51), good for a 129 wRC+ that matches his MLB production from 2018. With two minor league options left, it’s possible someone will claim Martini on waivers.

6'10" and 170? Is 6'10" correct? http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&player_id=687668#/career/R/hitting/2019/ALL https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=alvare001yor https://www.mlb.com/player/yorkislandy-alvarez-687668?stats=career-r-hitting-minors&year=2019 https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=sa3009570&position=2B/3B/SS Looks more like 6'1"