There have been a lot of good developments this year

[Frobby]

In no particular order:

1.   Trey Mancini came back strong from his poor 2018, and has put together an excellent season.   

2.   Jonathan Villar has maxed out and been very exciting to watch.   

3.   Hanser Alberto came out of nowhere to become a big contributor.    Six weeks ago I’d have said he was hitting an empty .300; but his OPS is almost at .800 now and he just keeps on hitting.   

4.    Anthony Santander justified his Rule 5 selection multiple years ago and looks like a solid piece for the future.   

5.   Pedro Severino has hit way better than anyone had the right to expect.   

6.   John Means has gone from an afterthought to a solid starting pitcher.    

7.   Renato Nunez has proven to be a solid major league hitter.   

I’m going to leave it at those 7 for now, because these guys have been playing in the majors for most or all of the season.    There are some other glimmers of hope on the major league roster as well (Hunter Harvey comes to mind), and many good stories in the minors that may bear fruit in 2020-21.     But these are seven guys who have clearly exceeded my expectations at the major league level.

[mdbdotcom]

I don't know how much credit Don Long should get for the success of Villar, Alberto, Severino, Santander and Nunez, but at the very least he did not get in their way.

[hoosiers]

I agree 100%. 

At the major league level, I think these individual performances have been excellent and there are several guys who should either bring back some quality in trade or can be a real solid piece on a future competitive team.  Mancini, Means, Santander and Villar have been very good.  To have John Means emerge as a solid 3 for this year is an unbelievably positive development.  

I have always thought that competitive starts with competent, solid players or better among a team's top 17 - the SPs, top 3 bp arms and the starting hitters.  DD showed that depth can be a difference maker, but it starts with those 17 for me (besides a necessity for a good portion of those 17 to be pre-free agency).  On Opening Day, I don't think I had confidence that anyone on our starting roster would be among those 17 around 2021 or 2022 - or tradeable for a prospect who could be.  Right now, I think one would have to say that Mancini, Means and Santander could fill three of those 17 positions.  Villar would if younger, but hopefully he has some trade value.  We have to see how Alberto and Nunez produce going forward.  I thought Ruiz would be better.

I am a bit disappointed that Sisco hasn't been better.  Mullins was a disappointment.  Hays could have been up this year, but has lost the year to injury IMO - and same goes for Diaz.

Biggest disappointment in this year has to be the front office dealing Yastremski.  Lots to happen for the final chapter to be written there, but that could be a massive mistake by our front office. 

[atomic]

I agree with first 6.  I dont think Nunez has proved anything. .795 OPS .317 OBP from a DH isnt proving much to me.  

[HowAboutThat]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

In no particular order:

1.   Trey Mancini came back strong from his poor 2018, and has put together an excellent season.   

2.   Jonathan Villar has maxed out and been very exciting to watch.   

3.   Hanser Alberto came out of nowhere to become a big contributor.    Six weeks ago I’d have said he was hitting an empty .300; but his OPS is almost at .800 now and he just keeps on hitting.   

4.    Anthony Santander justified his Rule 5 selection multiple years ago and looks like a solid piece for the future.   

5.   Pedro Severino has hit way better than anyone had the right to expect.   

6.   John Means has gone from an afterthought to a solid starting pitcher.    

7.   Renato Nunez has proven to be a solid major league hitter.   

I’m going to leave it at those 7 for now, because these guys have been playing in the majors for most or all of the season.    There are some other glimmers of hope on the major league roster as well (Hunter Harvey comes to mind), and many good stories in the minors that may bear fruit in 2020-21.     But these are seven guys who have clearly exceeded my expectations at the major league level.

Thank you for this. Devil’s advocate response: Núñez has lousy defense everywhere. He DH or nothing. 

Mancini is only playable at 1B. 

Villar makes really careless mistakes. Can’t fix careless.

but that’s all I got. Lots of things to hope on, here.

[LocoChris]

Remember when some goofs on here thought we’d win less games than last year? Hilarious. 

[Aristotelian]

Not sure is the order is random. In order of impact, Means has to go at the top of the list. He was literally replacement level guy and is now closing in on 4 WAR and a viable #2/#3 SP.

I would put Santander second with 1.5 WAR in half a season and looks like an average to plus defender at the corners.

Alberto is close with 2.5 WAR over a full season although I don't love his defense anywhere.

Villar and Mancini I would put next only because they had already established their ceilings.

The minor league system going from bottom of the barrel to top 10 is probably the biggest story.

I would also add that we are already closing in on last year's win total, with a team that started out worse on paper. Beating last year's win total without Manny, Schoop, Jonesy, and Gausman I think is a great achievement for these guys. Even if we went 2-16 down the stretch, I would feel better about this season than last season as we seem to be headed in a positive direction and it looks like the organization has a plan.

[El Gordo]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

In no particular order:

1.   Trey Mancini came back strong from his poor 2018, and has put together an excellent season.   

2.   Jonathan Villar has maxed out and been very exciting to watch.   

3.   Hanser Alberto came out of nowhere to become a big contributor.    Six weeks ago I’d have said he was hitting an empty .300; but his OPS is almost at .800 now and he just keeps on hitting.   

4.    Anthony Santander justified his Rule 5 selection multiple years ago and looks like a solid piece for the future.   

5.   Pedro Severino has hit way better than anyone had the right to expect.   

6.   John Means has gone from an afterthought to a solid starting pitcher.    

7.   Renato Nunez has proven to be a solid major league hitter.   

I’m going to leave it at those 7 for now, because these guys have been playing in the majors for most or all of the season.    There are some other glimmers of hope on the major league roster as well (Hunter Harvey comes to mind), and many good stories in the minors that may bear fruit in 2020-21.     But these are seven guys who have clearly exceeded my expectations at the major league level.

Add a good fielding SS and CF who can hit 750 OPS and that's a decent starting line up.

[Ohfan67]

On the whole, it’s been a better season than I expected. Frobby’s list is very good. There’s been some ragging on Hyde and the other coaches in some recent threads, but I think there has been some real player development at the ML level. Add what’s happened in the minors this year and 2019 really looks much better. DD left more talent in the organization than many of us thought but it’s easy to believe that Elias and company have drastically improved player development. I’m orders of magnitude more optimistic than I was last fall, for sure. 

[mdbdotcom]

1 hour ago, El Gordo said:

Add a good fielding SS and CF who can hit 750 OPS and that's a decent starting line up.

Then all we'll need is a pitching staff that gives up 250 runs less over the course of the season. Piece of cake!

[El Gordo]

5 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

Then all we'll need is a pitching staff that gives up 250 runs less over the course of the season. Piece of cake!

Those Bowie SP look very promising And Means, Bundy, and Wojo look like decent MOR  SP's. need more solid RP's plus the SS and CF.

[wildcard]

2 hours ago, Ohfan67 said:

On the whole, it’s been a better season than I expected. Frobby’s list is very good. There’s been some ragging on Hyde and the other coaches in some recent threads, but I think there has been some real player development at the ML level. Add what’s happened in the minors this year and 2019 really looks much better. DD left more talent in the organization than many of us thought but it’s easy to believe that Elias and company have drastically improved player development. I’m orders of magnitude more optimistic than I was last fall, for sure. 

Well said.

[interloper]

4 hours ago, atomic said:

I agree with first 6.  I dont think Nunez has proved anything. .795 OPS .317 OBP from a DH isnt proving much to me.  

That's better than most DHs. Os are 6th overall for the DH position, most of which has been Nunez.

[DirtyBird]

4 hours ago, atomic said:

I agree with first 6.  I dont think Nunez has proved anything. .795 OPS .317 OBP from a DH isnt proving much to me.  

He was a waiver claim that had a .522 OPS w/ Texas and .460 with Oakland and has a salary of $562k

[waroriole]

Hunter Harvey.....