Heston Kjerstad 2023

[baltfan]

1 minute ago, Bemorewins said:

As far as lineup goes, if/when we add Kjerstad, Mayo, and Holliday to what we have now, we could have an offense on par or better than the Braves this time last year.

However, we have a very thin margin of error as it relates to pitching talent. One or 2 of the wrong injuries next year and we may not be as good of a team as we are now, even with the better offense. 

Agreed small margin on pitching but that lineup will be so good, the pitching can be a bit mediocre. 

[Bemorewins]

1 minute ago, baltfan said:

Agreed small margin on pitching but that lineup will be so good, the pitching can be a bit mediocre. 

We still have a ways to go in catching the Braves and the Rays will still be very good as they too have an excellent farm system.

We might be equal to the Braves offensively, but we are a good distance away from them with pitching talent. They have the best record in the sport despite having two of their very talented starters injured.

[Bemorewins]

But none of that changes how excited that I am to see Kjerstad in an O's uniform whenever that time comes.

[AnythingO's]

19 hours ago, Bemorewins said:

But none of that changes how excited that I am to see Kjerstad in an O's uniform whenever that time comes.

After the Gunnar date August 31 or so), by then the AAA pitchers will pay for his first class ticket to wherever we are. His offensive performance in AAA may be better than AA, and that's saying something. The man is on a Mission.

[Bemorewins]

45 minutes ago, AnythingO's said:

After the Gunnar date August 31 or so), by then the AAA pitchers will pay for his first class ticket to wherever we are. His offensive performance in AAA may be better than AA, and that's saying something. The man is on a Mission.

I don’t see how they get him consistent ABs this year. 

[AnythingO's]

1 minute ago, Bemorewins said:

I don’t see how they get him consistent ABs this year. 

the OF becomes Hays, Mullins, Cowser, Kjerstad and they rotate with the odd man at DH when Adley/Santander isn't there. That would help keep Hays and Mullins fresh and not over expose Cowser. Hicks has come back to earth and hits the pine. Santander and O'Hearn at 1B-DH, not sure if Mounty will be here or not. Basically, unless HK craps the bed over the next 5 weeks, they could use that bat, it just looks ready.

[Bemorewins]

18 minutes ago, AnythingO's said:

the OF becomes Hays, Mullins, Cowser, Kjerstad and they rotate with the odd man at DH when Adley/Santander isn't there. That would help keep Hays and Mullins fresh and not over expose Cowser. Hicks has come back to earth and hits the pine. Santander and O'Hearn at 1B-DH, not sure if Mounty will be here or not. Basically, unless HK craps the bed over the next 5 weeks, they could use that bat, it just looks ready.

You know how her they aren’t going to rotating veterans who are performing well, with guys who are getting their feet wet. 

As much as I love Kjerstad as a prospect, I’m also realistic. There is no equivalent right now with Hays and Cowser or Santander and Kjerstad. We can displace guys who are performing well and have done so for unknowns and maybes down the stretch and into the postseason. 

That sounds like an unnecessary risk that is not worth taking.

[emmett16]

22 hours ago, Bemorewins said:

We still have a ways to go in catching the Braves and the Rays will still be very good as they too have an excellent farm system.

We might be equal to the Braves offensively, but we are a good distance away from them with pitching talent. They have the best record in the sport despite having two of their very talented starters injured.

We are 3 games behind them despite having our best pitcher on the IL all year.  Our team has some serious helium n potential.  Adley, Gunnar, Cowser have not hit their high water marks.  We have impactful players in AAA that will come up and improve throughout the year.  We very well could have swept them earlier this year.  I didn’t see a team that was superior to us.  I’m a closet Braves fan as my NL team (my dad is from GA and went to school in ATL) and watch a lot of their games.  I don’t see a team much better than ours.  As I’ve been saying all year, I very much think GRod will be Ace caliber by the end of the year or early next year.  GRod, Means, Bradish is nothing to sneeze at with Kremer & Wells bring up the 4 & 5 spot.  Not too many squads with the SP depth that we have.  I believe it will be a strength next year.  

[Bemorewins]

6 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

We are 3 games behind them despite having our best pitcher on the IL all year.  Our team has some serious helium n potential.  Adley, Gunnar, Cowser have not hit their high water marks.  We have impactful players in AAA that will come up and improve throughout the year.  We very well could have swept them earlier this year.  I didn’t see a team that was superior to us.  I’m a closet Braves fan as my NL team (my dad is from GA and went to school in ATL) and watch a lot of their games.  I don’t see a team much better than ours.  As I’ve been saying all year, I very much think GRod will be Ace caliber by the end of the year or early next year.  GRod, Means, Bradish is nothing to sneeze at with Kremer & Wells bring up the 4 & 5 spot.  Not too many squads with the SP depth that we have.  I believe it will be a strength next year.  

You mention our best pitcher being on IL. But as a "closet Braves fan" you know that they have a pitcher on IL who is much better than the one we are missing and another pretty good starter on IL too.

Also, I'm surprised as a "closet Braves fan" that you don't acknowledge their superior offense. They've outscored us by over 60 runs.

I'm no Braves fan closeted or otherwise (nothing against them just indifferent towards them), but I readily acknowledge that as good as Gunnar appears to be, he has a ways to go before catching Acuna Jr. The Braves have 6 (count them 6 hitters who have home run totals for the season who are at or well beyond our highest home run hitter (Santander) including Matt Olsen who has almost double Santander's home run output. But I am confident as a "closet Braves fan" you know all of this already.

It doesn't meant that they are a shoo-in to be crowned champions by any means. But if I were making odds of the Braves vs any opponent (including the O's) I'm favoring the Braves.

You appear to be higher on the O's talent than I am believing in best case scenarios/future projection etc. I view the Orioles as "a could be" and the Braves as "an already is". 

[emmett16]

1 minute ago, Bemorewins said:

You mention our best pitcher being on IL. But as a "closet Braves fan" you know that they have a pitcher on IL who is much better than the one we are missing and another pretty good starter on IL too.

Also, I'm surprised as a "closet Braves fan" that you don't acknowledge their superior offense. They've outscored us by over 60 runs.

I'm no Braves fan closeted or otherwise (nothing against them just indifferent towards them), but I readily acknowledge that as good as Gunnar appears to be, he has a ways to go before catching Acuna Jr. The Braves have 6 (count them 6 hitters who have home run totals for the season who are at or well beyond our highest home run hitter (Santander) including Matt Olsen who has almost double Santander's home run output. But I am confident as a "closet Braves fan" you know all of this already.

It doesn't meant that they are a shoo-in to be crowned champions by any means. But if I were making odds of the Braves vs any opponent (including the O's) I'm favoring the Braves.

You appear to be higher on the O's talent than I am believing in best case scenarios/future projection etc. I view the Orioles as "a could be" and the Braves as "an already is". 

We are 3 games behind them and haven’t even come close to firing on all cylinders. 

[Bemorewins]

Just now, emmett16 said:

We are 3 games behind them and haven’t even come close to firing on all cylinders. 

I think that we are playing about as well as could be reasonably hoped for and have far surpassed any preseason expectations that anyone had.

I'm not sure how you define "firing on all cylinders" but there is no guarantee that we reach our zenith or that they don't. I will say this, if both teams play toward their max potential, they will probably win. As I stated previously, they are better in just about ever area of the team including posses a player who is probably the NL MVP.

Again, I am no Braves fan, but I try to look at things as objectively as I can. They are just flat out better/more talented right now.

[Just Regular]

I mean if I really want to be feisty, Spencer Strider has never made it to the finish line and nobody else is that good.

To pivot back to thread topic, just let's make sure we get Heston Kjerstad into this competition and let go of this Aaron Hicks nonsense.

[Flash- bd]

1 hour ago, emmett16 said:

We are 3 games behind them and haven’t even come close to firing on all cylinders. 

Tbf, we're well outplaying our pythag and will certainly see some regression to the mean in the long-term with our success in close ball games. 

[emmett16]

23 minutes ago, Flash- bd said:

Tbf, we're well outplaying our pythag and will certainly see some regression to the mean in the long-term with our success in close ball games. 

I’m referring to the true potential of our 40 man roster.  Not what the current 26 are doing at this point in time. 

[Flash- bd]

7 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

I’m referring to the true potential of our 40 man roster.  Not what the current 26 are doing at this point in time. 

I know, I get that, but I was responding to the point that even without being close to our full potential that we're only 3 games back of them.

I agree with you on the full potential of the team. It's massive.