Re-visiting Luzardo

[Aristotelian]

3 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Though there are a lot of outfielders right now I am not sure there will be that many next year.   Santander, Hays and maybe even Mullins may not be on the team.   That leaves Kjerstad probably RF,   Cowser CF depending on if he hits.    

Norby, Stowers are probably traded.    Beavers and Fabian are not hitting that well at AA.   They could spend all season next year at AAA.  

I could see Mayo at 3B and Westburg in LF.  Not because Westburg isn't a good 3B but because of Mayo, Holliday and Westburg,  I think Westburg would be the best LFer.

So I don't really see Kjerstad as expendable.

I wouldn't say expendable either, but if he could get us a Skubal or Crochet level guy I'd have to think about it. A 2026 rotation of Skubal-Bradish-Grayson would have us set up nicely. 

[LookitsPuck]

I wouldn't want to touch Luzardo with a 10 foot pole. 

Left elbow tightness earlier this year, strikeout rate down, lumbar back issues, and he's only had one healthy season in the majors and really has never eclipsed 100 IP aside from last year. 

I don't think you should be trading for guys like that if you want to rely on them regardless of age and amount of years left. Yeah, you'd get him through 2026, but there's no guarantee that he'd be healthy this year or next year if that elbow issue is worse than is being let on. 

[HowAboutThat]

3 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

I have zero interest in raising our floor. That doesn’t help you in October.

We are in the playoffs. They aren’t missing them unless Burnes and GRod are done for the year.

So everything they do the rest of this year should be geared towards the absolute best roster possible in October. 

A better #3 would improve our October roster. You can have Heaven’s Own 1 and 2, and lose, and our 1 and 2 are excellent. Improving our #3 is what we need.

Better pen guys would allow for the removal of our worst pen guys, and improve our October roster. By definition, it is impossible to be , “…geared towards the best roster possible” WITHOUT raising the floor.

Replacing Urias/McCann etc would also improve our October roster but they may not be on it anyway, so the focus is on pitching.

So: Rotation with a better #3, Pen replacing Tate/Baker with two better guys raises the floor by improving our weakest, and also create a better October roster.

ME isn’t going to buy the best available, because he won’t pay for it. We hope he will get someone good, but it is almost assured that he will get someone better, and that will improve October.

[Sports Guy]

29 minutes ago, HowAboutThat said:

A better #3 would improve our October roster. You can have Heaven’s Own 1 and 2, and lose, and our 1 and 2 are excellent. Improving our #3 is what we need.

Better pen guys would allow for the removal of our worst pen guys, and improve our October roster. By definition, it is impossible to be , “…geared towards the best roster possible” WITHOUT raising the floor.

Replacing Urias/McCann etc would also improve our October roster but they may not be on it anyway, so the focus is on pitching.

So: Rotation with a better #3, Pen replacing Tate/Baker with two better guys raises the floor by improving our weakest, and also create a better October roster.

ME isn’t going to buy the best available, because he won’t pay for it. We hope he will get someone good, but it is almost assured that he will get someone better, and that will improve October.

There aren’t many better third options than Kremer on the market. There are a few but not many.

Raising the floor is weak. I’d rather raise the ceiling. Jon Gray doesn’t raise our ceiling at all.

[HowAboutThat]

20 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

There aren’t many better third options than Kremer on the market. There are a few but not many.

Raising the floor is weak. I’d rather raise the ceiling. Jon Gray doesn’t raise our ceiling at all.

Maybe it’s semantics, but it’s automatic if the Os add a bullpen piece, they'll remove a bullpen piece. It is impossible to do that without raising our floor because the worst is replaced by someone better( unless it is a purely lateral move and God save us from that.)

Adding a starter would automatically improve on Kremer, unless you’re only trying to improve 4 and 5. I’d be happy to do that; no one is happy rolling forward with Suarez and Povich, and that’s the point of this whole post; finding someone to improve the rotation.

the question is who will best do that for this season, and it’s not Luzardo. Might not be Gray, either, but he’s worth talking about.

Im more interested in Yates and Robertson from Texas