2022-2023 Offseason Thread

[fish16]

Burdick as I said with a really nice start to spring and he looks to have gotten even more ripped over the offseason. 2 run opposite field shot off of right and 12 year in a row top prospect Forrest Whitley

[fish16]

Groshans is starting at 1b today. If he could play there as well on top of 3b and ss, gotta think he will end up as the last bat in the bench to start the year

[lou]

Groshans is starting at 1b today. If he could play there as well on top of 3b and ss, gotta think he will end up as the last bat in the bench to start the year

I mean we know this already? The last spot is an infielder and his competition is frankly LeBlanc, or they keep Burdick and mess with Jazz's head and have him play a lot of IF time shifting guys around.


Forest Whitley is also far from a top prospect. He faded with the injuries.

[fish16]

I mean we know this already? The last spot is an infielder and his competition is frankly LeBlanc, or they keep Burdick and mess with Jazz's head and have him play a lot of IF time shifting guys around.


Forest Whitley is also far from a top prospect. He faded with the injuries.

I’m aware, I was joking. He was on the top prospect list and thought highly of for like 6 years and fell off due to like 4 straight years of injuries. He is their sixto

[fish16]

Another steal for berti. He’s gonna swipe 50 bags this year if he stays healthy with the bigger bags.

[lou]

I’m aware, I was joking. He was on the top prospect list and thought highly of for like 6 years and fell off due to like 4 straight years of injuries. He is their sixto

Sorry missed sarcasm detector. That is a perfect depth chart comparison though.

[fish16]

the way too early bright spots through 3 games of spring that mean absolutely nothing are Burdick, Groshans, DLC, and berti's speed. the pitching has been terrible, but everyone is just getting ready so spring training is pretty meaningless. stats especially at the end of spring will be even more meaningless this year with all the WBC defections.


I think Burdick lost prospect status coming up at the end of last year, but id be interested to see where he would be on the lists if he was still eligible. I love his profile if he can learn to hit righties even a little bit better. He struggled a bit in his first AAA action last year and he isnt a young prospect, but i love the tools and profile. Huge power, good athleticism, draws a lot of walks. At a floor he should be a great platoon guy with Sanchez. If he learns how to hit righties consistently he is an everyday player as soon as later this year if there is a spot open.

[lou]

the way too early bright spots through 3 games of spring that mean absolutely nothing are Burdick, Groshans, DLC, and berti's speed. the pitching has been terrible, but everyone is just getting ready so spring training is pretty meaningless. stats especially at the end of spring will be even more meaningless this year with all the WBC defections.


I think Burdick lost prospect status coming up at the end of last year, but id be interested to see where he would be on the lists if he was still eligible. I love his profile if he can learn to hit righties even a little bit better. He struggled a bit in his first AAA action last year and he isnt a young prospect, but i love the tools and profile. Huge power, good athleticism, draws a lot of walks. At a floor he should be a great platoon guy with Sanchez. If he learns how to hit righties consistently he is an everyday player as soon as later this year if there is a spot open.

Hinojosa. He is a darkhorse 13th bat. He slammed lefties last year (.934 OPS 125 PA) and can play SS/2B. Not sure about 3B. He has hit .300/.355/.480 his last 1,000 PA in AAA (.340 BABIP, 17% whiff). There might be something here as he is only 28. I can truly see him making the team so they can limit Groshans time on the MLB roster and he can start every day in AAA. They have to keep Groshans down minimum 39 service days to keep him under 1 year of service time this year remember (it is important!). Worst case scenario is Hinojosa sucks and they turn to other options by mid-May. Kind of like Henry last year. That roster spot is going to start 2 games a week if they are lucky to start the year so not. I see Hinojosa/LeBlanc/Hampson getting it to open absent a trade or truly spectacular performance from Burdick/Groshans/Amaya/Edwards/Jerar.

[Todd]

I think I've said this before, but the fact that the Marlins don't wear anything like these blue spring training uniforms in-season is insane. I also think the logo on their hats should be their main logo. It's so much better than the M.

I happened across this concept for an M hat. Based on the old unis. And it pisses me off that they didn't just make this minor change. Especially since you can easily rearrange the old MARLINS font to make it say Miami.

[fish16]

I didn’t realize Bryson Brigman was no longer with the organization. Signed a minors deal with the dodgers

[Lee Stone]

And former Marlin Luke Williams homered for the Dodgers.

[fish16]

What do you guys think of the rule changes so far? I really like the pitch clock, but i think they might eventually shift to 20 seconds instead of 15. 15 seems just a bit rushed to me. At the very least, i love the much faster pace of the game. the combination of the shift and the slow pace of play made baseball unwatchable because you could go 30 minutes of real time without a ball actually put in play. I like that the lack of the shift will lead to more base hits and the bigger bases will bring steals back into play a bit. In the past i get why baseball shifted to the all or nothing, home run or strikeout outcome style, but it was terrible from a fan experience. It will be an adjustment for sure, but there is no need for games to take 3-3.5 hours every single night, regardless of the score. the whole hitter stepping out of the box and adjusting his cup and batting gloves after every pitch was ridiculous.

Now if we can get robo umps in the next year we're really talking about baseball finally acting in their own best interest and not relying on the stupid "tradition" argument. I get umps are a lot better than they are given credit for and have gotten much better over the last 10 years, my argument has always been that if you have the technology to be perfect, it's stupid not to be. IF the technology isnt there, then by all means keep with normal umps, but its 2023, everyone at home can immediately determine whether a call was accurate or not, it's stupid that we still rely on middle aged men with cataracts to call balls and strikes.

[lou]

And former Marlin Luke Williams homered for the Dodgers.

It would be nice to have him as depth, especially with currently open 40 man space, but who cares as he's effectively a 13th man? They did manage to keep LeBlanc off the 40 man (and signed Hampson) and they got Amaya and Edwards so they have higher upside guys all around here. I'd be annoyed if they didn't have those 4 though. This also ignores Groshans.

Speaking of the 40 man, they also have Meyer, Bender, and Enright still on the 40 man, so they have room for 3 moves at any time. I suspect they are waiting for last guys to be released later in the spring as they can add LeBlanc, Hampson, and Hinojosa (all have options) whenever and don't need to do it now. It's too bad Smeltzer is OOO. I think he might be sneaky pretty OK but he'd have to be a permanent call up. This just gets me back to why did they keep Brazoban over Neidert or Poteet. Hopefully they know what they are doing there.

[lou]

What do you guys think of the rule changes so far? I really like the pitch clock, but i think they might eventually shift to 20 seconds instead of 15. 15 seems just a bit rushed to me. At the very least, i love the much faster pace of the game. the combination of the shift and the slow pace of play made baseball unwatchable because you could go 30 minutes of real time without a ball actually put in play. I like that the lack of the shift will lead to more base hits and the bigger bases will bring steals back into play a bit. In the past i get why baseball shifted to the all or nothing, home run or strikeout outcome style, but it was terrible from a fan experience. It will be an adjustment for sure, but there is no need for games to take 3-3.5 hours every single night, regardless of the score. the whole hitter stepping out of the box and adjusting his cup and batting gloves after every pitch was ridiculous.

Now if we can get robo umps in the next year we're really talking about baseball finally acting in their own best interest and not relying on the stupid "tradition" argument. I get umps are a lot better than they are given credit for and have gotten much better over the last 10 years, my argument has always been that if you have the technology to be perfect, it's stupid not to be. IF the technology isnt there, then by all means keep with normal umps, but its 2023, everyone at home can immediately determine whether a call was accurate or not, it's stupid that we still rely on middle aged men with cataracts to call balls and strikes.

Anything that gets games to 2.5 hours is worth it IMO.

Frankly, I think they can extend the pitch clock a little and speed up the half innings to deflect the time. Basically, having rolling on-screen ads (+ on jerseys) and have two big "stretches" after the third and mid-7th which effectively would be extended commercial breaks/beer runs like a hockey intermission (like 10 minutes). Teams can have their dumb mascot races after the 3rd, etc. Basically, shave 1-2 minutes every half inning and you'll shave 10+ minutes off the game even with some longer "stretches." The advertisers will still eat.

Throw in a few more minutes with a roboump, faster replay from a league office, keeping the pitch clock, policing mound visits, minimum RP standards, not throwing 4 balls for IBB, etc., and this easily becomes a 7-930 entertainment event.

[fish16]

Anything that gets games to 2.5 hours is worth it IMO.

Frankly, I think they can extend the pitch clock a little and speed up the half innings to deflect the time. Basically, having rolling on-screen ads (+ on jerseys) and have two big "stretches" after the third and mid-7th which effectively would be extended commercial breaks/beer runs like a hockey intermission (like 10 minutes). Teams can have their dumb mascot races after the 3rd, etc. Basically, shave 1-2 minutes every half inning and you'll shave 10+ minutes off the game even with some longer "stretches." The advertisers will still eat.

Throw in a few more minutes with a roboump, faster replay from a league office, keeping the pitch clock, policing mound visits, minimum RP standards, not throwing 4 balls for IBB, etc., and this easily becomes a 7-930 entertainment event.

Completely agree. I think Manfred is a terrible commissioner, but finally resisting the stupid tradition arguments and making the changes he's made recently, between essentially getting rid of the LOOGY with the 3 batter minimum rule, the intentional walk rule, and these changes, he's made not only the game better but the viewer experience better. Next up is robo umps and i will have nothing to complain about. I think that's next year. Just like this year, i think there will be up front complaints, but then people will get used to it, and games will stop being impacted by calls that every single viewer determines in seconds were wrong but the teams are just forced to live with.

I get why the game has shifted to focusing on home runs and being ok with strikeouts, but it's terrible for the game. The shift being gone will put an emphasis back on putting the ball in play, and while thats not "sexy," it's better from a viewer standpoint where there is more action. I said it yesterday, but i think it will increase offense and batting average. With last years rules and with how advanced the statistical analysis has gotten, it was so fucking hard to simply hit a single. You can say just hit it the other way, and to an extent that is true, but i thought it was bad for the game even if it was just a simple statistical analysis of where guys tended to hit the ball. I think the amount of singles this year are going to sky rocket and that's better for the game than nothing but home runs and strikeouts.