2013 Trade Deadline Talk

[Mainge]

I find it a bit weird that you're so high on Turner but not the rest of the guys.
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Like, I get liking him more, for sure.

But you called him a front-end guy, whereas you don't think Alvarez and Eovaldi can even be 4/5 types. His peripherals aren't fantastic either.

I'm not his biggest fan and I don't believe I called him a front end guy ever. I'm banking on his exceptional swinging strike rate to translate into more strikeouts.

But if it doesn't, he sucks too and we'll really need more arms.

[Erick]

If Alvarez ever figures out how to miss bats I will really enjoy watching him pitch.

Not sure why anyone thinks he'll start missing bats.

[Mainge]

It's worth noting that the park and our team defense will likely make these pitchers look better than they are for the next several years.

The opponents play in our park too. And I'd still rather get better pitchers and let our park/team D turn them from good to elite, rather than these guys go from okay to good.

[Erick]

The opponents play in our park too. And I'd still rather get better pitchers and let our park/team D turn them from good to elite, rather than these guys go from okay to good.

I'm not sure what the first sentence means. I mean, I know what it means, but I don't know how it applies to the context of the discussion.

Also, I know I'm in the minority, but I think Eovaldi can become way better than what he currently is.

[Beef]

If the park is making our pitchers look better because of the park, then it will do the same thing for the other team playing in our park. It won't really offer an advantage. It doesn't give our pitchers more of an advantage than the other team's pitchers.

[Mainge]

What Beef said

[Erick]

If the park is making our pitchers look better because of the park, then it will do the same thing for the other team playing in our park. It won't really offer an advantage. It doesn't give our pitchers more of an advantage than the other team's pitchers.

Other teams won't have our defense though. And our pitching, skill-wise, is probably still better than a lot of other teams' pitching.

At some point, Heaney will come up, too.

Fernandez, Heaney, Turner and some combination of Eovaldi, Alvarez, Nicolino, etc. at some point projects to be a lot better than league average, I think. It's also nice when you consider the depth of the team's bullpen, as well.

[Mainge]

I think our pitching has been pretty overrated by fans/pundits so I'd welcome more arms.

Guess we'll see.

[Erick]

I'd always welcome more arms too. However, compared to the rest of the league, I can't imagine too many teams have a better core of young pitchers.

The problem is that the team only has one proven hitter who's worth anything.

[Mainge]

What do you mean by skill wise?

[Bobbob1313]

Not sure why anyone thinks he'll start missing bats.

It's not whether he'll become an elite strikeout guy.

He struck out 6.5/9 in the minors and seems to have above-average stuff. If he can crawl up to 6-ish with solid control and groundballs, that can be a mid-rotation starter.
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What do you mean by skill wise?

Hard throwers with plus stuff, presumably.

[Erick]

What do you mean by skill wise?

I wasn't sure how to word that. I meant that even excluding the fortune that they've had, they all have pretty good stuff. Some of the strikeout #'s, I'm guessing, will increase. I also think velocity is important as it's probably allowing them to get away with some bad pitches.

I think Eovaldi is kinda the difference maker with the rotation. He's probably capable of being much better than his K/BB ratio would indicate. In terms of K's, his consistent velocity is rare and his slider is very good. I'm not sure why he doesn't K more guys. His walk rate is also weird. His zone% is ~50%.
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It's not whether he'll become an elite strikeout guy.

He struck out 6.5/9 in the minors and seems to have above-average stuff. If he can crawl up to 6-ish with solid control and groundballs, that can be a mid-rotation starter.
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Watching him pitch, he doesn't seem like the type of guy who's going to K even that many people. His fastball has good velocity, but it's mostly down in the zone and it seems like he's pitching to contact.

He doesn't really have an impressive offspeed pitch, either.

The last time his K rate was ~6 was in 2011. At that time, his best pitch was his changeup and his worst was his slider. For whatever reason, ever since that year, he's thrown more sliders and less changeups. It seems like that's playing a part in his terrible K rate. I think Alvarez is the least exciting of the young core of pitchers on the roster.

[dim]

Fernandez, Heaney, Turner, Eovaldi, Alvarez, Nicolino, Descalfini, Conley, Flynn.

Not to mention the Koehler/Sanabia/Hand etc... filler guys we still have who can start on command.

out of all these guys, Heaney and Fernandez are the only one's that project to be front line of the rotation pitchers, but I feel the team is safe in thinking that three of the seven+ other starters at the least will prove to be decent enough to handle down the 3-5 spots in the rotation for the foreseeable future.

While we would likely grab a really good pitcher in any hypothetical Stanton trade, the focus should be on restocking the lineup with good hitting talent.

Given how young guys all of our starting pitching options are, I think there's definite room for improvement from all of them.

[Erick]

We're also probably drafting another pitcher next year.

I don't know much about the draft, but we're gonna have a good pick and the top two or three guys I've heard of are pitchers. I could be wrong about that though.

[Bobbob1313]

The last time his K rate was ~6 was in 2011.

It's not like he's thrown so many innings in that time span that we can just write his numbers down in pen, though.