2023 Game Thread

[fish16]

They should have definitely claimed Bader for $866k. They had no chance at the pitchers with teams before them claiming so nothing to be mad about there, but Bader is a real head scratcher. Good move for Cincy there. I can understand a $1.7m pass on Grichuk at this stage as the team is going nowhere, but Bader could be a real piece if he's healthy and as said yesterday, getting him in the building would be a smart thing to do.

renfroe is the one they should have tried for. Idk how you can watch this lineup for the last 2 years and do so little in spots that so clearly need upgrades. DLC, Garcia, Wendle, and Stallings continuing to be on the roster let alone start is inexcusable. Wendle and Stallings have been burning a hole in the bottom 2 of the order for literally the entire year. at no point were either of them remotely competent. DLC has been awful for each of the last 2 years outside of 2 1 month stretches. He has a sub .700 OPS in 4 out of 5 months this year and had a sub .651 OPS in 4 out of the 5 months he played with at least 22 ab's in a month last year. The guy fucking stinks. His numbers are inflated by 2 hot streaks and even then his numbers suck. And that's not getting into the fact that he might be one of the worst defensive players ive ever fucking seen. Out of all players in mlb with at least 500 PA's so far this year, he has the 4th worst WAR.

We continually let these abysmal players stink up the joint for months if not years on end and never cut bait. Xavier edwards not getting a call at any point while he has been on fire for 4 full months while we are last in the league in runs might be the most absurd thing ive ever watched a team do with their roster. Kim probably deserves another year realistically, but if she gets fired, she has no one to blame but herself for her god awful in season decisions for years now.

The following players cannot be on the roster next year- Wendle, Stallings, Gurriel, Garcia, DLC, Lopez, Cueto, Robertson. We have a talented core surrounded by some of the worst veterans ive ever seen. Not even that they arent positives, they are legitimate negative players on this team and half of them have been for 2 full seasons. We have given 1984 fucking at bats to DLC, Segura, Cooper, Stallings, Jonathan Davis, Wendle, and Gurriel. That is completely inexcusable.

[lou]

renfroe is the one they should have tried for. Idk how you can watch this lineup for the last 2 years and do so little in spots that so clearly need upgrades. DLC, Garcia, Wendle, and Stallings continuing to be on the roster let alone start is inexcusable. Wendle and Stallings have been burning a hole in the bottom 2 of the order for literally the entire year. at no point were either of them remotely competent. DLC has been awful for each of the last 2 years outside of 2 1 month stretches. He has a sub .700 OPS in 4 out of 5 months this year and had a sub .651 OPS in 4 out of the 5 months he played with at least 22 ab's in a month last year. The guy fucking stinks. His numbers are inflated by 2 hot streaks and even then his numbers suck. And that's not getting into the fact that he might be one of the worst defensive players ive ever fucking seen. Out of all players in mlb with at least 500 PA's so far this year, he has the 4th worst WAR.

We continually let these abysmal players stink up the joint for months if not years on end and never cut bait. Xavier edwards not getting a call at any point while he has been on fire for 4 full months while we are last in the league in runs might be the most absurd thing ive ever watched a team do with their roster. Kim probably deserves another year realistically, but if she gets fired, she has no one to blame but herself for her god awful in season decisions for years now.

The following players cannot be on the roster next year- Wendle, Stallings, Gurriel, Garcia, DLC, Lopez, Cueto, Robertson. We have a talented core surrounded by some of the worst veterans ive ever seen. Not even that they arent positives, they are legitimate negative players on this team and half of them have been for 2 full seasons. We have given 1984 fucking at bats to DLC, Segura, Cooper, Stallings, Jonathan Davis, Wendle, and Gurriel. That is completely inexcusable.

Thanks for clarifying your position on these players and that they are all horrible

[Namaste]

Bob Nightengale reporting that the Marlins were going to claim every player the Guardians did.

[Todd]

Sure, Jan.

[fish16]

Waited until September 1 to call up Edwards

[fish16]

id like to see them give maldonado a shot in september. if there is no roster spot available then DFA lopez, he shouldnt be brought back next year anyways. Maldonado seems like he could be a potential righty nardi that we develop from the middle rounds of the draft into a weapon out of the pen. We need another righty reliever anyways, give him a shot the last month here. the numbers in the minors look a lot like some of the guys who came up in the system and became at least solid relievers for a while like Wittgren, Nardi, Vesia, etc.

[fish16]

acuna going for 30 homers and 60 steals with a .337 average, .992 OPS, and almost as many walks as strikeouts before september 1 is fucking absurd.

[fish16]

braxton garrett has been phenomenal all year long. he is a guy i would consider locking up if you can get him on a really nice deal right now. Id like to see extensions in the offseason for him, eury, and luzardo. they need to lock up this core of pitching and arraez and start building around them.

Over the last 2 years garrett has thrown 220 innings with a 3.8 WAR, and around a 3.4 XFIP. His control has been impeccable this year. On pace for 164 k's and 27 walks in 170 innings.

[lou]

Article on higher end minor league SS, defense only - https://blogs.fangraphs.com/lets-wat...-play-defense/

TLDR
-Cappe is young so we'll see what happen, but he is now profiling as a 2B and not a SS (or 3B I presume) because of low arm strength.
-Joey Ortiz was downgraded defensively and is likely not a longterm SS, but should be OK there for a few. His overall prospect grade (FV50) hasn't dropped though because the guy is hitting
-Brooks Lee, i.e. the guy drafted after Berry, is going to be a SS for a few years and grow out of the position, but is effectively MLB ready. Sigh.
-Addison Barger can dabble at SS, but profiles best elsewhere

I don't think Minnesota will move Lee (nor can the Marlins afford him), so I still think Ortiz may be the best bet and Barger a second bet. Both would likely form a good longterm platoon (on paper anyways) with Amaya, a more defense first guy versus both of them are offense first players. The pool of suitable MLB guys that may be expendable is pretty low is what I am saying here. Everyone else in the article (Mayer, Holliday, Lawlar, etc.) are going nowhere.

Effectively, I am still in on getting Joey Ortiz as the SS solution given Baltimore's depth and giving him, Amaya, and Nasim 24/25+, with Berti also around at least next year. And some future hope with Cappe. That's a suitable SS plan to me, with the larger bat focus being retaining Soler on a QO and getting an OF upgrade over DLC. And a catcher of course.

[fish16]

Article on higher end minor league SS, defense only - https://blogs.fangraphs.com/lets-wat...-play-defense/

TLDR
-Cappe is young so we'll see what happen, but he is now profiling as a 2B and not a SS (or 3B I presume) because of low arm strength.
-Joey Ortiz was downgraded defensively and is likely not a longterm SS, but should be OK there for a few. His overall prospect grade (FV50) hasn't dropped though because the guy is hitting
-Brooks Lee, i.e. the guy drafted after Berry, is going to be a SS for a few years and grow out of the position, but is effectively MLB ready. Sigh.
-Addison Barger can dabble at SS, but profiles best elsewhere

I don't think Minnesota will move Lee (nor can the Marlins afford him), so I still think Ortiz may be the best bet and Barger a second bet. Both would likely form a good longterm platoon (on paper anyways) with Amaya, a more defense first guy versus both of them are offense first players. The pool of suitable MLB guys that may be expendable is pretty low is what I am saying here. Everyone else in the article (Mayer, Holliday, Lawlar, etc.) are going nowhere.

Effectively, I am still in on getting Joey Ortiz as the SS solution given Baltimore's depth and giving him, Amaya, and Nasim 24/25+, with Berti also around at least next year. And some future hope with Cappe. That's a suitable SS plan to me, with the larger bat focus being retaining Soler on a QO and getting an OF upgrade over DLC. And a catcher of course.

jacob berry was a dumb pick but he has been much better since the start of june or so. he had a .477 OPS in April, .509 in May, then .805 in june, .739 in july, and then .777 last month in his first taste of AA. Still need more, and he should start next year in AA and hope he can mash early with a quick AAA promotion, but it's been better.

[lou]

braxton garrett has been phenomenal all year long. he is a guy i would consider locking up if you can get him on a really nice deal right now. Id like to see extensions in the offseason for him, eury, and luzardo. they need to lock up this core of pitching and arraez and start building around them.

Over the last 2 years garrett has thrown 220 innings with a 3.8 WAR, and around a 3.4 XFIP. His control has been impeccable this year. On pace for 164 k's and 27 walks in 170 innings.

I think that's a bad idea. Garrett is controlled through 2028 right now due to the Marlins gangster service time manipulation last year (.168 days with that laughable September demotion), has had major health issues, has a tough pitch mix as he is so reliant on secondary pitches, and will then be over 30 after 2028. There is no reason to sign him longer as a softer tossing lefty (top of the volatile scale) when you have this huge control already and he's not breaking an arbitration bank as likely not an elite performer. But yes, he is pretty good and a revelation with Rogers being really hurt and the team shipping Pablo and Eder. He's a year to year guy for me for his entire tenure here, but would revisit after 2025 maybe if he kills for 2 more years.

I'd set the extension strategy to this personally:

Absolute Must No excuses - Arraez and Luzardo (5)

Near Must - Soler (2 or Qualifying Offer), Eury (6+ options for 2+ more years ala Hunter Greene, but could maybe wait a year so not an absolute must but should just do it)

Borderline - Jazz (if he'd take a realistic deal that accounts for his injuries while still being respectful to his upside. Maybe this is 5/$55m with some serious performance incentives. He's going to get killed in arbitration with all the missed games so the Marlins maybe be able to get something done here), Scott (he's a $12m/year pitcher in FA right now and a year from free agency with a low arbitration tender of maybe $4-5m coming. I bet they could sign him for 3/$18-20. His career earnings are $6m so this is a big life moment for him to cash in forever. He can take a good 2024 salary and bet on himself, but relievers are volatile and pitchers get hurt so this could be an opportunistic deal for everyone with all the cheap relievers the Marlins have with Nardi, Bender, Soriano, maybe Weathers, Fulton, Monterverde, even Meyer, etc.)

If very, very, VERY, club friendly - Puk (FIP is good, a total buy low for a guy who should be a top end RP quickly. He has 3 years of control left, so this would be guaranteeing a low arbitration for 3 years for 2 club friendly options on the back end. Maybe he'd do it. Could probably do this after 2024 also. This is like 3/$8 with two $7m options on the back to mention max), Cabrera (I think he's a keeper longterm, so another buy very low, but this is probably waiting a year as he too is controlled through 2028. Would have to be an Albies level club friendly deal. This is like 5/$18-20 with two or three $10-15m options on the back and betting 31/32 year old Cabrera is a really good pitcher. Would be a tough deal for him so I don't think it would happen)

That's it for me. I like guys like Garrett and Sanchez and can see why you might want to do it with them, but they got a lot of control, are more volatile, and not necessarily buy lows like Puk and Cabrera right now.

Ultimately, I expect Arraez, Luzardo, Eury, and Soler to be worked out, and I'm not sure about Jazz but I think they will make a fair offer. Everything else will be tabled, but I do think Scott would be a good idea if we're in that ballpark.

[lou]

jacob berry was a dumb pick but he has been much better since the start of june or so. he had a .477 OPS in April, .509 in May, then .805 in june, .739 in july, and then .777 last month in his first taste of AA. Still need more, and he should start next year in AA and hope he can mash early with a quick AAA promotion, but it's been better.

Sure, but we'd all take Brooks Lee. And we'd all take Matt McClain, drafted right after Khalil Watson.

This organization is in a major different place with Lee and McClain which sucks for us.

[fish16]

turns out that spencer strider contract looks pretty damn good for the braves.

[fish16]

just for the record, nothing about service time manipulation is gangster.

[Nick]

Eury at 110.2 innings this year. Potentially 6 more starts left, he's averaged about 5 IP per start since being back. Could be looking at 140.2 innings this year