2024 Game Thread

[fish16]

Uh, you're angry and projecting again my man. Look inwards. I think the main problem here is you consistently think the world is black and white. Brujan did have a short period he looked good enough offensively, and when that happens, players deserve time. They earn it. When he didn't take advantage, he drifts away into nothing which he most certainly has. I didn't make any prediction about Brujan being a longterm piece. I thought that for a time earlier this year, he was earning time and lets hope for the best of prospect pedigree taking over. The best never came. It's similar to how you championed Nick Gordon, and then nothing happened. It was a smart enough move to make a bet on him as he too has shown some traits, but it didn't work out. They gave him some time, and it didn't happen. You move on. Like get over yourself? What are you doing here? This is a sports message board not your outlet for whatever no doubt frustration you have in your day to day life. Otto has some interesting stats. I think he should play. You haven't negated this yet IMO, but if you don't like him that's fine. You be you. Also to note since you make things up I say, I never said to play him over Edwards, burger, norby, or bride - and I'll add Sanchez and Stowers to that. But he frankly is next most interesting of everyone else like Hill, Pache, and Hensley, and he should be playing over them to see if something clicks as the defense is frankly, extremely interesting. I also think burning service time is dumb for 21 year olds. If you don't? You be you. I want the team to be efficient and cheaper at all times. I think that is important for a team with a cheap ass owner to develop their players with efficiency in mind in non contending years.

Cabrera was also pretty good today, but I guess you didn't watch the start. Slider was reintroduced which has been gone for weeks, he gave up solo bombs which happens, and some BS in the first. Did you know Arizona is the # 1 offense in baseball? What they are doing with his pitch mix is really smart. The front office has a clue and he is on a right track if he can stay healthy. Unlike Brujan, he *is* a piece and he is going to be (really) good in whatever role he ends up assuming he can stay healthy. Also lets analyze the latest gem - multi walk games. Only three qualified starters in baseball (Kirby, Eflin, Webb) averaged less walks then the bar you are setting with 1 walk a game last year. Who cares if a guy walks a few guys a game if he's hard to hit and strikes guys out? What's interesting here also is which qualified starter in baseball walked the most guys last year? To spare the intrigue, he won the Cy Young. Cabrera is always going to be wild at times, but that doesn't make someone ineffective. You know who else was really wild but then put it together? Tanner Scott when he turned 28 years old. Bet on the stuff. Scott had the stuff. Cabrera has the stuff.

I legitimately have no idea what you are talking about regarding championing nick gordon. I liked the move for him because he had a talented pedigree and okert sucked. I never penciled him in for a long term starter spot or a roster spot while he has a sub .600 ops. You talk about giving Otto lopez time as if he's had 50 ab's this year. the guy has 300 ab's this year, has no impressive minor league pedigree to think a breakout is coming, has been dfa'd twice by 2 good teams in a year, and has been 38% worse than a league average hitter. If you find that to be interesting you do you, it;s just going to be the next brujan.

Cabrera wasnt good yesterday. His FIP was close to 8 and XFIP close to 5.50. Walks matter. And even in non-walk ab's, consistently getting in hitter friendly counts matters. It's why he has been a thoroughly mediocre pitcher his entire career, and why he has a negative WAR this year and just 1.0 WAR for his career in over 250 innings. You talk about walks not making him ineffective- he has flatly been completely ineffective his entire career with the occasional start where he has good control and looks good. The vast majority of his career has been daniel cabrera level ineffective. You consistently bring up Meyer getting hit hard his 3rd time through the order when cabrera gets fucking demolished. Teams have an .830 OPS against him the second time through the order and a 1.329 OPS the third time through an order. Blake snell had bad control last year, and yet his walk rate is still under what cabrera's has been each of the last 2 years. He's also had a k/9 over 11 each of the last 7 years, and gives up .8 HR's per 9 compared to Cabrera's 1.79 per 9. Snell is the exception to the rule for walking too many guys, and yet his walk rate is still significantly lower than cabrera's for his career.

IDK if you guys have stockholm syndrome from watching Roddery Munoz and Shaun anderson and yonny chirinos and namaste's god sixto all year, but cabrera might be good in comparison to them, he's not good in comparison to the rest of the league.

[fish16]

The angriest poster in Marlins forum history says he’s not angry so therefore it must be true.

And just a total self-burial on the Edward Cabrera start today. Painfully obvious you didn’t watch his start today. “Another multi walk game”. Hahahaha wtf.

No one is angry, lou is just smug and parrots whatever fangraphs says and anyone else with a different opinion is wrong, until they arent, and then he never takes any accountability for how loud wrong his predictions are. I dont care enough about this team anymore to get angry. If the owner doesnt want to try to win, i dont get emotionally invested anymore.

I watched the game, you just dont know what youre watching because youre a complete fucking homer who posts nothing of substance ever. He had a fucking 7.99 FIP and a 5.42 XFIP last night per fangraphs.

Walks matter. And it's not just walks, getting behind in counts 2-0 or 3-1 because you dont know where the ball is going when it leaves your hand is how you get blown up. And it's the entire reason he has a negative fucking WAR for the year and just 1.0 WAR for his career in 263 innings, which is awful. Plus he has had arm/shoulder/bicep injuries every year. He throws the ball hard, thats about it. he's not remotely effective, and hasnt been for 4 years. Blindly praising him because he lights up the radar gun while walking guys consistently is stupid.

Comparing him to blake snell is laughable. He's daniel cabrera from years back, he's not blake snell.

[Namaste]

The angriest poster in Marlins forum history says he’s not angry so therefore it must be true.

And just a total self-burial on the Edward Cabrera start today. Painfully obvious you didn’t watch his start today. “Another multi walk game”. Hahahaha wtf.

[lou]

No one is angry. You consistently do the same things over and over and never take any accountability or introspection into how consistently wrong you are. Just like you did with Brujan when he had a modicum of success for like two weeks in April and he was somehow an asset. Just like you did for multiple years with dlc. Just like you’re doing with Cabrera who continues to have no idea where the ball is going when it leaves his hand with yet another multi walk game today, his 7th consecutive game with more than 1 walk.


the guy isn’t a good hitter. He’s frankly a terrible hitter. You can continue to rely on expected numbers when it suits you, the numbers won’t improve. There is a reason he was available, and it probably
has to do with the fact that he’s a truly
bad hitter, which you’d know if you actually watched baseball instead of just parroting what you see on fangraphs blindly

he has no business playing everyday if it comes at the expense of Edwards, burger, norby, or bride

Uh, you're angry and projecting again my man. Look inwards. I think the main problem here is you consistently think the world is black and white. Brujan did have a short period he looked good enough offensively, and when that happens, players deserve time. They earn it. When he didn't take advantage, he drifts away into nothing which he most certainly has. I didn't make any prediction about Brujan being a longterm piece. I thought that for a time earlier this year, he was earning time and lets hope for the best of prospect pedigree taking over. The best never came. It's similar to how you championed Nick Gordon, and then nothing happened. It was a smart enough move to make a bet on him as he too has shown some traits, but it didn't work out. They gave him some time, and it didn't happen. You move on. Like get over yourself? What are you doing here? This is a sports message board not your outlet for whatever no doubt frustration you have in your day to day life. Otto has some interesting stats. I think he should play. You haven't negated this yet IMO, but if you don't like him that's fine. You be you. Also to note since you make things up I say, I never said to play him over Edwards, burger, norby, or bride - and I'll add Sanchez and Stowers to that. But he frankly is next most interesting of everyone else like Hill, Pache, and Hensley, and he should be playing over them to see if something clicks as the defense is frankly, extremely interesting. I also think burning service time is dumb for 21 year olds. If you don't? You be you. I want the team to be efficient and cheaper at all times. I think that is important for a team with a cheap ass owner to develop their players with efficiency in mind in non contending years.

Cabrera was also pretty good today, but I guess you didn't watch the start. Slider was reintroduced which has been gone for weeks, he gave up solo bombs which happens, and some BS in the first. Did you know Arizona is the # 1 offense in baseball? What they are doing with his pitch mix is really smart. The front office has a clue and he is on a right track if he can stay healthy. Unlike Brujan, he *is* a piece and he is going to be (really) good in whatever role he ends up assuming he can stay healthy. Also lets analyze the latest gem - multi walk games. Only three qualified starters in baseball (Kirby, Eflin, Webb) averaged less walks then the bar you are setting with 1 walk a game last year. Who cares if a guy walks a few guys a game if he's hard to hit and strikes guys out? What's interesting here also is which qualified starter in baseball walked the most guys last year? To spare the intrigue, he won the Cy Young. Cabrera is always going to be wild at times, but that doesn't make someone ineffective. You know who else was really wild but then put it together? Tanner Scott when he turned 28 years old. Bet on the stuff. Scott had the stuff. Cabrera has the stuff.

[fish16]

What I think is very clear is you have extremely poor reading comprehension. What I said is, he shows some excellent traits so they should give him playing time to see what happens, not that he is a big asset. But if he hits more, he becomes a big asset. He has a similar hit profile as Turang and Hoerner who are pretty good players. And yes, he is underachieving with a .280 BABIP and he should be in the mid/upper .600s in OPS but he isn't. There is nothing profound here. I'm not sure what is so confrontational about saying they should play him hard for 6 weeks - and especially at SS - and see what happens because he is displaying a profile that could be a pretty good player. And if he doesn't hit? He's on the 40 man chopping black. Why are you so fucking angry all the time, and don't even bring a good argument? For instance, all of the GB rates are baked into his analytics profile, and he's still looking like a mid/higher 600 OPS hitter because he's fast AF and those guys out run the dribbles. Just like Edwards. He's simply just an asset if he has a .675 OPS and plays this defense. That's it. Developing positive bench players off waivers is what good front offices do.

No one is angry. You consistently do the same things over and over and never take any accountability or introspection into how consistently wrong you are. Just like you did with Brujan when he had a modicum of success for like two weeks in April and he was somehow an asset. Just like you did for multiple years with dlc. Just like you’re doing with Cabrera who continues to have no idea where the ball is going when it leaves his hand with yet another multi walk game today, his 7th consecutive game with more than 1 walk. Just like you always do with the bullshit ZIPS projections that you consistently use without ever taking a second to realize how fucking awful they are every year

the guy isn’t a good hitter. He’s frankly a terrible hitter. You can continue to rely on expected numbers when it suits you, the numbers won’t improve. There is a reason he was available, and it probably
has to do with the fact that he’s a truly bad hitter, which you’d know if you actually watched baseball instead of just parroting what you see on fangraphs blindly

he has no business playing everyday if it comes at the expense of Edwards, burger, norby, or bride

[lou]

to answer your question in bold- because he is an awful hitter. you love to use expected numbers. you did the same for multiple years for DLC. His numbers stink because he is a ground ball machine. his ground ball number would be the highest in baseball if he qualified. his flyball % would be 3rd worst in baseball. his walk rate is below 5%. his exit velocity would be 28th worst in baseball. He offers nothing other than defense. He isnt getting unlucky, he's not a good hitter. He had a .656 OPS in over 300 ab's in AAA last year.

Calling him a big asset is fucking laughable. you're right, offense is down. It's not down to the point where a sub .600 OPS is a remotely acceptable number.

It is very clear you actually watch very little baseball. you're entire analysis is consistently exclusively statistically based and it's very obvious when you are talking about players that you havent actually watched much.

What I think is very clear is you have extremely poor reading comprehension. What I said is, he shows some excellent traits so they should give him playing time to see what happens, not that he is a big asset. But if he hits more, he becomes a big asset. He has a similar hit profile as Turang and Hoerner who are pretty good players. And yes, he is underachieving with a .280 BABIP and he should be in the mid/upper .600s in OPS but he isn't. There is nothing profound here. I'm not sure what is so confrontational about saying they should play him hard for 6 weeks - and especially at SS - and see what happens because he is displaying a profile that could be a pretty good player. And if he doesn't hit? He's on the 40 man chopping black. Why are you so fucking angry all the time, and don't even bring a good argument? For instance, all of the GB rates are baked into his analytics profile, and he's still looking like a mid/higher 600 OPS hitter because he's fast AF and those guys out run the dribbles. Just like Edwards. He's simply just an asset if he has a .675 OPS and plays this defense. That's it. Developing positive bench players off waivers is what good front offices do.

[fish16]

You, by your own admission, watch very little 2024 Marlins baseball. You don’t get to say, “fuck this team they’re not getting my time or money” and then accuse Lou of of not watching baseball.

I’ve watched 3 out of the 5 months this year and the only two months I didn’t watch was when ballys was literally unwatchable for people with Xfinity. Also, there are 29 other teams. I watch a lot of rays, orioles, and Red Sox because I get nesn and all of the national games

also, I don’t think Lou watches not only the marlins, but baseball in general. Everything about him is statistics

[Namaste]

to answer your question in bold- because he is an awful hitter. you love to use expected numbers. you did the same for multiple years for DLC. His numbers stink because he is a ground ball machine. his ground ball number would be the highest in baseball if he qualified. his flyball % would be 3rd worst in baseball. his walk rate is below 5%. his exit velocity would be 28th worst in baseball. He offers nothing other than defense. He isnt getting unlucky, he's not a good hitter. He had a .656 OPS in over 300 ab's in AAA last year.

Calling him a big asset is fucking laughable. you're right, offense is down. It's not down to the point where a sub .600 OPS is a remotely acceptable number.

It is very clear you actually watch very little baseball. you're entire analysis is consistently exclusively statistically based and it's very obvious when you are talking about players that you havent actually watched much.

You, by your own admission, watch very little 2024 Marlins baseball. You don’t get to say, “fuck this team they’re not getting my time or money” and then accuse Lou of of not watching baseball.

[Nick]

It's not just Marlins fans that doubted him. He was DFA'd by both Toronto and San Francisco in the last year. If he were 92nd percentile playing SS every day that may get my attention. 2nd Base not so much. He's a nice utility guy to have, he's John Berti's replacement. That's fine. He should not be taking major league ABs away from guys with starter potential.

[fish16]

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savan...-r-hitting-mlb
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savan...-r-hitting-mlb
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savan...-r-hitting-mlb

Hoerner xwOBA 39th, 85th base running, 85th fielding <- He's obviously the best as the best hitter
Turang xwOBA 31st, 45th base running, 76th fielding <- He's good with this defense
Otto xwOBA 29th, 88th base running, 92nd fielding <- He's also good with this defense

There isn't much variation between these players with what they have done this year. Take off your fantasy baseball hat with Turang's SB - who cares. He's an average base runner who happens to generate SB. He's actually a dope on the bases with how fast he is, but that happens. Ultimately, I do think Nico and Turang have more upside as I would agree Nico should hit more and Turang probably will tick up on the base running and fielding as he settles in more, but why can't Otto generate some real value over 400+ PA as a similar poor man's version of these players? My entire comment about Otto is - they should play him more here on out to see what happens with the bat, because if there is any improvement (as he is young), he could tick up radically with this defense (and base running a lesser extent). That's it. He has 1 enormously enormously great trait, and a second very good one with the base running. He is worth investing a lot of time into IMO as if he can be an overall higher .600 OPS hitter, he frankly is a big asset. Remember, Miguel Rojas is a career .679 OPS hitter and he is a very premium bench guy at minimum. Otto's expected slash is 263/.299/.384 (.683 OPS). He's been unlucky for sure. He's fast as hell and has a .280 BABIP. I think something will give here as he regresses to the mean. And looping that in with the cited RHP split advantage, if he is closer to a .683 OPS overall bat which the stats suggest, and he has a RHP platoon split, is that split playing higher against RHP so is he over a .700 OPS against right handers? If so, now you are in major business and he's frankly a must play at 2B which opens up a lot of possibilities for the Marlins. For me, the stats back giving Otto time (as well as time at SS). He might fall apart who knows, but there is a lot to build off here IMO and they owe it to themselves to see if he is going to click. Peter did good on this one. That's it here. Let's give Otto heavy time for 6 weeks, and see if he really cements going on the 40 man roster.

I also note, none of the above is citing WAR per your request. (Which again, is an easy way to value players on a sports message board to synthesize things into 1 stat for short hand conversation versus typing longform here's an analysis to all the parts - or do you we want longer posts?)

And because we're here, a .640 OPS is not great of course, but it ranks about 40th at the position for 2B type guys. You do this all the time chastising guys hitting below an .800 OPS, but you really got to look at the league and see what everyone is hitting. Offense is very down. Guys with high .600 something OPS that do other things (like defend) are really fine players. Dalton Varsho is one of the better outfielders in the league by all metrics. So when you say "lets be the Rays" this is how you be the Rays - you find the Otto's that do a ton of little things even if imperfect. Like Kevin Kiermaier who had a career .708 OPS (ticked up a little for RHP) and defended his way to relevancy. Otto's 92nd percentile fielding is that territory if he's going to hit a little. Cross your fingers here. He's a lot better than most Marlins fans seem to think.

to answer your question in bold- because he is an awful hitter. you love to use expected numbers. you did the same for multiple years for DLC. His numbers stink because he is a ground ball machine. his ground ball number would be the highest in baseball if he qualified. his flyball % would be 3rd worst in baseball. his walk rate is below 5%. his exit velocity would be 28th worst in baseball. He offers nothing other than defense. He isnt getting unlucky, he's not a good hitter. He had a .656 OPS in over 300 ab's in AAA last year.

Calling him a big asset is fucking laughable. you're right, offense is down. It's not down to the point where a sub .600 OPS is a remotely acceptable number.

It is very clear you actually watch very little baseball. you're entire analysis is consistently exclusively statistically based and it's very obvious when you are talking about players that you havent actually watched much.

[lou]

if you see a guy with an OPS under .600 in close to 300 PA's and their WAR is 1.0, that should either alert you that they are one of the best defensive players in history or that your precious WAR stat greatly inflates defensive WAR. you simply cannot tell me a guy with a .593 OPS, 63 WRC+, and 62 OPS+, has been worth 1.0 WAR this year. You can believe he's on a 2 WAR pace if you'd like, i think WAR greatly inflates defensive value, and the measurements of defensive value are not yet measured accurately.

You talk about his RHP batting split as if it's remotely passable. He's at .640 OPS against righties, .475 against lefties. Neither one of those are passable outside of being a defensive replacement last man on the roster. Nico Hoerner has a 92 WRC+ this year and Turang has a 92 WRC+ to go along with 37 sb's. Those guys are not comparable.

The couple of balls that lopez's range allows him to get to compared to the league average defender does not equate to 1.0 WAR given the difference between his ability to hit and the league average hitters ability to hit. WAR is just an equation that someone deemed to be the right measurement system of a players overall value. IT is not a statistic. You can use it as your end all be all if you wish, but i find it completely unreliable and thoroughly overvalues defensive value relative to offensive value.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savan...-r-hitting-mlb
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savan...-r-hitting-mlb
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savan...-r-hitting-mlb

Hoerner xwOBA 39th, 85th base running, 85th fielding <- He's obviously the best as the best hitter
Turang xwOBA 31st, 45th base running, 76th fielding <- He's good with this defense
Otto xwOBA 29th, 88th base running, 92nd fielding <- He's also good with this defense

There isn't much variation between these players with what they have done this year. Take off your fantasy baseball hat with Turang's SB - who cares. He's an average base runner who happens to generate SB. He's actually a dope on the bases with how fast he is, but that happens. Ultimately, I do think Nico and Turang have more upside as I would agree Nico should hit more and Turang probably will tick up on the base running and fielding as he settles in more, but why can't Otto generate some real value over 400+ PA as a similar poor man's version of these players? My entire comment about Otto is - they should play him more here on out to see what happens with the bat, because if there is any improvement (as he is young), he could tick up radically with this defense (and base running a lesser extent). That's it. He has 1 enormously enormously great trait, and a second very good one with the base running. He is worth investing a lot of time into IMO as if he can be an overall higher .600 OPS hitter, he frankly is a big asset. Remember, Miguel Rojas is a career .679 OPS hitter and he is a very premium bench guy at minimum. Otto's expected slash is 263/.299/.384 (.683 OPS). He's been unlucky for sure. He's fast as hell and has a .280 BABIP. I think something will give here as he regresses to the mean. And looping that in with the cited RHP split advantage, if he is closer to a .683 OPS overall bat which the stats suggest, and he has a RHP platoon split, is that split playing higher against RHP so is he over a .700 OPS against right handers? If so, now you are in major business and he's frankly a must play at 2B which opens up a lot of possibilities for the Marlins. For me, the stats back giving Otto time (as well as time at SS). He might fall apart who knows, but there is a lot to build off here IMO and they owe it to themselves to see if he is going to click. Peter did good on this one. That's it here. Let's give Otto heavy time for 6 weeks, and see if he really cements going on the 40 man roster.

I also note, none of the above is citing WAR per your request. (Which again, is an easy way to value players on a sports message board to synthesize things into 1 stat for short hand conversation versus typing longform here's an analysis to all the parts - or do you we want longer posts?)

And because we're here, a .640 OPS is not great of course, but it ranks about 40th at the position for 2B type guys. You do this all the time chastising guys hitting below an .800 OPS, but you really got to look at the league and see what everyone is hitting. Offense is very down. Guys with high .600 something OPS that do other things (like defend) are really fine players. Dalton Varsho is one of the better outfielders in the league by all metrics. So when you say "lets be the Rays" this is how you be the Rays - you find the Otto's that do a ton of little things even if imperfect. Like Kevin Kiermaier who had a career .708 OPS (ticked up a little for RHP) and defended his way to relevancy. Otto's 92nd percentile fielding is that territory if he's going to hit a little. Cross your fingers here. He's a lot better than most Marlins fans seem to think.

[fish16]

Otto is pacing as over a 2 WAR player this year per 600 PA, is a 92nd percentile defender, 88th percentile base runner, and his expected slash is .263/.299/.384 (.683 OPS). Nico Hoerner has a .670 OPS this year and a 2.3 WAR. Brice Turang, .686 OPS and a 2.2 WAR. Do you hate them too? They are all excellent defenders. It plays.

You gotta play Otto to see what happens with the bat. His career batting split is .120 points higher vs RHP which is also interesting. He's potentially much better than you think he is. He should be a 40 man lock absent a true falling apart next few weeks which is the only thing one needs to pencil someone in for. I don't know what else to say here. This is exactly the kind of guy the Rays have that are always productively annoying.

Also, every team in baseball is looking for the bolds at all times. Check out what Atlanta is about to do at 3B. It starts with a Y and ends with Uli.

if you see a guy with an OPS under .600 in close to 300 PA's and their WAR is 1.0, that should either alert you that they are one of the best defensive players in history or that your precious WAR stat greatly inflates defensive WAR. you simply cannot tell me a guy with a .593 OPS, 63 WRC+, and 62 OPS+, has been worth 1.0 WAR this year. You can believe he's on a 2 WAR pace if you'd like, i think WAR greatly inflates defensive value, and the measurements of defensive value are not yet measured accurately.

You talk about his RHP batting split as if it's remotely passable. He's at .640 OPS against righties, .475 against lefties. Neither one of those are passable outside of being a defensive replacement last man on the roster. Nico Hoerner has a 92 WRC+ this year and Turang has a 92 WRC+ to go along with 37 sb's. Those guys are not comparable.

The couple of balls that lopez's range allows him to get to compared to the league average defender does not equate to 1.0 WAR given the difference between his ability to hit and the league average hitters ability to hit. WAR is just an equation that someone deemed to be the right measurement system of a players overall value. IT is not a statistic. You can use it as your end all be all if you wish, but i find it completely unreliable and thoroughly overvalues defensive value relative to offensive value.

[lou]

this whole penciling in of lopez for a future role makes no sense to me. the guy cant hit. i'm tired of rostering guys who are complete 0's in the lineup when they start. defense is valuable, of course, but to me, there is no amount of defense that makes a sub .600 OPS passable. It was the same bullshit with Wendle and Stallings over the last few years. it's not an issue right now so who cares, but any kind of penciling him on the roster for next year and beyond is short sighted to me. you can find guys who are passable on defense and also arent complete 0's in the lineup. Having a lineup 1-9 who are competent hitters is almost as important to me as finding those star level talents for the middle of the order. We saw it last year, unless you find a way to get judge and soto like the yankees which we obviously wont have, you cant have a lineup where 2-3 spots are just complete 0's

Otto is pacing as over a 2 WAR player this year per 600 PA, is a 92nd percentile defender, 88th percentile base runner, and his expected slash is .263/.299/.384 (.683 OPS). Nico Hoerner has a .670 OPS this year and a 2.3 WAR. Brice Turang, .686 OPS and a 2.2 WAR. Do you hate them too? They are all excellent defenders. It plays.

You gotta play Otto to see what happens with the bat. His career batting split is .120 points higher vs RHP which is also interesting. He's potentially much better than you think he is. He should be a 40 man lock absent a true falling apart next few weeks which is the only thing one needs to pencil someone in for. I don't know what else to say here. This is exactly the kind of guy the Rays have that are always productively annoying.

Also, every team in baseball is looking for the bolds at all times. Check out what Atlanta is about to do at 3B. It starts with a Y and ends with Uli.

[fish16]

this whole penciling in of lopez for a future role makes no sense to me. the guy cant hit. i'm tired of rostering guys who are complete 0's in the lineup when they start. defense is valuable, of course, but to me, there is no amount of defense that makes a sub .600 OPS passable. It was the same bullshit with Wendle and Stallings over the last few years. it's not an issue right now so who cares, but any kind of penciling him on the roster for next year and beyond is short sighted to me. you can find guys who are passable on defense and also arent complete 0's in the lineup. Having a lineup 1-9 who are competent hitters is almost as important to me as finding those star level talents for the middle of the order. We saw it last year, unless you find a way to get judge and soto like the yankees which we obviously wont have, you cant have a lineup where 2-3 spots are just complete 0's

[Nick]

I don't think there's anything more Otto can show me as an every day player. He'll be a solid utility infielder, but give me someone who has a chance to be an every day player down the road every day at bats. You can make up the service days back in AAA in 2025 if that's what you're worried about.