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Also wouldn't the good news in that scenario be that Cease is pitching well enough not to be bumped AND that everyone is healthy?

The important thing is we keep posting here regardless forever.

There haven't been near enough examples to know this. If he has a workout and looks good and feels good, he's worth a flyer on. He has good upside.

It's good that cases are coming down for now, but if it starts raging with the new variant while our biggest group gets vaccinated we are going to see a bunch of people get sick within that 1-2 weeks of their first shot. It would be awful if it wasn't even mitigating the most severe symptoms by then. Certainly feels like we just need to get lucky that this new variant doesn't spread out of control I don't know.

I don't really care if they DO go Richards, but I do think part of it may be compatibility with Katz who would have seen a lot of him last year. He's definitely a scout signing, there's a lot there, but you are wishing upon him and at a relatively advanced age. Pitchers constantly rewrite history though, so hard to ever be out.

I think Chris Archer would be a good pickup. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/chris-archer-502042?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb He opted out last year, where he missed an opportunity to work with new pitching coach in Pitt where Musgrove saw some success when it clicked. Look at this quote from February of last year: https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/02/14/pirates-pitcher-chris-archer-is-ready-for-new-season/ In his 4 IP in spring training last year, he had 2 IP, 4 ks, 1 hit, 0 runs. Hardly something to hang your hat on, but still it's something. In Pitt, Searage forced the sinker into his rotation and a curve. Neither were good, and it seemed like they made his slider less effective. His changeup went from excellent sink to below average. Get him back to being a 3-pitch pitcher and see what he can do.

This thread hits the inevitable zombie status where it is basically dead but there won’t be closure because he likely isn’t traded anywhere so we’ll just keep coming back and talking about gyros soon

Why do you guys hate narvaez so much?

otoh there's a number of teams that are behind bulls that by talent will likely start playing better. And I think teams undersell cleveland who now has a devastating defense. glad we didn't go hayes in draft. He looked awful even before this injury.

Well he ditched his changeup this year so clearly he couldn't command it. And that continues to be the point. The "but his stuff!" is not in doubt, it's whether this fastball-slider pitcher is going to be able to command his slider enough so that hitters aren't able to just time his fastball.

I don't have a problem with people being sensitive to Kopech's decision. I just think it's silly to call him this Alpha that will bring attitude to the team, as if there aren't a bunch of guys that hadn't fought through terrible personal situations while playing.

ok good. Still like my jamesy on the backburner if things get too f'd up.

wait did I miss Paxton deal? referenced in a portillos tweet.

it doesn't make him immune, but that was also Fegan giving benefit of the doubt, and the more expliciti reason was concern about his role and getting yanked around in his first season back. Is that "covid related" because covid caused the season to be shortened and no minors? I think that's like the curb your enthusiasm episode where the pastor talks about how his son died on 9/11 but it was just in a car crash on the same day. If Kopech's decision was based off of health, everyone would have been more than willing to push that off the record. But they didn't.

I'm not talking about innings either, I'm talking about effectiveness.

lol WHAT

I'm going to guess the mid-season update to the top 100 next year is going to be the biggest shakeup ever lol. BA did a great job getting as much team info as they could, but I feel for that crew trying to figure out what's going on when so much of it is based on team sources.

"Multiple sources told The Athletic that Kopech has not been deemed a high-risk individual for the COVID-19 pandemic and will thus not receive salary nor accrue service time for the 2020 season. When he reports to spring training in 2021, he will do so with one season and 41 days to his name, at least five years away from free agency." "Sources indicate that an abbreviated three-week ramp-up period cast doubt on Kopech’s ability to be properly ready for the season. That lingering question and the uncertainty about his role in an abbreviated 60-game campaign factored into his decision to pass up what would’ve been his first season back from Tommy John surgery. Of course, there’s also a deadly pandemic going on, and while Kopech himself is not medically high-risk, it does not make him immune from larger family health concerns when weighing whether to commit to a plan of persistent travel as COVID-19 cases continue to climb in most states. It’s a decision that’s focused on the long-term for Kopech, though it comes at a time when the White Sox are compelling in the short-term for the first time in years. It’s been easy to imagine Kopech being stretched across the schedule as a multi-inning super-reliever helping the club edge ahead in a sprint to win the AL Central. Even without a clear role, Kopech is Kopech and he could help any team in any fashion." https://theathletic.com/1922278/2020/07/10/why-is-white-sox-prospect-michael-kopech-sitting-out-the-2020-season/

We like, literally saw 60 major league innings of Burnes dominating MLB hitters en route to a cy young finish last year. We still don't know if Kopech can command his pitches or if his secondary stuff will locate well enough to be effective. He had like a month of showing that 2 years ago in AAA. And the response will be "he threw 101 so he's back". Back to what? He was never finished. He's got a great fastball. I hope it translates. It may very well not, no matter how alpha he is.

We talking about the guy that opted out for reasons not to do with covid last year?

yeah that's it

jaws theme song

I feel like Brantley is going to have a Carlos Beltran like aging. His profile is good for aging as a bat.

As? I'd put Twins over them. As have a lot of production to reproduce.