caulfield12

He just passed Nick Madrigal on the OPS list. Almost all of the young studs are struggling this year. Witt and Rodriguez in Seattle. Torkelson's doing okay now after a rough start. Abrams is struggling with the Padres, unsurprisingly after missing half the year and barely having 350 minor league at-bats (coming from high school, too).

(Poor LeBron.) You can certainly make legit arguments for Cease and Kopech. I prefer Dylan for now because of the increased consistency with secondary offerings, but he's also 18 months ahead on development time as well. As for Lynn, I hope it's not like those QO guys who start at midseason and never get it going...hopefully the additional downtime will conserve his arm for the second half.

Sure, if they hope to get 2 or 3 innings... Maybe his high-intensity offseason workouts will kick in, but that's more about aerobic conditioning than being able to go out and throw 75 pitches.

Cueto isn't close to ready. And looking like at least a 50/50 probability that Thursday's game in CLE is lost as well...

Well, that would have been a huge bargain even if he only put up 100-120 innings because he's currently on pace for a 6+ fWAR. All he needed was 2-2.25 to be considered "earning his pay" based on $8-9 million for FA f/WAR standards.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/33761895/ranking-mlb-2022-aces-pitchers-make-leap Giolito in a category all of his own of six high-performing "steady vets" with TJ surgeries in their past (including Chris Sale), Cease and Lynn on the bottom list of others under consideration. Need to do it a little longer Carlos Rodon (TJ in 2019) Alek Manoah Sandy Alcantara I had Rodon on the list in earliest incarnations, but this would be based on 26 starts over the past two seasons and that's just not enough bulk given his prior history -- even if he's been clearly among the top 10 pitchers in the game during that time. His velo has also spiked again this year and the Giants are good at this exact thing, so Rodon might earn his spot by midseason.

They don't make movies like City Slickers anymore.

Goes along with extensions for McMahon, Marquez, Sanzatela and $180 million for Bryant...going in some sort of direction. Rodgers in theory would be next. They're actually off to a pretty decent start...and always draw well. Mysterious franchise that never seems to be the sum of all those positive parts.

"We all spent most of last year waiting for Jarred Kelenic to get it going, and by the end of the year, he finally did. Looks like 2022 is going to be the same, not just for Kelenic, but for the even more highly regarded phenom Julio Rodríguez. They’re a combined 9-for-61 so far, with three extra base hits and 27 strikeouts. Young players are young players, obviously, but it’s fair to say the Mariners, who are trying to end a certain drought here, would like to get that in gear, and fast." mlb.com

Back-up QB syndrome…

Thursday game looks to be in jeopardy as well with rain predicted most of the afternoon...

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/11/09/im-tired-of-being-treated-like-this-oakland-as-season-ticket-holders-revolt-after-hiked-prices/ Or you can basically double your ticket prices while slashing payroll by trading away Olson, Chapman, Manaea, etc. They actually used to have some of the most innovative food and beverage deals in the sport.. but now seem to think they're marketing the Golden State Warriors instead.

Seems he had different thoughts...still won the game despite a massive walk total.

https://www.mlb.com/news/seiya-suzuki-makes-more-history-for-cubs-vs-rays Apparently not a big fan of analytics...let's see what happens after the pitchers start making some adjustments.

https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/player/209185/ UDFA for Dodgers, but his entire minor league career was spent developing with Houston.

Well, that and unexpected off days…

It’s a cross between a wage-price spiral and wage inflation spiral. The problem is that if wages for average or middle class workers don’t keep up with inflation…and they never do…there will inevitably be less demand from those consumers as price elastic goods become more wants than necessities. Essentially, the White Sox have always bet on their Top 20% of fans (the ones that go to the most games and tend to have more discretionary income as corporate and individual season ticket holders) making up for any “losses” in terms of diminished spending from the bottom 80% of Sox fans. In other words, a wealth tax or surcharge on the best Sox fans…at least those willing to spend the most money on the product. Which has nothing to do with economists who work for the government, universities or think tanks/NGO’s.

Sounds like a Two for Tuesday's/Thirsty Thursday minor league promotion. Interestingly, Baltimore isn't doing all that poorly attendance wise despite having one of the worst teams in baseball.

So basically, best to avoid the team that has gone to five consecutive ALCS and three World Series...

They won 8 of their last 11 though...at that point, too late to catch Houston.

Suzuki on an unreal tear. Madrigal looking like the 300 average 700ish ops version of himself. Wish we would have considered Villar at least...

Too bad he might single handedly keep the Cubs in the middle of the pack and prevent a Top 6 draft pick. It's the curse of mired in mediocrity (see Sox 2011-2016)...unless they try to spend their way out of it.

75% of that move up is Jose Ramirez's early numbers and extension...but their offense has been surprisingly stout, at least until they ran into SFG. But beating up on Cincy is fun!

Jake Peavy comeback? Not sure he could survive in Low A...

You’ve gotta fight, for your right, to Sei-ya! Btw, don’t SABOTAGE Abreu and the Sox. Signed, JC Superstar (Resurrected and currently Licensed to Ill)