Lukakke Appling

I don’t know about that. We saw a good version of him to finish out the year, and his athleticism hasn’t deteriorated at all. It’s still in there somewhere.

I don’t know how much this changes. Nobody who wants to win is going to play Bleday in CF. He sucks.

There’s no way in hell. He came back from injury late in 2024 and they wouldn’t even play him.

That isn’t really that relevant to the 2026 draft class. Usually the winners of that award are draft eligible the year they win. I do agree this time a year ago he wasnt a lock at 1-1, though.

Haha not a good catch at all. I’ve never heard of the Buffalo Braves. I was saying NY state has 8 teams, and I assumed it was the Sabres you had forgotten. Or it’s possible one of the 8 doesn’t play in NY anymore. I’ve got: Mets, Yankees, Bills, Knicks, Nets, Rangers, Islanders, Sabres.

If you forgot the Sabres nobody could blame you.

White Sox now have the smallest “largest contract ever” of the 30 franchises I believe.

There’s been a few exceptions other than Leury. Keppinger and Danks come immediately to mind, but there’s others I know I’m not mentioning.

I agree with this. If he could lay off high heat that would go a long way as well.

I wouldn’t want Bleday in center

Get CWS on it!

Pirates could really use a RH bat. Plop Robert between Cruz, Horowitz, O’Hearn, and Lowe and he’ll face his share of LHP’s.

On the latest Pipeline podcast, Jim Callis had some kind words about Hagen. He basically said he looked back to his old self in the AFL, and rejuvenated his confidence he can start.

He’s had consistently above league average offense for 3 seasons. It’s certainly not sexy, but credit where it’s due.

He gives up a good amount of hard hit ground balls, so the high BABIP makes sense. He also has 2nd percentile extension, which is kind of funny.

The legend of Ben Cowles continues.

I like that he can throw multiple innings. He wasn’t too far off from the Vasil-line. And now i think I’m gonna start calling Vasil “Vaseline”. He’s white, seems like he’s down for a good time.

Nice addition to the pen.

Generally speaking, guys who can spin a curve can spin a slider. You’re right about the consistency of the curve being difficult, which is why guys like Gio and Cease adopted the slider as a primary secondary. I think if he busts as a starter you focus on the fastball/slider combo and forget the other stuff.

To my eye, for whatever that’s worth, his stuff is pretty good overall. I just get the impression from watching hitters that it’s easy to pick up and plays down. I do think, however, he could be a weapon out of the bullpen if starting doesn’t work out.

If 2026 kind of mirrors 2019, I think that would be a realistic positive step.

When you know, you know.

Yes, high profile Japanese talent Jorge Polanco. Totally the same thing.

Totally