Doctor Gast

Besides Parada not sticking at catching yet the Mets will try to pawn him off with the catching premium. That'll cost us dearly.

Thank you Melissa for your article. WBC was wonderful to watch, the excitement, the love of the game, national pride; made the game enjoyable to watch and expands the love of the sport globally. But I attest that American culture has changed. I noticed the last time I was able to go to a game, I saw TC bear giving away free T-shirts but other than that the crowd around me was not into the game. They were dead, busy on their cell phones. I left the game disappointed. Having the crowd into the game IMO makes up more than 50% of the experience of being at a baseball game. Plus having the fans in the game aids a lot in getting the players motivated. So if you complain the players are dead, this is a good part of the reason why. Unfortunately because this lack of enthusiasm and players exploiting the time factor to try to gain advantage over his opponents has gotten way out of hand. Because of this, the time clock had to be implemented (I'd also love Robo Ump implemented). Personally I wouldn't mind the time clock implemented into the post season.

I really like your idea INBOS. I think we really need a very good catching prospect and Parada hits very well. But IMO Parada doesn't have the arm to stick at catching so IMO he'll end up at 1B/ DH. Also IMO if Ober is stretched out slowly as a rookie, he'll eventually gain the stamina to go thru a season w/o injuring himself so much. I wouldn't write off Ober so quickly because next year we'll really need him.

Starting the season I'd place Ryan at #3 behind Lopez & Gray. Mahle seemed inconsistent & Maeda lacked control, so I'm not confident that either of them can give us 5 quality innings. Since neither of them can be sent down or if even pitch in the long relief role, Ober should have been tried in long relief to see how he fared. If he fared well Ober should have been brought up with the team as long relief. As long relief where should have plenty of opportunities pitch at least 3 innings/ game. Ober pitched his heart out in ST and deserved to left on the team. I hate it when a player excels over his competitors in ST & still be sent down.

Great pitching game by both the rotation & BP. Lopez didn't disappoint us, dominating the 1st 4 innings. He seemed to tire beginning the 5th & got into trouble which fortunately he got out of. Congratulations to Duran for recording our 1st save & Pa. Lopez our 1st win, let's keep it going. Does RHP Greinke have reverse splits because our LH hitters couldn't touch him while our RH hitters got the 6 hits?

I predict a sweep, I like the match ups. IMO the Twins know the need to come out of the gate strong. That motivation & talent should do it.

The list you gave is a list of players that are 1B/ DH only. But if you include players that are more athletic that can play a good 1B, they'd place the players you listed on the bottom of 1B depth chart. My depth chart is Kiriloff, Gallo, Miranda, Solange, Julien plus there are those we want their bats in the line up. Arraez never had any 1B experience but because we wanted his bat in the line up he play a decent 1B, There are those more athletic than Arraez, like Lewis and Lee who can play an excellent 1B if they need ABs & 1B is open. After these I'd consider White, Williams, Kelly, Sabato & Perez.

You can blame Baldelli & you might be right but others say that's not his fault it's FO. No one takes the blame & they won't let you know what the deal is. So we are left in limbo. No matter who's fault it is, the Polhad's love Flavine, so no one is going anywhere. Maybe if they really bungle things up after being dealt a great hand (and that's possible). Then they may think about it.

Yes, exactly!

There should be no problems with Lopez, he's a work horse and he's ready to go. Gray looks more ready to go longer this season. Mahle has been a little inconsistent but my hope is he'll quickly find it and pitch the innings that he's capable of. Last season Ryan pitched the most innings inching out Bundy with Gray & Archer a distant 3 & 4. Like you said Ryan got beat up his 3rd time around the order. A year later I expect he has more stamina, more efficient where he needs to throw fewer pitches where he'll increase his innings/ game. Maeda under a SP load for his 1st full season he lasted only 103 innings. After around 1& 1/2 years absent he's rusty but it's more than being rusty. It's coming off TJ, SPs have to deal with control problems. IDK how long it'll take for Maeda to work thru his rustiness & control problems because of TJ. I'd hope they give him a short leash until then & even then I don't expect him go much more than 2X thru the order.

Farmer was a good pick up, he set a good floor at SS. He had a good ST, right now he's our best 3B, best sub at SS &2B. We'd be lost w/o him beginning the season.

All these ST statlines are impressive. I'd rate Ober #1 I'd rate the other 2 lower because of their gloves. IMO it's very close My #2 is Miranda because he's really mashing and is in better shape where he'll have more stamina to sustain his hitting. Hopefully they have his shoulder under control. #3 Larnach has had a pretty good ST but the only one I saw was with him in RF. He played too far back which tells me he has difficulty going back on the ball. Against a RH batter he was playing deep & not that far off the line. A lazy fly ball that Kepler would have caught w/o any problems dropped in front of him. They should be able to transfer it to some extent in regular games and to sustain it depends on their health.

I was hoping for Coulombe as a LHRP depth but I wish him well. I'm still not crazy about Sands as long relief, Pagan?

Gray has been groomed under the old school, this mentality is to complete his game or at least go as long as his arm can take him. If a SP is having problems, you keep him in there & let him work it out. Baldelli has been brought up with the new TB school. Where quality innings over rides quantity. If a SP is struggling you pull him. Even though TB had a far superior rotation than ours they pitched far fewer innings. The difference between us & them is that they have a steady pipeline of studs in their BP. I believe you hit nail on the head CRF. It's the pitcher (his profile) which should determine how many innings (or pitches) a SP should pitch not a philosophy. When we signed Bundy, I was very disappointed, this is a terrible pitcher. when you look at his record you see during a regular season he was terrible but he had a very good '20 shortened season. Which tells me if you limit his innings with a piggy-back system (as FO suggested) it could work. Needless to say long relief was never incorporated & short relief was a mess. So when Bundy was pitching great in the beginning of the season, pounding his chest saying I want more innings, They gave it to him that caused his downward production. "How can you say that Bundy was over stretched when he didn't pitch over 5 innings on a regular basis?" you may ask. Because Bundy doesn't have the arm to blow you away, so he has to depend 100% on control. If his weak arm isn't 100%, he can't hit his spots. Although I can understand where both Baldelli & Gray are coming from, but IMO they are both wrong. If a SP profiles 6+ innings/ game he should be allowed to do so to save the BP. IMO Lopez, Ryan & Gray could get to that. Last season we had 2 rookies; Gray, who was out of condition; Archer, who was still recovering from an extended absence and shoulder surgery and Bundy; plus our SPs had a shortened - practically no ST. You can't expect them to pitch much over 5 innings/ game on a steady basis. I really liked Gray so when I heard his remarks, I could see how he was frustrated over his short outings & thought maybe they were over exaggerate. But him reiterating it again this ST, it makes me question his attitude. If he escaped the IL I could understand his complaining. But he landed there more than a couple of times. I'd think he'd be happy that he has come to ST 100% & forget the past. This is Gray's last year, we should give him the minimum to keep him happy (for his & the club sake), then really make him happy by pitching the living daylight out of his arm (Like OAK did with Montas). Then trade him.

I really can't say I'm surprised but I'm really really disappointed. Unfortunately Baldelli doesn't share the same definition of long relief as mine. My definition of true long relief is the extension of the rotation where 1 SP is not able to complete 5 innings and another SP comes in & pitches 3-5 innings on a regular basis. The mentality of long relief should the same as the SP and that's to win the game. And someone who in a pinch, can spot start. Baldelli's idea of long relief is a glorified low leverage short RP, pitching 2 innings at a time, once in awhile. I saw them pitch Maeda in a relief role. (intentionally or unintentionally) He had difficulty adapting his 1st inning which IMO put the nail in Ober's coffin. Ober said he'd do anything to come up with the club, why wasn't he tried to come in after a SP to see how well he fared. If had fared well he could have been plugged into long relief on a regular basis of 3-5 innings & chances to win games for the club. Ober pitched well enough not to be sent down to AAA, and Sands isn't good enough to be on the club. Castro will be an asset to the club, with his versatility, glove & LH INF bat. He should be given ample time at 2B until Polanco comes back. Farmer is our best 2B sub but with Miranda's shoulder & he's our best sub at SS, he'd be busy at those positions. IMO Castro is behind Farmer at 2B.

I agree with Karbo, Buxton & Duran is realistic but Gallo is who knows? so it's bold. But Ryan's prediction is very bold, IMO Pablo Lopez has a better shot.

IMO Buxton has improved his hitting every year since '19. When Buxton is healthy his hitting has become sensational and when he plays hurt his hitting takes a dive. Therefore his seasonal avg. isn't that great. IMO the plan is to increase his healthy days & hopefully eliminate him playing hurt, dramatically increasing his seasonal avg.. The danger of injury while running the bases when he plays at DH still exists but it eliminates the danger of injury in CF. That reduces his risk by 1/2. Taylor playing in CF makes it easier to see Buxton at DH. Plus the change of scenery IMO could unlock another gear in Taylor's hitting. If they save Buxton from the cold, stop playing him hurt and conserving him, so that he'd be 100%, playing CF in Sept & Oct., it'd be worth it. Having Buck in CF, Taylor in LF & Kepler in RF, that'd be a WS OF

Thanks Devlin, I don't have time to listen to it now. But I'm looking forward to it when I do. The main reason why I'm for robo umps is exactly this, the disparity there is between big teams & players

Players get hurt and worn out during the All-star game. Should we discontinue that? WBC goes beyond the US, it grows the game in the world which is great. It probably grows the sport inside the US, especially with generational immigrants. Precautions are taken, so IMO it's well worth it.

You lived such an interesting baseball life!

I like your list. I have high hopes for Martin too. But he didn't tear his ACL, he only sprained it. Which is bad enough. Hopefully they'll take care of it soon & he won't need TJ surgery

Very interesting Bodie, I've never heard that term before. You made me think.

My bad, I misunderstood the objective. After I read a few texts I realized my mistake. I didn't realize I was ranting. I'm sorry I offended you.

Thanks Jamie! Sorry, I didn't catch your response right away. In my mind Crews is cemented in #1, but the others I think there'll be a lot of surprises from Fall rankings to actual day of the draft. As for catchers I'm more interested in college because we'll need someone who can step up into the MLB level as soon as possible and rake. So I'm less interested in prep draftees. Also Gophers Klassen could surprise some people. He has great velo and it looks like he trending up as far his control is concerned.

It'd be interesting where Martin lands. Although speed is essential for base stealing & defense, it's not everything. Instincts and the ability to catch the ball, plays a big part.