ashbury

I guess I've said this before, but the level of defensive play has improved so much in my lifetime. There are a couple of guys on the field strictly for their bats, leaving room for a few adventures on defense, but for the most part we're seeing tough plays being converted to outs. Brooks Robinson got a whole World Series named after him, and he did indeed make some amazing plays in foul territory, but I'm not sure that an identical performance this year would do more than make fans say, "wow, nice play!"

I'm watching, as always. Been a good Series so far IMO. “Baseball is only dull to dull minds” ― Red Barber

I had a lot of sympathy when it was 10-0 in only the third. I wouldn't exactly say they came back and made a game of it, but there were a good number of moments when the home crowd could cheer, and I hope you enjoyed the atmosphere.

Rodriguez is young, making any analysis of his minor league numbers shakier than most. And his stat profile is an outlier, even on top of that, being founded on an ultra-high walk rate like just about no one else. It would be exciting if his eye at the plate translated into laying off the bad pitches and clobbering the fat ones. His home run numbers are indeed pretty good. But that batting average of .240 and the 134 strikeouts this season paint a picture of maybe just taking advantage of pitchers who are never going to progress past high-A, but being abused by pitchers who have some command. Still, he hasn't yet reached his 21st birthday, and for me that counts for a lot. I tried finding a comp for his numbers at A-ball, not just among Twins either, and the best match I found was Edouard Julien. We don't know for sure how the latter's career is going to unfold either. But it's pretty encouraging. I wish I knew more about his defense. Being a centerfielder puts him in a different category than the corner OF bats we have collected. But it only matters if he's going to stick there. All in all I think the ceiling is too high on our ERod to trade him for anything but a sure thing on the pitching side. He's probably not going to be what his video-game numbers in 2022 suggested, but his 2023 was a year of progress at the higher level of competition. Still a long way to go, to achieve actual stardom in the majors. Hey, he's 20 - or has that already been mentioned?

So the team will bide its sweet time, unless circumstances dictate they "pull the trigger" to take advantage of opportunity. Got it.

A good way to avoid the sophomore jinx is to win Rookie of the Year instead.

Heaney started 28 games for Texas this year. I suppose Texas will use their bullpen, eventually.

Best seat in the house! .... is the one next to Chief.

Maybe hire Usain Bolt, to explain why it's taking so long for both fielders to reach that drive to the gap. Or get someone with a Master's of Fine Arts to describe the grace and beauty of the fielders. Say, do you know that BOTH of Max Kepler's parents were ballet dancers?

I'm kind of glad Dick chose to go out on his own terms like this. He was a steady presence for both the team and the viewing audience and I always enjoyed his work.

Freeland catches anyone's eye, probably, as a candidate to improve simply by getting out of Coors Field, and in past years that would bear out under a quick glance at his home/road splits, but in 2023 he actually performed worse on the road. He did have a couple of short stints on the IL with shoulder and oblique problems respectively, so maybe a trading partner can convince themselves that he'll be good to go next season. Or maybe these injuries are a taste of his future. Medical evals and good analytics probably are going to hold more sway than guesswork in this corner.

Austin Martin's name keeps coming up in CF discussions, and besides my laughable scouting of him in one AFL game, I do want to point out that two scouting sources I find useful (the one at mlb.com, and the one aggregated by the OOTP video game) both list him with a very questionable arm. The arm's arguably his undoing at SS, but is also potentially a liability in a center fielder. This could be why DaShawn Keirsey was given more opportunity in CF in his short stint at St Paul this year than Martin was in a longer time. The brain trust may simply have reservations about Martin out there, after working with him on his arm for a while now.

#soyouretellingmetheresachance.jpg

https://theathletic.com/4960863/2023/10/14/twins-derek-falvey-rocco-baldelli/ If you scroll further down in the article (surprised it's not behind an Athletic paywall), you'll see that center field is discussed with many possibilities mentioned by Falvey, none of whom is Lewis. So the above is not an off-handed comment.

You know the white flag is waving when our old friend Martín Pérez is brought in to clean up.

Just saw another incredible play by the Dbacks first baseman. Barehanded the bad hop off the bag. Not a lot of teams being given 4 outs in an inning by their opponent. Pretty much holds true for the entire post-season, IMO.

Rooting interest tonight? Me, I probably should be rooting for AZ since my nearest AAA team is their affiliate, but I haven't been a good fan and only get to a game or two a year because I like the atmosphere of the ballpark, which means I basically missed Corbin Carroll when he was here for 20 minutes a year or two ago. I'm pretty happy with the matchup and will consider either one to be a worthy champion despite both being wild cards, and I am looking forward to a good Series. Liking the defense I've seen.

Just tuned in. "0-0, good, I haven't missed anything." I fired up mlb.com to check the box score, and found that the TV is a batter and a half behind the online feed. Guess I'll close that window and watch the delayed live feed. Anything interesting in the first inning?

And breathe through your eyelids.

He's 21, still a baby, and yet showing ability at a league level far above most prospects that age are even dreaming of attaining. If I were a FO I would trade him away about as quickly as I'd trade my youngest son (who Carter happens to resemble a little). The results against major league lefties are small sample and his minor league splits look okay to me, but even if there is a genuine problem, he's got plenty of time to let the coaches help him before he's old enough to give up on and make him a platoon player. The good results against righties are also still small sample, and he likely won't maintain quite that level of output, but he's no Hurricane Hazle, ready to fizzle out next spring. The scouting report I looked at suggests he has all the tools to become a good left fielder. I have no idea what it would take to pry him away, but I'll spell out again that even mentioning Sabato in such a context was intended as a joke, a humorous understatement.

Yes, according to that video, Carter really was lightly regarded when he was drafted. Would the Rangers really make the trade? Um, no, but it might get a chuckle if brought up in passing at the winter meetings. My actual intention was to highlight what a great draft choice they made, in light of the current post-season. Sabato himself isn't the issue. Really.

Brooks Lee probably has the highest upside of the three, but as already mentioned there are not Rule-5/40-man issues for him so he probably should be considered separately. If he absolutely kicks the door down, he'll be brought up. Otherwise let him develop at AAA. I don't know where Severino plays. If Royce Lewis is considered good enough to be Plan B for everyday shortstop, were Correa to go down for an extended period, then there's room for Severino, given that Willi Castro has a minor league option remaining. If not, and if for instance we keep Farmer or intend Castro for that backup SS role, then it becomes a problem to have multiple 2B/3B players because it's harder to think of scenarios where they get enough use. Maybe Severino becomes a trade chip. It's nice though that Severino switch hits and doesn't seem to have a lefty-righty split to worry about. I like Julien and I think his defense has come along, but maybe he's the trade chip - except probably Polanco is the question mark, and I doubt he brings much in trade but might be the right one to move (sad to say). Complicated! I have only the tiniest perception of Austin Martin in CF, from watching a grand total of one Arizona Fall League game where he wasn't really put to the test on any fly balls other than a can o' corn or two, nor aggressive baserunners testing his arm there. I know he is reputed to be fast, but he looked tentative and cautious out there, but like I said it wasn't much of a test, plus it was a long time ago now. (Better cautious, than a misguided hero mentality like my bias about Jake Cave though.) I'm anticipating he'd be adequate in CF, which isn't really a knock, but the bar is set high out there and we've been spoiled by Buxton and one year of MAT patrolling that area. Prepare to be disappointed if he's installed out there, at least until he gains more experience and becomes stellar at tracking the ball. I also note that they didn't really commit to him in CF at AAA, which maybe says something. If they see him as a 2Bman only, it just adds to the clog at that position, and a trade really needs to happen. Of course being on the 40-man still allows for 3 years of minor league options. But taking up one of those spaces implies some degree of commitment by the team that wasn't necessary before, and constitutes a limit on what the team may work with, for the major league roster, in the coming season. It's a lot easier to plug in prospects with uncertain defensive homes if you are coming off a 90+ loss season, since there'll usually be plenty of job openings for them to try to impress at.

Do we have to listen to this old narrative in every thread? Rocco gave Sonny more innings per start than any manager since 2017.

˙ɐᴉxǝlsʎp ǝʌɐɥ sn ɟo ǝɯoS

I would exile Jake Cave to Nicolas Cage and throw away the key.