ashbury

"In play, no out."

An inning where we didn't allow the opposing team to score a run! I believe that is referred to as a "shutout" in baseball lingo.

The rules say the pitching rubber has to be 60' 6" from home plate, and it's a balk and/or automatic ball if you start your delivery from anywhere forward of it.

There used to be control, and pinpoint-control, at one time.

Um, compared to a two-run lead, or three or more? I guess by definition, yeah. / edit - on second reading, that was the joke, right?

How is a guy throwing a 25-MPH fastball supposed to make anyone uncomfortable at the plate?

No Morgan Freeman narration spoilers, please!

LARNACH!!!!

Outfield? Oh, I hope I hope I hope he bats left handed and plays a corner. (Checks the b-r.com link.) He does, he does! 💕🌈🦄

Yeah, kind of in the back of my mind when I said it, but I wanted to keep it positive. 😁

Why is Luke Keaschall playing so damn deep? Because he's not yet very damn good at the position.

Cecconi has had more bad starts than good ones this season. This is a golden opportunity for Roden, to name one guy in particular.

"Yes."™

I hope I laid out reasons why the feeling ought to have been dismissed before even considering whether to state it. A relatively new member of the community, an apology ... I'm a little more charitably minded.

Very serious charge to level. Someone else started a thread the other day that also invited this kind of speculation, even if the OP didn't specifically state it. Remember the Twins catching prospect who got kicked out for being frustrated on the final game of his season and started tipping pitches to the opposing batters? That kind of thing doesn't go unnoticed. Joe is 15 months away from cashing in on a $100M payday. He sometimes wears his heart on his sleeve, as some good pitchers do, but you would be suggesting stupidity of the highest order, for him to risk being banned permanently from the game for a stunt like that.

Yes. Very important observation. At a glance most of their odds of making the post-season are a little higher than the Twins'. If any of those teams is selling, why are the Twins buying?

I am certain that the Dodgers are kicking themselves. "We gave away James Outman for nothing."

No doubt some people get over-enthused over prospects who aren't quite knocking on the door yet. I would just advise caution about believing that "established" major leaguers are rock-solid guys to count on either. Take this year's Tigers, who are a big disappointment compared to last season. They signed 32-year old Framber Valdez. and so far he is laying an egg. "We all know" that players can start to fall off in their thirties, (And yet we have the Phillies who hit the jackpot by signing Zack Wheeler to a long contract starting at age 30. Grrr.) Zach McKinstry seemed to have a breakout season last year at age 30, but has slipped back to sub-mediocrity this year. But the Tigers must surely be dismayed at younger guys too; Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter are both at ages where you would expect to rely on last year's performance, and they've both contributed to the bad record for the team. Colt Keith came into his age-24 season with two years of service time and a good trajectory, and is scuffling this year. Pitcher Reese Olson is lost for the season due to shoulder surgery - we give certain players a pass for injuries as "just one of those things" but we are hard on prospects when they get injured on the grounds of "see, that's why you can't count on a prospect." I don't know whether this year's Tigers are an especially good example or not (or if my quick and shallow analysis of them holds water). But uncertainty comes with the territory for any ballplayer. There are posters here who are just as adamant and certain regarding established veterans we should go and get, as the posters who dream on the next big prospect. There being no sure things, we take our guesses as to chances of success and perhaps root accordingly.

Time flies when you're giving up runs.

Houston was a mid-first round draft pick. Surely the record doesn't say that 92-94% of guys drafted there never get a plate appearance.

You certainly seem to be implying something. Just go ahead and say it, instead of trying to get someone else to say it for you. Of course, be prepared for a ton of downvotes, not that they matter.

If a contender wants guys to help them with a pennant push, why would they give us useful major league players in return? The only guys in their mid-twenties they will be willing to part with are the ones they want an upgrade to - likely these will be downgrades versus what we already have, too. If a team's not a contender, they won't want two months of Jeffers for example. Prospects are the coin of the realm at the deadline. You're either collecting them, or disbursing them, or standing pat. IMO the Twins should pivot to wheeler-dealer mode. Accept high-level prospects in return for the active major leaguers they want (or are willing) to cut ties with. In conjunction, trade prospects to bottom feeder teams who have major league ready talent that they aren't in a position to make use of yet. These prospects going out could be guys we already have (with new ones replacing them), or guys we flip soon after we obtain them. But then, maybe I've been playing the OOTP game for too many years.

If you think about a prospect coming up the ranks, there is an asymmetry in what you are looking at: an inability to hit left-handed pitching may not be a career killer, but an inability to hit righties almost surely is. We end up with corner outfielders like Larnach and Wallner and look at their splits and go, oh well, most pitchers throw right-handed and these two guys will feast on them, who cares if they are unplayable when the other manager brings in a lefty. Kyler Fedko never is going to be afforded that kind of leniency. Byron Buxton is who he is because he hits right-handed pitching. Lefties and righties are not mirror images in this game.

This would also be a good time for a team that leads their league in run scoring to put up some numbers against a top opposing arm.

I saw something about Ryan Clark being let go too.