ashbury

Good win! Hooray! Sell.

We aren't the Rays or Athletics. Ryan and Duran become relatively expensive during their final final years of control? That's cause for celebration - it means they are successful. You want successful players. It's a privilege to pay them; the budget can support keeping them. Suppose you trade Ryan. What do you do with the cost savings? Use it to replace him? That's merely spinning your wheels. I posted my deadline blueprint. It's similar to the sell strategy the article lays out. I agree with trying to compete in 2026 unless evidence later on this year suggests not. But I don't shop my good players under team control, at this deadline.

My bad. I haven't been keeping up.

If memory serves, it was the Twins, back in 2023 I believe.

What are the Pre-Arb counts for the Dodgers, who we play next?

Starting pitchers pace themselves from the beginning of the game with the aim of throwing 100 quality pitches. Relievers have the luxury to do things differently in the hope of sitting back down after a dozen. The quality dimension could become higher. Guys like Jax and Varland are examples. That's where the solution, if any, would lie.

I'm nowhere near qualified to coach a hitter, which makes me unqualified to judge those who do. Still, I have this nagging worry, or maybe a working hypothesis, that our batters are being taught techniques that work right up through AAA but break down when facing good solid MLB pitching. "Wait for your pitch" would be one example I can think of, simple though it may be. If you face a typical AAA hurler, eventually he'll make a mistake pitch, and you should pounce on it. At single-A, mistakes come your way all the time. At AAA, maybe one in five pitches are mistakes? So you'll get your chances to do damage over the course of the game. What if the pitcher makes NO mistakes while it's your turn at bat? Some pitchers in the majors are capable of that for lengthy stretches when they are going well A couple of tempting pitches in the dirt that you can choose to lay off of, but three similar looking pitches that catch a corner or edge of the strike zone and you just look at them waiting for something better? What's your Plan B in that case? Do you have what it takes to punch the pitcher's best pitch the opposite way for a single? (And maybe persuade him eventually to stop feeding you that, giving you more opportunities for the pitches you do like?) Or do you just stick with Plan A, game after game after game? I don't know how to state it any better than that, but that would be the gist of it. And again, I know actual coaching is way more layered and nuanced than that. It's just a starting point for conversation. Those are the things I'd be looking at from the FO perspective. Given that it's system-wide, and they have made multiple changes in batting coaches at the major-league level, I'm concerned that this FO doesn't have the perspective to find the problem. They do hire people from outside, but there is a bias if they are looking for people who are attuned to the present system. Do they hire complete outsiders on a consulting basis, for instance?

At this point in the season I don't see Danny signing an extension unless it's for an overpay and his agent tells him he's a fool not to take it. If we want him back, we can compete for him in the free agent market for probably less than it would take to get him now.

Me too, to varying degrees, but that's the reason they seem the obvious candidates to go in return for good prospects in this lost season. I don't expect fantastic returns, but let's see how desperate contending teams are, especially for "proven" bullpen arms. Remember Jorge Lopez? 😀

They lost a game to the Pirates just before the All-Star Break. They lost a game to the Rockies coming out of it, in the process making Kyle Freeland the latest pitcher having a meh season to look like Cy Young most of the game. I don't care if they take the next two games against the lowly Rox; a team with legitimate post-season hopes can sweep one of these teams. Instead the offense continues to sputter. So I'm in sell mode. As GM I line up some trades, and barring a miracle sweep against the Dodgers I pull the trigger anytime after the first loss against them, unless some team makes me a sweet deal with a time limit that causes me to jump earlier. I'm not in Fire Sale Mode, though. My aim is to retool for a run in 2026 after the failure of 2025. As long as Correa and Buxton and Lopez and Duran are under team control I insist on calling this a window of contention. Keeping fans engaged is a necessary part of running the team. I never believe in "selling high", as the value can be used by us just as well as the other team - Duran being an example of a player I'll just "agree to disagree" with some fans concerning - and of course I dislike "selling low" on a player, especially if under team control and with minor-league options remaining. I don't have any specific trades to mention, but I've zeroed out the players who'd I'd aggressively sell. Vazquez is the one that, if I have to eat salary to get rid of, I just might hang onto for the remainder of 2025 since I'm not be able to replace him with anything better (barring what I obtain at the deadline of course). Everyone else of these, have potential trade value - I think - but if not then I hang onto them too as placeholders for the remainder of 2025 - I'm not intent on gutting the roster for its own sake - our talent at AAA isn't nearly as deep as necessary to do that. I believe Falvey indicated this past week they've been in information-collection mode a long while now, in either buy/sell direction, and as POBO I'd accelerate that to spend this week learning as clearly as possible how other teams value each of my zeroed out players. My inclination is to try to package all of these with lesser prospects to obtain higher-value prospects, preferably near-MLB-ready making them ultra-expensive, so if a team values two of my expiring contracts I push hard to see what they would part with and what else I need to add to make it happen. But I am not interested in parting with any of my top prospects, as that just fixes one hole by opening another. I can not know how desperate any given contender is to patch holes, so this is a "TBD" part of the blueprint. (When I play Out Of The Park, I approach a fellow GM with an initial package and suggest a 4-star prospect in return, and see what develops. You can't "blueprint" the trade deadline any better than this, IMO.) I don't expect Miranda/Gasper/Julien to have significant trade value but I'd include them in any deal where the other GM suggested them as the final tiny piece. Post housecleaning, I demote Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis to try to relearn how to hit. I promote any of the remaining pieces such as Keirsey to fill in the holes in the 26-man roster. August and September will be a struggle, and Rocco will be put to the test to make any kind of purse, silk or otherwise, out of some of these sows ears. I'm fine with finishing the season way under payroll budget - I don't begrudge one penny when gearing up in the offseason for contention, but at the trade deadline I'm more than happy to save my ownership group a bunch of money. (My strong assumption is that part of the POBO's compensation package is a form of profit sharing, and when I can't compete I'm perfectly happy to pocket an extra quarter-million or whatever myself, ditto for my key underlings.) Again, I'm not parting with meaningful assets under control for next season. Depending on what comes back in trade, and the remaining progress of the top prospects, I reformulate the roster next November for another competitive run in 2026. The fans don't deserve another lengthy rebuild. C: Ryan Jeffers ($4.70M) 1B: Ty France ($0.00M) 2B: Brooks Lee ($0.80M) 3B: Royce Lewis ($2.30M) SS: Carlos Correa ($36.00M) LF: Trevor Larnach ($2.10M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Matt Wallner ($0.80M) DH: Harrison Bader ($0.00M) 4th OF: Dashawn Keirsey Jr ($0.80M) Utility: Willi Castro ($0.00M) Utility: Kody Clemens ($0.80M) Backup C: Christian Vazquez ($0.00M) NA: Dead Money Here ($0.00M) SP1: David Festa ($0.80M) SP2: Joe Ryan ($3.80M) SP3: Bailey Ober ($4.30M) SP4: Chris Paddack ($0.00M) SP5: Simeon Woods Richardson ($0.80M) RP: Jhoan Duran ($3.70M) RP: Brock Stewart ($0.00M) RP: Griffin Jax ($2.60M) RP: Danny Coulombe ($0.00M) RP: Cole Sands ($0.80M) RP: Justin Topa ($0.00M) RP: Louie Varland ($0.80M) RP: Joey Wentz ($0.00M) NA: Dead Money Here ($0.00M) Payroll is 44.21% under budget

Trade deadline is nigh. Sell.

But you beat me, so there's that.

They make a hell of a battery,

Welcome back, Parker.

Since Terry Ryan wasn't a stupid man, this kind of reply winds up being a conversation stopper.

Terry Ryan had a reputation for being conservative, but he would gamble. Putting Sano in RF was one such, Tyler Jay was a different type.

Customer surveys are the business equivalent of the push-polls you may get subjected to in political season. They are intended to plant ideas and/or to reinforce a positive view on the topic. They are not a sincere request for information. If Derek Falvey actually wants to know how the customer experience is, all he needs to do is log into his own team's website to buy a ticket (remembering to turn off cookies or use a VPN), drive from his Edina McMansion to the fan parking facility, put on a COVID facemask and wear a hoodie and go in through security, and then buy a meal for the family that he'll pretend is already seated in section 327. Follow me on Facebook for more tips on marketing, running your business entity, and eating your own dog food.

Bottom of the tenth, tie game, Manfred man on second - don't think the extra runner is that much of a gift.

Not to mention that the opposing manager might choose to simply walk your super contact guy.

"Pablo López’s Injury May Give Rocco Baldelli What He’s Always Wanted" Yes, because Rocco has long intended to replace Lopez with Travis Adams. 🤣 These headlines just keep getting worser and worser. What would have been wrong with a simple "Pablo's Out; Now What?" That said, Adams has shown a nice track record for learning on the job - struggling a little each time he's promoted then improving at the same level the next time around. If he struggles against major leaguers and has to get sent down, I wouldn't necessarily give up on him.

Thanks for asking. Tomorrow night if all goes well. Sons Bashbury and Cashbury are slated to attend too.

There is no slide that scores the run on a competent catcher by this point:

Seems like a day for the manager to have thrown caution and the computer printout to the wind after the fourth inning, and let this prospect go nuts and toss 52 or even 53 pitches.

Sorry to hear that. I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you. But I can try a different way: life is impermanent.