biggentleben

Yikes. Took three attempts to log on. Color scheme is nuts on my eyes, as in quite literally hurting my eyes, even with my computer glasses on. Then a tutorial just to use the site to have conversation. I've been chatting with many on this forum for more than 20 years. Suppose all good things must come to an end.

I'm a few weeks past having my second shot done. Both shots knocked me down pretty good for 24 hours. Neither was ANYTHING like when I had COVID.

He'll shove someone in the back along the way and the other guy will get suspended. Good for him.

I read about this yesterday. Incredible. I can't remember such a game at any level of baseball, and I've watched some very dominant pitchers. That's an amazing feat.

Patino was a top 20 prospect pre-2020. He was barely beyond rookie qualifications or he would be a top 20-30 prospect still. He'd be in the same ranking level as a Lewis/Kirilloff.

Sadly, the return for Story would be bad even for a well-run org just because he's an impending FA going into a CBA year, so teams will see him as just a two- or three-month rental.

Just wait until you see the value Trevor Story brings in July. Rockies fans are going to cry and wish for an Arenado return.

You're also talking about an organization in San Diego with a potentially historically deep farm system. You say that they traded away "low-valued" players. Multiple players traded away were top 100-150 prospects in various lists this offseason by Fangraphs, PIpeline, Baseball America, etc. The Twins right now are not a great comparison because their top 100 guys are all fairly close to the major leagues, but if the team chose to move Balazovic, Jeffers, and Lewis (pre-injury) to acquire pieces, I'm pretty sure the fanbase on here would not be so forgiving, yet a few of those guys ranked similarly across lists. I will be the first to tell you that I was a huge fan of both Akil Baddoo and Tyler Wells. When I covered the Twins for Pucketts Pond, both ranked very highly in my org top 100 list, but I left Pucketts Pond after the 2018 season, and I've missed a combined 29 appearances in-game between the two of them, all by Baddoo in 2019. I've watched any video I could of either since, but there hasn't been anything to show that either made the type of strides that would have you anointing one of them as the next coming. It's akin to the David Ortiz thing all over again. He went to Boston, where a hitting coach significantly changed his swing. He wasn't even signed to be their starting DH in Boston that season. No one thought Ortiz would become what he did. Player growth is never linear, and a team cannot protect everyone. For all you and I know, the FO had a deal lined up that was "crossing t's" away from being done that fell apart just ahead of the Rule 5 that would have filled up the 40-man. We won't know, and standing here and shouting about it after literally a week of play does no one good. Enjoy the success of both young men and cheer them on. It hurt for years to watch Jermaine Dye on another team, knowing he could have been next to Andruw Jones in the outfield for the Braves, but that's part of baseball. I ended up working with a guy who hated the same trade initially because he was a fan of Michael Tucker and hated seeing him go. He learned to enjoy watching Dye with the Royals instead.

Facility questions, the ability to scale up that quickly, and, frankly, the elephant in the room all came into play. Howard Bryant was the first of many who has pointed out that this was a purely business move for MLB, but that to avoid making multiple stops, finding a spot where sponsors and advertisers would be pleased was paramount. Denver fit that bill.

Quite a few did.

The organizational cover-up regarding Mickey Callaway is sickening. This same thing happened last year. Rumors have swirled in circles for years about Cleveland trainers doing "something extra" for their pitchers, and three notable pitchers break down upon leaving the organization, which is not pure evidence, but it's also not pure coincidence, either. There's a culture within the organization of keeping the things that they do that are outside the bounds of the rules inside their org, and that can be a very dangerous environmental structure to have.

Perhaps there's something awry in the Cleveland culture. Francona's time has perhaps passed by.

Also, Simmons was one of my favorite players to cover as a Brave. Not just is he easily the best shortstop defender I've seen play the game (and that's not hyperbole), he has more fun playing the game and more passion for the game than 90% or better of players that play the game for a living. If he could be in Florida playing, he would be.

Braves trained in Florida all the years he was a Brave.

I wrote a piece about a baseball and pheasant hunting festival that was held yearly here in the 1940s and referenced the fact that Aaron used to own land in South Dakota for the purpose of pheasant hunting each year. He would hunt and then spend time at the Redfield development center that housed adults and youth with developmental disabilities, often having to be "kicked out" by staff so residents could go to bed after spending hours with the residents playing ball, reading to residents, and simply spending time with them. He was a genuinely great human being that happened to be a tremendous baseball player.

He requested this two different times, so it wouldn't surprise if the change was made from that point simply because Aaron made it known that he was willing to defer.

Aaron's defense was hurt by doing a lot for the team (like playing 1B for a spell when he was still a highly-regarded fielder). The tweet that was exceptional to me was that many view HOF candidacy on a player's best 7 years. If you take Aaron's best 7 years, they're obviously elite. His next best 7 years are also incredible. The next 7 best years, he averaged 26 home runs and a better wRC+ than roughly half of HOF hitters. It's incredible to consider just how good he was and for how long he was consistently good. The man hit 755 home runs without ever hitting 50 and only leading the league one time. He struck out at a lower rate than Babe Ruth, and his slugging percentage is the highest of any HOF player against HOF pitchers.

Kepler had 36 HR in 2019. Benintendi has never shown that sort of power. That's a big difference. If Kepler was legitimately on the market, there would be a list of teams around the block attempting to acquire him.

RIP, Tommy. Like him, love him, hate him, he was impactful on the game for more than 50 years directly and continued his influence after he was no longer directly employed by a team.

I'd rather have Odorizzi over Snell any day.

Then you're missing a LOT of them, specifically the ones who have actually seen the players. Eric Longenhagen is higher on the players the Cubs received than I am.

No one says the Padres don't know their talent. Talent still needs to be developed. Each of these talents has comparables, but they will have to develop through the minor league system to reach that comparison. The Padres have more depth than perhaps all but one team in the entire league. They can trade away this talent without it tremendously hurting the farm, especially to bring in a guy to put at the front of their rotation.

It really depends on the person you talk with. Most haven't spent a lot of time evaluating the players because they're young guys that weren't at the Alt Site this summer. Preciado is the gem of the deal. Multiple people I've talked with after his fall instructs performance have him easily as a top-100 guy and comfortably inside the top 10 of the Padres, some even within their top 5. Mena is probably the next best prospect. He's a guy who many Twins fans could look quickly and see a lot of Max Kepler attributes in - long strides and frame that likely fit best in a corner, but enough athleticism to handle center early on in his minor league career. Likely a very similar offensive ceiling as well. Caissie was a guy I was very, very impressed with coming into the 2020 draft with the reports I got on his coachability and strides already made with his swing. The frame and swing will lead a lot of people to think of someone like Kyle Schwarber, but he has a lot more athleticism. Santana is a guy that others like more than me, but he is a guy that really can stick up the middle defensively. What he does with the bat is where I am not in line with others I've talked with, who see him as a potential low-level starter or utility guy while I view his ceiling as likely an up-and-down infield defense type.

The Pham/Cronenworth deal is already a loss, unless Xavier Edwards somehow becomes a HOF player.

Because YOU don't know the players doesn't mean they aren't excellent players. Dealing with the age and contract factor attached to Darvish, the Cubs got a very attractive package. Frankly, in raw talent, it's more than I'd have paid if I were GM.