Hawkeye Bean Counter

The only one hoping this was Tom.

I've always felt this core especially positional players was 2 years away. Why we think this is new information is bizarre. The Larnach, Lewis, Wallner were clearly not going to cut it.

He gets a gold star for creating a functional bullpen out of glue and duct tape. We traded our top 5 relievers. We preceeded to spend a whopping $2 million on Rogers and 500k of international money on Banda. Later we traded, Agbayani and Amick for Minter - Amick has considerable strike out concerns but continues to rake even at AAA, that one might hurt a little. Hoffman for Dasan Hill. This was a significant trade. Hoffman is starting to find his control since coming over and has elite potential. Otherwise cash or minor prospects for Gomez, Nance, Acton and Orze. Even still for zero money invested and a young volatile arm and a bat that’s best outcome is Joey Gallo light. In return for the bullpen we traded we have - Bradley, Abel, Tait, Rojas, Roden and Horn. Now we really need to spend a little more on the bullpen and continuing to develop younger arms. Morris is struggling to end the season either wearing out or tipping pitches. Adding 1 more elite arm to Hoffman and Gomez would leave us in a really good situation for next year.

For where the class is now and after trading the majority of the 21 class - we really needed this class to pan out. Lee still has some upside but the ceiling isn't massive. He will be solid player and at best an All Star 1-2 times during his career. Ultimately i would take that. Priellip and Matthews have upside and historical performance that they can be mid to high end starters with a little reliever risk with Matthews. Morris looked marvelous up until the trade deadline and has struggled since. I hope he just wore down but my bigger concern is he was tipping pitches again. Ross and Schobel may give you a little bit of utility play but I am not expecting a lot.

After Pablo was injured, top 1/3 rotation? Where? I was seeing middle to back of the pack. Ryan, Ober, Bradley have all had pretty good seasons. Kremer has been at least a solid 3-4 while he has been here. I see no where for the season where they think our starters have been a bottom 5 staff. We added to significant assets to the bullpen - Hoffman and then to a lesser extent and shorter time frame, Minter. Now the last month Morris is falling back to reality (or tipping pitches) and statistically Minter is coming back down - but we are also utilizing him a lot more than he has been used in the past. Bullpen as currently constructed I would say is in the 18-22 but that is just purely guessing at this point. I really think you are over estimated what this team was. For pitching staff - starters were a strength after injuries middle of the pack. That seems about right. Relief pitchers - worse in the league - now in the 18-23 range. Hitters - below average. To start the season the hitters outperformed with runs scored, bullpen struggled early, starters have been fairly consistent. Middle of the season hitters went on a tear scoring runs, Bullpen seemed to greatly outperform. Starting pitching was holding their own. To end the season with a tougher schedule, all 3 phases are underperforming in my opinion for the talent. Granted some injuries.

I am reading more that the lottery may be scrapped or changed. Draft odds continue to go up with current set up. #1 pick 4.5% Top 6. 40%

Do we get to fire Tom too? Tom has said he likes Zoll. What I have learned this season is listen to what Tom says even if it doesn’t follow logical reasoning.

Seriously, so we are just in the change for change sake? We came into the season down a pitcher and no bullpen. We have rebuilt a bullpen on the fly. SWR cratered, Obers velocity is vanishing, yet he had promising progress with Abel and Bradley is a win. He is not getting fired.

Every batter is missing something.

Doesn’t matter it’s where he has value. He is not an OBP machine and he doesn’t have great speed. Even without power I think he is best as high quality rbi producer.

I like him as a #5 hitter. Even still he wants to be a 2nd baseman not a DH and we won’t pay enough.

Ok so no power- but 3 other big positives 1. Low strikeouts 2. puts ball in play - moves runners 3. Sees lots of pitches He is a professional batter that improves the hitters around him. I think you could get him for 3 for $45 million and he will likely outplay the contract.

If I am paying for a hitter its Arraez. Otherwise - we are counting on development of Culpepper, Rodriguez, and Jenkins. Add in Keaschall, Lee, Clemens and and improved Lewis.; The issue in adding Arraez is he would probably be blocking Buxton from DH'ing. Arraez wants a significant long term contract and I don't see it occurring with us.

The playoff odds we are effectively eliminated. I see us having more lineups that appear to be relatively meaningly and do a soft tank the remaining of the year.