bjorks

I have a hard time driving 7 miles.

Hard to argue. Hopefully he can become a fixture for the next 5-7 years

Theres 1%> Keaschall will ever play at 1B. As mentioned yesterday if the Cards actually would be open to trading Burleson, who's in Y2 of arb, can you attach Lewis, w/Zebby, ERod, and a lower level Top 30 guy? The (oh please lord) new owner, who may want to make a splash move, or Tom will have to decide if Burleson is eventually a $30+ AAV type player? And if he is are you OK if he regresses to what he was, which was closer to Josh Bell?

Buxton for Olson in a heartbeat

Good write up. One thing I've thought about was we hear protection for hitters (maybe it's over rated, but I doubt it). If ERod plays 120'ish games and for the most part he's consistently in the lineup, where do you bat him? The difference in pitchers approach with someone like Keaschall/Buxton behind him is a huge difference than Kreidler/Lewis. Like Jenkins, ERod struggled with the late breaking, hard stuff and changeups, which is to be expected. But ERod could have a faster path to success depending on who's behind him. Same with Jenkins, but I'd bat him #2 regardless.

My biggest issue with the roster and our needs is it's going to take trading a Ryan type player unless someone is impressed enough in what they saw in ERod. The options in the FA pool at 1B/C are not great. Alec Bohm is the best option, but it's going to cost a pick AND you'd have to significantly overpay to get him not to go back to Philly. C'ing is a little better, but much like my Sam Darnold argument, they've solved one of the most difficult positions in baseball (at least offensively) what is the alternative? Tyler Stephenson? Carson Kelly? Or worse, they kick the bucket on a trade for a Christian Walker and get them to eat some $? My dream offseason in no order 1) Attempt to resign Jeffers - Any FA deal he's probably trying to get something like a $75/5, but if we offered a $32/2 with the chance to hit FA one final time at age 31, it could be a perfect scenario with Jackson backing him up. 28% better than average offensively and 9% below on defense, I can live with the defensive metrics. 2) Trade Ryan, maybe you have to attach ERod et al, but go get a legit 1B. Keaschall is not a 1B and Lewis at this point is a utility player. I don't have a particular 1B in mind, but we're not finding one not named Josh Bell in the FA market. 3) With Ryan gone, go after Sonny. $60/2 + mutual option for $25 4) Find a RH bat

While I'm not a huge Bednar fan (mostly from a few blow up years) Nick makes a good point about pushing everyone down. What if Gomez/Sands/Morris are pitching the 7th instead of the 8th? What if Hoffman is pitching the 8th and not the 9th? To be serious you have to have the back locked down and while Bednar is probably chasing a ring at this point, he's better than any other option we have. He made $9 this year and could he cost $13-$14, maybe but I'd rather have it settled with Bednar/Hoffman combo at the backend than going in with Sands/Rogers/Topa/Orze/et al.

to remove bone spurs/chips 😡

And 1B/C FA list is hard to stomach with the exception of maybe Alex Bohm. It would have to be via trade they make improvements. Overpaying Jeffers for a year seems like a no brainer and you keep Jackson and just figure out how to trade Caratini. Cash, a bucket of balls, who cares. The alternative is Caratini or worse as your starter with Jackson backing up.

That's not the point, the point is with baseball focused primarily on velo, we have our fair share of arm injuries. Abel is just the most recent example.

Conditioned arms vs micro managed arms. Mechanics are thrown out the window because it's about RPMs and spin rates and maximize movement and speed. going back even 30 years it was unthinkable someone would be throwing 92-94 mph changeups.

Maki and his assistant are d-u-n. I didn't mind Maki, what's the saying, hard to make chicken salad out of chicken poop?

If he's 80% of his potential from 5 years ago, he's a steal as a #5. Sadly we have a recurring theme with guys like Festa, Abel, Canterino and pitching in general. Velo is an arm killer. While I"m not a fan of the All the Smoke pod, the one with Al Leiter and Harold Reynolds was very interesting.

Arguably our MVP

Ober out of the BP isn't any worse than a Topa, Orze, Adams at this point. His velo ticked up in the 3 innings he threw and all we hear about is his stuff plays up. It wasn't about Ober not hitting 95-96, he never could, but his 91 plays up, much more than his 88. If he's in the BP and makes a spot start, again not a bad option, but expensive to put him in the pen I admit.