mikelink45
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Everything posted by mikelink45
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I really liked the thinking that went into this and the thought it generated. I put Berrios first because without him our rotation has no real star potential. Of course if he had an extension (as he should have) he might have moved over the two who do. I share the thought that Graterol deserves to be in the top five, not sure I agree with Lewis at this point, but overall this was a terrific set of essays.
- 44 replies
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- royce lewis
- brusdar graterol
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The one question that this brings is where is his extension. He has the potential and certainly has done more than Buxton to show it, but only Kepler and Polanco were extended. Why? If we can bid on FA and fail, we should be able to bid on our own roster and succeed.
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At this point 1B belongs to Larnach/Kiriloff/Rooker/Raley. I am fine with that. We have gone beyond the guys I care about so lets see what our highly rated minor league prospects can do.
- 10 comments
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- josh donaldson
- marwin gonzalez
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Nicely done. I am enjoying these write ups and rankings. I suspect is some ways this was a much easier year for you to rank the players than the last three. We seem to be in a more solidified period with the exception of first base and the end of the rotation. Going forward this will again be challenging as players like Sano and Berrios move towards FA. Buxton will have to be healthy this year to keep in the top ten. Garver will be 30, Cruz will be even older...
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I expect all to be impacted. If Rosario is the least impacted it will make all those who wanted to trade him and complained about him look bad! Go Eddie!. I think Sano hits them so far he will not be impacted, but yes Kepler will be by a large amount and he will have to take lessons from Arraez on more contact. He can do it. Cruz is do for some aging and with a dejuiced ball it might be more than we all want to see. Go Nelson, I love to see someone of senior baseball status keep it going. How about Polanco - I think this might hurt his power the most.
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I find this to be a fun exercise and I still cannot really comment until I see the top 10. At the moment I think Rogers is too low because I am not a believer in May and Duffey, but that is not much of an argument. I am waiting to see where Lewis and Kiriloff and Balazovic rank because I would have them in the top ten. But then you create an interesting competition between starters and prospects with only one more pitcher in my expected top 10 - Berrios who I rank #1. Where would we be without him? And I know his contract is not as long as it should be. And we have no first baseman so that is not a position to worry about on this list: My guess list Berrios - because he is the closest to an AceKepler - Long term contract and production and versatilityPolanco - long term contract and ability to hitKiriloff - valuable in trade, at 1B, and OF and he hitsGarver - getting older, not a long contract, but catchers have extra valueBuxton - the great "if only" playerArraez - OBP is still a tremendous asset and he is versatileBalazovic - his arm looks like it is realGraterol - I would start him nowLewis - has he turned the corner. We will need him
- 14 replies
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- jake odorizzi
- taylor rogers
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This is why teams are developing new strategies like extending before they even begin to insure control beyond six years. Now we are looking at Buxton and Berrios and Sano and wondering if we will be able to keep them because no extensions have been made - perhaps a very big mistake.
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I am not sure of that - when I look at prospect lists our guys are quite high and have been for a few years now.
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I think the reason is money - a rookie starting his clock and not succeeding right away scares teams That is why the White Sox extended a rookie that they are going to play this year even though he has still not been to MLB.
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Good post, but Soto and Acuna both came up to teams that were going for league championships. They were considered missing pieces for good teams regardless of age.
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I think Garver stays and splits time with Jeffers - hopefully soon. I am not a big Avila fan. Astudillo is not going to last as a catcher or even a bench player even though I love to watch him. It is hard to comment on the placement of Rosario or Cruz without seeing the entire list, but you have me intrigued. Duffey???? Not sure what to think about him. I do understand him over May, but who else is he above?
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Rooker has been ready for a year, but what about Raley?
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Never know until we try, what did they say about the recent 19 and 20 years olds that are now stars?
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So we whiffed in FA and now we have the feeling that we never really had a chance and no one wants to come here! Boo hoo! People say trade the prospects. Wait a minute - they have to come here. They have no choice. For six years they are ours. So lets play them. Cleveland where our FO was trained moved their prospects up to their team and have had a good winning record for a few years now. Forget where they were in the minors - many teams are now running players out at a much younger age - see Acuna (22), Soto (19), Tatis 20, Jimenez (23), Lindor (22), Corey Seager (21), Corea (21), Gleyber Torres (22)... Forget the lets play keep them in the minors for years and push them forward. Noah Syndergaard is one of our targets and he is 26 and came in to the league at 22. Many players have started young and succeeded: Vada Pinson, RF: 19 years, 247 days in 1958 (Reds) ... Sibby Sisti, 2B: 19 years, 265 days in 1940 (Bees) ... Brooks Robinson, 3B: 19 years, 332 days in 1957 (Orioles) ... Rogers Hornsby, SS: 19 years, 351 days in 1916 (Cardinals) ... Adrian Beltre, 3B: 19 years, 363 days in 1999 (Dodgers) Lewis is still our number one rated player - put him at 3B if you want to put Sano at 1B. If he is not ready put Kiriloff, Rooker, or Raley at 1B. If Wade or Kiriloff is better than Cave then replace cave. Put Kiriloff or Larnach in LF since people complain about Eddie Rosario. If Lewis is going to take Marwin's place give him time at all the positions. Then package Gonzales, Rosario, and Cave and instead of trading prospects trade these players for Boyd or some other starter. I want to see the team start to push the envelop and get away from scraping up the crumbs at the end of FA. In other words, what is the plan?
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This seems as inevitable as any column on TD. I believe most readers felt this would be the end result. So if we are back to prospects - then play the prospects - no more questionable moves to veterans who do not move the dial. Give Rooker, Raley, Kiriloff a real chance at 1B. I am not interested in a journeyman, nor am I pleased to think that Marwin starts. Gonzales he had a total fWAR of 1.4. I want more from 1B. Give Graterol, Balazovic real opportunities if we believe they are going to be our best starters for the future and use Thorpe, Dobnak, Poppens, Smeltzer as fill in BP and SP rotations. If they move Sano to 1B, push Lewis to start and figure out if he or Polanco are best at 3B.
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The commentators have covered all the salient issues. My biggest NO is the Sales trade. I think Boston is realizing they overpaid for an arm that will not hold up. I see that as a losing proposition. Archer looks good. I am not big on putting Graterol in any trade. We always need pitchers so putting our most promising pitcher in a trade seems to be self defeating. Gardy likes ex-Twins so he might jump at a Boyd trade to get some bats. Rooker, Raley, and Romero would be my 3Rs trade bait for Boyd. Thor does not get Buxton and Kiriloff. That is too much. Buxton and a lower level prospect or nothing. Keep thinking - your article is good hot stove fodder.
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Arraez and the rest are interesting, but fall short in too many categories for me.
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The rules have changed for this kind of movement and that is going to have a big impact on the rotation of young players
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I am still hoping for Graterol at least for the suspension and injury start of the season (Pineda and Hill). So Thorpe or Dobnak can fill the other slot in the rotation. One of those three have to step forward. At this point Smeltzer and Poppen have not impressed with the kind of pitches that can be sustained as a quality starter over a full year. I like Smeltzer as the classic long man in the pen because he comes in as a contrast to the starter. I think he came in and did great as a starter last year because no one had a book on him at that point.
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Don Larsen is dead, long live the no-hitter
mikelink45 commented on mikelink45's blog entry in mikelink45's Blog
I thought about that, but the perfect is even more endangered. The last one was in 2012 by Felix Hernandez. And for some reason that year there were three - Phil Humber (amazingly), and Roy Halladay. Then it goes to 2010 Dallas Braden, 2009 Mark Buerhle and 2004 with Randy Johnson. That is all for the last decade and with the demise of the no-hitter goes the demise of the perfect game. -
Don Larsen, age 90, passed away and with him goes the honor of being the only man to toss a no-hit perfect game in a World Series (1956). Pitching to Yogi Berra in that classic Larsen rose to heights that exceed his career 81 - 91 record. His last out was a strikeout of Dale Mitchell. In Casey Stengel's unorthodox method of random pitcher selection, Don was shocked that he was called on after a poor game two. “I must admit I was shocked,” Larsen wrote in his autobiography. “I knew I had to do better than the last time, keep the game close and somehow give our team a chance to win. Casey was betting on me, and I was determined not to let him down this time.” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/01/obituaries/don-larsen-dead.html In today's game he would not have pitched nine innings. Only an old school pitcher like Dustin Verlander this year will insist on having a complete game. Mike Fiers had the other complete game no-hitter in 2019 and two were multiple pitcher games which lacks the same sense of anticipation to me. There were three no-hitters in 2018, two complete games, There was one in 2017 and one in 2016. There were seven no-hitters in 2015! Roy Halladay had two in 2010. Nolan Ryan threw SEVEN no-hitters. Sandy Koufax had four, Cy Young, Larry Corcoran, Justin Verlander and Bob Feller had three each! There have been 260 no-hitters since 1901 so those six had almost 10% of the no-hitters over 120 years. Like Don Larsen, Johnny Vander Meer was an obscure pitcher who reached no hit immortality as the only pitcher to throw two in a row. Others to have two in one season include Ryan, Virgil Trucks, Allie Reynolds, Roy Halladay, and Max Scherzer. Max and Justin are old school pitchers that I love to watch work a game who will take their place; will others be allowed to take their place? In 1954 there were 840 complete games - 34%. In 2019 there were 45 complete games - 0.9%. No wonder RP are burning out.
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From the album: Kings of No-hitters
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From the album: Kings of No-hitters
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From the album: Kings of No-hitters
