Major League Ready

The mistake was not Duran. That trade would probably be looking just fine right now had Able not gotten injured. The mistake was Varland. There was just no need to trade him on the rise. He would be even more valuable asset today and going forward.

I was just looking over the return and thought the same thing. You have to believe they could get a really good return for Jeffers. Could they have gotten Eyanson straight up?

Rutschman is also under team control for 2027 so he is really not a comp for Jeffers. Oops. I responded before seeing others had the same point.

Taking on the last 5 years of that kind of contract for a past his prime SS would be monumentally stupid.

Hard to tell based on the past few days because the moves have been measured. However, Tom Pohlad seems to have been in the mode you describe since the day he took over. He has had an exaggerated sense of this team's relative ability to contend and a major emphasis on the right now versus building a legit contender. I just hope they don't do something dumb.

It's really great to see Keaschall out of his sophomore slump. Hopefully, he can be a big contributor for several years.

Marek Houston looks like the Minor League Player of the Year to me!

I would love for them to have 5 SPs better than Zebby. When that happens, they can move Zebby to the BP but I don't see that as likely. This was a smart move by the Orioles to get a high ceiling guy in this type of trade.

I have been really disappointed in that pick. His OPS for the year is .669. It does not look at this point like he can make enough contact for the power to matter. He still a teenager so there is hope he can make adjustments that yield more consistency.

So, what you are saying is that before you made an important decision about the deadline, you would take into account if the team lost their best position player and their best Pitcher. When you wrote it, I thought well of course. I can't believe you have to defend this position.

He is going to anger a given percentage no matter what he does. It seems to me there is a pretty equal number of people that are focused on this year and another fairly equal group of people who are more focused on building a true contender. I fall into the group that wants to manage toward something better than mediocrity and hope for a miracle in the playoffs.

Who are you getting from the Rays?

I would like to see them go for ceiling. Warren's appeal is that he is ready now. It's similar to the Taj Bradley trade but I don't see the same upside. Abel, Prielipp, and Rojas all have dominant stuff. I would like to see the Twins get those guys established and build on them with prospects like LaGrange or Lalane. Add them to Hill, Quick, Soto, and Ellwanger and I like our chances at a dominant rotation.

It's a need right now but you don't trade Jeffers for the immediate term. Just hang on to him if the only thing you care about is the immediate term. Trade Jeffers if you can get one of their better pitching prospects. Those guys could actually play a role in building a contender. Volpe gets replaced by Culpepper or Houston and plays no role in building a true contender. Do we want to contend or pretend?

I like this one a lot. Maybe Larnach instead of a prospect.

I would trade Ryan and Larnach for Anderson. Them, I would trade Jeffers to NY.

Does this mean you are assuming they won't be competitive in 2028 and 2029? Jeffers and Bell are gone at the end of the season. Larnach and Ryan are gone at the end of 2027. I don't see them trading anyone with control beyond 2027 so this logic suggests they won't be competitive in 2 of the 3 next seasons regardless of what they do at the deadline.

They would not get much. Why sell low unless we really need the roster spot?

I hope they are wrong.

Sorry. I had a faulty equation in my spreadsheet. The $110 is correct. Spotrac has Lapour signing for exactly slot. Bouchard is signed but the amount not made public.

I did a +/- on the top 10 and the bottom 10. They have not signed Tommy LaPour yet. They are 879K under for the top 10 picks without him. His pick value is $733K so they will not have to sign him under slot or maybe for once they use the 5% rule and go over a little. They are over by 245K on 11-20. SIGNED PICK PLAYER AMOUNT VALUE +/- 1 Vahn Lackey 9.500 9.740 -0.240 2 Carson Tinney 1.900 2.330 -0.430 CB Brett Renfrow 1.140 1.140 0.000 3 Ethan Wachsmann 2.250 1.050 1.200 4 Tommy LaPour 0.733 -0.733 5 Steele Murdock 0.507 0.537 -0.030 6 Ethan Lay 0.075 0.407 -0.332 7 Max Bayles 0.275 0.319 -0.044 8 Thomas Burns 0.3 0.253 0.047 9 JT Raab 0.048 0.215 -0.167 10 Kole Klecker 0.05 0.2 -0.150 OVER / UNDER -0.879 11 Aidan Teel 210 0 -60 12 Colby Turner 150 0 0 13 Isaiah Lane 200 0 -50 14 Alec Bouchard 0 0 150 15 Charlie Scholvin 135 0 15 16 Connor Mattison 150 0 0 17 Hideki Prather 150 0 0 18 Colter McAnelly 125 0 25 19 PJ Moutzouridis 125 0 25 20 Michael Barnett 10 0 140 OVER / UNDER 245 TOTAL ALLOCATION -0.634

Yes, the downside of acknowledging a team does not have the talent to truly compete is it takes time to assemble the talent. The downside of the strategy you are advocating is that it bets on a one-year window. Most of our best hitters will be gone at the end of 2027. Jeffers and Bell are gone at the end of this year and Larnach and Caratini will be gone after 2027. That's 4 of our 5 most productive hitters. Our two top SPs (Ryan and Lopez) are also gone after 2027. I guess the question becomes how much talent that will be here for 5-7 years can you acquire in trade for the players that will be gone after 2027. Are the same guys you are saying will take a while to contribute going to be the difference between the 500 team we have this year becoming a contender next year? If not, why would you expect a team with the same players to become a contender?

Glad to see they got Wachsmann signed. None of these signings are updated in the MLB draft tracker. Is there another source?

Fair enough but is trading for a guy that is not playing well the best we can do.

Peralta has not been good. Why would it be nice to have him?