Major League Ready

Maybe they are learning they should be more concerned.

The premise of not making the 1st or last out at 3B is something I would hope a player understands before they get out of A ball, The play he was thrown out on was also a hard hit ball virtually straight at the RFer. Shouldn't any player understand that a ball hit in this manner is going to significantly reduce their chance of making it to 3B safely? I love Julien but that was a very bad decision.

Remember Brady Aiken? The Astros didn't like his medicals and they ended up not signing him. I hope it does not derail this signing.

According to baseball reference is $2.25M in 2024 and $3M in 2025 so a total of $5.25M. Hopefully they will get more value than that out of him but if not, it's not going to influence the team they put together.

Now that's LArnach is up, hopefully one of Larnach and Wallner take off and lock down a spot. I think (hope) they trade Gallo at the dead line for a Byron Churio type prospect and eat most of his salary. Maybe that's optimistic but I could see him go to the Yankees.

IDK ... they can go with a 1B or OF given Kirilloff's flexibility. Cron got off to a slow start but he has been playing well for a couple months now. His wRC+ for the last two months (since 5/25) is 140. Paul Goldschmidt's wRC+ since then is 108. I think the cost for Cron will be reasonable. We know they are not in on SP so that leaves the BP. We see holes today but I think they look a couple weeks out and see Duran / Jax / Stewart / Thielbar / Lopez / Moran / Pagan and Ortega with Balazovic / Headrick and Sands as depth. Plus, Paddack should be back in September. IDK that they see a big need in the BP. I know some will say we should at least replace Pagan. However, he has given up two tuns in his last 16 appearances and his ERA since the blow-up in Boston in late April is 2.29. Batting average against is .159 and a whip of .91.

You don't bring back a player of that stature and then peddle him at the deadline. Never was a possibility.

They can go over their draft allocation by 4.9 percent ($700K) with only a monetary penalty. They are actually $300K under their allocation. That would give them about $1M to try to sign the 19 & 20 picks if they sign Jenkins at slot. Hopefully this plays out well with Jenkins and one of the 19/20 picks.

Obviously, It's a balancing act between short-term and long-term interests. There is no doubt there is a premium paid for perceived immediate impact. I say perceived because as we witnessed with Mahle and Lopez and many other examples for other teams, the benefit is far from certain. However, trading Gray diminishes our chances this year which will alienate certain portion of the fan base and every business wants customer satisfaction. The long-term impact of trading him is unknown which to a fanbase focused on the right now is basically of no value. What we know for sure is the benefits of keeping him are limited to this year. What also know for sure is the worst case scenario is there is no long-term benefit. Of course, there is a good chance they get a quality player that impacts the team for 6+,years. If the goal was to maximize wins over the next decade, we would take the long-term play in most cases. That's the best way to sustain success. I don't think they will trade him partially because the gain over a comp pick being that great. He has been quite average over his last dozen starts. I am assuming that brings his value down but perhaps not. They also will please the fans by holding on to him while increasing their chances at a post season which means a substantial increase in revenue. It's business, the combination of pleasing customers and increasing revenue is very attractive.

There were 3 utility guys all year. (Farmer / Castro and Gordon) Four, if they are the right four is not that big stretch and three vs four does not negate potential value in Prato.

Why focus on 156 ABs this year at AA when he has hit the rest of his Milb career, including hitting .294 / .403 / .419 at AA the year before. He is behind Martin, Hellman, and Castro at this moment but sustaining his current pace could change that positioning. It also not like we only need one utility guy. Theoretically, you could have four of them and there are always injuries to cover.

They were talking about Bellinger on the MLB radio network last week kind of marveling at the work he put in to "bounce back". IDK if it was just hyperbole but the consensus on the show was, he worked hard and had a great make-up. It will be really interesting to see how many years a team is willing to go but I will bet someone gives him 3 years or more.

I don't think you are considering what has been happening of late. It made sense to me to complain about Kepler when he wasn't playing well but that's no longer the case. I looked back at a date where several players had around 100 ABs since the date. Kepler's wRC+ in his last 109 ABs is 132. MAT's is 80. Kepler is not a problem currently. Might he regress? Sure, but it does not make sense to MAt and Kepler in the same boat. BTW ... In that same period of time Kirilloff has 122 ABs with a 108 wRC+ and Buxton is 37. It's a small sample but let's consider what's actually happening presently.

and a 887 OPS and great defense. IDK about this year but a nice target for this off-season. Next year is his age 29 season. Question is how many years it will take. You wouldn't think anyone is going to give him something crazy long given his struggles the previous 2 years.

I think people are just tired of Buxton being an automatic out and want relief. Plus, it would make us a lot better with Julien in the DH spot assuming Polanco is normal Polanco. Then, get Royce back and all the sudden this should be a decent offense.

That works too. My memory of Cron's time here was that he was good defensively. Solono is not. Too bad they did not have Julien spend time at 1B in the minors. Maybe they worked on it in practice and he sucked, IDK.

This is a bit over the top. For starters, they don't need two starters. They have Ryan / Lopez / Ober and Paddack back with Varland capable of being a 5th starter. They certainly, don't need to trade for one especially when they likely make a QO to Gray and Maeda could also be a candidate for a QO also if he continues to look this good. Festa and Raya are also candidates to be ready at some point next year. There is a good chance Lewis ends up in the OF. Martin and Kiersey Jr. are also possibilities for 2024. We also should not assume Buxton never plays the OF again. Remember when many people here assume Kirilloff was toast? I would try to get an outfield prospect that is close to ready in trade for Polanco. That won't help 2023 but it won't hurt either. Trading Polanco and moving on from Kepler in whatever form opens up $60M to spend next year. That's more than adequate to fill their holes.

Not really. To expect he continues to do what he has done for the past 3 years is not stupid.

I would not try to speculate until we see how he pitches the rest of the year. There will be a stark contrast if he pitches like his 1st 10 starts for the rest of the year vs his last 10 starts where he has had an ERA of 4.5 and a xFIP of 4.29 with a K rate of 7.69.

I would not pay attention to 3 weeks either. I was citing the last 6 weeks. Not that 6 weeks is a large sample. However, it's adequate in terms of indicating who is contributing to turning around our stagnant offense. Just saying ... Kepler has been a net positive of late. If they could find a 1B, put Kirilloff LF and Kepler maintains this play, that would not be too bad.

You know I have been on the move Kepler bandwagon. However, his wRC+ for the last six weeks in 123 and it seems like his defense has been better too. Gallo is the guy I would move. That does not mean I would not trade Kepler but I would want to get something back.

Twins Hitters for the last 6 weeks. The Twins are not going to send Julien down and Buck is hurting the team. Name OPS wRC+ Julien 1.051 191 Lewis 0.877 149 Solano 0.846 140 Kepler 0.811 123 Correa 0.798 120 Kirilloff 0.765 113 Gallo 0.743 103 Farmer 0.71 97 Jeffers 0.691 95 Larnach 0.644 80 Taylor 0.672 79 Castro 0.595 76 Buxton 0.542 43 Vazquez 0.492 33

His wRC+ is 95 so basically league average. That production looks a lot better when it comes from a switch hitter that can play several positions pretty well and steal bases very effectively. I hope he becomes expendable, but that day is not here yet.

Kirilloff to the OF. Gallo gone by the deadline. Cron would be a decent move. He started out the year bad but has been better lately,

I believe this is known as a nice problem to have.