MLB 2023

[DYSI]

 Really insane Othani stat

[Draevyn]

Cheap, Olney! Just say we're a bunch of cheap fucking Canadians!

What I wouldn't give to have him though   

[gunnar hendershow]

First place Baltimore Orioles.

That felt good to type out.

[Draevyn]

9 minutes ago, damhausen said:

First place Baltimore Orioles.

That felt good to type out.

Good job getting it out there quick before Tampa learns how to win again 😛 

[The Buscher]

The O’s are the team to watch at the trade deadline.  They legitimately might be the Angels’ best possible target if they actually wanted to move Ohtani, because the O’s could actually give them a couple of guys who are big league ready or close to it instead of selling the most talented player of all time for players years and years away from relevance.  Plus, I think Arte Moreno would be happy to not be sending him to a big market team.  I doubt he wants to throw Ohtani into the laps of the Dodgers, Yankees etc.  probably also views the O’s as a team that won’t retain him, in theory meaning he could be brought back especially if he wants to stay west.

Personally I don’t think the Angels will actually move Ohtani.  I think Moreno might just really want to sell tickets and just hope that somehow he and Trout can sneak a wild card before he leaves.  But even without Ohtani, the O’s have the type of farm to make an impactful trade or two and still have plenty of young players to spare.

I know fanbases like to prospect hug but for a team like the O’s this really does feel like the kind of year you have to go for it.  It’s not always going to line up perfectly like this.

[gunnar hendershow]

We'll see how much the O's move. There's a definite small market approach from the top, so they don't want to ever gut the farm system so they can replace guys like Tampa Bay does as well as trade major league caliber guys under team control when a new top prospect is ready. The extra wild card loses a lot of the "Boston and New York" are down urgency that would've existed in previous years.

No chance they make a trade for Ohtani though, and I don't know if any team will. The Angels price has to be high, they're a good 2 week stretch away from being back in the mix, and teams are in recent years opposed to trading for rentals. 

They did just trade for Shintaro Fujinami, who sucked as a starter with Oakland but was very good once moved into a bullpen role. They need to strengthen the pen because in lieu of finding a top starter that's their other need, and it's a more immediate fix. I think they'll move for a starter but it'll be a 2 or 3 guy. Means is back hopefully in September, which between that and a trade lets them move Wells into a bullpen role for the postseason where he can likely be lights out.

A bigger trade involving prospects is more likely for the winter in my eyes, when you get a better perspective on what every other team is doing and bargaining is a little less cutthroat.

[Draevyn]

https://www.tsn.ca/mlb/seattle-mariners-jarred-kelenic-breaks-foot-kicking-cooler-1.1986273

Why? Why would you even take that risk?

[gunnar hendershow]

You can take the player out of Queens, but you can't take Queens out of the player.

[The Buscher]

Angels get rentals Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez from the White Sox for two top prospects (catcher Edgar Quero and LHP Ky Bush)

With that trade, they are officially keeping Ohtani and going for it.

FanGraphs has them listed at 14% playoff odds right now.  I‘d imagine even if they don’t make the playoffs they are hoping a strong two months will somehow tempt Ohtani into thinking they’re finally right on the precipice of being a perennial playoff team and sticking around.  But in all likelihood he will leave for little more than a 2nd-3rd round comp pick.

[gunnar hendershow]

Well the Angels are going for it.

[The Buscher]

Mets trade David Robertson to the Marlins for 18-year old infielder Marco Vargas and 19-year old catcher Ronald Hernandez

While Billy Eppler has generally been terrible, the NY media are going into overdrive with wanting to kill the Mets' return, referencing outdated prospect ranking lists etc.  Whereas actual prospect writers all believe Vargas on his own was a massive overpay for a 38-year old rental reliever.

[gunnar hendershow]

Teenage prospects are often down to the quality of player development. It was another thing that, in hindsight, the Orioles completely bungled with the Manny Machado trades and other trades from 2018. Getting guys a bit further along in the minors is nice on paper but they're usually a bit more "fully formed" as players. Whereas getting low A guys, etc. can mean you get to them very early in their development.

Anyway, I figured the Mets were getting nothing for a 38 year old reliever because so often those trades are just that. I wanted him because I figured he'd cost us someone very expendable in a loaded system.

I'm sure as the next few days go by we'll see a lot of other small moves like this. I worry that teams are seeing the Orioles farm system as an opportunity to get better returns and I don't think Elias will bite on those deals, probably bringing some potential trades down to the wire. Fans here will be pissed if all we get is a likely 7th inning guy. And I know the talk has been there's a genuine focus on winning now, but you'd speculate the team will be right in the midst of a penant chase every year for most of the decade unless they unload all the top prospects for rentals and 1-2 control year guys.

[gunnar hendershow]

ALERTING ALL METS FANS! CANCEL YOUR PLANS FOR SEPTEMBER 17!

 

[Meacon Keaton]

Today Mets fans learned that baseball is still played in September. 

[GhostMachine]

2 hours ago, Meacon Keaton said:

Today Mets fans learned that baseball is still played in September. 

Well, what do you expect from fans whose team's season is usually over by July (at the latest)?

 

[Twist]

4 hours ago, GhostMachine said:

Well, what do you expect from fans whose team's season is usually over by July (at the latest)?

 

I think that was the joke.

[Lowerdeck]

Scherzer: I'd like to talk to brass about the direction of the team

Brass: wanna go to the Rangers?

[The Buscher]

Luisangel Acuna for a broken down Scherzer sounds like a hell of a deal to me!

[The Buscher]

It sure is sounding like there's a good chance the Mets trade away Verlander, with the Dodgers and Astros supposedly being aggressive.  I was fine with the Scherzer trade but to me, a Verlander trade would signal a proper blow-up that is all but punting on 2024.

It's a good free agent class for starting pitchers so having two vacancies (for Scherzer and Carlos Carrasco) didn't seem tough to fill.  Adding a third in Verlander makes it a lot more difficult unless, of course, they're gonna basically send a big check with Verlander to try to buy a Bobby Miller or Hunter Brown.  In today's game it's just really hard to imagine a team trading that kind of young pitcher for a 40-year old guy with 2 years left on his deal, even if Verlander has gone back to quietly being awesome his last 9 starts.

There's another sobering way to look at it that the Mets believe Verlander will regress into a very expensive mid-rotation if not backend starter (pretty clear they felt that way about Scherzer this year).  So basically whatever salary relief they get for those two guys next year ($20+ million for Scherzer, who knows on Verlander) could be easily re-invested into similar back-end guys.  Essentially replacing their production for the same money all while adding to the farm.

[The Buscher]

Welp.....Verlander back to the Astros for their #1 and #4 prospects.

What an absolutely surreal season to go from the most expensive team in baseball history to this.  Very hard to see 2024 as anything more than a punt now but I guess it'll be a clean slate for Stearns to work with.