wrathofhahn

If the Orioles are already thinking that far ahead they are morons. Leave him at catcher you can always move him around to 1B at the MLB level. Also even if everything goes right. He is probably three years away at least. Rutschman is a FA after 2027. Even if Rutschman is extended he is probably going to play around 95-100 games at catcher less as he continues to age. Which means you have 62-67 games for Basallo and can pencil the rest in at 1B/DH. I mean backup catcher is one of the worst performing positions in all of sports. The average catcher has around .677 ops backup catcher regularly have sub 600 ops. James McCann their current backup catcher is on pace for around 70 games with a .508 OPS. You can't tell me there isn't premium value in having a really good backup catcher particularly one with a good bat. You look at what the Blue Jays were able to do for years with Jensen and Kirk why wouldn't you want to replicate that as an O's fan. Or a whitesox fan. Why would you want some stiff playing backup catcher like Maldonado or McCann and to be clear you are not going to sign any good catchers and convince them to give up catching fulltime. That will only happen with players who have control.

Man Heyman. I have never wanted him to be more right but he is wrong on pretty much everything so him saying that about my Sox worries me.

Yeah no we are unlikely to find young talent floating the DFA waiver wire. Baggio does have a couple of things going for him. He is patient at the plate. He does have another year of control if he plays well. He is better than what we have internally. The only reason not to claim him is he makes 4M. If the Jays think noone claims him you can work out a deal maybe have them eat a bit of that contract but if they feel he'll be claimed then you sort of have to make a decision. I mean he makes essentially Lopez money and he is better so why not if he plays well he'll have a bit of value at the deadline if not then you really are not losing much other than a few million.

Tatis. Samardzija James Shields

We can't even be the best at being the worst.

I consider Jim Callis to be pretty reputable but putting that aside even someone who put our farm system in the top 10 K Law said he considered it a mediocre system and the fact we were top 10 said more about the rest of the teams rather than the state of our actual farm. He is higher on Thorpe than I am. I am not a fan of soft tossers dominating the minors with high chase rates we'll see Tues I guess.

Part of this is dependent on callups our and theirs. As it relates to young talent which is better barometer. There is no way we are top ten. MLB.com has us ranked 20th as a farm system and we have almost no young controllable talent at the ML level. We'd have to pull of multiple massive trades getting back top prospects not top 100 prospects but top prospects like we did in our prior rebuild to accomplish even being in the top 10. A big reason for that is the Padres deal. We didn't get Salas or any of their top prospects. MLB.com actually has them ranked 4th. So yeah I don't know why people are expecting us to get a top prospect when we didnt for Cease. Why would Robert command a huge package with the way he's played and getting injured? Trading players is all about timing you sell high and buy low. We sell low on guys like Cease and buy high on washed FA. It's why we are where we are.

We have the worst roster in baseball and have a middling farm system. MLB.com actually has us ranked in the bottom half 20th. Our prospects are nowhere nearly regarded as you let on. We have some interesting guys who have the kind of stuff to potentially be frontline starters but most are older guys who are projected to have the ceiling of backend or middle type rotation starters. That is fine but nothing to really get excited over. This team needs a ton of work. Part of the reason why I didn't really like Thorpe is his stuff is underwhelming and he is dependent on his changeup as a chase pitch. I have seen so many starters come up through the minors with a great changeup then peter out because hitters will just sit on their fastball and refuse to chase. Ricky Romero was one of those guys. There are guys that have been able to make it work like Kluber and Keuchel and pitch into their 30's but they are the exception not the norm and until I see Thorpe stuff translate against MLB hitters I'm never going to put much stock into his MILB stats. It's one thing to get MILB batters to chase and get by with smoke and mirrors in the minors it's another to do it at the ML level. As far as Kopech goes I hope someone offers something for him I just doubt that would be the case and if its not there is really no reason not to keep him considering he is a live arm and exactly the kind of guy we should have filling out the roster considering the upside. Especially if we move guys like Fedde and Crochet.

I mean he hasn't been good but why use BA to make the argument. It isn't the 90's anymore. He's had a positive WAR every year in the bigs. Worth a spot on the roster at least. The question is does the FO want to take a flyer on a guy making 4.2M

Well as the saying goes you can't lose em all

You have to have your talent level to a certain point before you can choose a direction. A couple of years ago we were sort of at that crossroads now the direction has been chosen for us. I don't want to move Robert right now because we are not going to get the kind of return back we should and we only have so many of these guys we can move that have the chance of getting large packages back. The best case scenario is Robert starts lighting the MLB on fire shortly. We have what almost two months until the deadline still time for him to convince teams he is going to be the player to put him over the top. But if continues to struggle then no I am not moving him.

This is the stupidity of our GM. We trade Cease after a down year for pennies on the dollar we could have moved Robert earlier for a much better return held onto him and now shopping him when his value is at his lowest. I wanted to move Robert. In the f'n offseason. I wanted to keep Cease and see if he could rebound. Why can't the Whitesox ever do anything right. Other teams know how to sell high. They don't wait until their assets are at the lowest point and then say golly gee now is the time to move them. Are we doomed to forever have an incompetent FO?

Like these people are delusional we lost 14 in a row. Whatever he thought about the team before the season and the reasoning for acquiring older prospects doesn't matter. The reality is what it is. This is the worst team in baseball maybe in all of professional sports. We are not 1-2 years away from competing. Period. We do not have the base talent level and the prospects coming up behind them to win. Like I don't even know where this is coming from? Are people watching a different team.

The spin is pointing to a player who didn't sign as evidence of anything. Half the s%*# you hear during the FA period is lies anyways put out by agents about teams they think have money to spend.

Why? This team isn't wining anything anytime soon. You want to burn through a players service time with this roster. Once again why? Furthermore, the Padres are in win now mode Salas may be someone they would actually be willing to move.

The end of an era.

We sound like a Browns fans rooting for the perfect season

I dont want them to lose because they need some players playing well they can move for prospects

Prior to last year he was a 3.5 bb ish, 3.5 era ish, 10k ish pitcher who started around half his games. He has had a bad stretch but that is part of the adjustment of being a reliever you give up a couple of runs as a starter that is no big deal. You do that as a reliever you spend weeks trying to get your ERA back down. I don't think we are going to find five high upside arms to fill out the rotation and I doubt he brings much back in current state throwing relief. I know posters want to keep the dudes pitching well but that is exactly who we should be moving because with rentals and players with limited control those are the type of players you get a good return for. It's back to pump and dump time.

That is why I am interested to know if he has regained his velocity because if he is still throwing 91-92 or 92-93 he projects probably to a more backend type at best

Yes. His velocity had massively decreased post TJ, according to the scouting report I read awhile back. I can't find it but here is an old scouting report from MLB 93-96 mph He maintained the velocity on his four-seam fastball, sitting at 93-96 mph and touching 98, and the quality of his low-80s slider, giving him a second plus pitch. Eder - Marlins Top Prospects | MLB.com Fangraphs Eder was drafted out of Vanderbilt in the fourth round of the truncated 2020 draft and his stuff exploded in pro ball. Eder made 15 starts in 2021, racking up a mid-30s strikeout rate and a 0.98 WHIP while sitting 94-97 and bending in a plus-plus slider, but he blew out and needed Tommy John surgery. His rehab was interrupted by an ill-timed foot fracture, which kept him off the mound until midway through the 2023 season, after which old co-workers Kenny Williams and Kim Ng swapped Jake Burger for Eder at the trade deadline. When he returned, it was with a lower arm slot, and Eder struggled to recapture the arm strength from before his injury, as his fastball sat in the 92-94 mph neighborhood during the 2023 regular season and again in the Arizona Fall League.

Considering Kopech's lack of trade value, I would be inclined to give him a short extension. We will see if he can bounce back next year when we get him back into the rotation; if not, he is signed for a modest return, and given his skill set, there is a good chance he will have a good season eventually. He is still a strong candidate to bounce back and prove something, even if he chooses not to sign the extension. As a rental, he is the kind of player I would be looking to buy low and sell high, so it makes no sense to trade him for scraps right now and then replace him with garbage that will never be worth anything next year. Accept the risk of a injury and let the cards fall where they may next year. Garrett Crochet I'd trade for a good return. It is less about the 11 starts and more about where the team stands talent-wise. He simply lacks the control to keep him around. Sure, if he is open to a very team-friendly contract, but he is only 24 years old and will likely become a free agent in the 26–27 age range. He'll want to explore FA and we will have to pay a premium to keep him. Since we are not going to be good in the near future, I genuinely do not understand why we would take a chance on a large extension with his arm history and where this team currently stands. Take the prospects and let some other team make the gamble that is closer to contention so they feel they should take that kind of risk

It's all about his velocity. Last I read he was throwing 91-92. He used to throw 96-97 prior to TJS

You really think they knew. I have never seen a guy get this injured. It's usually right after he starts to hit well too. I honestly feel for the guy he must have done something terrible in his past life where he can't even play DH without suffering some sort of injury. It's funny because it reminds me that Bartolo Colon and David Wells spent pretty much the entire of their career healthy looking nothing like an actual athlete.

Do you celebrate a good return for a bad signing? Or do you celebrate an ok return for a great signing? Just to be clear, my issue is not with the return; rather, it is with the signing itself. AHT was available last rule 5. To get him, we did not have to sign a lousy player. Me I want the club to target high-end prospects who have the potential to make a difference, and you only get that for rentals that are considered significant players at the deadline.