I think Burrows had some top-100 type hype before he was injured, so it's nice to see him get a solid building block under his belt. He's not in the same tier as Chandler, who has always had the true FOR pedigree and seemingly has kept building momentum at each step of the way in the minors.
I do think Burrows seems like a better SP candidate than bullpen, so despite our weaknesses there, giving him the leash in the rotation feels like the smarter long-term play. It's a bit unfortunate that it is partially interfering with Chandler's timeline, but that's also not strictly Burrows' "fault" and since the season is over anyways, it's probably best to do these BS games with Chandler's service anyways.
To me, Mlod and Ashcraft seem like guys who could be solutions for immediate bullpen issues. I'm surprised we haven't tried Mlod out in that role in 2025, though I also got the sense that he might not be open to it. Still, the organization in general has been more open to moving guys between the roles, though I guess with Mlod, he already performed well there and is now back on the starter track.
It's never a bad thing to feel like there are "too many" starters, especially because it's never really true. The big question is how we'll tackle the rest of the season as we are forced to yet again build towards next year and the Charlie Brown/Lucy football situation of whether the offense will ever be invested in.
Heaney is surely getting traded, but it's more likely that the return will be low minors longshots. I expect Keller's name to be out there, but in general I still think it's a mistake for reasons talked about over the past few pages. Maybe Falter's name will be out there, but it's hard to know what teams will offer, and Falter also seems like one of the more prime internal guys in the sense that we sought him out for multiple trades before the Castro deal ended up happening, and have seen him continue to improve. He's in arbitration now but still shouldn't be demanding too much of a raise, even if he maintains a solid season.
Skenes with Keller and Falter as veteran #3-4 types and Chandler as a ? for immediate impact and upside, plus a solid array of the MLB-ready/already debuted group of players has the makings of a great rotation core for 2026. If you can use some of that group (Keller / Falter / the prospects not named Chandler) to get MLB-ready bats, it has to be a consideration, but it's easier said than done for sure.
Another wrinkle to this whole situation is that it looks reasonably likely that we could end up with a college pitcher in the draft this summer, though I am not sure that impacts things all that much, even if it does happen (more likely that's the kind of prospect that comes to join the rotation in 2.5 years when Skenes may be on the way to greener pastures).
