OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Congrats to the Houston Cheaters on their win

[sovietsanta87]

What exactly gives you confidence in Davis, Peguero and Gonzales are going to be impact players while Reynolds is still here? Surely not the results this year.

All three have the talent to be impact players. If we’re going to judge the direction of the organization based on this season alone then who gives a crap about an average player like Reynolds ;-)

 

[MrBrightside]

Two nights in a row Cruz has done shit on the bases that would embarrass a high school player

 

[td_ice]

Ugh, that's rough.

Good night from our pitchers, wasted.

 

[sovietsanta87]

Two nights in a row Cruz has done shit on the bases that would embarrass a high school player

Yea. I’m taking another break from this team. On paper the organization is deep in talent. But they won’t develop these guys. They’ll eventually can the GM and manager, start over, and the cycle will repeat. In 2011 they hired Gregg Ritchie to be their hitting instructor. Me and a few teammates went to his camp when we were in high school down in Virginia. He was the worst instructor i ever had. When the pirates hired him I told my buddy and he said “the good news is, he can take a break from ruining high school swings”

That’s how serious the pirates are about their team. And until that piece of shit at the top stop viewing it as his own family trust fund, it will continue indefinitely.

 

[since70]

That extra inning performance was from supposedly major league baseball players, and 3 times as many strikeouts as hits in the game the outcome was inevitable.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Yea. I’m taking another break from this team. On paper the organization is deep in talent. But they won’t develop these guys. They’ll eventually can the GM and manager, start over, and the cycle will repeat. In 2011 they hired Gregg Ritchie to be their hitting instructor. Me and a few teammates went to his camp when we were in high school down in Virginia. He was the worst instructor i ever had. When the pirates hired him I told my buddy and he said “the good news is, he can take a break from ruining high school swings”

That’s how serious the pirates are about their team. And until that piece of shit at the top stop viewing it as his own family trust fund, it will continue indefinitely.

But, but, Nutting has Pirates charities...can't even imagine how much taxes and money is funneled through that f***ing thing.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Some good news that should reach the roster (hopefully) on August 3rd.

Marcano is really raking down in Indy. Seems fully back from that covid bout last month. He needs to be the 2B/LF almost every game the rest of the year.

Suwinski had a big night, including a game tying home run in the 9th 2/outs, though his K's are definitely worrisome by the numbers. If he can marginally increase the contact rate and get that K rate down to, an even 30%, the power will play. We'll see, but he's still young. Hopeful he can be a corner guy who hits 25-30 homers per year.

Obviously Holderman should be up in the pen in a few days. At some point we'll probably see Burrows get a look (thinking he gets 1-2 starts late).

Contreras will be back soon. Thankfully.

Endy Rodriguez wrapping up an insane July. 2 more hits tonight. OPS at .926 and climbing. K rate at 21%, which is good considering the contact/power combo. And walking at an 11% clip which is again, good. He's essentially been a .290/,900 guy over 600 AB's in A/A+ at 21/22 years old. Not bad at all. I see no reason why he should be in Greensboro once the break is over and the rosters adjust to the trades. He's more than earned a month and a half in Altoona.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Edit:

Couple of guys to keep an eye on the rest of the year in Greensboro.

Abraham Gutierrez - UTL - Quietly having a decent season. Came over in one of the many trades from last year. Plays numerous positions including C. He's an economy version of Endy.

Dariel Lopez - INF - Only 20 in high A ball. OPS is just shy of .800 and he's got 16 home runs on the year. His age really makes him stick out w/the numbers he's put up.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Some good news that should reach the roster (hopefully) on August 3rd.

Marcano is really raking down in Indy. Seems fully back from that covid bout last month. He needs to be the 2B/LF almost every game the rest of the year.

Suwinski had a big night, including a game tying home run in the 9th 2/outs, though his K's are definitely worrisome by the numbers. If he can marginally increase the contact rate and get that K rate down to, an even 30%, the power will play. We'll see, but he's still young. Hopeful he can be a corner guy who hits 25-30 homers per year.

Obviously Holderman should be up in the pen in a few days. At some point we'll probably see Burrows get a look (thinking he gets 1-2 starts late).

Contreras will be back soon. Thankfully.

Endy Rodriguez wrapping up an insane July. 2 more hits tonight. OPS at .926 and climbing. K rate at 21%, which is good considering the contact/power combo. And walking at an 11% clip which is again, good. He's essentially been a .290/,900 guy over 600 AB's in A/A+ at 21/22 years old. Not bad at all. I see no reason why he should be in Greensboro once the break is over and the rosters adjust to the trades. He's more than earned a month and a half in Altoona.

Priester also looked quite solid again, pitching into the 7th inning even with some defensive miscues behind him. From what I have heard asking around, his pitches have ticked back up since the injury, which obviously correlates with the experience.

An interesting question with him will be innings. He threw 97 last year, so you could build him up from that and in theory he could be ready for the 140-150 range next year, if everything goes well, meaning he could be promoted and pitch a good chunk of innings in MLB if the performance warrants it.

Maybe he'll get some time in the fall league, but he's slowly but surely becoming one of the more important storylines in the minors for us. It's a pretty razor thin margin, but good health and steps forward from Contreras, Burrows, and him is pretty crucial for the near-term.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Some good news that should reach the roster (hopefully) on August 3rd.

Marcano is really raking down in Indy. Seems fully back from that covid bout last month. He needs to be the 2B/LF almost every game the rest of the year.

Suwinski had a big night, including a game tying home run in the 9th 2/outs, though his K's are definitely worrisome by the numbers. If he can marginally increase the contact rate and get that K rate down to, an even 30%, the power will play. We'll see, but he's still young. Hopeful he can be a corner guy who hits 25-30 homers per year.

Obviously Holderman should be up in the pen in a few days. At some point we'll probably see Burrows get a look (thinking he gets 1-2 starts late).

Contreras will be back soon. Thankfully.

Endy Rodriguez wrapping up an insane July. 2 more hits tonight. OPS at .926 and climbing. K rate at 21%, which is good considering the contact/power combo. And walking at an 11% clip which is again, good. He's essentially been a .290/,900 guy over 600 AB's in A/A+ at 21/22 years old. Not bad at all. I see no reason why he should be in Greensboro once the break is over and the rosters adjust to the trades. He's more than earned a month and a half in Altoona.

Yeah - just cause I hate a GM being given an inordinate amount of credit for executing an average tank doesn't mean that said average tank hasn't produced interesting prospects.

We still have a good farm system. If we trade Reynolds and Bednar, we can go from good to great and take another shot in 3-4 years.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Good lord, the Soto trade may legitimately be the largest return of any player in baseball history.

 

[td_ice]

Yeah Soto is going to return a king's ransom. And justifiably so. Dude is only 23. Gotta lot of prime to go.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Hassell has a lot of hype but that wouldn't be enough for me. Soto is basically as good as a lock as there is for a lengthy, dominant career, and even setting that aside, you'd basically be acquiring a guy who could win World Series MVP for you for three playoff runs. If the Padres were willing to add James Wood, or the Dodgers we ok with Cartaya, Miller, Pages+, then maybe it isn't the biggest disaster for Washington, who are in a mess no matter what.

I think any team should be willing to fully unload for him. If you can make the playoffs in the next three seasons, he can win you the World Series. The chance that even a premium group of prospects would outweigh that is extremely low.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Good lord, the Soto trade may legitimately be the largest return of any player in baseball history.

Are the Padres prospects really that good, or just overhyped because Preller is involved in every potential blockbuster all the time?

Like no crap teams are going to unload $100M of prospect value for Soto.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Couple stray thoughts, which are way too player-specific to be that meaningful given how deadline stuff tends to unfold:

- I still think Bailey Falter might be worth pressing the Phillies on. His true upside is probably something between reliever and starter, but we have a little time to see it and the floor of a real LHP option in the pen is pretty nice. The Phillies system isn't particularly deep or noteworthy, but Dombrowski has been known to not care a lick about young players and prospects, so maybe it's the right target for a slight overpay. The Phillies also have a couple of interesting catchers -- O'Hoppe, who has to be too expensive, but another guy named Sands who could step right in and seems like he would be a really fantastic pairing with Falter in an overpay type deal.

- For obvious reasons, namely AJ Preller and the fact that DiPoto just traded his top chips for Castillo, I really think the Padres are in on Soto. It would decimate their system and my gut feeling is that if the trade does happen, it will be the Dodgers, but in the event that the Padres are in on Soto all the way to the end, sending them Quintana as a stabilizer might make some sense. Ryan Weathers is basically a depth option for them and not doing much in AAA, but he's 22 and basically pitched 100 innings in A ball before getting the call to MLB, so there's gotta be some development left. Picking him up in conjunction with maybe Estuery Ruiz, an OF able to step right in and someone with impact speed, might be a nice 1-2 combo.

- Toronto may be a good dark horse candidate to acquire Quintana, as there are the obvious links and they have been hesitant to make big splashes, so maybe Quintana gives them some veteran innings, and is maybe even somewhere you tag Stratton in for RP depth (though I think we're better off just keeping Stratton). I think @ImporterExporter mentioned some guys from their system a week or so ago, but one guy I like the looks of is Dahian Santos, who just put up 8 Ks last night and is having a nice single A season. Reportedly they have been getting calls on him since last year, so he might be too highly rated internally for a Quintana deal. Another interesting arm is Yosver Zuleta, who was a big international signing for them but also will need to be added to the 40-man and is still in the process of building up his innings after first Tommy John when he was signed and then an ACL injury last year. Big arm, walks make him look like a reliever on paper, but maybe the right kind of upside and not-too-far-away status to be a fit.

- It's funny to see Yankees fans throwing a tantrum in advance at the idea that they'll trade for Quintana. There are a lot of possibilities here, but I still see Pereira as the overpay that I'd shoot for, given their roster makeup. Another option might be something like Sears, Florial, and a third piece. I really don't love kicking around Florial's name, but as a second piece, I'm intrigued enough to give it a shot, especially if you also get the developmental project as well. Then again, there's gotta be some chance that they'll be forced to DFA him down the stretch or in the winter, so I just don't know if he's a meaningful trade target.

 

[MrBrightside]

 

[DJ Spinoza]

I'm actually fine with sticking by Allen for a little while longer despite how bad he's looked, as he could be around next year and missed basically the whole season. Not really surprised Castillo was sacrificed, since it's an easy way for the team to gain an extra year (though for really middling purposes, as the true "value" of this kind of player in this cynical sense is option years and pre-arb minimum salary) and then call him back up in September.

Tsutsugo and VanMeter have to be gone as of Tuesday evening, with Marcano and someone else entering the fold. I think the current situation is actually screaming for them to go out and try to get Dom Smith from the Mets and give him full run here. He's got plus defense, the bat has played in the majors before, and Chavis is at best a small-side platoon player and probably more of a bench guy. Seems like we'll give Madris some run, but he's been called up and not given a chance at 1B so far. There's really no one in the pipeline unless we are going to transition Davis into that spot.

 

[Gallatin]

Opposite field hitting has been a week spot for Suwinski this year. More signs of progress. Still needs to cut down the K's.





More from the weekend:




Got him on back to back Change-Ups. That's the kind of thing I want to see right now from Priester.

 

[since70]

Hopefully some roster spots and the entire coaching staff changes at the TDL. Spend some money on a real manager and coaches.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

About the only good thing going on right now is that we don't need to worry about Reynolds being traded due to the injury and general not peak value.

f*** the whole rest of it.

 

[sovietsanta87]

About the only good thing going on right now is that we don't need to worry about Reynolds being traded due to the injury and general not peak value.

f*** the whole rest of it.

Its probably hard to stay motivated when you finish 11th in mvp voting and the front office rewards you by going to arbitration over 700k

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Greg Brown is almost astonishingly unprofessional in games these days, especially with Walk. He hates him and antagonizes him nonstop throughout the game, and is in general just a real drag on the team. Joe Block is pretty boring and whatever, but we'd be in a much better situation if Brown got canned.

 

[MrBrightside]

They’ve now scored 2 runs or fewer in 11 of the last 14 games. But hey at least Yoshi and Allen and VanMeter aren’t being blocked by prospects.

 

[since70]

I keep waiting for Walk to tell Brown for a guy who's been announcing games for so long your baseball knowledge sucks, and who do you have photos of to keep your job.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

The good news is that Marcano is pretty dialed in at the plate right now, and the conjunction with Castillo being shipped off might mean that second base is basically his once Newman is traded.

Newman is locked in right now to the extent that it's easy to wonder if we'll end up looking bad in another trade, but I don't see much point in keeping him unless you intend for him to be the starting 2B next year as well.