OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: New season of plundering begins

[Coastal Kev]

This weekend is definitely the time to get greedy. The Rays basically have 2 solid offensive players, a few fine pitchers, and that's it. If Jones can be sharp, then we'll have Jones and Skenes going along with presumably Perez.

The offense is still too hot and cold to really say this, but this is a great opportunity for a sweep and clawing back over .500.

I don't know man.........Rays usually destroy the bucs. I'm hoping that they avoid a sweep, an ugly one at that.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Rays stand no chance. Offense about to explode

 

[Factorial]

I don't know man.........Rays usually destroy the bucs. I'm hoping that they avoid a sweep, an ugly one at that.

Think positively for once.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

I don't know man.........Rays usually destroy the bucs. I'm hoping that they avoid a sweep, an ugly one at that.

We're definitely not good enough to bank on a series win, let alone a sweep, but this is really a down year for the Rays.

We will have to face Pepiot, Eflin, and Civale (I think, they should be due up but pitchers haven't been announced yet), so all of them are capable enough of shutting us down.

Series W at home has to be the expectation, but it's a great opportunity.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

By the way, I watched a good chunk of the Royals-A's game, and it gives some decent perspective on offense being down for most every team besides a handful.

They got a strong start out of their ace Ragans, but couldn't muster any run support despite some decent RISP situations and a player in Witt who is head and shoulders better than anyone we have.

They are 8 games over .500 and 5 games back in their division, chasing a Guardians team that has lacked offensive impact for years and years and is still poor there this year, even if they have been better lately. The AL is definitely a bit better in terms of a clear set of quality teams, but I don't think there's anything about our team or many of the other NL teams that makes them illegitimate playoff contenders.

The Marlins and Rockies are truly bad and it's hard to see them making any kind of slight improvement to get into the back of the race. There are 9 teams competing for 2 spots, and that can be expanded to 10 and 3 if you want to anticipate the Braves slipping closer to the rest of the pack rather than vice versa. The next 3 and a half weeks until the All Star Break will be a bloodbath and it's possible that a really bad stretch for any of these 9-10 teams could dig a hole that is too much to overcome.

After the Rays series, we play a bunch of these teams, and then cap off the stretch before the break with a road trip to Milwaukee and Chicago to play the White Sox. If we consistently win series, then that Milwaukee series could set up to be a battle to claw an inch closer to them with some slam dunk win opportunities against the White Sox to end a 20ish game stretch. The frustrating thing is that this is of course getting way ahead of ourselves, as this team's hot and cold nature is capable of just kinda hovering a few games behind .500, but if we can keep up consistent pitching and converting most of the Skenes/Jones/Keller games into wins, then that's a leg up on winning most of these series.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Hard to believe that the draft is almost here already -- three weeks from Sunday. Hopefully we'll see some good play that keeps us relatively indifferent to it until it is closer, though that's also fairly easy with so much uncertainty and not picking near the top.

I think most of the thread regulars are basically on the same page about what we're hoping for: a college bat who can move pretty quickly. IMO this is basically a slam dunk (in terms of what to want) given the state of the system, the MLB team's situation, and the draft pool in general.

I don't think it's quite as strong as to say that we should walk away with a college bat no matter what, but it's close to that and everything I've read seems to indicate that the draft should unfold for us to land one. I might be blending things together, but I think I've seen both Callis and McDaniel note that we are targeting college bats (more on McDaniel below). I think the top two prep bats are good enough not to turn your nose up at them at 9, and the same is true for the top two college pitchers in Burns and Smith.

Based on what I have been reading, as I see it there are three great outcomes for us at the pick who fit into the college bat mode: Montgomery, Kurtz, and Tibbs.

I have trouble seeing Montgomery lasting until our pick, but the top of the draft might be more unpredictable than some are thinking. I'll circle back to this in just a moment. Montgomery is just such a high ceiling athlete, posting incredible EVs and has a great arm for right field. If anything could make him slide, it would be that the hit tool isn't as standout, but I still think he did enough this year that it's a bit of a pipe dream that he'd be available. The one caveat might be if we were really into him and willing to float him down to our pick with bonus pool leverage, but even that would take a few other chips falling in our direction.

Kurtz is probably the dream come true player for a lot of people. Plus plus lefty power hitting 1B who gets comparisons to Thome. Advanced approach at the plate, defensively sound at first base, great bat speed. From all I've read and seen, the only knock I have is that the last time we drafted a first round 1B from Wake Forest, it didn't go well, but that's not a fair comparison to Kurtz. I'm sure I'll flip flop a lot, but he's #1 for me at the moment, especially on the assumption that he could move relatively quickly through the minors.

Then there's Tibbs, who seems to be being mentioned more as a darkhorse pick. McDaniel has him mocked to us and Callis/Mayo have mentioned him, so I think there's some real buzz here. There's a chance he goes higher than our pick just due to the unpredictability of the draft, but he more than likely will be there. He's a similar profile to Montgomery but without the peak athleticism. In his mock, McDaniel notes that some teams like Tibbs over Kurtz and Montgomery as a pure power hitter, and I think there's an implicit sense that Tibbs could be a guy who won't command full slot.

The other player who could be worth mentioning is Tennessee 2B Christian Moore, who has been really impressive in Omaha and seems to have late buzz. For our purposes, I just don't see how you can justify a college 2B (and there's no chance in hell Bazzana lasts). The prep SS are a bit difference since we're talking 3-5 year projects.

All that said, this was partially occasioned by McDaniel's new mock, which starts from the bold guess that the Guardians could cut a deal with local product and WVU standout Wetherholt. From what I am reading, this seems to be something that's in play for several teams. There are always rumors like this, but I think the root of this is that neither Condon or Bazzana are the prototypical athlete in a premium position that teams want to dream on, plus the fact that Wetherholt might be a nice discount due to his injury this year. He could stick at SS in the majors.

For my money, I think it's close to certain that the following players will not make it to our pick: Condon, Bazzana, Caglione, and at least one of Burns or Smith.

That makes the rough depth after this 4 include Montgomery, Wetherholt, Kurtz, Smith/Burns, Tibbs, and then the top three prep options in Griffin, Rainer, and Caminiti.

Based just on that guesswork, you can say that the Pirates should really have a college bat no matter what approach, unless they have Burns or Smith fall into their lap. And even then, Tibbs emerging as an option complicates that further.

Now, I do think Wetherholt has some incredible discount value, but that also suggests he might be in the first group that doesn't really have a chance to make it to our pick. My sense is that the only way Montgomery is available is if things get weird in front of us. In terms of Kurtz, it really seems like the big "enemy" is the Athletics at #4. McDaniel's mock has Bazzana slipping to them, and then he has Kurtz not going until #13 with the Giants.

The other team that I've seen linked to Kurtz is the Angels, right in front of us, but it seems so weird to get a 1B-only guy when they already just took one in Schanuel. Ideally, the late riser Moore and the OFs Montgomery and Tibbs should be enough to push them off if their desire is still to get a fast-moving college bat. Looking at their org, it makes sense to go for the highest ceiling and local prep product in Rainer, which is who Kiley has them taking.


All told, we're in an interesting position as we look forward to the draft. Some better luck with the ping pong balls would have been nice, but we lucked out that the deepest group of players is college bats, which matches our system/MLB need perfectly. You can't only draft for that in MLB, but things look pretty good to concentrate on that group this year.

I think it helps that we should be perfectly fine taking the non-premium position player, since adding a bat that could hit at 1B or in RF fits what we need to an absolute T. While it's guesswork to say what the teams in front of us will do, it's natural that some of them will want premium position/athlete, and so I think there's a real solid chance that both prep players do get drafted before us, which I think is the dream situation. I also think it's more than likely that Burns and Smith will both go.

The teams I have little guess about are the Royals and White Sox, who are both total wild cards that could really blow things up, and the Cardinals, who probably fancy that they will not pick this high again for a long time.

McDaniel being right about the Guardians (or even another team, though it seems a little less likely) cutting a deal is probably the best possible way that Kurtz could be made available for us, since Bazzana or Condon getting to the A's would remove them from the suitors.

This is easy to sit on the couch and say, but we have the 7th largest bonus pool and are only 600K behind the White Sox. The A's have 1.3M more than us, so if the board breaks such that Kurtz gets to them and they want him, there's no much we can do about it, but we have 1.1M more than the Angels and 3.7M more than the Cardinals. Given that, I'm basically settling on the idea that Kurtz should be the 1A target for us, as he just checks too many boxes of exactly what we should be trying to add. Montgomery and Tibbs are both exciting players, and I think the potential of Wetherholt shouldn't be discounted, but Kurtz basically combining the plus plus power with plate discipline and sound defense at 1B make him the no brainer type of player to want at pick 9.

 

[td_ice]

What do you guys think of the rumor du jour?

Pirates receive JJ Bleday
for
Suwinski and Peguero

 

[BusinessGoose]

What do you guys think of the rumor du jour?

Pirates receive JJ Bleday
for
Suwinski and Peguero

As a part time A's fan, Bleday has consistency issues, but I think I do it

Bleday, soderstrom, nevin, rooker, gelof.. Would all be fun adds

 

[ChaosAgent]

What do you guys think of the rumor du jour?

Pirates receive JJ Bleday
for
Suwinski and Peguero

Where did you see this?

I think Suwinski for Bleday makes a ton of sense, but I would be surprised that the As would prefer Peguero as the premium vs. a good pitching prospect like Harrington or Barco.

 

[td_ice]

Where did you see this?

I think Suwinski for Bleday makes a ton of sense, but I would be surprised that the As would prefer Peguero as the premium vs. a good pitching prospect like Harrington or Barco.

Heard this on the fan.

Not sure who Filiponi got it from. I am sure he said the source, but I missed it as I was fixing dinner. Supposedly it came from a "Pirates's executive", but which writer floated it, I dunno.

The particulars of players and the words, 'Pirates executive' is all I heard when I really started to listen attentively. The rest of what I heard was Pony making a "pro" case for it. And why GMBC probably wouldn't do it. "he is really loathe to part with any Pirates top 10 prospect, so probably won't happen".

 

[Empoleon8771]

JJ Bleday would be a great get, he's similar to Gonzales in that he's a former top prospect that stunk in the MLB but put it together this year with a tweak to his swing. Mediocre OF range but has a cannon of an arm, he's tailor made as a power hitting RFer.

I don't think Suwinki would be a part of that deal, though. The As have a really shitty prospect pool, but they're notably shitty with SP prospects. I don't know that you'd have to go all the way up to Chandler for Bleday, but it's probably going to be painful to get him.

One of Ashcraft or Burrows with Peguero for Bleday seems pretty reasonable. Even if Ashcraft hits and turns into a great SP, who gives a shit from the Pirates POV? They have 3 top of the rotation starters controlled already.

 

[Empoleon8771]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1803887987953914274

https://x.com/i/web/status/1803888588964167901

Poni is full of shit lol

 

[td_ice]

Yeah, not sure of the cost of acquisition, but like you guys above mention, Bleday would look great in our lineup.

If doable, (obviously that is the great unknown) I would love to see that trigger pulled.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Stumpf was also on the Fan today and seemed to suggest 1) the Pirates aren't inclined to move any top guys like Chandler or Johnson and 2) they would be more open to moving a guy like Suwinski than top prospects, but aren't ready to move on from Suwinski at all.

That's not really encouraging news, though it's also probably not the best idea to trade Suwinski when his value has absolutely tanked. I'm not quite sure I buy the Bleday turnaround, but presented with that kind of deal (i.e., preserving the prospects and still getting an immediate need covered) would be hard to pass up.

I don't think he will command a ton, but I do think Peguero makes a lot of sense as someone who could be dangled, despite whatever rumors are coming out. Gonzales has obviously asserted himself for the 2B job. Peguero isn't really old for his level and there's still some projection left, even if nothing really leaps off the page about him.

For me, the ideal target is still Taylor Ward, though with the supposed unwillingness to trade top prospects, it's hard to see it. That said, the Angels are a goofy organization, so it's hard to totally deny that they might go for a kind of "sooner" impact quantity over quality type of trade. Maybe put Peguero with Bae, Priester, and a guy like Harrington or something. That's easy to say since 3 of those guys are sort of on the outs here, but that's 3 players who step in immediately for them along with a good projectible command type pitcher who won't be too far behind them. That's the kind of 4 MLB players for 1 actually good MLB player that we've been on the other side of one too many times, but maybe they get pulled by it. (For the record, as an org, I think the White Sox are more likely to go for that kind of thing, but Robert is way too good for that type of quantity over quality play).

 

[DJ Spinoza]

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-pipeline-mock-draft-june-20?t=mlb-draft-coverage

Just noticed that Pipeline put out their new mock today, which I hadn't seen before my long draft rant earlier. It's a tandem mock because they are at the combine right now, and it was done on the Pipeline podcast. They have the standard pick of Bazzana at 1.1 but mention the possibility of a deal besides Condon. They have Kurtz being taken by us, which I would love. Listening now, here are some notes:

- Bazzana just seems like an educated guess and what everybody in the industry is saying. They say the odds of Bazzana and Condon being the top two picks are probably 65-70%. Seems like the Reds will for sure take one or the other, and also seems like the Rockies will definitely take Burns.

- Mayo puts Wetherholt 5th and says the major worry for him is the recurring hamstring issue. Leg issues aren't great, but they both agree that if you aren't worried about that, then there isn't much that separates him from Bazzana. They seem to think if he gets outside the top 3-4, he could still be someone who'd cut a deal. Callis says he doesn't have a feel for where teams are with the injury. No mention of the Pirates, but it might be noteworthy if we did really like him, because we have enough bonus pool money to lessen the amount another team might save on him, which potentially could float him down.

- Mayo seems to think Smith won't get to #6. That'd be great news for us in terms of getting more of a selection of college bats. They have Montgomery at 7 to the Cardinals and seem to be treating it as a floor for him. Again, no mention at all of the Pirates, but if the board did break where Montgomery fell this far, we have the bonus space to push him past the Cardinals (though maybe not the Angels).

- Callis points out the obvious that it's hard to have the Angels taking Kurtz after just drafting Schaunuel, though he says on talent it could be worth it. He has Yesavage, after whom there's a big drop off.

- Not much talk about the Pirates, just that if Kurtz is there, it makes too much sense, and in this case it would be a conversation about him vs the top two prep players.

- They have Tibbs going at 14 to the Cubs, but both seem to agree that it'd be a surprise if he goes that low. It sounds like Tibbs is a pick to be a potential underslot signing higher in the draft, but it's hard to predict that since there are a lot of other factors in play.


I guess I ended up using this off day to do a crash course refresher on the draft. A lot of the info out there ends up not mapping onto what will happen, as the nature of the draft seems to basically replicate all of this guesswork and uncertainty before the draft, and then afterwards it's harder to remember all the different speculative possibilities that you dream up. Even last year, it was by no means a foregone conclusion that we'd end up taking Skenes, and the year before, my recollection is that very few people thought Baltimore would take Holiday until just before the draft started.

So with all that said, there's only so much wishcasting and guessing we can do. The good news in general is that there are tons of strong college bats and with 8 teams drafting in front of us, it's a fair guess that some of them will be tempted by their top pitcher and/or going with the huge potential of the prep bats (and I think it's nearly a certainty that Colorado will take the guy they think is the best pitcher).

One final scenario I'll add for now is a reunion between Skenes and a guy many of us have enjoyed watching at LSU, Tommy White. Earlier this year, there was plenty of talk of White in the back half of the top 15, but since he plays 1B and is a heavy power approach, it makes sense that he could slide until a certain point. Callis and Mayo have him going 20th to the Blue Jays, but mainly as a landing spot in a huge glut of first round college bats.

McDaniel has him going 30th but says that he has trouble finding a landing spot for him. He says he could go as high as 12th and has landing spots throughout the 20s, and that's as good an illustration as anything about the nature of the MLB draft.

The Pirates second pick is 37th, and so maybe there's a world where we can get Tibbs at 9, even saving a bit of money, and then try to float Tommy Tanks to our second pick if he falls towards the end of the first round. He's good value there, and some think he could stick at 3B, but a likely 1B whose main tool is power is not a guy that teams are going to be in a rush to give their highest bonus to.

In this dreamed up scenario, the main dangerous team is the Diamondbacks, who have a bunch of picks altogether: their first round at 29, their Corbin Carroll prospect pick at 31, and then their comp round pick at 35. McDaniel doesn't really have them linked to White's player type and it makes sense that at least one of these picks would be to target the highest upset prep as possible.

The final caveat here is just that there seems to be buzz we're looking at pitchers for our other high picks, which basically has been the MO in every draft under Cherington with the comp round and/or the second round: Mlodzinski, Jones, Mueth, Barco, Chandler, etc. So the potential of getting a plus hit/plus power OF bat at 9 and then reuniting Skenes and Tommy Tanks for a 1B who would also move very fast is probably the ultimate "I wrongly want the MLB draft to immediately pay dividends for the current MLB team I am watching" approach, but I'll be damned if I wouldn't be thrilled with this pipe dream becoming a reality.

All told, I see a lot of ways for us to end up with a very solid college bat, so I think we got lucky with the draft board. It would be a dream to be able to get Condon, and the fact that he's probably going to go to Cincy and be flirting with 40 HRs in that park is kind of annoying, but given what we need and how the ping pong balls fared for us (maybe only fair after we lucked into Skenes... and it's also worth remembering that the Reds were just as bad as us that year), we're in good shape because if the college bat group were thinner, it might be less of a certainty that any would be worth it at 9.

College bats are often in play in this range, but the general feel I get is that this is a good group of players. It helps our outlook that it doesn't really matter if we are "stuck" with a corner guy, as we could desperately use either a corner OF or 1B. Infatuation with Tommy Tanks aside (though he would obviously be an immediate fan favorite), I think these long draft rants have basically solidified Kurtz for me as 1a for the player I want. While I like the truisms around BPA and athlete, Kurtz just seems like a dream come true for what we have needed for so many years. Middle of the order staple, huge raw power but polished hit tool and strong discipline and command of the zone. To me, the profile is good enough that if we were swapped with the A's, I'd be saying that we just need to go for him even if guys like Caglione and Wetherholt have amazing ceilings. As it stands, I am hoping that he's able to get by the A's pick because if so, I think there's a pretty decent chance he will last until our pick, though it's a bit foolish to feel too strongly about how 9 picks in the MLB draft are actually going to play out.

 

[td_ice]

Pirates adding an ad on the uniforms. Sheetz.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Pirates adding an ad on the uniforms. Sheetz.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Pirates adding an ad on the uniforms. Sheetz.

If it's just the S it's not that bad. If it's the whole name, ugh.

Will it go opposite the pirate or are we removing that?

Wish it were a company that would color match. I think so far Stifel on the Cardinals jersey is the least offensive cause they went with the same red.

 

[cookthebooks]

phillies left with no choice but to add a wawa ad

 

[BusinessGoose]

Oh it's hideous

 

[td_ice]

Nutting quotes today. From Mackey. I don't do social media, so someone can find the verbatim quotes, as below is paraphrased, but close.

"we are aware we are a bottom of the league offense, we need a bat, we know that".

When asked about the trade deadline.

"we have to be prepared to move early."

 

[BusinessGoose]

Nutting quotes today. From Mackey. I don't do social media, so someone can find the verbatim quotes, as below is paraphrased, but close.

"we are aware we are a bottom of the league offense, we need a bat, we know that".

When asked about the trade deadline.

"we have to be prepared to move early."

.... So, do we start to hold our breaths, or prepare for the inevitable nothing?

 

[Ulf5]

Hard to believe that the draft is almost here already -- three weeks from Sunday. Hopefully we'll see some good play that keeps us relatively indifferent to it until it is closer, though that's also fairly easy with so much uncertainty and not picking near the top.

I think most of the thread regulars are basically on the same page about what we're hoping for: a college bat who can move pretty quickly. IMO this is basically a slam dunk (in terms of what to want) given the state of the system, the MLB team's situation, and the draft pool in general.

I don't think it's quite as strong as to say that we should walk away with a college bat no matter what, but it's close to that and everything I've read seems to indicate that the draft should unfold for us to land one. I might be blending things together, but I think I've seen both Callis and McDaniel note that we are targeting college bats (more on McDaniel below). I think the top two prep bats are good enough not to turn your nose up at them at 9, and the same is true for the top two college pitchers in Burns and Smith.

Based on what I have been reading, as I see it there are three great outcomes for us at the pick who fit into the college bat mode: Montgomery, Kurtz, and Tibbs.

I have trouble seeing Montgomery lasting until our pick, but the top of the draft might be more unpredictable than some are thinking. I'll circle back to this in just a moment. Montgomery is just such a high ceiling athlete, posting incredible EVs and has a great arm for right field. If anything could make him slide, it would be that the hit tool isn't as standout, but I still think he did enough this year that it's a bit of a pipe dream that he'd be available. The one caveat might be if we were really into him and willing to float him down to our pick with bonus pool leverage, but even that would take a few other chips falling in our direction.

Kurtz is probably the dream come true player for a lot of people. Plus plus lefty power hitting 1B who gets comparisons to Thome. Advanced approach at the plate, defensively sound at first base, great bat speed. From all I've read and seen, the only knock I have is that the last time we drafted a first round 1B from Wake Forest, it didn't go well, but that's not a fair comparison to Kurtz. I'm sure I'll flip flop a lot, but he's #1 for me at the moment, especially on the assumption that he could move relatively quickly through the minors.

Then there's Tibbs, who seems to be being mentioned more as a darkhorse pick. McDaniel has him mocked to us and Callis/Mayo have mentioned him, so I think there's some real buzz here. There's a chance he goes higher than our pick just due to the unpredictability of the draft, but he more than likely will be there. He's a similar profile to Montgomery but without the peak athleticism. In his mock, McDaniel notes that some teams like Tibbs over Kurtz and Montgomery as a pure power hitter, and I think there's an implicit sense that Tibbs could be a guy who won't command full slot.

The other player who could be worth mentioning is Tennessee 2B Christian Moore, who has been really impressive in Omaha and seems to have late buzz. For our purposes, I just don't see how you can justify a college 2B (and there's no chance in hell Bazzana lasts). The prep SS are a bit difference since we're talking 3-5 year projects.

All that said, this was partially occasioned by McDaniel's new mock, which starts from the bold guess that the Guardians could cut a deal with local product and WVU standout Wetherholt. From what I am reading, this seems to be something that's in play for several teams. There are always rumors like this, but I think the root of this is that neither Condon or Bazzana are the prototypical athlete in a premium position that teams want to dream on, plus the fact that Wetherholt might be a nice discount due to his injury this year. He could stick at SS in the majors.

For my money, I think it's close to certain that the following players will not make it to our pick: Condon, Bazzana, Caglione, and at least one of Burns or Smith.

That makes the rough depth after this 4 include Montgomery, Wetherholt, Kurtz, Smith/Burns, Tibbs, and then the top three prep options in Griffin, Rainer, and Caminiti.

Based just on that guesswork, you can say that the Pirates should really have a college bat no matter what approach, unless they have Burns or Smith fall into their lap. And even then, Tibbs emerging as an option complicates that further.

Now, I do think Wetherholt has some incredible discount value, but that also suggests he might be in the first group that doesn't really have a chance to make it to our pick. My sense is that the only way Montgomery is available is if things get weird in front of us. In terms of Kurtz, it really seems like the big "enemy" is the Athletics at #4. McDaniel's mock has Bazzana slipping to them, and then he has Kurtz not going until #13 with the Giants.

The other team that I've seen linked to Kurtz is the Angels, right in front of us, but it seems so weird to get a 1B-only guy when they already just took one in Schanuel. Ideally, the late riser Moore and the OFs Montgomery and Tibbs should be enough to push them off if their desire is still to get a fast-moving college bat. Looking at their org, it makes sense to go for the highest ceiling and local prep product in Rainer, which is who Kiley has them taking.


All told, we're in an interesting position as we look forward to the draft. Some better luck with the ping pong balls would have been nice, but we lucked out that the deepest group of players is college bats, which matches our system/MLB need perfectly. You can't only draft for that in MLB, but things look pretty good to concentrate on that group this year.

I think it helps that we should be perfectly fine taking the non-premium position player, since adding a bat that could hit at 1B or in RF fits what we need to an absolute T. While it's guesswork to say what the teams in front of us will do, it's natural that some of them will want premium position/athlete, and so I think there's a real solid chance that both prep players do get drafted before us, which I think is the dream situation. I also think it's more than likely that Burns and Smith will both go.

The teams I have little guess about are the Royals and White Sox, who are both total wild cards that could really blow things up, and the Cardinals, who probably fancy that they will not pick this high again for a long time.

McDaniel being right about the Guardians (or even another team, though it seems a little less likely) cutting a deal is probably the best possible way that Kurtz could be made available for us, since Bazzana or Condon getting to the A's would remove them from the suitors.

This is easy to sit on the couch and say, but we have the 7th largest bonus pool and are only 600K behind the White Sox. The A's have 1.3M more than us, so if the board breaks such that Kurtz gets to them and they want him, there's no much we can do about it, but we have 1.1M more than the Angels and 3.7M more than the Cardinals. Given that, I'm basically settling on the idea that Kurtz should be the 1A target for us, as he just checks too many boxes of exactly what we should be trying to add. Montgomery and Tibbs are both exciting players, and I think the potential of Wetherholt shouldn't be discounted, but Kurtz basically combining the plus plus power with plate discipline and sound defense at 1B make him the no brainer type of player to want at pick 9.

I cant understand why you don't have more likes. Sure your posts are a bit lengthy. But they're well thought out, extremely informative and easy to read.
Which is helpful for me because I don't follow the team nearly as closely as I did way back when.

 

[td_ice]

.... So, do we start to hold our breaths, or prepare for the inevitable nothing?

Good question.

Hopefully we don't get Chris Archer-ed.

I cant understand why you don't have more likes. Sure your posts are a bit lengthy. But they

Majority of posts that predates the LIKE system.

 

[Pens1566]

That's a f***ing abomination.


edit: The sheetz ad ... had to specify with how much circling around this team might actually qualify for the distinction.