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The Nats should leave James Wood alone and let his power develop organically unless they want to produce another Jason Heyward.
The Cardinals are going to finish below .500. Book it.
One look at the red birds schedule supports that prediction.
The Mariners swept the Mets. The Mets scored one run in three games. First drink is on the house boys. Go Big Dumper.
First, thank you for setting back the Mets, it helps my teams cause. Second, congrats on having the best pitching staff in baseball. The October vibe is strong.
My pleasure and thank you very much. Padres looking like a deep October run is in the cards; Gwynning and I said at the beginning of the season ‘Boy, a Padres/Mariners World Series would sure be nice!”
ISOB – I too voiced that sentiment. Fingers crossed.
Mark, very good answers on the Os, but one fumble in my opinion. Why in the world would Soto and Burnes be an “either/or”? They have $190m in luxury tax space in 2025 and nearly the whole amount from 2026 on. The entire core is 3-4 years away from major arbitration expense. Eflin and the other trade deadline puck ups are 2024-25 only commitments. Unfortunately, Bradish and Bautista pushed any big arb expense for them off a year.
The reverse Ohtani contract strategy is a unique fit. They could offer Burnes or Soto huge salaries in the first 4 years or so and then very long and substantial years of payments. The total would be discounted down from the cash salaries for CBT purposes (the reverse of Ohtani).
Atloriolesfan;
Why in the world would the O’s go after Soto? If they’re going to lay out big money for an OF they’d be better off resigning Santander for substantially less.
On today’s broadcast Ben McDonald pointed out over the past number of years Santander is the most underrated superstar in MLB along with Jose Ramirez. Both switch hitters. Both excellent defenders. Both gamers that make big plays.
In fact, I see the Yankees letting Soto leave and going after Santander. He plays excellent defense and will be had for a fraction of the cost of Soto.
In fact, I became a big O’s fan 3 years ago when I turned on a game against the White Sox to watch Adley Rutschman play shortly after he’d come up. He was unbelievable for a rookie Catcher. But what stunned me was that the O’s won the game primarily due to their OF defense – Hays, Mullins, and Santander. Defense supports pitching and that’s what wins teams games. Santander is an excellent RF. Soto is a hitter.
My gut says Santander is now officially a big market target. Any small market team, including the Orioles, are gonna have a difficult time offering compensation for more than what the Yanks and Dodgers and so on will offer. Well deserved.
Don’t disagree that much. Santander is a big upgrade over Soto in the field. My point is that the Os could comfortably pursue Soto, Burnes and Santander. Not suggesting that they will sign all or any, necessarily.
With a team of pre arb or early arb stars and very deep pocketed owners (plus control of their TV rights and the Nats), money is no constraint on what Elias does.
“A lot has to go right next year, however, and the Jays will have to be aggressive in the offseason to patch up the many holes in this flawed roster.”
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That’s MLBTR thinking as it’s pretty much devoted to player movement, which is understandable. But it’s a loser mentality when discussing a ML team.
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I grew up in Cleveland where the baseball team wasn’t even in a pennant race come August from 1960 until 1993 (by that time I’d long since left the area).
Every single season they “filled holes” in the offseason. One year they needed a #2 starter. Another a CF that could hit lead-off. Another a closer. Another a 3B that could hit with power. While those were the primary needs, they always filled a few others so it seemed that entering the season they were: “Going to surprise a lot of people”.
They finally built a real – contending – team (the most powerful offensive team I’ve seen since 1956) when the Jacob Brothers bought the franchise. They brought back Hank Peters from Baltimore as the President. In turn he brought John Hart with him as GM. He asked Hart to submit to him a plan for the type of team he’d build. Hart said he wanted a batting order that was so strong that any batter from 1 to 9 was going to be a problem for the opposing pitcher. He went about doing that; and did it so well that when Jim Thome (Hall of Fame) and Manny Rameriz came up from the minors they were batting 7th and 8th in the order for a while. The team made 2 WS’s.
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A team can fill some holes when they have an organization in place. One that plays a brand of baseball, has scouts and player acquisition people that are looking for players that fit, and have coaches at multiple levels to help those players produce.
The Jays are hardly the only franchise in MLB that doesn’t have a style of baseball they play. Teams like them have little spurts for a year or two, sign some big names, but that goes nowhere. (A few years ago the Jays figured the OF defense was bad and they upgraded it. So?)
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Mediocrity is harder to see – and consequently accepted – when 6 of 15 teams make the playoffs in each league. Allowing for 2-3 teams being in a rebuilding process, and maybe 2-3 others having some combination of excessive injuries / players having bad seasons – it gives the false impression that somewhere around 10 of the 15 teams are in contention for a playoff spot and then: “Anything can happen”. So just “fill some holes” in the offseason……
I like the Jay’s chances next year as long their quality but aging SP rotation can stay healthy.
Like “Hank Peters” reference!
And cool history about Guardians. Sounds like the Jacob brothers approached ownership like Mr. Hoffberger did in Bsltimore from early 1960s through late 70s. IE GET OUT OF THE WAY and let your baseball people run the team.