AL Central Discussion

[mr.hockey4242]

Gotta say- I am glad the Twins have os much money tied up in Correa, Buxton and Vazquez. 32, 15, and 10 respectively.

Twins SP is pretty cheap too.

Gray: 13M
Ryan: pre-arb
Ober: pre-arb
Lopez: 5.5M
Maeda: 3M

Gray is a free agent this winter though. Polanco is at 11M next year. Lopez at only 8M next year, but then goes up to 22 the following 3 years.

Twins do spend some money- obviously not a huge spender- but they do spend.

I wonder if they bring back Gray.

Maeda, Gallo and Kepler will almost assuredly be gone.- that's like 25M or so off the books.

Buxton contract is a discount even if hes a DH only guy who cant hit anymore. HIs deal is fine. Vazquez deal is more shitty cause it encourages us to keep playing him.

Money wise we are in great shape. Lopez resigned already at a good price. Ober, Ryan, Julien, Kirilloff are all years from getting paid and could end up locked up sooner at better rates to get the contracts moving.

Gray is almost certainly gone. Twins will QO him, maybe he takes the one year deal but I doubt it. Then we get the comp pick.

Polanco likely gone. Moves to near certainty if Brook Lee keeps raking to finish the year. Julien, Lee, Lewis plus Correa we are stacked.

 

[catman]

Buxton contract is a discount even if hes a DH only guy who cant hit anymore. HIs deal is fine. Vazquez deal is more shitty cause it encourages us to keep playing him.

Money wise we are in great shape. Lopez resigned already at a good price. Ober, Ryan, Julien, Kirilloff are all years from getting paid and could end up locked up sooner at better rates to get the contracts moving.

Gray is almost certainly gone. Twins will QO him, maybe he takes the one year deal but I doubt it. Then we get the comp pick.

Polanco likely gone. Moves to near certainty if Brook Lee keeps raking to finish the year. Julien, Lee, Lewis plus Correa we are stacked.

Julien can play at 1B if needed. That will be a great infield for a long time, hopefully.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Julien can play at 1B if needed. That will be a great infield for a long time, hopefully.

Think the plan is to have AK there almost all the time though. Not sure long term they want AK doing much OF unless needed.

But yes some potential versatility.

Meanwhile, Vazquez starting again today....

God forbid we just let jeffers get in a rhythmn

 

[catman]

Polanco is getting reps at 3B in his rehab assignment. It appears that he will play 2B against lefties and 3B against righties when he comes back.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Julien can play at 1B if needed. That will be a great infield for a long time, hopefully.

who's long term infield you like more? Twins or Guards?

Guards:

1B: Naylor
2B: Gimenez
SS: Rocchio
3B: Jose

whats Twins long term? Do you assume Correa stays at SS long term or move to 3B?

 

[WiggyRuss]

Buxton contract is a discount even if hes a DH only guy who cant hit anymore. HIs deal is fine. Vazquez deal is more shitty cause it encourages us to keep playing him.

Money wise we are in great shape. Lopez resigned already at a good price. Ober, Ryan, Julien, Kirilloff are all years from getting paid and could end up locked up sooner at better rates to get the contracts moving.

Gray is almost certainly gone. Twins will QO him, maybe he takes the one year deal but I doubt it. Then we get the comp pick.

Polanco likely gone. Moves to near certainty if Brook Lee keeps raking to finish the year. Julien, Lee, Lewis plus Correa we are stacked.

Guards cheap good starting pitching is going to be their best aspect

McKenzie, Bibee, Wlliams, Allen, probably/hopefully Espino will all cost basically nothing for years to come. That- and the under-market deal Jose signed. Also- Clase is signed to a very solid team friendly deal long term. Think this is his first year of a 5 year 20M deal or something.

 

[fightinfunbags]

Guards cheap good starting pitching is going to be their best aspect

McKenzie, Bibee, Wlliams, Allen, probably/hopefully Espino will all cost basically nothing for years to come. That- and the under-market deal Jose signed. Also- Clase is signed to a very solid team friendly deal long term. Think this is his first year of a 5 year 20M deal or something.

Bibee looked nice on Saturday. His 12 to 6 stuff had the Phillies guessing and poorly at that.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Bibee looked nice on Saturday. His 12 to 6 stuff had the Phillies guessing and poorly at that.

the similarities to Bieber are pretty crazy

same college, both gained a lot of velocity after drafted, both great contro, similar sized righties....

He is going to be good. They are limiting his pitches/innings. Bibee and Williams both have good stuff and should be pretty solid long term options. Both pretty highly rated prospects- I think both were around top 25 in baseball when called up.

 

[Eco]

If Julien injured his shoulder on that slide, Watkins needs to be fired. He's done some stupid shit with sending players and/or stopping them when it makes no sense.

This is one of them as there is no reason Julien should have been going for 3rd on that hit.

 

[Eco]

Royals leading the Indians going into the bot 9th.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

If Julien injured his shoulder on that slide, Watkins needs to be fired. He's done some stupid shit with sending players and/or stopping them when it makes no sense.

This is one of them as there is no reason Julien should have been going for 3rd on that hit.

Luckily Julien appears to be fine

That also was likely on Julien. Dumb base running. Cant make final out at 3B

 

[Eco]

Royals win, taking our lead temporarily to 3.5 games

 

[Eco]

Luckily Julien appears to be fine

That also was likely on Julien. Dumb base running. Cant make final out at 3B

Maybe, but against CHW we had a few questionable base running moves that all seemed perpetrated by the 3rd base coach.

 

[catman]

Twins pull another one out in extras.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Wow.

Jax with an ill advised pitch.

Twins rally. Guardians shit their pants vs Royals

4 game lead. Unreal.

 

[catman]

who's long term infield you like more? Twins or Guards?

Guards:

1B: Naylor
2B: Gimenez
SS: Rocchio
3B: Jose

whats Twins long term? Do you assume Correa stays at SS long term or move to 3B?

I don't know enough about Rocchio to say much about him.
Twins infield would be
1B -- Kirilloff
2B -- Lewis
SS -- Correa
3B -- Lee
I expect Julien to move to left and Polanco to not stay with the team longer term.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

I don't know enough about Rocchio to say much about him.
Twins infield would be
1B -- Kirilloff
2B -- Lewis
SS -- Correa
3B -- Lee
I expect Julien to move to left and Polanco to not stay with the team longer term.

I think if we go this route with Julien in the OF.

Lee is more likely to be the 2B and Royce the 3B

 

[Eco]

 

[mr.hockey4242]

There Are Better Things to Be Than Interesting

Bailey Ober is the Babe Ruth of throwing five or more innings but not more than seven while allowing no more than four runs and striking out no more than eight.

blogs.fangraphs.com

Pretty wild article.

In short, it basically says that on days that Ober pitches you are basically wasting your time watching the first 6 innings because you already have an idea of whats going to happen every time and when hes going to depart the game.

 

[WiggyRuss]

I don't know enough about Rocchio to say much about him.
Twins infield would be
1B -- Kirilloff
2B -- Lewis
SS -- Correa
3B -- Lee
I expect Julien to move to left and Polanco to not stay with the team longer term.

8. Brayan Rocchio, SS, Cleveland Guardians​

Rocchio made his major-league debut this year, but just briefly. Around his stints with the Guardians, he’s hit .294/.382/.419 as a 22-year-old in Triple A, posting his lowest strikeout rate since rookie ball at just 12.6 percent with less over-the-fence power than he showed last year (2 homers in 2023 after he hit 18 in 2022). He’s a true switch-hitter who could always run but had a terrible track record as a base stealer, with a 64 precent career success rate, which he’s boosted this year by going 18 for 21 on the bases (86 percent). Rocchio is an above-average shortstop with excellent hands and good instincts, which makes it all the more baffling that the Guardians, who’ve gotten nothing from shortstop this year, haven’t called him up and given him a shot at the job.



This is Keith Law's blurb on Rocchio from The Athletic. They have him currently as the #8 prospect in baseball at The Athletic which is a little higher htan most. His nickname is "The Professor" which is pretty cool. His profile is very similar to Lindor- I would say kind of a - not a poor man's- but a middle class (lol) Lindor.

He should be up playing everyday instead of Rosario. Its a joke. Rocchio and Oscar should both be in the lineup everyday. McKenzie and Bieber are done for the season. Turn over the roster and play the young guys. It is time.