Graterol

Great news on the Jobe promotion, but I am surprised that Miller is DFAd. Seemed like he still had good stuff and when he was on he was really good.

Edit: looks like gehringer asked the exact same question at same time.

Serious question— are the playoff odds (such as fangraphs) based bottoms up on expected lineup/pitching matchups with real time individual player forecasts?

I’m interested to see what Hinch/Harris do next year in the rotation. With the success of the opener/long reliever model, I assume it continues. Skubal, a FA, and Olson would be logical starters, and then could we go with two bullpen days? Montero, Hurter, Mize, Maeda might be better of going 5 innings out of the pen. Melton has good peripherals in the minors. It would also be a good way to limit Jobe innings we he hopefully gets called up next year.

Not even sure what point is being made. Entire track record matters more than small sample size. Jung hasn’t hit great this year but don’t think we should write him off. Sweeney has hit well recently but hasn’t hit as well over his entire career. I hope Sweeney continues to hit like this even if I don’t expect it to continue.

Sweeneys 60ABs are encouraging….but it’s 60 ABs. I wouldn’t hate the idea of Sweeney as full time SS next year but only if we have a platoon/fallback option if he doesn’t hit like this over 500 ABs.

This. Plus the track record of prospects at the bottom of top 100 lists isn’t great, let alone someone that probably would have been in the 250-300 range at best (ranked somewhere around 15 in Detroits system). If he turns out to be a good bench bat, that has value. If he surprises and could be a starter, even better. But not someone you had a starting spot on a playoff team.

Assuming 13 position players: OF: Greene, Meadows, Carp, Vierling locks IF: Jung, Keith locks (I say Jung because Vierling can take over/platoon if he doesn’t develop). Catcher: Dingler and Rogers locks Need a full time 1B and SS. Bench: Ibanez fits this team perfect, given ability to play 2B and 3B and platoon with Carp. Not perfect player but good fit. Need someone who can play shortstop. McKinstry is underrated (1.3 WAR) and Sweeney also fits best on bench. Both probably redundant on a playoff team. Worst case is one is starting SS if no FA/trade. Need another OF that can play some defense. Perez not a perfect player but solid roster fit. Would be great for him to (re)develop at 2B. Malloy and Tork both negative WAR, brutal defense, and in the case of Tork decline BB rate, avg EV, and increasing K rate. Both only fit as a PH and platoon 1B/DH against lefties. Would need to drop someone like Perez, go short on OF, to roster someone like that. Long way of me saying that neither Tork nor Malloy should be on the roster, unless we roll with Tork at 1B (god help us) or think we can drop someone like a Perez and roll with a RH bat that can’t field.

I’m still hating. 3 years at below replacement level. Will take more than a 3 week hot streak for me to be convinced. Wouldn’t reserve a starting spot for him next year….

Wow this trade is even worse then I thought.

I made it clear in the post…sign a few FAs.

I do think Harris needs to go all in with either playoffs in 2025 or punting for a few years. Tarik has two cheap years left. If you are going to see how all these guys develop, and see what you have next year, and not pursue any FAs, then trade Tarik. Otherwise you need to use the fact you are saving at every other position (except sunk costs of maeda and Baez) and go spend. But you can’t waste 50pct of Tarik’s pre-FA years on what probably won’t be a playoff team without significant FAs (probably 2 top 20 types). Sweeney is a decent bench guy on a good team. Jung maybe as well. We know what Tork is at this point—-at best probably a below average starter, and probably not that. Doing nothing (ie patience) would be the worst strategy.

I would bet my life savings Harris would not trade McGonigle for a reliever. Especially for a team that isn’t close to a reliever away.

It’s a sunk cost. It doesnt matter. If you have $40 mil of new dollars to spend on position players (making up a number), where is the best bang for your buck giving our existing roster. It would be at SS and 1B most likely.

I don’t understand why so many people fail to grasp the idea of a sunk cost. Baez should not be on this team next year. Even eating his salary, the payroll is low. They definitely should be signing one impact bat from Adames, Kim, Alonso, Bellinger, etc. And with holes at 1B and SS and some positional flex with guys like Vierling they won’t be blocking anyone if they do sign a FA.

I’m sure this has been discussed, but has Carpenter ever played 1B? There is no way Tork can be counted on next year. It would open up an expanded role for Ibanez and Vierling. And Carp certainly can’t be worse on D than Tork.