Graterol

There are not many certainties in baseball, but Kevin mcgonigle being better right now than Trey Sweeney is one of them. Again, this is as much of a Sweeney discussion as a mcgonigle. Playoff teams need to try to win. Fat will need to be trimmed eventually of the 40 man eventually. 30 games in mlb won’t hurt mcgonigles development.

I get the importance of the 40 man, but I would rather upgrade SS and would be willing to take the risk of losing Codi Heuer.

I would also add that mcgonigles walk rate and iso are higher in Erie than at West Michigan, and his K rate is identical. Whatever he did to get promoted at WM he is doing at Erie. The only “negative” is that his babip has regressed. Clearly he is no Ozzie smith at SS, but don’t think defense is developed any differently at AA than at MLB.

Out of 40 shortstops with at least 150 PAs, Sweeney ranks 39 in WAR and 37 in wrc+. He is awful and not worthy of a roster spot let alone the playing time he is getting. Contending teams need to balance development and winning. A 30 game trial won’t impact mcgonigles development. If after a trial this year and spring training next year they still think he needs to develop, he can start in Toledo and his developement is not impacted.

In related news to the mcgonigle discussion, Sweeney is below replacement. His slash line is consistent with last year, so we now have two years worth of evidence he is a replacement level SS. Why does he continue to play?

Is there any evidence that rushing players hurts long term ability? Most of the top players make it to the majors early. Tork continued to develop in MLB. I am in favor of McGongile (not Clark) because I think he is the best of many poor options at short. I don’t think mcgonigle playing 30 games in MLB and potentially playoffs will in any way stunt his growth. No need for Clark to come up because he wouldn’t be better than existing options. Merrill, Chourio, Wood, Caminero, Holliday, Roman Anthony. That group collectively has done well at McGonigles age. Is McGonigle not that tier of prospect?

Is there any shot mcgonigle gets to Detroit? If you had to win a game tomorrow, would you prefer mcgonigle or Baez against rhp? Steamer has Baez forward looking wrc at 81, mcgonigle at 103.

If that draft is re-done today, where does Mcgonigle go. 3rd maybe?

Maybe a weird take, but not crushed by this. I would be curious of the odds of someone of Jobes profile having TJ eventually. Has to be high. This maybe provides some reason why he hasn’t been missing bats this year (or maybes he’s just not that good). We have depth with Cobb (maybe?) coming back eventually plus SGL. Is there any service time implication? Never a positive, but if you start with the premise it was likely to happen eventually, almost rather get it done now.

Brieske has a fip/xfip of 5+, negative war, and a k/9 of 6. He also pitched the last game. He is who we go with there?

My concern with Jobe isn’t so much the last outing, but more the fact his K rates (in minors, in MLB) have never matched his stuff. I worry he will be more average than elite. Hope I’m wrong.

This is great. Biggest holes are Jobe (Cobb coming back), CF (Vierling and/or Meadows) and SS (Sweeney playing much better of late). Keith also warming up which should help 1B/DH. Wonder what happens to Brebbia? Underlying metrics weren’t great, is he an upgrade on Brieske?

This is an interesting point. The tigers as of today (assuming Tork, McKinstry, Baez continue to play well, Meadows returns, and factoring in platoons) don’t have any major holes but no major offensive stars. Where could you realistically upgrade? Maybe SS, but you probably have a 2 war platoon. Maybe 3B, but where would McKinstry go. Seems like a hard roster to really upgrade given the way Hinch manages unless you really want to go after top end talent. Similar on the pitching side, especially if Cobb comes back. Maybe the obvious answer is expect regression and/or more injuries, but it’s a pretty deep roster lacking really high end talent.

Thanks for that. Guessing Vierling plays mainly CF with McKininsty/Ibanez at 3rd.

So assuming Meadows and Vierling come back and nobody else gets hurt (big if I know), Jung is the obvious one to go down. But probably Keith as well? Don’t think we would keep him up over Ibanez or Malloy if it means he doesn’t get consistent at bats. Would Cobb take Maedas spot? And we go with 6 starters to limit Jobe? Again likely to see some injuries but tough to drop any of the starters now. Any ETA on Vierling or Cobb? Seems like they are closer but couldn’t find any updates?

I get colts defense hasn’t been great, but I am really hoping they can talk Torres in to playing 3rd. That would really shore up our infield.

Assuming Perez goes down, wonder what the lineup against righties would look like. Margot presumably starts in cf against lefties, maybe you sneak Malloy in one corner and tork as DH (RIP outfield defense). Against RHP you would have carp in a corner, maybe tork still DHs, and do they roll with Greene in cf?

I would hope Perez doesn’t and both Malloy and Tork are on team. Don’t think we should overreact to spring stats, but Perez has a 300 ops and doesn’t have a great track record in minors. Would make sense to roll with Margot until Vierling or Meadows is back.

No it’s 2025 and 2026.

Only major FAs are Levi, Zeitler, and Carlton Davis. After signing draft picks, they will at best be able to sign two of these, maybe only one. Zeitler on a one year $8-9 mil deal would be great, move Mahogany to other guard, and Glasgow is 6th OL (only save $2 mil by cutting him, so probably worth keep as backup, but he was bad this year). I think Levi is almost certainly gone (will get big deal) and Davis would be great but may be priced out. Barnes, Davenport, Iffy, Patrick, Muhammad only back if on cheaper deals. Biggest draft needs will be OT (for future), DE/DL, backup safety, WR. Really need to replenish depth and hit on draft this year. Love Brad but he got cocky with some picks, trading lots of draft capital for Brodrick Martin, Manu, and Vaki, and it really impacted our depth this year.

I actually like the fit of Santander. Vs RHP/LHP: 1B: Keith (Santander some ABs vs LHP) 2B: Torres (Keith some ABs vs RHP) SS: Sweeney/Baez 3B: Jung/Vierling LF: Greene RF: Santander/some Vierling CF: Meadows/ some Vierling DH: Carpenter/ Santander Vierling becomes a super sub and gets close to full time work by playing full time against LHP ( at 3B, CF or RF) and playing a super sub role against RHP.

Of the 11 players for 8 spots, generally think Greene, Meadows, Torres and Keith fall into roughly everyday guys. Carp is only a platoon guy. Today Jung is probably 3B (but hopefully Bregman and Kim still in play). Ibanez and Vierling are 3B/DH platoons for Jung/Carp and IF/OF backups. Sweeney the starting shortstop. Need a backup SS so prob Baez or a FA. That would leave only one roster spot: Tork/Malloy as another RH lefty masher or Perez/McKinistry if more defensive value needed. Possible one of these could also beat out Ibanez. Kim/Bregman would drop down Sweeney/Jung to bench options if they signed. Actually like Kim more than Bregman as I think he helps this roster more.

Would be shocked if Perez, Baez, Ibanez, and Tork are all on the team. McKinistry, Jung and Malloy also in that mix. Tork is so one dimensional he would be least likely of that group to make the roster IMO.

Harris says Colt to 1B. So lineup should be something like: Greene/Meadows/Vierling/Carpenter Jung/Sweeney/Torres/Keith Dingler/Rogers 3 of Perez/Malloy/Ibanez/Baez/Tork You need someone else that can play SS, so Baez probably makes the roster today. Ibanez/Tork/Malloy to be the other side of DH platoon. Perez would be more interesting off bench if he could play IF. A trade seems likely.

This strike zone is awful, for both teams.