cHawk

Does it depend on what’s in the burrito?

If he’s available at $5M/year, don’t even bother, given what happened with Colóme. He had 0.6 WAR over 25 IP last year (proportionally, 1.4 WAR over 60 IP). $8M • 1.4 = $11M. That’s the probable price tag for him. We don’t know this…none of us can predict the future

I blame a lot of this season on the players, as they are the ones who are getting paid Millions and they aren’t performing, but this team wasn’t exactly set for success with the starting rotation the FO put together.

The tough thing is that you don’t know how many games he’s going to play. He’s only had one (1) season where he’s played 100+ games. You know how good he is going to be when healthy: One of the best players in baseball. In 2021, he put up 4.2 WAR in 61 games. Over a 162 game season, that’s a ridiculous 11.1 WAR. (That tells me that his 2021 success wouldn’t be sustainable over a full season) That being said, he’s going to be a Mike Trout-type player when healthy. If you extend him, you should make the base 60 games/year, which would be about $25M/year. So, I would do 4 years/$100M with incentives galore.

No question you should resign one of your few talented RPs.

You’re entitled to your own opinion. That being said, I disagree. It seems lazy to simply say, “If he were going to, he would’ve.” I don’t think it’s fair at all to say that there’s a 0% chance Buxton signs an extension here. Has he indicated he wants out? I haven’t heard anything. Why the FO waited so long to extend him isn’t hard to figure out. He has had one (1) season where he’s played 100+ games. Staying on the field has been a continuous problem for him. It’s so inconsistent that it would IMO be a bad decision to hastily hand him a 5 year/$125M deal. It’s incredibly risky. I wouldn’t advise it. Also, 0% chance of filling the holes in the pitching staff? Why? Why can’t they sign the bullpen arms and starters they need? Their pitching pipeline will also starting producing more next year (hopefully). This sounds more like an, “I don’t trust the FO to fill the holes,” rather than an, “I don’t think it’s physically possible for them to fill the holes.”

Resigning Buxton and fixing the rotation should come before a SS if they really want to get back in this thing. As for the SS market, IDK. Baez, Correa, and Seager aren’t coming here. Not interested in Story. Maybe look at Semien? If none of those work than go with Arraez and Polanco at 2B and SS.

That trade is disgusting. I’d be happy to see Levine dismissed if they make that trade.

I disagree, I think the Red Sox will give them a fight.

Welp, I was 1 for 2 on my Wild Card picks and 2 for 4 on my Division Series picks. Let’s do the Championship Series’ now. Once again, take these with a grain of salt. ALCS (C as in ”Cheaters”): Boston Red Sox vs. Houston Astros If you told me at the beginning of the year that the Red Sox would make the ALCS I would’ve laughed at you. Yet here they are. This matchup looks like a pretty good one. Both teams have great lineups that both hit for a high average and score a lot of runs. However, I do look back at the Division Series with the Red Sox and the Rays and I see how their bullpen has coughed up late inning leads in back-to-back games. That raises a few questions. On the other side, the Astros bullpen has been better at protecting leads. This should be a really good series but I think that the bullpens will make the difference of who’s moving on here. Prediction: Astros win in 7 games NLCS: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves We see a rematch of last year’s NLCS this year. LA and Atlanta. Both teams have highly capable offenses that should match up well with each other. Both teams also have competent pitching staffs. But I have to say that the advantage in the pitching goes to the Dodgers, because they have both the better #1 Starter and the better #2 Starter (Scherzer>Morton and Buehler>Fried). The Dodgers will be a far tougher test for the Braves than the Brewers. Their pitching staff is just as good (and the Brewers pitching staff did hold Atlanta to 3 runs/game last series) but their lineup is far better. The primary reason the Brewers lost is because nobody in their lineup was able to step up. So, if the Dodgers can consistently put up 4+ runs/game in this series, they’ll win the series. What are the odds of that happening? Pretty high I’d say, they’re the Dodgers! Prediction; Dodgers win in 5 games I’ll do my World Series predictions when it comes around. Please give me your feedback on how right or wrong I am!

*Barring a miraculous three-in-a-row run, the Central division winner will bow out quickly for the fifth year in a row* FTFY

I’m sorry but I don’t agree with any of this. He was not the main reason for the early collapse of anywhere close to it. The Twins faltered early on because of two things: 1. Colome blowing saves and the rest of the pitching staff sucking 2. Simmons giving the team COVID Neither of those two things are Baldelli’s fault. The FO is the one who signed Colome and designated him as their closer. Baldelli wasn’t the one who made that decision. If you want to argue he ruined Colome, how much do you think Baldelli actually coaches his pitchers? If he did it to any significant degree, they probably wouldn’t have a designated pitching coach. If you think they ruined Colome, it’s not Baldelli’s fault. Stuck with Colome too long? He only stuck with him for 5 blown saves, y’all act like it’s 15 or 20. As for the pitching staff, I don’t think you understand the true ****tieness of the hand dealt to him. He was handed a rotation featuring JA Happ and Matt Shoemaker for 40% of the starts. Both aging #5-at-best starters at the time. The Twins didn’t “ruin” Happ and Shoemaker, they were simply bad pitchers. As for the bullpen he was dealt, you can say the same thing about Duffey at times, Rogers at times, Thielbar at times, etc. that I said about Colome. That’s on the pitching coach, not Baldelli. Also, Simmons. Not only did he post a -0.5 WAR on the season, but he also came to camp unvaccinated and he was the first one to catch COVID. That derailed the team quite a bit. Saying that he’s only good at giving interviews and nothing else is pretty unfair. Have you ever considered he played the game himself and was a very fundamentally sound player? We have seen problems with the fundamentals throughout the year, but that is attributed to a coaching staff as a whole, not just a manager. And I don’t think that Baldelli would have much to do with problems with the fundamentals, because that’s something he demonstrated he can do well.

Bad year for Baldelli, no doubt. But I don’t really think it’s fair to say the past two years were the aberration while 2021 is how competent Baldelli really is, for more reasons than you might think. His pitching staff management was going to look bad no matter what with what was dealt to him, that’s on Falvey and Levine. Also, losing Mike Bell seems to have had a big part in his failures this season. Most competent managers have a decent bench coach. He definitely looked bad at some points but he wasn’t even close (IMO) to the main reason his team failed this year. IMO, Colome and Simmons should get more blame than he does. Both make more $$$ than Baldelli does and they combine a nearly impossible -4.29 WPA. Rocco is on the hot seat for next year. As for this year, I give him and “Incomplete” grade.

I want the Rays to win. I just have a feeling it’ll be the Yankees. Hope I’m wrong.

October baseball is upon us. 10 teams battling for a World Series trophy. Only one will win it all. I will make predictions for each round. I will pick a winner from each matchup, and a # of game(s) (or score for the Wild Cards) that series is going to go. Today, I’m only going to do the Wild Card and Division Series. After you read, please share your opinion down below. How wrong or right am I? WARNING: Take my predictions with a grain of salt. Let’s get started. Wild Card: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers The road to the World Series begins in LA, where the defending champs host the red-hot St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals are not long off from a 17 game win streak. They also swept the NL Central winning Brewers in that stretch. However, they were stifled up a bit to end the year. The Dodgers are the defending champions, have a world class pitching staff, and have a deep-af lineup. Comparing the two teams? Talk about a no contest matchup. The Dodgers are by far and out a more complete team than the Cardinals. Expect a shutdown performance from the Dodgers’ world-class pitching staff. Prediction: STL - 0, LAD - 4 Wild Card: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox The most heated and long-lasting rivalry in all of baseball will meet in the AL Wild Card Game at Fenway Park. For the SP matchup, you will see Gerrit Cole for the Yankees and (most likely) Chris Sale for the Red Sox (on short rest, as he also only threw 62 pitches on Sunday). That’s a wash matchup. What’s not a wash matchup is the bullpens. The Yankees’ bullpen was a little shaky at the ASB, but it has looked good down the stretch. The Red Sox bullpen has looked rather vulnerable. This will end up costing the Red Sox the game. Prediction: NYY 5 - BOS 3 Division Series: Atlanta Braves vs. Milwaukee Brewers (I’m doing these in no particular order) The first Division Series has the NL East-winning Atlanta Braves taking on the NL Central-winning Milwaukee Brewers. Comparing stats, this series looks like Atlanta’s offense and Milwaukee’s pitching and defense. Atlanta’s Batting Stats: Runs Scored: 8th Home Runs: 3rd BA: 11th OPS: 9th Milwaukee’s Pitching Stats: ERA: 3rd WHIP: T-3rd HR Against: T-4th (fewest) That will be what it comes down to. And I think the Brewers will come out on top, simply because they’ll have too much pitching. Keep in mind that the Braves won a pretty bad division. Also, the Braves will be missing Ronald Acuña Jr. for this series. That’s a pretty big hit. I think the Brewers pull this one out pretty comfortably. Prediction: Brewers win in 4 games Division Series: New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays Coming off a big win against a familiar foe in the Wild Card game, the Yankees will head to Tropicana Field for a best-of-5 with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays biggest strength is obviously their bullpen. They have the highest RP WAR in MLB, but the Yankees aren’t that far behind. When it comes to offense, the Yankees have the edge. They’re better at most positions than the Rays (Baseball Savant Rankings). The Rays might have a higher Offensive WAR, but the Yankees did deal with key injuries early in the year. The Yankees also have an advantage at SP WAR. The Yankees rank 6th whereas the Rays only rank 15th. These two teams have battled it out during the Regular Season, and it’s been a pretty even matchup. I’ll take the Yankees for their SP and Offense. Prediction: Yankees win in 5 games Division Series: Chicago White Sox vs. Houston Astros I’m not going to be biased and quickly say “Astros in 3” because I hate the White Sox. From all the Division Series matchups, this one looks like the best by far. Both teams are ranked Top 10 in ERA, WHIP, and Fewest HR Allowed. Both teams also are ranked in the Top 10 (Offensively) in each RS, HR, BA, and OPS (except the Sox are 19th in HR). Also remember that the White Sox were missing Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez for a large portion of the year. Both will play in this series. The rosters for this series are a toss up. However, the Astros: - Will play 3 of 5 games at home - Are (much) more experienced - Have made the Championship Series in 4 consecutive years They’re bound to make it again, right? Prediction: Astros win in 5 games Division Series: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants One of the most intense rivalries in baseball. Dodgers and Giants. These two teams have the Top 2 records in baseball, have been the Top 2 in BR/theAthletic Power Rankings (yeah those are meaningless). Both teams are Top 3 in Team ERA, WHIP, and HR against. Both teams are also Top 10 in RS, HR, BA, and OPS. The stats make this look like a toss up. BUT… The Dodgers have a better roster than the Giants. They hold the advantage at most positions. The Dodgers are also the defending champions, and are more experienced. The Giants, in comparison to the Dodgers, appear to be smoke and mirrors. I will eat crow if I’m wrong. Prediction: Dodgers win in 4 games So those are my predictions for the first 2 rounds of the playoffs. I will do Championship and World Series predictions when those rounds come around.

Ober looks like a legitimately talented pitcher, unlike the three you mentioned.

Ober is looking quite a bit better than expected. I’m pleasantly surprised.

I think, at this point, we’d all much rather see Ryan or Duran in the rotation than Dobnak.

*Ideal Offseason signing: Sergio Romo - 1 year, $3MM* Who would’ve thought that he was the best option last offseason? Lmfao.

Why Refsnyder? He seems like solid depth. I agree with the other three tho.