Moshin' off Mo' Dawg
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Moe Dawg (one cubicle to the right; got a parentheses in there real quick, didn't I?) gave us just the kind of "bulletin" our Hot Stove viewers crave. He reminds about Bergman:
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1. Christian Bergman: He's back. 54 big league innings last season; 4 wins, 5 losses; 5.00 ERA; 1.41 Whip. You will remember that he did have three stellar outings: 7.1 innings of 2 hit, shutout ball vs. the Orcs, 7 innings of 4 hit, shutout ball vs. the BoSox, 4 innings of 1 hit, shutout relief vs. the Angels. In his other 40 innings he gave up 30 earned runs and 54 hits. Feast vs. famine. Bet the under on the feast line in '18.
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Bergman came from the Rox with ML-dubious stuff, ML-crispy command, and 23 ML starts which is 23 more than you got, bub. Here is our MIN-MAX article during his little hot streak, which may or may not make for an interesting 10 minutes' January loitering. By my count, Bergman is tied for 9th-18th on the M's depth chart. Considering he's a Major League pitcher of 4 years' experience, is is fair to say that Jerry Dipoto has a gigantic flotilla of dubious #5 starters.
Seriously, if Dipoto's thing is a long string of +0.2 WAR players, you've got to admire the progress. Charitably you might say he's putting together an Always Compete theme. Is Dr. D feeling charitable? Not in the slightest. Give him a real starting pitcher and we'll talk.
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Our man Diderot asked the Think Tank for a default 4 benchies, assuming Heredia. It responded:
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MOE let's assume Gonzales, assuming we gave Tank and he's got no options. DR D is bullish on Gonzales and precisely as that change dips from 84 MPH towards 78-81, you may find his rotation slot heliuming from #7 up towards #2. The 'Frame sez this kid has big time upside. Very common to talk age arc. Think injury arc.
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SABRMATT sez:
...and we have him as a Rule V guy...which means we can't just send him down to hold onto him. Either we need to trade them something to keep him or he needs to make the team...which is hard if we're carrying thirteen pitchers, because we need Heredia (or other OF4), Marjama, and an infielder. NOW...you COULD keep Ford and, when you need to rest/sub out an injured middle infielder, use Heredia in the OF and move Gordon back to 2B/SS. So there's that option.
DR D sez very true. Also, very odd that your platoon is always at 1B. Significant points against Dipoto that it be so.
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DIDEROT sez: Andrew Romine looks unlikely on paper, but has "intangibles." Read that: he's a 25'er who has the manager's back to the 17's, 14's and 11's.
Yes, kiddies. If you have Vida Blue, Catfish, Holtzmann, Reggie, Bando, Fingers, and Rudi you can pick a manager out of the stands, go fishing, and hire Mick as your cut man in the locker room. But if you have less, you'd better take a few precautions against the Chone-Wakamatsu torpedoes. They'll blow a hole in your navigational course towards the playoffs.
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GMONEY sez: Filia out 50 games for steriods. Some other esteemed Denizen sez, and what a waste, no power. Dr. D's long-held suspicion, however, is that PED's help eyesight more than they they do launch velocity. Wasn't Boog Powell recently deemed a roider? And then shortly thereafter deemed worthless?
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UND TAKE ZIS MIT YOU, Dept.
Dave Cameron, formerly of USSM and recently of Fangraphs, was hired by a perennial loser with a promising future, the San Diego Padres. Here's an article. His nominal role is worth looking at. "Senior Analyst, Research and Development Dept." The Padres have a tremendous minor league system with 7 players in the minors' top-100 and Cameron believes that such players should almost never be traded, so it's a little like putting Dana Loesch in charge of your gun collection. An "analyst," in the F-500 companies I worked for, types up position papers and hands them to people like the assistant GM.
Of course from such a position one gets to know the senior execs, so if Mr. Cameron comports himself with deference he could find himself doing a Jonah Hill quickly. As the Padres go, it's hard to imagine what they do over the next few years other than let their star prospects jell. Thoughts?
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Enjoy,
Dr D
Ford has to stay if he hits...