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WILD CARD 2
Last night was what, Erasmo Ramirez' 6th straight quality start since adding** his "keep 'em honest" cut fastball? I can safely say it's the best I ever saw him throw the ball. That's exciting, don't you think? For this year and next.
Shame that the M's botched a big chance. In the first six innings they must have had 8 hard fly balls that found outfielders' mitts. Baseball has a lot of luck in it. Anyhow, with 19 games left:
(Min +5)
LAA +3
KC =
Tex =
Sea -1
Bal -1
Tampa -2
I was amused and delighted to see that Felix goes first this week, then Paxton, which puts Paxton in line for the Yankee$ play-in game if we got there. Heh, heh, HEH!! ... Iwakuma lurks also. Two (three) games back with 19 to play is not dead. But the M's would need a couple other teams to lose (very, very feasible) or for themselves to get a win streak (less feasible).
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KYLE SEAGER
I don't go to BJOL because I'm a "fan"; I'm not. I go there because it's the best place to go in the morning. Occasionally you go there and find 6, 8, 10 basic light bulbs for your collection, different bulbs. His essay this morning on the Louisiania Purchase was revolutionary; you wind up wondering whether he just came up with it, off the cuff. If so it should replace what's in high school textbooks and it's just him chatting over coffee.
Spend a few minutes reflecting on that point, would you? That is the kind of thing you expect from real genius.
...
He answered one question this way:
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That's a very cool checklist, and you can sort the socks into 2 categories:
√ Does a hitter have special physical tools compared to the best in the world
√ Does a hitter have special ability to learn compared to the best in the world
Usually, in baseball, a hitter has special ability to learn if he has special humility, among other things. I'd love to know the correlation between Seager-type hitting surprises and whether they tend to be good defenders, since baseball defense requires humility also.
Seager is #8 all time in Seattle Mariner WAR, behind the 5 tremendous Hall of Famers, and Felix, and Moyer. Ahead of Jay Buhner, Alvin Davis, et al; yet Kyle Seager is 29 years old. We underappreciate the man.
BABVA,
Dr D
which is a definite DOWN season for him, he outperforms his average annual cost. $18-19MM/year from here on out with a $15-20MM (varies by awards and PA) option for 2022. That's what, 2.5 WAR on the current market for a FA win to break even? He's been an All-Star and he's playing on a contract where he only has to surpass MLB average by a stride or two.
We definitely underappreciate the guy.
Last two outings for Andrew Moore: 12 innings, 4 hits, 3 ER's 3 BB, 10 K's.
That'll do pig.
Paxton, Felix, Leake, Miranda, Ramirez, and Moore.......That's not a bad place to start for next year's rotation.
they look extremely well-positioned to trade off some SP depth to upgrade a rotation slot, or even to plug holes elsewhere (1B is still a hole, assuming Alonso walks, right?)
The most important facet of participating in a competitive enterprise is to win today, with the second most important facet being to maintain a strong position that will allow you to win tomorrow. I know, I know, it's gone well past ANNOYANCE on the dial with the way this team has habitually forsaken the present in favor of the mythical future, but it seems to me that we're addressing both about right just now. They came up short but, again, if Smyly hadn't gone down I doubt we'd be anywhere but in a solid lead for the WC at this point.
Jonez,
I would be more than happy if our acquisition was a banging OF. Trusting in Vogs, you understand.
And I wouldn't be surprised if we reach for a FA thrower, not that Smyly has helped much.
But if there's one place this team is young and talented at the moment, it's the OF. Cruz' DH tenure is difficult to project in the extreme, so bringing in someone to lock down a COF spot going forward does make sense.
And *depending* on Gamel and Haniger to be 3+ WAR contributors on the corners is a big ask of ~first year rooks. Using them as the core of a 4-to-make-3 approach seems like the ideal leverage of their combined talent, youth, and unpredictability. Still, if both of those guys *do* lock down COF spots for the next half-decade, we're going to be better off dumping as much of our 'excess' talent into the rotation (or *possibly* 2B/SS since it's seemingly inevitable that Cano moves off at SOME point). The 'pen is plenty talented for a pennant run, the offense is good-and-probably-great, and the defense is plus across the board.
A legit 1B masher, a #2/#3 SP(s) go with Paxton, or potentially a killer OF are pretty much all you could add to this club at this point.
And yeah, the Smyly deal stings but them's the nature of rolling the dice on UPside rather than predictability. Smyly was long on potential gains, but the hippo lurking beneath the surface is always the injury bug on starters without established track records of durabilty and success. That durability issue is why Leake looks like a good pickup to me, even though he's not exactly inspiring.