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- Thread starter brodybuck21
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bigdog3300
The G.O.A.T.
I am pretty stoked already, even if the budget doesn't change they have the ability to make plenty of moves and continue to get better.
Interested in seeing how they leverage this bullpen...Clase, Gaddis, Smith, Herrin, Morgan, Walters, Avila, Sabrowski would fill up your pen already next season, but that doesn't take into account your former set-up man Trevor Stephan and Sam Hentges. Not sure if you can ever expect Karnichak to be back in the mix. Didn't include Sandlin since he's a step below these guys, and Strzelecki is still too much of an unknown. Franco Aleman is a name I think everyone will know next year just like we now know Cade Smith.
As far as re-signing Bieber and Boyd, we'll see...I have a feeling Boyd only takes a sweetheart deal with us because he'll get bigger offers. Could see Bieber back. Haven't heard a word about McKenzie getting surgery so not banking on him at all next year. In a perfect world it'd be great to have Bieber, Bibee, Boyd, Williams, Lively with Cantillo ready to go behind.
Hopefully we see DeLauter sooner than later in RF....an OF of Kwan/Thomas/DeLauter would be fantastic.
Bazzana up in September?
Josh Naylor....last year of team control, can you package him, a reliever, and maybe a mid-level prospect for Brent Rooker? Rooker is a beast but has limited value as a pure DH, but Manzardo and Fry can handle 1B so would work for us.
Lastly, catcher....I'm actually fine rolling again with Naylor/Hedges/Fry. The flexibility is great and they all balance each other out enough. We've gone down other roads with very limited success. Hoping by this time next year we'll have an idea if Ingle or Cozart has a future up here.
All in all, we're in great position to deal, and any extra $ will make us even more dangerous. We have a great front office and manager and I fully trust them. The only negative is the AL Central has caught up and we should expect serious competition from KC. I'm expecting the Twins to be a step behind us and I'm still not a believer in the Tigers rotation, but I had a great nearly 7 months watching this team and can't wait for 2025.
Interested in seeing how they leverage this bullpen...Clase, Gaddis, Smith, Herrin, Morgan, Walters, Avila, Sabrowski would fill up your pen already next season, but that doesn't take into account your former set-up man Trevor Stephan and Sam Hentges. Not sure if you can ever expect Karnichak to be back in the mix. Didn't include Sandlin since he's a step below these guys, and Strzelecki is still too much of an unknown. Franco Aleman is a name I think everyone will know next year just like we now know Cade Smith.
As far as re-signing Bieber and Boyd, we'll see...I have a feeling Boyd only takes a sweetheart deal with us because he'll get bigger offers. Could see Bieber back. Haven't heard a word about McKenzie getting surgery so not banking on him at all next year. In a perfect world it'd be great to have Bieber, Bibee, Boyd, Williams, Lively with Cantillo ready to go behind.
Hopefully we see DeLauter sooner than later in RF....an OF of Kwan/Thomas/DeLauter would be fantastic.
Bazzana up in September?
Josh Naylor....last year of team control, can you package him, a reliever, and maybe a mid-level prospect for Brent Rooker? Rooker is a beast but has limited value as a pure DH, but Manzardo and Fry can handle 1B so would work for us.
Lastly, catcher....I'm actually fine rolling again with Naylor/Hedges/Fry. The flexibility is great and they all balance each other out enough. We've gone down other roads with very limited success. Hoping by this time next year we'll have an idea if Ingle or Cozart has a future up here.
All in all, we're in great position to deal, and any extra $ will make us even more dangerous. We have a great front office and manager and I fully trust them. The only negative is the AL Central has caught up and we should expect serious competition from KC. I'm expecting the Twins to be a step behind us and I'm still not a believer in the Tigers rotation, but I had a great nearly 7 months watching this team and can't wait for 2025.
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mattynokes
Hall of Fame
Karinchak posted some really good numbers in Columbus to close out the season. I had read that there was talk of recalling him very late in the year, but the emergence (and success) of Walters and Sabrowski looks to have nixed those chances. Strzelecki is a DFA candidate. I can't see him surviving the roster crunch when there are a plethora ranked prospects (especially pitching) eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Sandlin might be in the same boat as Strz. He was terrible (4.86 ERA, 6.68 FIP) since the middle of May and being arbitration eligible doesn't help his case.
I could see Bieber getting a contract similar to Brandon Woodruff did when already known to miss the 2024 season. The equivalent for Bieber would be a small salary for 2025 ($3-4M), a team option for 2026 at around the average of his arby years ($9-10M), and then a mutual option for 2027 at roughly double his highest arby salary ($24-26M) with half as a buyout/guaranteed. We'll see about Boyd, but I don't have a lot of hope on him returning. I have a feeling that McKenzie is going to be non-tendered.
DeLauter...much like Valera, needs to stay healthy. It will be exciting once DeLauter makes his debut. And speaking of Valera, he was really hitting the bejeezus-belt out of the ball in August and could have seen his debut in September had he not been injured. Again. Either way, I think this is where they need to go after someone. Even if it's just for one season, package a handful of guys like; Will Brennan, Tyler Freeman, Gabriel Arias, Jose Tena, Angel Martinez, Jonathan Rodriguez, Will Dion, Doug Nikhazy, etc... and see if there's enough interest to land something good. They have quite a nice stockpile of young potential and there are only so many spots on the roster. It's time to trade some before they (literally) run out of options.
It really seems like they (at least the writers) are headstrong on trading Naylor this off-season. With the young depth (such as Manzardo, Noel, and CJ Kayfus), I don't think they "need" to trade him before they "lose him for nothing." It sure seems like Hedgey wants to return. I can see them just using Naylor and Fry while going with more flexibility on the bench, however, a veteran like Hedges can continue to help Bo Naylor's development.
I just hope this off-season isn't quite. With all the young talent, I thought it was the right move last off-season to basically remain content as-is, but they've seen some of these guys now and it's time to figure out who your guys are and deal from some of the remaining depth. Picking up a big bat (while keeping Naylor) and adding another starter would be my focus this off-season.
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bigdog3300
The G.O.A.T.
Zack Meisel already reporting there is mutual interest with Bieber, Boyd, Cobb, and Hedges. I'm a bit surprised, but certainly not upset, at the Cobb news. I also think Hedges being back another year and learning from Vogt could see him make a similar transition into managing pretty early after his playing days are over.
It does appear to be a very fortunate free agent market for us with the above posts as the starting pitching market is very strong (should leave some players taking team friendly deals) while being short on relievers (better for us to leverage from our depth).
It does appear to be a very fortunate free agent market for us with the above posts as the starting pitching market is very strong (should leave some players taking team friendly deals) while being short on relievers (better for us to leverage from our depth).
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mattynokes
Hall of Fame
I would love to be wrong about Boyd! Something has certainly changed for him. When he was with Detroit, I thought he was overhyped (especially with how the Tigers wanted a king's ransom for him) and home runs did him in too often. He kept the homers down with Cleveland and truly looked like a pitcher who could control the at-bat.
Also, I just want to gush more about CJ Cayfus. I think he could be another Shane Bieber in that as an unheralded prospect that shows some very promising metrics in the minors and could turn out to be great. Cayfus has put up some very impressive numbers so far and what jumps out to me is his LD%. With about a 25-26% combined LD% this past season, he'd be amongst the MLB leaders and as far as I see with current major leaguers, that's not something that sees a change (like K% going up) as players move up the ladder. Simply put, if you're fantasy baseball league is in a dynasty format with MiLB players, he's a guy that I'd stash.
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bigdog3300
The G.O.A.T.
@mattynokes - I like Kayfus but I can't get my hopes too high until I see him put up a similar year in '25. He certainly is interesting, and a 1B that can hit for 6 triples doesn't happen too often. That SO/BB rate really changed when he made the jump to AA, going from 33 SO/23 BB in A to 84 SO/36 BB in AA. I'm not a huge advanced metrics guy though so I will trust your judgment on him more than mine.
It is nice to know, at least currently, we have Naylor and Manzardo at 1B with Kayfus and Velazquez in the minors. I wonder if they'll have Noel work some more at first also this off-season.
Winter meetings are Dec. 8-12, should be a fun one for us!
It is nice to know, at least currently, we have Naylor and Manzardo at 1B with Kayfus and Velazquez in the minors. I wonder if they'll have Noel work some more at first also this off-season.
Winter meetings are Dec. 8-12, should be a fun one for us!
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BuckBackHome
Wolverine is largest member of weasel family
Does anyone have insight into what happened to Sticks? Is it his physical health? Mechanics? Mental? Or maybe all of the above. I hope he can get back to 23 form as he was great to watch and seems like a terrific young man.
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bigdog3300
The G.O.A.T.
Good question - everyone points to the partial UCL tear in '23, but that doesn't require surgery. I thought it did, so that's on me too. Most likely it's mechanical, which when you're 6'5 can be difficult to regain. His walks have skyrocketed while his K rate has only minimally gone down, and I think that's more related to the walks than velo. At this point, I'm not banking on anything from him or Logan Allen in '25.
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bigdog3300
The G.O.A.T.
Zipper, were you on the old Scout forums? That name sounds familiar.
And I think he can - he's probably below average, but maybe Fry catches some time there too? Fry got 20 games there this year, so seems like a possibility.
This all hinges on my dream that we trade Naylor and a bullpen piece for Rooker.
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mattynokes
Hall of Fame
I've always heard that Double-A is where you make it or break as a prospect. I know some organizations feel that once you've proven yourself half a year in Double-A, you cemented yourself on the map to the majors. Some feel once they're comfortable with a top prospect in Double-A, that Triple-A isn't really necessary, that you're facing a lot of has-been major league arms and aren't challenged as much. Plenty of guys have shown well at the lower levels and then flame out at the higher levels. So, it's certainly possible that the metrics love Kayfus in A-Ball, but they drastically regress in Double-A and above.
Honestly, I'm not worried about the K% spike. Plenty of guys struggle in their first taste of the upper levels and we may see Kayfus get back to his normal metrics in '25. Upon deeper look, what I'd be concerned about is how he started Double-A off right where he left off in Hi-A, but then the numbers dropped to Austin Hedges-level hitting. Maybe he was figured out. Maybe he was playing through an injury or pressing too much. We'll find out next season.
It seems to me that it's a combination of mechanics and health. It seemed that in many of his starts he'd look dominate for certain stretches, but then completely lose it and look like he's never pitched before in his life. It also seemed like he had a velocity dip and avoiding surgery may have been a mistake, since 2024 was still essentially a lost season.
His 2023 Prospect Profile on MLB.com and Fangraphs (#42) seem to suggest that while he's never going to be confused as a plus defender, he's capable enough. I'd liken the reports to what Edwin Encarnacion provided defensively.
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Trevi
Hall of Fame
I’ve been thinking it’s mostly between his ears. He seems to have no confidence in his elbow/arm and therefore no confidence in his throws. I also suspect he doesn’t listen well to coaching. So I think they finally threw their hands up and sent him down to AAA. I was checking most of his box scores once he was sent down. I remember only about one start that was remotely encouraging. Nearly all were pretty horrible. His ERA was over 5. Gave up around 10 HR and 30+ BB in around 53 innings. hope I’m wrong but I half expect they will non-tender him.
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Not a good start
www.si.com
Guardians All-Star 2025 Season Debut Unknown After Offseason Surgery
David Fry of the Cleveland Guardians underwent elbow surgery which will delay his start to the 2025 MLB season.
www.si.com
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bigdog3300
The G.O.A.T.
Not a good start
Guardians All-Star 2025 Season Debut Unknown After Offseason Surgery
David Fry of the Cleveland Guardians underwent elbow surgery which will delay his start to the 2025 MLB season.
Yeah that's a bummer, and it's going to force the teams hand a bit....he'll be able to DH most of the year, but then you still have Manzardo and Naylor on the team. I think it was already likely Naylor gets traded, but would think those odds have only increased now.
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