I can't disagree with any of the projections. I do hope we shuttle up and down in the bullpen vs. signing someone else. If I remember correctly, we have a ton of players that have to be added to the 40 man roster this winter or risk losing them to the Rule 5 draft.
There are quite a few. Melendez, Pratto, Matias, Isbel, Hicklen, Kowar, Lynch, Cox, Bowlan, Haake, Heasley and Del Rosario are the biggest names who could be eligible after the season.
I believe this also means we will be trading some high level minor leaguers or fringe major leaguers for A ball lottery tickets. Can't afford to lose our organizational controllable depth for nothing. Guys like Newberry, Lovelady, Bolanos, etc may be on the move.
They probably will at some point, but they also have five guys currently on the 40-man who will be free agents after the year, not counting Salvy. Plus, they have a handful of DFA possibilities. They can make it work, but they will probably have to move some of them.
It is fascinating to me how much PECOTA hates on Keller. Dude has apparently gotten lucky for 360 IP now.... Keller succeeds because he generates a ton of weak ground ball contact, overcoming his tendency to walk too many, and as you mentioned, also helping to avoid big innings by avoiding HR. His H9 numbers are pretty darn good.
And how much they like Lovelady. He has a career 7.71 ERA, but he's projected to have the 3rd best ERA on the staff?? I haven't given up on him and he produced great numbers in the minors, but....
It's all about the profile, though. That profile doesn't typically succeed, so an algorithm is going to penalize him. Same thing happened with Matt Cain for years. And Lovelady's projection is based on 21 big league innings, so of course the minor league numbers will be weighted heavier. There's just no big league sample to go on.
Is it just me or are we looking much better than last year, and the year before, and the, well you get it...
Duffy - I couldn't agree more with him coming out of the pen, or if he has the value (I would think he has a decent amount, maybe more at the deadline) trade him for some OF depth and bring up Lynch, go with Lovelady or go all righties. Duffy has been a faithful Royal but hasn't really lived up to what we paid him IMO.
For my money Bowlan is the pitcher I'm the most excited to see. I think we may have hit on all the 18 pitching prospects. But with Bowlan, there's something about a refrigerator on the mound throwing heat that is fun to watch.
I can't disagree with any of the projections. I do hope we shuttle up and down in the bullpen vs. signing someone else. If I remember correctly, we have a ton of players that have to be added to the 40 man roster this winter or risk losing them to the Rule 5 draft.
There are quite a few. Melendez, Pratto, Matias, Isbel, Hicklen, Kowar, Lynch, Cox, Bowlan, Haake, Heasley and Del Rosario are the biggest names who could be eligible after the season.
I believe this also means we will be trading some high level minor leaguers or fringe major leaguers for A ball lottery tickets. Can't afford to lose our organizational controllable depth for nothing. Guys like Newberry, Lovelady, Bolanos, etc may be on the move.
They probably will at some point, but they also have five guys currently on the 40-man who will be free agents after the year, not counting Salvy. Plus, they have a handful of DFA possibilities. They can make it work, but they will probably have to move some of them.
It is fascinating to me how much PECOTA hates on Keller. Dude has apparently gotten lucky for 360 IP now.... Keller succeeds because he generates a ton of weak ground ball contact, overcoming his tendency to walk too many, and as you mentioned, also helping to avoid big innings by avoiding HR. His H9 numbers are pretty darn good.
And how much they like Lovelady. He has a career 7.71 ERA, but he's projected to have the 3rd best ERA on the staff?? I haven't given up on him and he produced great numbers in the minors, but....
It's all about the profile, though. That profile doesn't typically succeed, so an algorithm is going to penalize him. Same thing happened with Matt Cain for years. And Lovelady's projection is based on 21 big league innings, so of course the minor league numbers will be weighted heavier. There's just no big league sample to go on.
Is it just me or are we looking much better than last year, and the year before, and the, well you get it...
Duffy - I couldn't agree more with him coming out of the pen, or if he has the value (I would think he has a decent amount, maybe more at the deadline) trade him for some OF depth and bring up Lynch, go with Lovelady or go all righties. Duffy has been a faithful Royal but hasn't really lived up to what we paid him IMO.
For my money Bowlan is the pitcher I'm the most excited to see. I think we may have hit on all the 18 pitching prospects. But with Bowlan, there's something about a refrigerator on the mound throwing heat that is fun to watch.