Warfarin

I think that the FO was probably hoping Anderson could at least pitch like the 2021 version of himself, even if he couldn't reprise his 2022 year. While he hasn't been that good for most of his career, he did pitch in Colorado for awhile, so I could see how they might feel that he's better than his career numbers indicate. It's too early to declare him a bust, and remember, his contract did look like a steal after we started seeing what the contracts looked like for all the players who signed after him. Let's see how he does pitching to someone who isn't Thaiss and maybe wait to judge until 10 or so starts.

They optioned Fletcher in the middle of a guaranteed deal. They DFA'd Upton last year with 28 million due. I think they do understand it overall, probably more than most teams do.

Yeah. I mean it'd be one thing if he were 23-24 and we thought there was still considerable potential. He was previously moved off of catcher because it was thought he couldn't really play well enough defensively. While he could improve with more reps, I think his upside is really just that of a middling backup catcher. There isn't really much risk in letting someone like that go. I would think Wallach would be a better option than Thaiss, in that we at least know he is good defensively.

Sometime next year, could see Ohtani (??), Sandoval, Bachman, Detmers, Silseth, Anderson. Beyond them, we also have Bush, Suarez, Canning, Mederos .. a lot of guys who could factor into the rotation. It has been quite a bit of time since we had this much potential depth.

What a difference health makes. He looks like he could be a solid SP in the not too distant future. We actually seem to have a fairly strong pitching pipeline, to go along with what we have in the majors.

Yeah, I don't think it'd be any kind of loss even if he gets claimed. O'Hoppe is our primary starter now. Stassi will (likely?) be back at some point. Wallach is fine as a defensive-minded backup. Quero is looking rather good at age 20 in AA. It seems like our catching organizational strength is rather solid. Don't think there should be any concerns letting Thaiss go.

Bachman looks great out there. Bachman, Silseth, Bush (when he returns), Crow, Mederos - there are some promising arms on the horizon.

Yeah, I denno. The Dodgers are rather good at improving pitchers, and Anderson had a career year with them. I don't think Anderson is a pumpkin, and maybe he'll do better if he's paired with O'Hoppe (or at least not Thaiss), but he was likely due to regress regardless.

Yeah. With his contract, there was probably a sense of obligation to at least see how he started the year. Relievers are highly volatile, and sometimes they randomly click. It seems pretty obvious, though, that that is not the case for him. Hopefully he does not legitimately have a significant injury, but perhaps one that keeps him on the "shelf" for at least the next few months. Recall Wantz, and if their performance warrants it, perhaps we can elevate one of our hard throwing relief prospects to the MLB squad fairly soon, too.

I think it had moreso to do with the part of the lineup that was up. The 7th inning had Boston's best hitters, so it made sense to use a better pitcher (Estevez) at that time. But that said, yeah - the issue is we just don't have enough good arms in the pen. Even though Tepera was earmarked to pitch against the lesser part of Boston's lineup, obviously that didn't work well.

Just not a lot of options, I guess. Anderson sucked, which means our pen needed to cover 5 innings. Moore was burned for 2, Estevez pitched one, and Quijada was likely going to pitch the 9th. It was either Tepera or Herget in the 8th, and neither has really inspired much confidence this year, although I would have rather gambled with Herget. Wantz will likely get recalled given that Tepera should be going on the IL. Wantz should absorb some higher leverage innings.

Ah okay, my bad then. Maybe he has pitched poorly because he's been pitching with a bum shoulder? No idea, but that said, if his shoulder is hurt, that should be a significant IL stint, I would imagine. This should enable Wantz to get recalled back. Given he was one of our best receivers, we could definitely use him.

Unfortunately I couldn't, I was checking Gameday on my phone, so if he looked legitimately hurt, then I rescind my comment.

Yeah, I agree. They should have taken 2 of 3 agains the Blue Jays, and ideally they could have held on to win this game, which would have made us 9-5 instead of 7-7, but here we are. Still - hopefully, Minasian can continue the trend of being aggressive. Thaiss has never really looked the part of a MLB player, and it seems he was given his role simply because he's out of options. I think likely he just isn't very good, and I'd rather at least hand the job to someone who has shown they can at least hold serve defensively as a catcher, even if they can't really hit.

Heh. Sure he did. Phantom IL stint time

Obviously a very small sample size, but Thaiss has looked terrible defensively and the team getting lit up every game he catches is obviously not a good sign. DFA him, add Wallach, and hope that Stassi's situation resolves in a positive manner, so that he can return and be a solid backup to O'Hoppe.

Yeah. I have faith in Perry to be aggressive and make moves. There are a lot of signs of improvement with this organization, including a suddenly fairly robust looking farm system, but he needs to continue to work on improving various aspects of this team. The bullpen has cost this team a few times now, and Thaiss has looked absolutely terrible, as this team has been lit up every game he has caught.

Bullpens can be fixed fairly quickly, I agree. We do have some promising arms in the minors, too. While this game (and series) has sucked, as did the Blue Jays series, we're at least at 500 for now. It is very early. Our GM is very proactive. So a lot of positives, but I hope do hope they make some fairly obvious roster moves in the upcoming week or two and move on from players who clearly are not particularly useful (Thaiss, Tepera, etc). They have better options.

If they are not contending at the deadline, and they feel Ohtani will walk (which seems probably likely if they are not contending once again), they would be foolish to not trade him. Even for 2 months of Ohtani, they could get a lot of excellent prospects, which is better than getting absolutely nothing.

If he does get claimed, it is no real loss anyway. O'Hoppe is the future, and Quero appears to be on somewhat of a fast track to the majors. Stassi is good enough to be O'Hoppe's backup when his situation resolves. Wallach can probably be good enough to cover us until Stassi returns. Thaiss has no real place on this team, and it is quite frankly just time to move on from him.

Yeah. I mean a lot of teams are finding their footing in the beginning and trying to sort thing out. The good news is it appears Perry is being aggressive when it comes to making moves. Neto is already up and Fletcher was optioned. Now, he needs to get rid of Thaiss, promote at least a competent defensive catcher for now, and probably make 1 or 2 bullpen moves.

Thaiss is not good enough to be a catcher in the MLB, at least not currently. Lamb shouldn't be on this roster either, but for now, Thaiss should be DFA'd and Wallach added as the backup catcher. Nobody will claim Thaiss, and we can probably stash him in AAA and let him catch another season of MILB games to try to improve.

I'd rather just have Wallach serve as the backup catcher until Stassi is ready to return. Thaiss just isn't really good enough defensively to be a catcher. Wallach can't hit, but he definitely is superior defensively, and that's where most of the value is when it comes to catchers.

Understand the comparison to Adell, but I'll give Perry the benefit of the doubt for now and assume he is better at assessing his young talent than his predecessor. O'Hoppe so far has shown he has earned his promotion. We'll see what happens with Neto.

I think there is some stat that Fletcher hasn't barreled a baseball since 2020, or something ridiculous like that. While anyone can improve and get better, he has not been good for years now.