Pancake Bear

Lot of lefties in the pen as well.

It's early, but O'Hoppe looking like a steal in the Marsh trade. Starting pitching has been nails (against a bottom level team). Just need to keep it up.

I find him pretentious and mildly annoying, but he's still miles ahead of Dylan Hernandez - who for some reason feels the need to write about the Angels constantly. That guy is the worst.

You'll swing at him and miss?

Bullpen should've been better, but aside from Urshela no one was hitting. One of the worst teams in baseball, and we can't manage more than a run? Player should be embarrassed.

Rangers are way too high.

Of course his hat is the worst logo in team history.

For the record, this is slightly misleading. He's one of the best defensive outfielders (possibly the best) in the majors. See, e.g. here: https://www.sportsinfosolutions.com/2022/04/12/an-appreciation-of-brett-phillips-defense/ He's also a very good base runner. The reason he isn't a regular is that he can't hit. (Although he did put up league average production in 2021 in about 120 games.) As I said earlier: He's basically a perfect fourth outfielder for a team that doesn't need their fourth outfielder to be a pinch hitter (we've got that covered with whichever of our infielders is sitting that day).

Because Phillips is a great 4th OF. 12 teams make the playoffs. Only 1 wins it all. The goal is always winning it all, but you have to make the playoffs first.

Team Wins and Losses: 96-66 Team Runs Scored: 820 Playoff Berth (Yes or No): Division champ Team MVP: Ohtani Most HR: Walsh Most RBI: Rendon Most SB: Ohtani Highest Batting Average: Trout Lowest ERA (starting pitcher): Ohtani Most W's (starting pitcher): Sandoval Most Saves: Herget Most Impressive Rookie: Neto

I haven't changed my mind from anything I said earlier. Go back and read them. My opinion is unchanged.

Fletch doesn't spend all his time ragging on Arte. If he wrote the article, I'd be more inclined to take it seriously. Blum lost his by making his whole spiel being anti-Arte. He has basically no credibility for me to take him seriously at this point.

With TV, the issue with remote broadcasting is the delay. If you rush, you get inaccurate results. I see no significant benefit that broadcasting live provides, personally. Blum talks about the radio crew being more connected than other reporters, or there being other benefits to being actually present, but I'm unconvinced those are meaningful enough benefits to carp over. Just feels like Blum is stirring the pot for clicks again, as per usual. It's his brand.

I think when everyone is healthy Walsh will slot in at 1B (sit against lefties) and Drury maybe move to 2B, but otherwise I think it's mostly the same throughout the year depending on off days.

Where is Walsh? @Jeff Fletcher?

Fletcher might get more of a shot early, but unless his offense improves, he's gonna be a bench player more days than not. Past years he may have gotten away with subpar offense, but as long as everyone else is outhitting him, he's unlikely to stick as a regular. He hits enough to keep him over Squid, but otherwise, he's primarily a defensive replacement at this point, IMO.

Thaiss is a LHH. Muller (OAK Opening Day starter) is a LHP. So, no, Thaiss will not be Opening Day starter. At this point, it looks like it'll be O'Hoppe.

I suspect this lineup will be the norm for a lefty: Urshela at short, Drury at 1B. Unless they're really bad defensively. Fletcher hasn't been hitting enough to justify more than a utility role. I'm guessing Urshela will play shortstop every day that Rendon is at 3B.

Dylan Hernandez is a clickbait troll. Don't feed the trolls. He is not now and never has been a serious baseball writer.

Modesti clearly has a huge Texas bias. Must be from there. Rangers will be 4th unless a miracle happens. Would need good health and ideal performance from their starters, a huge improvement from the lineup, and teams in front of them to falter. Unlikely all of that happens. Disagree. Almost everyone has them as a playoff team. Hoornstra has them second. I think what you mean is that there is a lot of love for the Astros, but that is to be expected after last year. Although personally, I think all three - Astros, Angels, Mariners - are really close. End result will depend a lot on depth and how much goes wrong. I actually think Houston could easily finish third in the West this season. I'm not saying they will, only that it wouldn't shock me. I think the most likely result is Seattle is third, though. Angels look as good to me as any team in the AL on paper, and they seem like they have better depth than most, but I'm a homer, so I may be unrealistic. Also, this makes no sense to me. How would Ohtani be good enough to win CY and yet lose MVP? Feels like a beyond bold prediction. Or, more precisely, a prediction with little thought behind it.

Phillips was always likely to make the team. Had nothing to do with his hitting. Too many Twitter GM's can't grasp what components are needed to make a good team.

Well, that's the issue. If he was just okay in camp, you could maybe sneak him down without much interest. But he's looked good in camp, which kinda forces the issue.

Thaiss is probably gonna be backup catcher and O'Hope is probably going to be sent down. If they try to send Thaiss down, there's a strong risk you lose him. That would be dumb. It isn't like O'Hoppe has been so amazing we just can't send him down. He's had limited minor league playing time. Canning has been great, but Suarez, Davidson, and Barria can't be sent down, and Detmers won't be. To start off, #6 will be swingman, and that isn't a good fit for Canning, so it's likely Davidson. Phillips is probably a lock because they don't need his bat - they have six (five, at least, depending how one views Fletcher) starting infielders. They don't need him to give rest days to the outfield because five of their six infielders can play outfield. What they need is a defensive replacement. That is an asset we don't have on the roster, and Velazquez and Moniak aren't going to be an improvement on Ward. Phillips also has the speed to pinch run. The last spot is probably bullpen, although it's possible they might keep Velazquez (or O'Hoppe), but I doubt it. The top contender seems to be Wantz, but to me this feels like the only spot that is in any doubt - and it's not much. Two things the Spring over-reacters can't seem to grasp: There will be injuries, so O'Hoppe, Moniak, Squid, Canning, and the pen guys will get their chances. Making Opening Day isn't that big of a deal. Second, depth has been our problem every season lately, and these people who can't see past the end of their noses want us to lose Thaiss, Davidson, and probably Phillips for nothing. It's ridiculous and dumb.

Here's the reality: Per Nevin, they're not going to have #6 starter pitch for a few weeks into the season. So, you have two options: You can have Davidson as a swingman/long reliever to start the season, or you can bring up Canning in two weeks. There is literally no reason to have Canning on the team to start the year if they're going to only use five to start. And unless you don't care about losing Davidson (which feels like squandering depth, imo), but you should probably use him. Canning will get his starts this season. Zero chance everyone is healthy all year, so he'll be here. He just won't be on the Opening Day roster unless there's an injury to the rotation.

I've been pretty confident Arte would go all in on Ohtani and that it would mainly come down to whether Ohtani wants to come back. Now I'm less sure. Arte says things like he'll go over the luxury tax, which is great, but then he talks about being outbid by $100-200m and starts crying about losing money. And he says Ohtani is unique, but only a top 5-10 player in the game. Doesn't some like someone who is going to go to $400m, let alone $500m if it comes to it. Hope I'm wrong.