49 Comments

I'm still a fan of Palacios, so Olivares doesn't move the needle for me. Love his positive attitude and clutch gene.

And second year player is the right price for BC. I expect him to win the 3rd/4th OF spot. But it makes ST somewhat interesting and competitive.

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Palacios is left handed and Olivares is right handed

I dont feel they are competing with eachother for a spot

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Sure looks like BC is rearranging the deck chairs on S.S. Titanic again, but still missing life jackets...glub glub glub...

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The so-called "outlier" for a 25 year old OF having a better season may ... just ... be ... natural improvement. Oliveras has a decent season to show he may continue to improve

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Last year was his age-27 season. He will be 28 before opening day this year.

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I like the Oliveres pickup. Expected stats look above average, and hopefully, a move to RF in PNC will neutralize his poor defensive metrics.

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The Olivares pickup would be great if they needed a cheap corner OFer. They really needed a CFer, so they went out and acquired yet another corner OFer, giving them 6, 7, maybe 8 guys who can play those positions and 0 who play CF well.

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I wish they'd try to trade for an elite defensive CF, preferably one that can hit a little. Still think Jorge Barrosa from the D-backs wouldn't cost much and he has upside offensively other than power.

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Bae might be that elite defensive CF

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Great suggestion. And he’s completely blocked in Arizona, so he shouldn’t cost much.

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Melkel for GM and POBO

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I think I could have marginally improved the team and spent less than Ben. He is starting to move into Littlefield territory.

Still would like to pay market rate for a solid middle of the rotation arm but that seems to be out of Bob's price range. Lol

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I bet you could have too. Or maybe still can. Send a montague of your

posts over the years to??? Mind went blank there. I would love a 5 foot 5 CF flying around. Interview question: Who would you give up?

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Dec 16, 2023·edited Dec 17, 2023

Could be multiple guys, but I think Joe would make since if we would have addressed first in a different manner.

The D-Backs need a right handed corner outfield bat. They'll probably aim higher but they have a plethora of left handed bats that can handle center, including Barrosa (switch hitter), the difference is the others have more power.

They always could use help in the bullpen, so one of our arms. Holderman would get us Barrosa and probably another prospect or 2.

Holderman for say

Barrosa and Grice plus a lottery ticket.

Or

Joe for Barrosa straight up.

They get an established right hand corner outfielder that doesn't break the bank.

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Yes to Barrosa. He would be exactly what they need and much cheaper to acquire than Parker Meadows.

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He might even be cheaper to aquire now. D-Backs just signed Gurriel to a 3 year deal.

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Just looked him up. Would love him. Players like that are so cool and he has more value in today’s game than he would just a few years ago.

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I think he would be a fan favorite if he just got on base at a good clip and played stellar defense.

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I am not saying people should celebrate this lineup, but one could argue after Cutch is signed they are done with the lineup additions.

C: Davis backup: (Sanchez or Delay)

1B: Tellez and Joe - Platoon

2B: Some combo of Peguero, Triolo, Gonzales, Bae

SS; Cruz

3B: Hayes

LF: Reynolds

CF: Suwinski and Celestino - Platoon (this prediction is shaky on RH side)

RF: McKinney or Palacios and Olivares - Partial Platoon as I see Olivares playing more than just against LH.

DH: McCutchen - not a platoon but I see Cutch getting 120 starts max -maybe less.

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That's hardly a serious major league lineup aside from Cruz, Hayes and Reynolds. McCutchen at DH is fine because it's McCutchen and I suppose Suwinski's a given in center field but only because there's really no one else to put there.

BC has said Davis will "be given every chance to catch," but that statement has qualifications in it, and I hope by now everyone knows that what he says is not always what happens. Second base is a toss-up but should go to the best defender in that group unless one of them has a breakout season at the plate. Right field remains a vacancy waiting for someone to take it but none of those names are likely to do it.

First base is still a black hole and certainly no better and probably worse than last year especially if Joe gets any time there. His defensive metrics might not look bad but only because he doesn't even touch many balls thrown his way that someone who knows how to play the position would scoop fairly easily. The errors go to the fielder who threw the ball and he gets to chase it down the line because he has no chance of stopping it. Triolo was a defensive replacement there last year, and why he's not a serious contended to be the regular guy remains a mystery to me particularly if anyone thinks Joe is.

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Lol spot on about defensive metrics of a 1B man! We should be careful of buying in versus the tried and true eye test.

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Highly doubt they’re giving McKinney a 40-man roster spot unless something very bad happens. He will likely get the Andujar treatment.

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Feels silly to give up 500k of international money for him then

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It’s not money, it’s space.

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Well, the money was expiring, no other kids that the must have wanted to sign and no other takes for the expiring money so……

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They only had since the trade deadline to find someone. That's why I think they struck out against the Dodgers for the Korean pitcher. They failed to find other suitable players, the Yankees had a suitable catcher($450,000) in less than 24 hours with the $500,000.

We got a 25 year old Cuban flame thrower that can't find the strike zone and an intriguing SS from Korea via Australia.

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Don’t worry, no one is celebrating. That lineup is ugly.

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A lot will have to go right for them to score 100 more runs than last year, that’s for sure.

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I think the addition of Cruz, and at least competent bats in Tellez and Olivares, makes the batting order more productive without a doubt.

In the way Santana really solidified this team and put a professional bat in there such that the result was a strong start to last season, perhaps a couple platoons, with a healthy Cutch and Cruz...

I'm with SouthernBuc on this one.

I don't think runs are going to be the issue this year. I think preventing runs will be. These new guys on the MLB roster appear not to be the best of the best in the field.

They added another catcher bc Endy is down, but, honestly, the best catcher we have right now is Jason Delay... (Not sure what Sanchez brings.)

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That’s my biggest issue (well, one of them) is their defensive alignment. Defense is still cheap and an easy way to steal some runs. Instead, we’ve got Cruz at short, Tank behind the plate, Jack in center, and Tellez at first. Hayes is great, but man, that’s some really poor defense for a pitching staff that ain’t missing bats.

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I know I sound like a broken record but I really wish they would have signed Lewin Diaz before Rowdy.

Diaz is an elite defensive 1st basemen and has never really had an extended opportunity to hit at the big league level. They probably could have signed him on a minor league deal as well.

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I agree again completely. Diaz would have been a cheaper and better option.

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I know we need offense but we sure as fuck arent getting real bats so might as well get a real glove or two

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Yeah. They are going to be one of the worst defensive teams in baseball again. There is just a complete lack of vision for what type of team they want to be. They draft pitching, pitching, pitching. Then they arrange a garbage defense behind it. This after obsessing over catcher defense: to the point of giving away an out every time through the lineup just to have marginally better (supposedly) catcher defense. Everything they do is completely at random, without plan or purpose.

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I think a lot will have to go right just to break 70 wins. There's still time to improve the team but I don't think they will.

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Good news about 'Cutch.

Olivares has 3 years of MLB experience with one Option remaining. His slash and OPS of .769 in 385 PA last year is very impressive as are his BB% of 5.5%/K% of only 16.6%. A +0.4 fWAR in 2023, and +0.3 fWAR in 2022, he is the RH hitting RF the Pirates were looking for. Waiting for the other shoe to drop - this trade looks totally lopsided in favor of the Pirates.

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The Pirates will be his 4th team in 5 years. There is a reason for this. He just doesn't fit in anywhere. He can't really play CF well enough to do so, except in the case of emergency, which limits him to corner OF spots. His bat is not quite good enough to justify starting at either position and his defense is mediocre to sub-mediocre. So, he is a guy who can only backup the corner OF positions and DH, which is just hard to carry on a modern 26-man roster, unless they have a bat good enough to start a large share of games at DH. His bat does not justify this.

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He’s a horrible fielder, that alone dampens any expectations of him. But the price was right for such a player.

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He'd likely be fine in PNC RF

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Lol. No... no he won't. It's not the running part that gives him trouble. It's every other part of playing the field from reading the ball off the bat, selecting a route, catching the ball, then throwing it in the general direction of the correct infielder.

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PNCs RF top 5 easiest of spots to play.

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Good take, he's been playing the outfield his entire career, he makes Davis look like a potential gold glover.

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I watched him play about 10 games last year. He is... how shall I put this... awkward. He will remind you a little of Davis... a lot actually.

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