Agreed Soler seems to be back healthy & has a much smoother swing. His BA isn’t great, but in this era of the game BA’s are almost irrelevant, as long as you’re hitting homers & driving in runs it’s all good IMO.
Agree on the pitching staff, we’re still a ways away from having a great Bullpen, but i think our 4-man rotation can be stronger once we bring up Eury. Looking forward to seeing how George Soriano looks, he finally got the call up on Monday. Also think we’ll see Sixto get called up sometime this year.
Arraez, De La, Jazz, Soler & Cooper are solid core group of sticks, I also like what I’ve seen from Yuli as well, he’s a smart hitter. I think the answer at SS could be down in our Farm club with Amaya, he’s probably got the best tools available to slide into the SS spot & play in the Majors. But strictly for Defense & Base-running, Nasim Nuñez down at Pensacola will be an elite Defender & top level Base-stealer once he hits the big leagues.
We have a lot of young talent in our Farm club, if we trade any prospects it’s gotta be for a guaranteed Power-Bat that will add instance Offense, a guy like Vlad Guerrero Jr, otherwise we should keep our prospects & try to build it from the ground up like the Rays, Braves, Orioles, DBacks & Twins have all done.
Hopefully ownership decides to open up the checkbook for a big time Free Agent this offseason if/when Juan Soto hits the market. Teoscar Hernandez might also be available if Seattle doesn’t get him a new deal.
The way the Rays front office has done it is amazing to me. What an eye for the talent they have.
Nasim is a wizard with the glove, but he has long ways to go offensively. I hope he can gain more muscle, which I think he can, he is still young, and I believe he is still two years away from being MLB-ready.
Amaya is a solid player; I like him defensively and as a utility player. When I saw Peraza play, he looked good on both offense and defense. With our surplus of pitching and no spot to play him if you're the Yankees, they might sell low, and we can snag a bargain steal. There is trade history between our front office and theirs, plus it helps that we play in the National league. If and when Nasim gets called up, Peraza has the arm to play third base, too. I am not banking on Berry.
Honestly, I don't see any bats in our farm system that wow me. My hope was Bleday when we drafted him, and then we shipped him out. Now he is batting left and right with the A's farm system, but let's see if that holds up. I like Cappe and Watson the most. Watson is still young at 19, and he had that moment last year with the umpire that I think messed with him, but I like his game. He needs to mature more and stay focused. He has the tools.
Another prospect is Jose Gerardo, who is still very young at 17 but looks to have some Ozuna to his game.
I hope we follow the Giants blueprint when they won three world series not too long ago: elite pitching, elite defense, and a few really good bats.
If we could get rid of Garcia for literally anything, I would be happy. He might end up being worse than Chen. It should stay Yuli at first, Cooper at DH, and Soler at RF. Yuli makes the pitchers work and has way better contact.
I hope we stay near .500 come the trade deadline and become buyers.
Players I like that could be in the trade market - are Tyler O'Neill, Oswald Peraza, Adam Duvall, and Salvador Perez.
I would love Juan Soto in FA, but it's the Marlins :/ and he had already turned down a boatload of money from the Nationals, a team he won a world series with and was loved. It would be nice, though. I would throw everything at Ohtani to sign him. Ohtani brings offense, defense, pitching, and 80 million Japanese fans with him, which we desperately need.
