I am hoping that Whitley can be active early in the season at AA or AAA,
Make 20 starts, throw 100 innings.
And hopefully he can find a bit of command.
If that works out then maybe a couple of starts for the parent club in a September audition for 2023.
I’ll defer to Duman and the folks far more knowledgeable than myself about the minors, but to me, Solomon and Ivey are interesting, serviceable back of the rotation starters or long relievers. Probably not much more than that, though.
Brown profiles more as a #2 or #3 starter, but also has some serious command problems. He improved drastically in the last half of the season, though, so I’m optimistic he’s putting it together.
As to Whitley, I agree that I don’t see him pitching that much next season after TJ surgery. Maybe the time off is a blessing. Maybe he’s finally getting his mechanics and body right, and his head screwed on straight (as my Dad used to say, “million dollar body and a ten cent brain.”). His history suggests differently and he’d be the first guy I’d include in a trade.
And if that trade is with the Marlins, give me Trevor Rogers.
Bermudez and France looked like they might be ready to make the jump.
I’d add Kent Emanuel to the list of guys who should get a shot at making the rotation, so long as his elbow surgery turned out OK. His 8.2 inning/2 run relief outing was one of the fun little highlights of the 2021 season.
He likes to provide videos of his rehab on Twitter. Here’s his latest.
Oakland declined their option on LHP Jake Diekman. He’s another one to keep in mind for the bullpen.
You might want to stop reading the thread Jim if you don’t want to hear about money.
In today’s edition of “Keith Law doesn’t know shit”:
In his top 50 free agents article, he said Gurriel is “a very bad (defensive) first baseman”.
Thanks for the advice.
Nor is he a free agent.
Well, I guess he is technically because the Astros have not OFFICIALLY picked up his option, but they have stated they intend to so why is he wasting his and our time.
He included several players with options pending.
Note to self:
Never read anything by Keith Law.
Holy shit…what’s he gonna spew next? “Aroldis Chapman doesn’t throw very hard”?
What???!?
Hard to believe a guy with penetrating insights like that couldn’t hold down a major league job
What’s frightening is that Luhnow offered him one.
LOL, Gurriel has been a Gold Glove finalist the last three seasons.
I’m going to be fair and say that the GG generally isn’t a great indicator. He’s wrong for a hundred other reasons.
In the twitter comments someone pointed out that Law also called Correa a 45 defensive shortstop earlier this year.
This man gets paid to write words about baseball.
Life isn’t fair.