"If you opt out, we're not going to pursue you and you will be a FA who just missed half the year with arm trouble and looking to get a 5 year guaranteed deal at $40 million/year at age 34.... good luck" "uhhh, jeez... golly... (Kermit voice... or Greg from succession voice)... can we perhaps say I didn't opt out? And then maybe still get an extension later in theory per-se?" "ok, opt out cancelled... done." "but but... ok,.... " (points to first).
Regardless. That 5th inning of Game #5 shows why Judge and Cole will never win a world series together.
Little known fact. George Springer going to Toronto allowed the Astros to pick up a compensation pick in the 4th round of the 2021 draft. That pick of Chayce McDermott was traded in 2022 to Baltimore for Trey Mancinin, who of course made that incredible play at first base in the World Series to preserve the win. So Springer actually helped the Astros win another World Series indirectly.
We need any OF at this point. I'm getting pretty worried we're going with a Chas/Dubon/Jake OF. Julks sucks, but the options all suck. It's getting depressing.
This is exactly what we DON'T need. At this point, what is needed is THE RIGHT outfielder. With 2 catchers, 4 infielders, Yordan, Dubon, Meyers, and Chas all but guaranteed roster spots, barring a trade, that leaves 3 spots and zero outfielders who are projected to be MLB average vs RHP. It feels like Dezenzo will be given a chance to play at least part time at a corner spot and he has always hit RHP better than LHP. That's good because it's unrealistic to think they will add 3. It's also necessary to continue bringing up and developing players every year. This team needs 2 outfielders who both hit RHP well. At least 1 of them needs to be able to start those games in CF. And because of the nature of the outfielders in the system, they both need to be 1-2 year deals, max.
Yes, as weak as the “names” are in the current OF depth chart, the actual projections aren’t that bad considering they are mitigated by the rest of the lineup and carry more upside than downside. Against LHP, the OF would have rough ops projections of ~.860/.750/.760 (McCormick/Meyers/Dubon) with excellent defense. Against RHP, the OF would have rough ops projections of ~.720/.700/.720 (Trammell/McCormick/Hummel) with average defense. Do they need to add an OF bat who can post an 800+ ops against RHP? Absolutely. But the guys they already have will post league average slash lines with acceptable defense which isn’t horrible.
