From fangraphs on Rooney when they listed him 37th on the Dodgers prospect list: It'll be interesting to see what the Dodgers player dev staff molds Rooney into, because there is indeed interesting raw material to work with. Rooney doesn't throw all that hard, but his fastball plays up a bit thanks to good angle and extension, he has impressive changeup feel (and an incredible pickoff move) for a cold-weather, small school prospect. His curveball is hard, has good shape, but lacks bite and raw spin. On stuff, he looks like a depth arm, but there are some late-bloomer traits here. Realistically, he could grow into a backend starter.
This trade was possible because John Rooney has spent the entire season in the minor leagues without having his contract selected by the Marlins. I'm pretty sure that he has never been on their 40-man roster either. Please refer to the article below:
Pressly's a weird one. From Apr 1 to the All-star-break, he had an ERA of like 0.60 outside of 1 game (8 runs, 0 innings). 2 runs in 30+ innings. He had 35 outings during that stretch and gave up runs in just 2 of them (one being the 8 run trainwreck). Even with the disaster, he had a decent ERA of 3.28 at the ASB. Then he had a few bad outings post-ASB and they went straight to releasing him - I'm curious what the story was there. His overall season numbers aren't great - or even good - and maybe the underlying metrics weren't good, but releasing him seemed extreme. The nice thing if the Astros don't have to pay him anything, they can always take a flier and release him again if it doesn't work out.
Spin rate, WHIP, and just overall effectiveness of "stuff" has continued to regress consistently... and started while here in the second half of 2023 (while he was still the primary closer). He can definitely still be effective, but my guess is the Cubs (and any contending team for that matter), will be reluctant in terms of how much leverage you give him with those regressing peripherals. He's more 2022 Stanek now (without the smoke/mirror numbers/results Stanek had... until they shelved him in the playoffs).
Yeah - you don’t feel “great” or as “explosive” because you AREN’T as explosive as you were two years. You see Luis, when you don’t pitch for two years and you think driving to the service station for a 48 ounce fountain drink of Mountain Dew is your exercise for the day - your muscles will atrophy and you won’t be as good. This isn’t the 1950’s, Garcia isn’t supposed to be making these starts to “get in shape”- he should be in the best shape of his life after having years to get his fitness up… instead he is surprised he isn’t as good as before after doing nothing. Maybe next year he will be in better shape - but I know this, he could win 20 games next year and I wouldn’t offer him an extension because he shares the same trainer as Frances Martes.
Alexander and Gordon can both go pitch for the Newark Bears. I would like to never see either of them again. I’m sure they are good teammates and guys- but enough is enough.
I think Alexander is gonna rock tomorrow and figure it out. Gonna give us an awesome playoff option in the playoffs as well. Starts tomorrow, baby!
