"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."
jpx7 (07-10-2019)
Bowman is a hypnotist and reason to believe is his trigger phrase. It's all making sense now.
jpx7 (07-10-2019)
I suspect this is how the Giants play it. Similarly it would be smart for the Blue Jays to see if they can extract a single higher rated prospect for Stroman and Giles.
For us it might be smarter to go after Watson and make a trade with another team for a starting pitcher. I'd be happy with Wheeler and Watson. Maybe give up Muller for Wheeler and Davidson for Watson.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
jpx7 (07-10-2019)
the last power outage took out half of my reliever numbers. Rat farts!
By memory, I'm not sure Watson even qualifies as a leverage guy at this point. I'm pretty sure I had him lumped in with the middle relievers. Good enough to help the Braves pen, but not a primary acquisition.
K rate is lacking.
....
there is no way I would trade Muller for any rentals and Davidson is a clear overpay for Watson.
He's struggled against RHH this year (4.80 xFIP). Still very good against lefties (3.18)
Would be an upgrade over Blevins: 4.93 xFIP against RHH and 4.77 xFIP against LHH.
Oh I agree those are overpays. But I think this is going to be the nature of the beast at the trade deadline this year for teams looking for pitching.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
jpx7 (07-10-2019)
Yeah we're almost assuredly going to have to overpay with so many teams in contention. Just going to have to brace ourselves - any of the names mentioned is going to cost more than what we'd like
I like Davidson, but for me he’s easily in the Zimmermann-type category of guys-I-like-but-would-definitely-move-in-a-fair-deal. Muller’s obviously in a rung up, but his command concerns (reliever risk) are enough that I could swallow the loss for a legit rotational upgrade.
"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."
Jaw (07-10-2019)
Jaw (07-10-2019)
He’s the only guy Anthopoulos traded last summer that I really thought had a good chance to contribute MLB value down the line. But, like Davidson, he’s an older prospect with (seemingly) limited absolute ceiling (plus the usual pitcher bust risks), so he’s the exact sort of player you have to be willing to trade for upgrades while still relentlessly pursuing value.
Trey Harris is a position player guy this year who I think fits that mould (à la JCE last year), though Harris’s deficits are very different from JCE’s.
"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."
Jaw (07-10-2019)
Davidson is having a very good season at age 23 in AA pitching in a ballpark that favors pitchers in a league that isn't using the juiced balls. I think we have quite a few pitchers with similar profiles. Guys who will likely make it to the majors and have an outside shot to be successful major league starting pitchers. I would rank him slightly behind a bunch of similar prospects (Muller, Ynoa, Wentz, Weigel). I'm not sure I would put him ahead of de la Cruz and Allard.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
I was just about to post that clarifying addendum—I think Davidson, in 2019, is a better prospect than Zimmermann was in 2018: he’s pitching a level up, at the same age Zimmermann was last year, he’s pitching better than Zimmermann is this year at the same level, and reports are the cutter is a real weapon. But I’d still rank them in the same relative taxon.
For what it’s worth, just as I think Davidson’s marginally better than Zimmermann as a prospect, I think Zimmermann is a little more marginally better than Kingham (who’s really struggled with consistency). But they’re all comfortably tradeable in deals that bring real improvements to Atlanta.
"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."
jpx7 (07-10-2019)
I just don't think the Braves should have to give up someone in the top 30 for a middle reliever rental.
I think Davidson is very disposable, but I'm aim to get more than Watson out of him. And I think he's more of a prospect than Zimmerman. He seems at the minimum like someone who might really play up in the pen if he's not a back end starter for someone.
I think the minor league reliever list is a better place to look for in targeting someone like Watson. Something entirely non-consequential.