GDT 6-25 Stones at Soldier Field, Max at Wrigley

[Enscheff]

I don't think Stroman should be viewed as a TOR stud or anything. But I feel he is a lot like the Gausman addition of last year. He is an upgrade over what we have currently and has one more year left before he is a FA. With DK and Julio likely being gone after this year that is something the Braves will have to think about too.

Gaus was playing 2nd fiddle to Archer last year, whereas Stroman is the prime target this year.

I don't know how much that played into the price AA paid for Gaus, but I cant imagine the Braves get into any sort of bidding war over Stroman similar to what happened last year with Archer.

[zbhargrove]

2018 was an outlier for Stroman given his 3.84 xFIP/5.54 ERA but this year is an outlier the other way given his 4.11 xFIP when compared with a 3.04 ERA. Stroman is also only putting up a K-rate 6.88 per 9. but similar to Keuchel, his GB% is obviously huge. I don't see MadBum or Stroman being a big difference maker but I'd pick Stroman of the two. I'd rather see a creative way to get Greinke but I highly doubt the Dbacks are going to chip in enough cash to get a deal done. If we are going to shell out good prospect capital, go get Boyd from Detroit. 3.61 ERA/3.50 xFIP/2.6 fWAR... 11.22 K/9 and a 1.81 BB/9 is flat out nasty. He has a .234 BA against even with a .305 BABIP against. ERA- of 79... the walk rate may normalize just a bit, but the BABIP against may counteract that. Everything about Boyd's breakout looks legit to me. Looks generally like mainly a two pitch pitcher, so that may be some concern (FB and a Slider)... He seems to have mainly cut out his curve ball, likely because it just doesn't seem that effective. Seems like he's been coached to mainly just focus on his FB and Sllider which limits his full upside but those two pitches look pretty nasty.

[thewupk]

Gaus was playing 2nd fiddle to Archer last year, whereas Stroman is the prime target this year.

I don't know how much that played into the price AA paid for Gaus, but I cant imagine the Braves get into any sort of bidding war over Stroman similar to what happened last year with Archer.

Don't underestimate the name power of Bumgarner...

[Enscheff]

Don't underestimate the name power of Bumgarner...

Good point. The Bumgarner name being in the spotlight may lead to the Jays selling Stroman for a more reasonable price. We know the name has blinded several posters around here (could you imagine the disaster Newk plus Fried for Bumgarner plus a 6 year extension would have been?).

This is a lot of hand waving conjecture though, and I would be surprised if AA pays the price for yet another SP. At some point the Braves have to stop throwing resources at the rotation...right?

[Braves1976]

Not to slight either Fried or Jackson, but that DP with the bases loaded after three walks and the Culberson catch to start the 9th were both huge. If either doesn't happen we don't win 3-2. Baez would've been standing at second to start the 9th with no outs minus that Culberson catch. The inning likely goes much different in that case. To sum it up, our defense came up big last night. Both early when Fried's control was not there and late to start the 9th. Hopefully DK pitches better tonight and we clinch at least a split with Wilson likely to spot start tomorrow.

[msstate7]

Riley gets a day off... camargo in lf. Like this