Banny has done a great job with the main things he has some control over...the teams effort and twtw despite the obvious talent deficiencies he's been dealt and the fact they were out of it in April.

Pretty hard imo to evaluate anything else as far as he goes given the 25 guys he's working with.

And he's got a badass arm tattoo.

Gallo really starting to get the David Murphy treatment on the outside corner. Can anything be done?

94chem said:

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Gallo really starting to get the David Murphy treatment on the outside corner. Can anything be done?

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Do what Murph did and learn to spoil that pitch.

Apparently the "player to be named later" in the Hamel's deal, who was thought to be the key piece in the trade, is pretty disappointing. 17-year old outfielder out of the Dominican Republic. Alexander Ovalle. Wasn't particularly highly rated.

PatAg said:

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94chem said:

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Gallo really starting to get the David Murphy treatment on the outside corner. Can anything be done?

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Do what Murph did and learn to spoil that pitch.

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You mean by learning to swing at stuff that's 4" off the plate? Seems like a bad idea for a guy hitting .200.

Seven Costanza said:

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Apparently the "player to be named later" in the Hamel's deal, who was thought to be the key piece in the trade, is pretty disappointing. 17-year old outfielder out of the Dominican Republic. Alexander Ovalle. Wasn't particularly highly rated.

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I see he has been announced.

Do you have a link that he was 1) the key piece and 2) a disappoint.

17... 1 year after being signed might be a little early to write off. Just my opinion.

DannyDuberstein said:

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When is the PTBNL ever the key piece of a trade?

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Several scenarios... it used to be players couldn't be traded within a year of being signed. June drafted players who didn't sign before the trade deadline, would have to wait to be traded.

In some cases, in the off-season, a PTBNL might be someone who would be RuleV, and have to wait until after the RuleV draft. Last example is when the performance of a traded player will dictate which tier or group of players will he traded.

It happens, but not common. And a 17 year old who was signed under the $300k Intl cap would dictate to me, that unless he was blowing the doors off after signing, then he was likely an add-on. That would be my perception, which is why I question him as the key player.

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With the final return on the Hamels trade now known, I feel like this was ultimately a pretty disappointing return. The other two pieces were Eddie Butler, a 27 year old former first rounder who is working as a middle reliever in the Ranger pen right now, and Rollie Lacy, a 22 year old righthanded pitcher who was an 11th round pick in the 2017 draft who signed for $125,000, and who was having a nice season in A ball this year in his first full season. Neither of those pieces are what would be considered substantial, and I think the expectation was that the PTBNL would be the key piece to the deal.

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https://www.lonestarball.com/2018/8/14/17690818/texas-rangers-transactions-alexander-ovalle-the-ptbnl-in-cole-hamels-trade

This is just one take, but it seems to be the consensus across the various reporters/bloggers.

Astros fans starting to panic and calling it lost season

TXAggie2011 said:

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DannyDuberstein said:

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When is the PTBNL ever the key piece of a trade?

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In 1996, the Mariners traded a PTBNL, and no one else, to the Twins for Dave Hollins.

The PTBNL turned out to be David Ortiz.

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Somewhat depends on if we are saying "future key players are rarely the PTBNL" or if the PTBNL is an impact deal in the trade.

Ortiz played 6 years for the Twins and was released not even amassing 2 WAR. Wasn't until Boston that he "found" his power.

TXAggie2011 said:

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DannyDuberstein said:

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When is the PTBNL ever the key piece of a trade?

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In 1996, the Mariners traded a PTBNL, and no one else, to the Twins for Dave Hollins.

The PTBNL turned out to be David Ortiz.

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Really worked out for the Twins

My interpretation is as the only player received in a trade, the player is necessarily the key piece of the trade for the receiving team. But I'm choosing not to be a pedant today as to this question.

It mostly means that the named guy on the other side sucks.

If you want an example of a (really really) good starting pitcher being traded and a PTBNL being the most (by far) successful player received in return, then CC Sabathia/Michael Brantley is a good example.

And at the time, I would imagine there were those who thought Michael Brantley would turn to be the best player received by Cleveland in that trade.

(7th round pick hitting .319 with a .793 OPS in AA at the time of the trade.)

Robinson Cano was a near miss PTBNL in the Arod/Soriano trade, but I'd say the "key piece" to that trade was the money sent to NY.

The "key piece" to any trade should be the reason you are making the trade. I don't see how any PTBNL could be the key piece of a deal if the team trading for them doesn't even know who they are getting yet. Sure if a PTBNL is the only piece then it is key, but if we are talking multiple players coming back, the PTBNL is typically a throw in based on performance or a throw in to get the trade done quicker.

FWIW Newberg had a good write up on that PTBNL from the Cubs in the Athletic today. I know no org is gonna talk bad about someone they just acquired but I really like what they had to say about his intangibles:

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One club official describes Ovalles as "a high-energy center fielder with an advanced bat. Love the way he plays, charismatic with good instincts. High-IQ player, bilingual leader that players gravitate toward. Exciting person and player."

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"He's a sharp kid, with some self-awareness. He has some confidence and seems to have a pretty good value-set, and what he says about himself coincides with what our group says that he's a gamer with a chance to hit. We're looking forward to him being a part of the family."

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On top of that he's raking in the DSL (.316/.460/.368) and should be a fun one to keep an eye on as he moves up in the system.

Not trying to **** on the kid but a .368 slugging % with a .316 average is not what I would call raking especially with his current sample size (94 PA/76 AB). That has the potential to swing wildly depending on performance in a single game still. I would also hope for a better stolen base percentage than 60% from a guy with that low of a slugging %.

Hopefully he matures physically since he is still incredibly young but this is a lottery ticket.

.828 OPS is pretty damn solid for a 17 year old in a league that averages around 19 years old

Its most certainly better than not "raking", and he'll deservedly get his chances, but I do think you have to take DSL stats with something of a grain of salt.

Tons of teams with tons of players; players of different backgrounds and, while of same age, different levels of physical and mental maturity.

A lot of kids are down there "raking" at the expense of players who simply don't have the ability or talent to really have any kind of career in minor league baseball, yet alone major league baseball.

Ag2012 said:

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.828 OPS is pretty damn solid for a 17 year old in a league that averages around 19 years old

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Average age for batters in the DSL is 17.7 this year per Baseball-Reference, meaning majority are 17. (18.4 for pitchers.)

Ovalles will turn 18 in about 2 months.

Over Hamels last 150 or so innings pitched (spanning last season and this one) he had a 4.89 ERA... He'll surpass 2500 innings on his arm this season.

There's reason to be upset at Cole, reason to be upset at Brocail... But no real reason to be upset at the return Daniels got.

I feel like the standard for "raking" is a bit low here (his OPS is .799 everywhere I've seen also). The kid appears to have solid contact skills in limited opportunities and seems to be able to work walks (how much of that is his plate discipline and understanding of the strike zone vs wild pitching we won't know until he starts moving up out of the DSL). He probably won't be ranked in the Rangers system and the Rangers system is still a year or two away from being a top 10 system so it isn't just a case of him being buried.

If his contact and ability to work walks shown so far are real, his prospects might be decent in 5 or so years of making it to the upper minors. He is a long way away.

Maz activated, Calhoun sent down.

That move oughta go over well with Willie.

gigem1223 said:

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Maz activated, Calhoun sent down.

That move oughta go over well with Willie.

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Yeah, that sucks for him. He was hitting well enough to stay, but I saw the beat writers speculating either him or Delino was going to have to get moved down to make room for Mazara. They can't send Tocci down do to the Rule 5 deal. Only for a few weeks though, rosters expand on Sept 1st.

free_mhayden said:

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Over Hamels last 150 or so innings pitched (spanning last season and this one) he had a 4.89 ERA... He'll surpass 2500 innings on his arm this season.

There's reason to be upset at Cole, reason to be upset at Brocail... But no real reason to be upset at the return Daniels got.

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Don't disagree at all. Old, questionable arm having a pedestrian season + market not exactly great. The 2 team WC usually has a lot of teams at least thinking about buying, but this year's AL race dividing so clearly killed a lot of the potential market

Ugh

Gallo with the broken bat HR

Joseph Gallo coming into today? A 109 wRC+.