J.P. 03 said:

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More on Wisdom:
https://www.lonestarball.com/2018/12/11/18136861/texas-rangers-trade-drew-robinson-for-patrick-wisdom

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Wisdom, 27, is a former first round draft pick (selected 52nd overall by St. Louis in 2012) out of St. Mary's, one pick before the Rangers selected Collin Wiles. Wisdom had seemed to have stalled out with difficult seasons in AA in 2014-15 and AAA in 2016, but he had a solid year in 2017 for AAA Memphis, then built on it in 2018 with a .288/.363/.480 slash line in the minors that earned him a major league callup, where he hit .260/.362/.520 for the Cards. Wisdom has all three options remaining, and gives Texas depth at third base, should they make a move with Jurickson Profar or one of their other infielders. A righthanded hitter, he also gives them some depth from that side as a corner bat. He has power but also a lot of strikeouts.

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Apparently you can never have too many of those on the roster.

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In fairness, we gave up a lefty who is arb- eligible in 2021 and got a righty who is arb- eligible in 2022.

J.P. 03 said:

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More on Wisdom:
https://www.lonestarball.com/2018/12/11/18136861/texas-rangers-trade-drew-robinson-for-patrick-wisdom

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Wisdom, 27, is a former first round draft pick (selected 52nd overall by St. Louis in 2012) out of St. Mary's, one pick before the Rangers selected Collin Wiles. Wisdom had seemed to have stalled out with difficult seasons in AA in 2014-15 and AAA in 2016, but he had a solid year in 2017 for AAA Memphis, then built on it in 2018 with a .288/.363/.480 slash line in the minors that earned him a major league callup, where he hit .260/.362/.520 for the Cards. Wisdom has all three options remaining, and gives Texas depth at third base, should they make a move with Jurickson Profar or one of their other infielders. A righthanded hitter, he also gives them some depth from that side as a corner bat. He has power but also a lot of strikeouts.

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Apparently you can never have too many of those on the roster.

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How much pressure would be on a kid named Wisdom growing up? Can't be easy any time he makes a mistake.

ah, at least his name isn't Wonderful Terrific.

Not sure about trading Profar within the division, but why not I guess as long as we get a good return:

KT 90 said:

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Not sure about trading Profar within the division, but why not I guess as long as we get a good return:

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Why not. We are not planning to compete until he becomes a FA, so why not get something... anything... the bigger the better.

I hate to say it, but if Beltre is gone, and Profar is on the way out...what's the point of keeping Elvis on the roster? He'll be on the downside of his career by the time this team is good again, and his contract is reasonable compared to what FAs are getting these days.

Lance Lynn come on down. Hopefully he gets off to a great start and flipped for a package of young arms in July.

Rossko said:

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Lance Lynn come on down. Hopefully he gets off to a great start and flipped for a package of young arms in July.

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I just don't get it.

Fine... he gets off to a hot start, and we flip him for prospects. Having 2+ years should amount to a hefty haul, I would suppose.

But then you have the other. 3 yr/ $30M. If he sucks, then we have another albatross of a contract for 2 more years.

Just depressing.

DallasAg 94 said:

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Rossko said:

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Lance Lynn come on down. Hopefully he gets off to a great start and flipped for a package of young arms in July.

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I just don't get it.

Fine... he gets off to a hot start, and we flip him for prospects. Having 2+ years should amount to a hefty haul, I would suppose.

But then you have the other. 3 yr/ $30M. If he sucks, then we have another albatross of a contract for 2 more years.

Just depressing.

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It surprised me too but I am just rooting for him to do well so we can flip him this summer. I won't worry about the worst case scenario you laid you until it happens.

Just a heads up, Rangers have met with Holland's agent. Nothing imminent but still very possible.

J.P. 03 said:

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I hate to say it, but if Beltre is gone, and Profar is on the way out...what's the point of keeping Elvis on the roster? He'll be on the downside of his career by the time this team is good again, and his contract is reasonable compared to what FAs are getting these days.

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Agreed.

However, I've said this many times... With Andrus and Odor, we have the opportunity to have 2 more HoF'ers who have gaudy numbers if they can maintain their success.

By 36, each should have accumulated statistics

Elvis (29) has 1476 GP... 108th in MLB. 5 more years at 150 GP, puts him at 2226. He would be 21st for GP by a SS.

Odor (24) is at 675. 10 more years at 150 GP, puts him at 2175 by a 2B, puts him at 16th.
His 106 HRs, puts him at T49th. 100 more HRs would put him 17th, All-Time.

I know that is long-term extrapolation, but that is what we have, right now.

Time to go shopping.

MLB Rule V draft is tomorrow. I think it was noted the Rangers have 35 players on their 40.

That is likely the cause for a flurry of moves. Sign Lynn and Holland, in order to know what the next best option for talent on the 40 is...

DallasAg 94 said:

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Rossko said:

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Lance Lynn come on down. Hopefully he gets off to a great start and flipped for a package of young arms in July.

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I just don't get it.

Fine... he gets off to a hot start, and we flip him for prospects. Having 2+ years should amount to a hefty haul, I would suppose.

But then you have the other. 3 yr/ $30M. If he sucks, then we have another albatross of a contract for 2 more years.

Just depressing.

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A back-end innings-eater costs you $5-$6M -- Lynn isn't going to be any kind of albatross.

Good chance he doesn't amount to much of anything, but not really a move that is going to hinder any other plans.

Haven't had time to read the writeups by the beat writers, but I see him as an innings eater type that is an upgrade over Gallardo. If he does well we can trade him for prospects. If he does ok probably keep him for at least 1 to 2 years to eat innings and help avoid rushing some of the younger arms in the minors to the MLB. In this age, $10/year isn't too bad for someone with a decent track record. Believe he struggled following his return from TJ surgery, but he did pretty good down the stretch last year... so hopefully he has turned the corner following his return from TJ.

Rule V... here we go.

Good follow with quick updates - JJ Cooper:

Looks like Reed Garrett was taken from the Rangers

Rangers take Chris Ellis from Cardinals:

Is it like Black Friday?

Quote:

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#Rangers getting #Brewers' competitive-balance pick for LHP Alex Claudio, sources say. Pick is No. 39 overall.

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Sad to see Claudio go, but he's a great developmental story. For a while he was the savior of our pitching staff. Emergency starts, big time jams, etc. Wish him will with the Brewers.

DallasAg 94 said:

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Rule V... here we go.

Good follow with quick updates - JJ Cooper:

Looks like Reed Garrett was taken from the Rangers

Rangers take Chris Ellis from Cardinals:

Is it like Black Friday?

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Haven't been following it today, but did read something a couple days ago that predicted that we would lose Reed Garrett. We might regret that one, believe he had a pretty good second half of the season in 2018 and throws mid90's. We'll see. Probably more to it that I'm not aware of though, can't protect everybody,

Well, we had 5 open roster spots, so we "could" have saved that one.

Looks like we traded one of our Rule Vs and traded for another one.

It will be interesting to see how things shake out.

Selling Claudio, as well for a Comp pick?! So, we get the pick for June (7 months from now), then have to sign him and... last year, newly drafted picks by the Rangers went to conditioning, instead of Spokane... so it is hard to forecast that far...

Even Grant on the Winter Meetings:

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Rangers make multiple roster moves, acquire high draft pick as Baseball's Winter Meetings come to a close


LAS VEGAS -- The Rangers did their usual thing at the end of the winter meetings, which is to stuff a bunch of extra stuff into their bags after holing up in a suite for most of four days, eating bananas, energy bars, vitamin supplements and, for some reason this year, a jar of maraschino cherries.
They did not take the maraschino cherries -- apparently scouting director Kip ***g had some rather gory descriptions of the goings-on in maraschino cherry factories from a job he once held in his youth -- but they did jam an extra pitcher and a valuable draft pick into their luggage.

Of course, they had to move some stuff around to make room for all this, shedding over-achieving, easy-to-root-for Alex Claudio and minor league reliever Reed Garrett in the process. Claudio went to Milwaukee for a 2019 competitive balance draft pick that should end up being either 41st or 42nd overall.

It gives the Rangers an extra draft selection and about $2 million in extra draft bonus flexibility that, if used right, could help them improve the haul on more than one pick next year. It's the kind of trade a rebuilding team must make. They turned an arbitration-eligible specialist reliever who has defied odds into what could potentially be an elite prospect. Or two.

"It's hard to acquire premium young talent," general manager Jon Daniels said. "The opportunity being afforded us is pretty unique. It could help us get an additional two or three young players. You can't acquire a player at the level we could get very easily. Alex has been a great pitcher for us."
They also created havoc in the Rule 5 draft by taking pitcher Chris Ellis from St. Louis and then spinning him off to Kansas City. They acquired right-hander Jordan Romano, selected by the Chicago White Sox from Toronto ahead of them in the draft. Romano could be a bullpen arm with upside and for only a $100,000 investment. But he must be kept in the majors all season or offered back to Toronto, his original organization.

At the same time, though, the Rangers lost a right-handed reliever with a power arm: Reed Garrett. He went fifth overall to Detroit.

Here's the confusing part: They didn't need to lose him.

The Rangers faced the decision nearly a month of ago of putting together a 40-man roster. They chose to leave Garrett, who had a 2.04 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A last year, off the roster. It made him eligible to be plucked in the Rule 5 draft. Detroit did the plucking.

The Rangers faced one of those multi-layered baseball decisions and had to consider arcane codicils that never make decisions cut-and-dried. If they had put Garrett on the roster at the deadline, he would have had to remain on the roster until mid-spring, eliminating one element of flexibility. If they had put him on sometime last year and then tried to take him off this winter, he would have had to go through waivers, could have been claimed by Detroit (or anybody else) and the Rule 5 governors would not have applied. Namely, a team could option him to the minors without having to risk offering him back to Texas.

Daniels expects the Tigers, who are also in full-scale rebuild, to give Garrett every chance to stay, but by doing it this way, there is at least some vehicle by which he could end up back in the Rangers' fold.
"We'd prefer not to lose an arm, but at some point you've got to take some calculated gambles," Daniels said. "Flexibility on the roster is important. You have to look at the opportunities you have."

This may all work out perfectly for the Rangers. They will still have three spots open on the 40-man roster after Lance Lynn's deal becomes finalized next week. It gives them space to add relievers to a bullpen that, at the moment, is lacking multiple pieces and experience. It's probably the next area to address.

It also may come back to haunt the Rangers. For a mere $100,000, baseball pennies, they made expendable a 26-year-old arm with mid-90s velocity who would have had minor league options aplenty available. On a team that figures to need to use options to shoehorn a 15- or 16-man pitching staff into 12 or 13 roster spots, that's plenty valuable, too.
It makes you ask the question on this tough decision: Did the Rangers make the right call?

Based on their pitching success of recent seasons, especially where young guys are concerned, that might be a question better left unanswered at the moment.

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Well, here is where we are. We have 20 Pitchers on the 40. Let me know if I've missed anyone.

Rotation
Mike Minor (LHP-2yr/$9.3Mper): 28 GS, 4.18 ERA, 1.12 ERA
Lance Lynn (RHP-31): 29 GS, 4.77 ERA
Drew Smyly (LHP-$7M) - SP Not in MLB since 2016.

Hopefuls:
Jurado (RHP-22): 8GS, 54.2 IP 5.93 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 22 SO, 18 BB
Yohander Mendez (LHP-23): 5 GS, 27.2 IP, 5.53 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 18 SO, 15 BB

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Bullpen
Barnette
Jesse Chavez - RHP 2yr/$4M per
Chris Martin RHP-$2.25M
Sadzeck
Jordan Romano (RHP-25) - Rule V SP. Has to be on MLB roster. Likely RP.

Minors
Volquez ($2M): Did not pitch in MLB in 2018
Jonathan Hernandez (RHP-22): SP Likely to AA or AAA. Mid-Season callup?
Joe Palumbo (LHP-24): SP Likely going to AA
Brett Martin (LHP-23): SP
Gardewine (RHP): RP
CD Pelham (LHP-23): RP
Jeffrey Springs (LHP-26): RP <- Could start season in BP.
Wei-Chieh Huang (RHP-25): RP

Got a lot of work to do, to solidify the pitching staff. It makes the Lance Lynn signing look more favorable. Lots of fairy dust.

DallasAg 94 said:

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Well, here is where we are. We have 20 Pitchers on the 40. Let me know if I've missed anyone.

Rotation
Mike Minor (LHP-2yr/$9.3Mper): 28 GS, 4.18 ERA, 1.12 ERA
Lance Lynn (RHP-31): 29 GS, 4.77 ERA
Drew Smyly (LHP-$7M) - SP Not in MLB since 2016.

Hopefuls:
Jurado (RHP-22): 8GS, 54.2 IP 5.93 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 22 SO, 18 BB
Yohander Mendez (LHP-23): 5 GS, 27.2 IP, 5.53 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 18 SO, 15 BB

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Bullpen
Barnette
Jesse Chavez - RHP 2yr/$4M per
Chris Martin RHP-$2.25M
Sadzeck
Jordan Romano (RHP-25) - Rule V SP. Has to be on MLB roster. Likely RP.

Minors
Volquez ($2M): Did not pitch in MLB in 2018
Jonathan Hernandez (RHP-22): SP Likely to AA or AAA. Mid-Season callup?
Joe Palumbo (LHP-24): SP Likely going to AA
Brett Martin (LHP-23): SP
Gardewine (RHP): RP
CD Pelham (LHP-23): RP
Jeffrey Springs (LHP-26): RP <- Could start season in BP.
Wei-Chieh Huang (RHP-25): RP

Got a lot of work to do, to solidify the pitching staff. It makes the Lance Lynn signing look more favorable. Lots of fairy dust.

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Missing Jose LeClerc. And hopefully we pull in a few bp arms as well.

Supposedly Volwuez has been progressing, think he's penciled in one of the rotation spots. But you never know following surgery.

KT 90 said:

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Missing Jose LeClerc. And hopefully we pull in a few bp arms as well.

Supposedly Volwuez has been progressing, think he's penciled in one of the rotation spots. But you never know following surgery.

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Good catch. I counted 18 names in my list, and counted 20 on the roster. LeClerc and Jeffeson Medina appear to be the 2 I missed.

Subconsciously, I probably thought LeClerc had already been traded.

Regarding Jeffeson Medina. (RHP-24). He appears to be a Minor league Rule V guy acquired this week, from the O's. So, he'll be assigned somewhere in the minors.

Regarding Volquez. It looks like he was originally signed to a minor league deal and then put on the roster making it a 1yr deal worth $2M. I believe that means he would have to clear waivers to be sent to the minors, but AFAIK, he would remain on the 40.

That just makes no sense. You tie up a roster spot with Volquez, and lose a guy like Reed Garrett for the sake of flexibility. $2M isn't a ton of cash, but a guy returning from TJ surgery provides almost no real value his 1st year back. So, you pay him $2M and tie up a roster spot. If you release him, you still blew $2M.

Reed Garrett (RHP-25) went 51 G, 61.2 IP, 2.04 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 61 SO, 20 BB, between AA and AAA.

I'm struggling to figure out JD's strategy. There was a period of time where he seemed like he knew what he was doing, but over the past 3 years... he seems to have fallen in love with guys recovering from TJ surgery, and has come across as desperate to strike gold, while abandoned any sensible and traditional line of thinking.

The strategy back when he first took over was to get as many FAs signed that were a roll of the dice (Gagne, et al), and then flip them at the trade deadline. That had some merit, in that you got draft compensation (sandwich pick between 1st and 2nd) for Type A FA you traded for and then sign elsewhere. For example, Rangers signed Gagne for 2007. He was then traded to Boston for David Murphy, and 2 other prospects. *ack* That made mid-season trades very valuable. They did away with that, requiring players to be on the roster for 1 yr... Which is why the mid-season trades have been more of a bust.

On the Gagne dealing:

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Gagne projects as a Type A free agent, which means the Sox will get draft picks as compensation if Gagne signs elsewhere. They will get a first rounder and a sandwich pick if the signing club picks in the second half of the draft order, or a sandwich pick and a second rounder if it picks on the first half (which is determined by reverse order of finish in the standings.

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Some Winter League pitchers of note:

Yo Mendez (Vz WL): 5 GS, 19.2 IP, 5.49 ERA, 1.271 WHIP, 10 SO, 9 BB. Results, although limited, might indicate why Lance Lynn, et al SP are being considered.

Chi Chi Gonzalez (DoWL): 6 GS, 28.1 IP, 1.91 ERA, 1.165 WHIP, 16 SO, 9BB. Amazed he is still pitching. Looks good, though.

Connor Sadzeck: 5G, 4.0 IP, 6.75 ERA, 1.250 WHIP, 3SO, 2BB

Reed Garrett (Mx): 4G, 3.2 IP, 9.82 ERA, 2.455 WHIP, 3 SO, 2 BB. I guess that is why they thought he'd make it through Rule V.

Deolis Guerra (RHP-29; Vz WL): 22 G, 23.1 IP, 2.31 ERA, 1.029 WHIP, 24 SO, 4 BB. RP in Round Rock, last year (40G, 59.1 IP, 3.94 ERA, 1.062 WHIP, 71 SO, 16 BB). Curious if he makes the 25 man roster.

Sweet.

Looks like Mike Minor may be up for consideration to be traded.

I think it would be absolutely great if we trade Minor to Philly... then during ST, a couple teams looking for SP come asking for Lance Lynn.

I'd like to see us sign D Holland, as well. Flip him during ST, as well.

Who is an aspiring SP project we can sign now, and flip in the next 6-7 months?

DallasAg 94 said:

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Sweet.

Looks like Mike Minor may be up for consideration to be traded.

I think it would be absolutely great if we trade Minor to Philly... then during ST, a couple teams looking for SP come asking for Lance Lynn.

I'd like to see us sign D Holland, as well. Flip him during ST, as well.

Who is an aspiring SP project we can sign now, and flip in the next 6-7 months?

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Yeah, it's frustrating watching all of the capable pitchers we have get traded off. Minor actually looked pretty good last year, so hopefully he brings a decent haul. If it's the Phillies, I think Velaquez and Pivetta are both pretty good prospects that spent time in the MLB in 2018. Not sure on the other two.

If we do this, we need a young(ish) starter in return that is ready to pitch in the MLB. We don't need more outfielders, although Nick Williams is still projected to be pretty good I think.

Quote:

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Minor, who successfully moved back to the rotation in 2018 after a stellar 2017 campaign as a reliever for the Kansas City Royals, has been pegged as a player the Rangers could look to shop as they try to hasten their rebuilding process. Having shown that he can successfully hold down a rotation spot, and on an affordable two year deal, Minor could be an attractive commodity for a team looking to immediately bolster its rotation.

The Phillies have some interesting young arms that haven't quite established themselves in the majors in Vince Velasquez, Ranger Suarez, Nick Pivetta and Zach Eflin, and could be willing to move one of those guys as part of a package to get a more reliable pitcher in place behind Aaron Nola and Jake Arrieta. In addition, the acquisition of McCutchen means that the Phillies could look to move either Aaron Altherr or Nick Williams. Williams, of course, is a former Ranger second round who went to Philly in the Cole Hamels trade.

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We've got Bush...

Rangers sign Matt Bush and a couple others to minor league deals. Of course Matt Bush is recovering from surgery and won't be available until halfway through 2019.

https://www.lonestarball.com/2018/12/17/18144669/texas-rangers-transactions-matt-bush-tim-dillard-zac-curtis-chase-darnaud

Ran across this writeup on Hans Crouse, one of our top pitching prospects. Still in A ball, so a ways to go. But he gets quite a bit of run in the Scott Lucas minor league updates during the season. Hopefully he progresses a little more quickly and can get to the mlb within three years rather than "three of four".

Quote:

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Crouse has the highest upside of any pitcher in the Rangers' system, a possible frontline starter, but with an ETA of three or four years from now.

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https://www.lonestarball.com/2018/12/20/18147958/hans-crouse-scouting-report-texas-rangers-prospects-pitcher-mlb

Profar to the A's

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The trade of Jurickson Profar from Texas to Oakland is part of a three-way deal that includes the Tampa Bay Rays, league sources tell Yahoo Sports. The A's will send prospect Eli White to the Rangers and the 38th overall pick in the 2019 draft, plus RP Emilio Pagan, to TB.

The Rays will send lefty Brock Burke, a favorite among scouts, to Texas. At least three other minor leaguers are involved, sources tell Yahoo Sports, but the core deal: Jurickson Profar to the A's, Brock Burke and Eli White to the Rangers, 38th pick and Emilio Pagan to the Rays.

Oakland's calculus is clear: Profar is a soon-to-be-26-year-old coming off a breakout season with two years of club control, and he can slide in at 2B full-time or play a superutility role. His bat-to-ball ability is important for a team with a lot of swing-and-miss like Oakland.

In Burke, Texas gets a lefty whose velocity has ticked up to 97. One scout called him a "very underrated arm." He should be big league-ready by 2020, if not sooner. White is a superutility type who really hit in AA this year. He could be in the big leagues before the end of 2019.

Emilio Pagan is another cheap arm for the Rays as they prepare Bullpenning 2.0. He'll be on his third team in three seasons. The real key here for Tampa Bay is the 38th pick, which had a slot value of $1.88M last year. Rays now have four of the first 61 picks in the 2019 draft.

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That is.... weird. Profar finally seemed to be putting it together last year. Who the hell do we play at 3rd now?

Next year will probably be ugly again....sad to see whats happened to this team over the past 3 years

jtstanley4621 said:

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That is.... weird. Profar finally seemed to be putting it together last year. Who the hell do we play at 3rd now?

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Wisdom, got him from the Cardinals a few weeks ago.

jtstanley4621 said:

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That is.... weird. Profar finally seemed to be putting it together last year.

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Agree. I know he's been a huge bust, but maybe he turned a corner last year. If you are rebuilding, don't you want someone like that? Maybe there were contract/control/financial implications that DA94 will give a thesis on soon.