Well one things for sure. There's now way Huff is a major league ball player. I'd rather roll with Sandy or any other defensive specialist at this point.

Guardians are apparently entertaining the thought of trading Clase. Please go right that wrong CY!

Next up - White Sox.
Gray v Cy Young (TBD)
Heaney v Cease (22GS, 4.15)
Scherzer v Toussaint (4 GS, 3.34). Added from Waivers from Cle


Then 3 v Miami
Then 3 @ ****Hole nemesis

Houston has:
3v Cle
4@ NYY
3@ Baltimore

Angels just gave Colorado their 8th and 28th prospects for:
Outfielder Randal Grichuk and first baseman C.J. Cron

Angels' lost an OF to facial laceration yesterday, HBP, IIRC.

DallasAg 94 said:

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Angels just gave Colorado their 8th and 28th prospects for:
Outfielder Randal Grichuk and first baseman C.J. Cron

Angels' lost an OF to facial laceration yesterday, HBP, IIRC.

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Hate to say it but that's a heck of a get. This race will be fun (for better or worse)

Man I hope Jonah Heim can make it back soon. If we lose him for the season, that's a huge loss offensively and defensively.

Sam huff is worthless. Has holes in his bat the size of an ******* and his defense sucks.

Hard to believe just 2 years ago he was our 2nd ranked prospect.

IMO Huff is a AAAA player. He'll put up numbers at AAA but can't do it at the big league level. The right handed Joey Gallo comps are probably very accurate, less the stellar defense. He's adequate defensively at best.

rbtexan said:

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IMO Huff is a AAAA player. He'll put up numbers at AAA but can't do it at the big league level. The right handed Joey Gallo comps are probably very accurate, less the stellar defense. He's adequate defensively at best.

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AAAA seems pretty accurate. He was recently hitting HR's in bunches at AAA before his call up, so it's not like he can't hit. But likely the difference in MLB and AAA pitching, and once MLB pitchers find a hole in your swing they will expose you until you find a way to adjust to it. Huff hasn't been able to do that (not yet anyway).

It is unfortunate we won't really know Heim's status for another 10-14 days at least, we could pick up another catcher if Heim is not going to be available following the rest. We did get Pawllicki in put him in AAA, but could possibly use an upgrade on that.

rbtexan said:

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IMO Huff is a AAAA player. He'll put up numbers at AAA but can't do it at the big league level. The right handed Joey Gallo comps are probably very accurate, less the stellar defense. He's adequate defensively at best.

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At least Huff went opposite field yesterday. In the 6th inning he made solid contact on a ball that should have made its way into right field except 1B made an exceptional play and robbed him of a hit. That was a critical play in the game and we probably tie it up that inning if not take the lead.

So we have seven staring pitchers now. Seems a no brainier to send Heaney to the bull pen. He is at 101 IP and has an escalator clause for 2024 that bumps him from $13 MM to $20 MM is he hits 150 IP.

Bet he'll be pissed to be sent to the pen. But hey - pitch better then.

Want a trade for a bay and one more reliever. Hopefully the bay is today and can be inserted into the lineup tomorrow.

I wouldn't be at all shocked if we traded one of Perez or Heaney (or at least tried to trade them). Unfortunately I think moving Dunning back to the pen is the best move because he gives us another right handed pitcher out of the pen, and we are paper thin with right handed relievers who can actually get something done.

Re: Heim, from Jeff Wilson's newsletter -

"...Heim is out at least a month and then will play only if he can stomach the pain."

If Heim and Eovaldi are on the shelf, the trades we made basically just got us back to even.

I'd still take that over where we'd be without the trades... but definitely takes the potential of this team down a rung.

Sounds like he tore a ligament in his wrist.

rbtexan said:

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Re: Heim, from Jeff Wilson's newsletter -

"...Heim is out at least a month and then will play only if he can stomach the pain."

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So looks like the Red Sox have made Verdugo available. Seems like a good fit for what we need.

Perez has no trade value at this point so he'd be a throw in on a bigger deal. He's on a 1 year deal so only teams in contention would be interested, but there's no team in contention looking to add a guy who has had a 6 ERA since April and career #'s that don't support a big bounceback.

He'd slot in as a contender's #5 at best, but we'd have to kick-in the remainder of his salary so it basically becomes a situation where it makes more sense to keep him as your own insurance policy (as he does have a decent chance of still throwing you a decent game, which is still better than most minor league spot-start callups provide).

Losing Heim is a real blow, but I think we can minimize his loss at the plate a little. We're not replacing him defensively, so I'm not going to harp on that.

rbtexan said:

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IMO Huff is a AAAA player. He'll put up numbers at AAA but can't do it at the big league level. The right handed Joey Gallo comps are probably very accurate, less the stellar defense. He's adequate defensively at best.

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Sounds like Nelson Cruz until he found that little something else that made him a .280/38HR guy at the youthful age of 33.

There is hope, I gues.

I think we could find out Heim's status as soon as 6pm tomorrow.

fc2112 said:

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So we have seven staring pitchers now. Seems a no brainier to send Heaney to the bull pen. He is at 101 IP and has an escalator clause for 2024 that bumps him from $13 MM to $20 MM is he hits 150 IP.

Bet he'll be pissed to be sent to the pen. But hey - pitch better then.

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We still have to see about Eovaldi. That is another player we may hear more about at around 6pm, tomorrow. Deadline is 6pm ET.

If Heim and Eovaldi have more concerning injuries than previously disclosed... what I would NOT do, is let other teams know until after the deadline.

If AL teams know we've lost Heim and Eovaldi, it might give them more willingness to bulk up. If you think the Rangers rotation is:
Scherzer, Eovaldi, Montgomery, Gray... Dunning t with what has been the #1 Offense who is without their AS and #1 Catcher as well as the AL Batting leader and AS SS... you're deadline approach could be different.

JMO.

WestTexasAg said:

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Tksymm7 said:

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I wouldn't be at all shocked if we traded one of Perez or Heaney (or at least tried to trade them). Unfortunately I think moving Dunning back to the pen is the best move because he gives us another right handed pitcher out of the pen, and we are paper thin with right handed relievers who can actually get something done.

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I think it would make sense to trade Perez or Heaney. Hell, Bradford has been as effective or better than Perez lately. Wish we had last year's Perez back, but I don't think it is happening.

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I'm still concerned about Bradford getting to much exposure, but his performance last night.. he really delivered (pun intended). Perez had his moment to rise to the occasion and did exactly what he needed to NOT do.

I didn't watch the game, but post-game radio indicated he was very expressive and seemed very frustrated on the mound. His history has always been he'd get into a jam and then fall apart. Last year, he was able to get out of those jams and limit the damage. Well, last year was a nothing year. He wasn't getting paid that much and there was nothing on the line in most games.

Some people feed off the adrenaline and pressure. I tend to be that way. Perez is not that guy. I have zero confidence in Perez the rest of the way to throw another pitch for the Rangers. It is high pressure from here on out. It is why CY has stacked this team with guys that have had playoff success from elite organizations. NYY, Dodgers, StLouis, Boston.

That's the difference between a Closer and most BP guys.

Scherzer is that kind of guy. I'm hoping Bradford is that kind of guy.

Maybe the guys down south could use Perez?

Many teams are showing interest in Justin Verlander. The Astros are one of those teams but with no prospects in the top 100 they have that hurdle. Verlander has suggested he will consider accepting teams committed to winning in near-term.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 31, 2023

Perez and huff for Verlander? Mets wouldn't do it but a man can wish.

Water Boy said:

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Perez and huff for Verlander? Mets wouldn't do it but a man can wish.

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Foscue, Huff, and Bradford?! Or maybe swap Heaney for Bradford.

2024 we could rollout deGrom, Scherzer, and Verlander and have the Mets paying for most of it.

fc2112 said:

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Maybe the guys down south could use Perez?

Many teams are showing interest in Justin Verlander. The Astros are one of those teams but with no prospects in the top 100 they have that hurdle. Verlander has suggested he will consider accepting teams committed to winning in near-term.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 31, 2023

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I don't think they have the prospects for Perez.

I think like that would actually be a fair deal.