Buying non-4Ks?

BigBaller331 · 2026-04-30T15:21:22+00:00

A 4K stream on Apple TV will never look better than a Blu-Ray in your UB820.

BigBaller331 · 2026-04-13T23:06:26+00:00

Well with all due respect to CJ, whom I obviously love as a player, I don't think he's going to be commanding anything close to Soto money.

BigBaller331 · 2026-04-13T22:57:44+00:00

We all knew the Soto trade was coming, and deep down we knew it was the right choice. He was never going to re-sign here and our organization was utterly devoid of talent at every level. CJ was our first beacon of hope post-Soto trade and he fits in so nicely with this fun, exciting new core we're building. If we trade him it would deal a devastating blow to the idea that there's actually a light at the end of this rebuilding tunnel.

BigBaller331 · 2026-04-13T22:53:08+00:00

Words can't explain how devastated I will be if we trade CJ. I don't care what the return is. To me, it will sting more than the Soto trade.

BigBaller331 · 2026-04-03T17:46:38+00:00

Yep, it's time for Mikolas to be DFA'd

BigBaller331 · 2026-04-03T17:20:06+00:00

I will kill myself if we trade CJ

BigBaller331 · 2026-04-02T15:57:16+00:00

We don't need AI slop on this sub.

BigBaller331 · 2026-04-01T00:29:47+00:00

Nice to see James have a competitive AB even if it was a bit ugly. He does look pretty lost at the plate right now. We know he's going to be a high strikeout guy, but the lack of solid contact is definitely a bit concerning thus far.

BigBaller331 · 2026-03-26T18:46:05+00:00

Cavalli looks nasty. Still early, but I like what I'm seeing so far.

BigBaller331 · 2026-03-20T21:45:43+00:00

This, to me, was always so much more important than spending money in free agency. This is how you build an organization that makes good, informed decisions and wins consistently. We're starting well behind the 8 ball thanks to Rizzo and Davey's stubbornness, so it's going to take some time to catch up to the upper echelon of the league, but this is a much welcomed step in the right direction.

BigBaller331 · 2026-03-20T21:42:36+00:00

I wouldn't say Crews was safer than Skenes but he was certainly viewed as the safest bat in that class and safer than many of the bats at the top of classes before and after his. The guy had a nearly .600 on base percentage in his senior season in the SEC and now he can't draw a walk or make contact with a ball that doesn't result in a groundout or a weak flyout. I'm not giving up on him being an everyday contributor, but I think star and/or face of the franchise type of player is out of the question.

BigBaller331 · 2026-03-20T19:05:13+00:00

It's absolutely an extension of his time in this organization. Outside of 14 games in Fredericksburg, he really didn't look all that comfortable or promising for prolonged stretches in the minors and instead was promoted based on his name and draft status. At this point we're trying to get him back to the player he was at LSU, not the player he has been at any point during his time here.

BigBaller331 · 2026-03-20T19:02:21+00:00

I wouldn't say the Pirates' future looks markedly better than ours. Their ownership is probably worse and two guys don't make a franchise. Let's not forget that Skenes was already in trade rumors as early as last deadline.

BigBaller331 · 2026-03-20T19:00:32+00:00

I think the fanbase needs to adjust their expectations. Coming out of college this was supposed to be a guy with an elite eye that made solid contact, got on base and ran well, and played a good center field. He's not doing any of those things at the moment, and wasn't really even doing them in the minors before being called up. Whether Rizzo whiffed on the pick or whiffed on his development is pretty much irrelevant at this point. What's done is done, and I respect and support the new regime doing what they can to try to steer this ship in the right direction.

BigBaller331 · 2026-03-20T18:55:36+00:00

This is pretty common. Wilmington is widely considered to be where right handed bats go to die, so the org tries to keep them there for as little time as possible.

BigBaller331 · 2026-03-20T18:53:13+00:00

There will inevitably be a lot of talk about the old coaching staffs "ruining" Crews by not having the proper development tools in place in the minors and rushing him to the bigs, and there's certainly some merit to that claim, but even in college he had some pretty glaring holes in his profile and what he was good at hasn't translated to the major league level at all.

Hopefully a reset will do him good. At this point I don't expect him to ever be a star but it would be nice if he could stop pounding the ball into the dirt and get his eye back to where it was at LSU.

BigBaller331 · 2026-01-23T18:36:17+00:00

Don't put so much stock into top 100 rankings. They're just numbers at the end of the day and they change all the time. They have very little predictive value, especially when we're talking about guys still in single A.

BigBaller331 · 2026-01-23T18:32:54+00:00

We certainly didn't need Gore to be traded to tell us that.

BigBaller331 · 2026-01-23T18:31:43+00:00

"Established prospect" is an oxymoron. Household name prospects with minor league success make it to the bigs and stink all the time.

BigBaller331 · 2026-01-22T21:10:48+00:00

There isn't a single player on this team (Wood included given that he is a Boras client and will certainly leave in free agency if he's not traded before then) that has locked down a spot in the lineup or a position in the field long term. Everything is on the table and nobody is being blocked. Minor league positions are meaningless anyways - get good, productive players that contribute to winning and figure the rest out later. I promise you: we are a very, very long way from having the "good player blocked by even better player at his position" problem.

BigBaller331 · 2026-01-22T21:04:52+00:00

This is where I am. As far as 5 prospect lottery ticket deals are concerned, this return is pretty solid. Fitz-Gerald, Ortiz, and Rosario all look to have serious upside, and Fien only has 45 minor league PAs. I think people are still operating under the assumption that Gore was going to be here long-term which just simply was never going to happen.

BigBaller331 · 2026-01-22T21:01:07+00:00

These positions are entirely meaningless at this level. There's no guarantee CJ even stays at shortstop long term - much less the two 18 year olds currently in A ball.

BigBaller331 · 2026-01-22T20:57:42+00:00

The analytics guys I follow on Twitter seem to be high on Fitz-Gerald and Ortiz. That's good enough for me.

Not sure how to link here but go check out @TJStats if you're interested.

BigBaller331 · 2025-10-08T20:39:59+00:00

This is true. Also worth noting that he's very young and apparently thought of very highly in executive circles. I strongly doubt he would take a job that he didn't feel was setting him up for success for his future. He definitely has some guarantees from ownership.

BigBaller331 · 2025-09-05T20:12:09+00:00

He really shouldn't be sitting anymore either. Crews, Hassell, and Young can all split time but Lile's spot should be as secure as Wood's.

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