I don't think they're rushing Singer, I think they're just trying to keep him throwing and developing.

They've been working on the change up for a few years now and it just hasn't come along. I don't think it is going to come along.

He's going to need to find something to use against LH to hit that #3 starter upside. I still think a splitter/cutter (or maybe both) is the answer. He has the frame and enormous hands (apparently) so he might be able to do either. I ust don't think he's picking up the change they're trying to teach him (KC has traditionally been a very heavy circle change team in the past).

I think Kowar ends up as a closer. His FB-CH combo is really good (and his FB velocity could ramp into upper 90s easily in one-inning stints) but the curveball just isn't consistent. I watched him yesterday and that thing was not good. I'm growing skeptical he's going to find the feel for it... which is fine (as long as not all of them turn into back-end bullpen guys).
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The problem with that is they already have a couple of other guys that are likely destined to be relievers in Evan Steele and the Hernandez kid because they are so old for their levels with high end fastballs....we start getting to the point of um who are the starters?
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Why y'all think the Phillies non-tendered a cheap young player who averaged 24 homers/season in his first 3 full big-league seasons?

Franco is a REAL flawed player. He kinda has Salvy's approach up there - swing early, swing often, make lots of soft contact so your BABIP sucks, make sure you swing hard so you destroy it if the pitcher makes a mistake.

He gets himself out as much as anyone you'll see. Just no plan at the plate at all. And yeah, complete skillet at the hot corner.

He just never developed. I actually thought he'd have that sort of slow, inevitable development into a solid power hitter than Moustakas had for you guys. It just never happened for him.
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He is placeholder until Bobby Witt is ready.
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What's his arm angle?

Some guys just do not come directly enough to the plate to utilize a cutter against off-handed hitters. I don't know enough about him to really speak to it, but if he's a guy that comes from a 3/4 arm slot and/or pitches from the 3rd base side of the rubber, a cutter's just gonna stay wide or drift right into the hitting zone unless it's an absolute monster.

Lance Lynn never figured out a 3rd pitch AND he never learned to get lefties out with any regularity but developed into a solid mid-rotation starter by simply having brass balls out there. Guy was tenacious as hell and reports on Singers makeup seem similar.

Even without a changeup, he can survive by limiting walks and keeping lefties to singles/doubles if he can command his fastball well enough. Won't make him an ace but it'll make him credible.
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From what I know he's actually a bit below a 3/4 delivery.
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Salvy has two homers in two games. Covid the new steriods?
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The Dodgers keep Betts...

The Mookie Betts contract extension, which tacks 12 years and $365M onto his $27M salary (of which pro rata pay is $10M) this year, is stunning. While deferrals in the deal are expected, the sheer size of the number — $392M — illustrates how much the Dodgers believe in Betts.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 22, 2020

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Yeah - not sure a cutter's the way to go then.

Splitter may not even get you the action you want there. That really does seem more like a guy who's tailor-made for that changeup that gets a bunch of arm-side run and some nice drop to it.

And if that's the case, you really don't want him closing either because it's too easy to stack lefties in the late innings on him. A lower arm slot with only fastball/slider to attack lefties is gonna leave him prone to some crooked numbers when opposing managers have the advantage in the 9th and can empty the bench on him.

Probably better suited for 7th/8th inning situational use if he can't get a pitch that truly messes with lefties or bores in on them. Not sure how can get in their kitchens from a low 3/4.
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This rebuild already isn't looking all that great if 2 of the big 3 from that 2018 class are possibly no better than relievers or bottom of the rotation types.
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Is this the part where Matheny ruins the careers of several promising pitchers?
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As the great Roger Sterling once said, "The day you sign a client is the day you start losing them..."

So yes.
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Man - will Staumont EVER learn to throw strikes?

I remember seeing him last spring and thinking "holy hell, this kid has some serious shit..." but he just could not command it. Minor league numbers seem to support that. That's some nearly historically bad walk rates.

But geez, if the guy could develop even average command, he'd be a friggen hammer in the back end. He can get that fastball anywhere he wants and has damn nice late movement. Nothing seismic, just that little late hitch that takes the ball off the barrel or over the bat.

You can see that hitters don't pick the ball up out of his hand so he must be disguising pitches nicely as well (though this time of day creates weird shadows at Busch that sometimes have the same effect). Nice enough breaking pitch.

The guy has a major league arsenal if he can command it at ALL.
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That 3-2 pitch to Carlson ended middle/middle and Carlson (a damn nice prospect) just fouled it back. Without that little bit of late giddyup, that balls 8 rows deep.

But a pitch later he walks him (2nd walk of the inning).

Gotta command it, kid.
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Matheny already mis-managing young talent?
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