RatkoVarda

not in Pipeline's Top 250 players, but went to MLB pre-draft workout camp obviously, he is Skubal 2.0

happy to be proven wrong; but seems to be that was an aberration, not the baseline

need swing and miss; don't see that as Montero or SGL's strengths

if healthy, this rotation is 6 deep and fine through the rest of the year: Skubal, Flaherty, Mize, Olson, Montero, SGL - they also have Melton who may join BP the relievers are not so good: Vest, Kahnle, Holton are only guys you would want in to see in a close playoff game. Hanifee and Lee might make playoff roster by default. need two guys who strike people out

when Rainer falls to you, you take him, but it looks like none of the big ticket guys they wanted fell to 24, so they pivoted and grabbed 2 guys they liked, which hopefully cascades into the financial flexibility to grab even more guys they like

Ben Jacobs LHP, Arizona State Scouting grades: Fastball: 50 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 45 | Overall: 45 Hailing from renowned California high school Huntington Beach, Jacobs began his college career close to home at UCLA. After getting just five innings on the mound as a freshman in 2023, he transferred to Arizona State and began his sophomore season pitching out of the Sun Devils bullpen, then eventually evolved into becoming their Friday night starter. He resumed that role in 2025 after a summer in which he made a few solid appearances in the Cape Cod League and for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team. When he’s clicking like he was at the end of 2024, Jacobs looks every bit like a prototypical college lefty with a starting pitcher’s repertoire and solid feel for what he’s doing on the mound. None of his individual offerings jump off the page, but he misses bats with all three of his pitches. It starts with a fastball that typically sits in the 92-94 mph range, touching 95-96 at times. It was not missing as many bats as it did in 2024, when it had decent life up in the zone to go along with solid deception. He has a traditional slider he throws in the 78-83 mph range and his low-80s changeup features good fade. Jacobs has struggled with his command at times during his college career, but he repeats his delivery well and is competitive in and around the zone, so there’s some confidence he’ll get to more consistent strikes as he advances. His ceiling might be a little limited because of the lack of a true out pitch, but he’s the kind of back-end starter who has the chance to land in the top three rounds.

should have lots of $$$ to grab fallers at 62 and 98

Pipeline had him 219; was was going to Yale; LH catcher; but HS catchers are notoriously hard to develop

Baltimore picks 2 of the 3 best college catchers - seems odd to me

Schrödinger's Epstein list - the list that does not exist was created by Obama

sellers holdout for best deal, so unless you are offering 1 of the big 5 now, sellers will wait to see if you blink

Elmo will also keep this story alive as long as it continues to amuse him

11.5 game lead at All Star break - great! but did DD build this BP? c'mon guys!

3, 4, and 7 runs should net you one win

allowing 35 runs in 3 games with everyone getting shelled; not good

I suspect the Ms had an excellent advance scouting report on the entire Tigers staff. They are taking when they should and swinging when they should.

AJ must really hate Vest

I hope the Dems don't screw this up and decide to move on to more important things than Epstein. Millions of Americans don't care about the government at all, but are deep into conspiracy theories and the performative nonsense of "just asking questions" With his panicked denials, Trump has already revealed that he is all over the Epstein files. Dems need to sell this crap to the morons who want it. There is no downside. Maybe they don't get a lot of votes from this, but they can dampen MAGA's turnout.

CBS will defend its $16M bribe by pointing out how small it was.

If Maxwell dies in prison while Trump is POTUS, after Epstein died in prison while Trump was POTUS, it will be obvious to all that Hillary is hiding something truly dark and evil.

may have been mentioned above, it looks like they doctored the jail cell video - per Wired. the same jail cell video Bill Barr said did not exist.

unacceptable! send them back to WMI

I think the answer is that Democrats tried to run on normalcy and decency - that aligns with what most Democratic voters want, but it does not exactly energize the electorate. But Trump was able to reach just enough of the infrequent/disinterested voters to win. Some loved the racism, others loved the sexism, still others just liked that politics was interesting under Trump, unlike boring Biden. Trump said he would reduce egg prices. Biden/Harris tried to explain to competing market forces that worked against a more rigid elasticity in egg prices. I have totally come around on this issue that you must be 100% media literate - in all forms of media - to reach large portions of possible voters, and constantly bullsh|t everyone. Trump promised everything to every group on every platform he could find.

if they get Bednar and LHP Dylan Lee from Atlanta, the bullpen would be a strength

i want a pitcher who is good enough to cost prospect capital, significant prospect capital actually, I want 2 pitchers who cost significant prospect capital