BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: Here are 10 intriguing 40-man roster adds

Baseball Primer Newsblog
— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand

Monday, November 23, 2020

Here are 10 intriguing 40-man roster adds

Sam McWilliams, RHP, Mets
McWilliams was one of the hottest Minor League free agents this offseason and signed a $750,000 big league contract with the Mets despite logging an 8.18 ERA in Triple-A a year ago. He can reach the upper 90s with his fastball and generates high spin rates on his slider, but he also has averaged just 7.0 strikeouts per nine innings as a starter in the Minors. He has bounced from the Phillies (eighth-round pick out of a Tennessee high school in 2014), to the D-backs (traded for Jeremy Hellickson in 2015), to the Rays (three-team trade in 2018), to the Royals (Rule 5 Draft in 2018), to the Rays (returned by Kansas City in 2019) and now the Mets.

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: November 23, 2020 at 01:47 PM | 5 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: sam mcwilliams

Reader Comments and Retorts

Go to end of page

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

1. Walt Davis Posted: November 23, 2020 at 03:22 PM (#5990880)

Mostly a mix of "this guy throws hard but keeps getting hurt" and "this guy throws hard but walks everybody." A couple of position players -- a defensive whiz who doesn't strike out but also can't hit (ISO of 072 in the minors) and an old guy who may have figured out how to hit. The most intriguing guy looks to be Bailey Ober, one of that first group of pitchers, who posted a 100/9 (yes, 100 to 9) K/BB in 79 IP (13 starts, 1 relief) in 2019.

2. DL from MN Posted: November 23, 2020 at 08:53 PM (#5990922)

Bailey Ober is weird because he is 6'9" but throws a mid-80s fastball (or at least did in 2019). The fastball plays up because of his location and his changeup and probably his release point close to the plate. If he adds velocity (and his frame suggests he can) he could be special. If not he could get some work in the 6th inning.

3. The Duke Posted: November 23, 2020 at 10:34 PM (#5990927)

Seems like you should look hard at any Padres given how deep their system. Teams sometimes try to lose take a class A guy with tools (like Perdomo) but this almost never works. They guys who are MLB ready ( AAA with maybe a few cups of coffee ) should be the focus. My personal favorite is jake Brentz who is mlb ready, bounced around. Royals have a huge stockpile of pitchers and they couldn’t protect him

4. Jefferson Manship (Dan Lee) Posted: November 24, 2020 at 10:40 AM (#5990953)

Ernie Clement, SS, Indians

This isn't intriguing; it's more like "we're about to trade our shortstop for a pile of prospects and somebody needs to stand between Chang and Ramirez until we trade Jose".

I guess they could move Ramirez back to shortstop and play Nolan Jones at third, but without Clement on the roster and assuming no Lindor, the actual middle infielders they have on the 40 are Yu Chang and Gabriel Arias. And Arias has never played above A ball.

5. Walt Davis Posted: November 24, 2020 at 04:40 PM (#5991007)

He's "intriguing" because he K's only 7% of the time in the minors.

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

<< Back to main

Monday, November 23, 2020

Here are 10 intriguing 40-man roster adds

Reader Comments and Retorts

BBTF Partner

Support BBTF

Hot Topics