Ben Nicholson-Smith

The return of Kirk, the return of Barger, that will help.

But, you know, we might just be talking about a below average offense this season.

Well, yeah, it's really interesting.

You're right.

We've been texting about this more than probably most people would guess.

But yeah, Bryce Elder, I was looking also at some of his expected stats.

And when it comes to expected WOBA for him, based on the quality of contact, the strikeouts, the walks, he's actually been right there with Chris Sale this season.

So...

Again, that's a descriptive stat in a sense because it's telling us what kind of contact he has allowed.

So there's no doubt that he has been good to this point in the season.

There's no doubt that he has missed barrels to this point in the season, avoided hard contact, avoided the kind of damage that

gets pitchers in trouble.

So give him credit.

And clearly there's some moxie, there's some competitiveness that he can access and that helps him on the mound and helps him trust his stuff.

Now, if we were to cast forward, simply looking at how much he misses bats,

I have a hard time looking at this guy as someone who is a true ace or even a true number three.

I think, to me, he's probably a good number four, like a really, really, really good number four starter in the vein of what a Seth Lugo has been in the past.

And maybe that's a little harsh.

Maybe number three, number four.

Where do you land on Bryce Alder?