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shortstackum · 3 years

Note

Noah has ASPD and BPD

Bab has dyslexia and Autism

Jasper has Autism and ADD

Tirsiak has ADHD and BPD

Parry has ADD

Jon has severe anxiety issues

Lector has ASPD

Spooper has autism

Hooky has bipolar

Ringu has ADHD

Sam has OSDD and schizophrenia

Goop has ADD

One has ASPD and NPD

Spooper has prosthetic arms

Bab has a bad stutter and spinal issues

Jasper can't straighten his legs or stand without severe pain

Tirsiak is blind in one

Lisa is partially blind and partially deaf

Ben has asthma

Acci is blind

Sam is mute

Sam's alters are:

Tagg- he/him they/them aroace male ageless

Trouble maker and very energetic

Z- they/them Lesbian female ageless

Lax and very kind

Arrow- any pan ace nonbinary 20

Strict and always looking out for others and willing to fight for anyone

The headspace mostly had bean bags and a tree

Since the body is mute they can only communicate vocally with each other in the headspace

They write notes in a journal so that they can keep track of what's happening and who did what

It's especially helpful since they all struggle with amnesia

Spooper got his prosthetic arms from the hospital

Bekka often helps Lisa out if she can't see or hear something well

And since Lisa is a ghost, surgery couldn't fully recover her but Lisa isn't mad about it at all and has learned to accept herself

Since Bab can't speak well sometimes they'll just try showing it physically

Flapping arms forward means they need something from you

Flapping arms to the side means they're uncomfortable and/or scared

Flapping arms upwards is a sign of happines

Acci uses sound and smell to know where it's going

Everyone has taken therapy and while it's helped a little obv it didn't magically fucking cure them

Ben often makes dolls that look like the creatures in the mansion and use them to make fun of others

"Hehe look at meee I'm Two I'm shy uwu"

Two is a nervous wreck and just listens to whatever One and Three have to say but when One and Three argue, he just malfunctions

Three is the most normal of the trio and often leader like

The 3s are all capable of laying eggs but choose not to

They make eggs asexually

Hooky has a tounge and teeth, they're made of felt but still feel and act like real teeth and a tounge

Frenzy and Charles used to work as caretakers for the husks

GLA thought they weren't good enough and experimented on them

Frenzy's weapon is the same one she used to try and fend back against GLA

Charles doesn't feel extreme discomfort or pain anymore (or atleast not all the time)

Frenzy mostly tries to keep the peace and make everyone happy but that doesn't work most of the time

Frenzy actually feels pretty soft

Charles usually does reconstruction at the dollhouse as he's the tallest and can reach far away and tall places

Husker mostly spends it's days ignoring everyone and watching TV or reading

It's very emotionally detached from everyone, no matter how much everyone tries to be nice it just would rather die alone

Well.. actually they don't mind the demon child but that's about it

Clicky is still very good at using a gun

She's begun to learn how to use other weapons

She actually doesn't care that her parents were awful, she's not sad and doesn't mind talking about it. Hell she acts like it's a funny story

She loves pissing off Husker

Husker can escape it's husk, although it feels weird to do so but it seems happier being free

Husker only returns when they're tired and just doesn't feel like it

Husker, even in their husk, is still rather strong

Their spirit is a tall, light skinned turkish 15 year old

Just like with the demon child, it stopped aging randomly

Husker sometimes goes to talk to the demon child, they seem to get along very well (not in a shipping way ew)

The demon child is only scared of Eyth out of all the hospital monsters

Her favorites are Jon and Bekka

She also finds comfort in Lisa because of how motherly she is

Sometimes she'll leave the mirror but is afraid to leave the hospital without either Jon, Bekka, Lisa or Husker

She doesn't think Taker is a bad guy at all, but still is afraid

She hates Spooky and thinks he's the reason for all of this, which, if you think about it, eh kinda

Some of the others call her Lilly and she's accepted the name (Spooper was the one to come up with her name)

Despite how mean and harsh Kat can be, Lilly thinks nyan's nice and cute

Fleshy likes to babysit her and usually causes mischief with her

As does Taker

Bekka has other outfits (in black)

Ben doesn't know why he became a puppet or why he's had evil tendencies to attack people and turn kids into dolls

Bab and Ben came from the same town

It was Bab's ritual magic that made him like this

Bab doesn't know that though

Ben does feel bad for the children

He's constantly reminded with Tirsiak's existence

Tirsiak has barely forgiven Ben, he just makes small talk at best

Idk how you manage to think of all those headcanons,but I envy you for it! ( ╹▽╹ )

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araniaart · 6 years

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Ace Comic Con Report!

@shipperhipster and I road-tripped to Arizona for Ace Comic Con in Glendale! (Afterwards, we made a side-trip to the Grand Canyon to make it a real vacation before heading home - more photos on that later!) BUT wanted to post about the experiences at the con! I did a separate write-up about how awesome it was to meet two of the top Art Designers of the MCU (Andy Park and Ryan Meinerding) HERE There were a lot of ups and downs about the convention itself. The SUCKIEST was that Chris Evans got sick the 2nd day of the con, which is the day we had our tickets to meet him/get photographs. It was going to be our first chance to actualy do a photo-shoot with both us with Chris & Seb together, and we were really looking forward to that. On top of that, Chris was only days off of filming Avengers 4, and he was actually in a rare state of clean-shavenness (which as much as I do love beardy-Steve, he still looks the most like iconic Steve Rogers to me when he’s clean-shaven. We had planned on capitalizing on that for some photo shoot poses :/ ) That being said, we still feel like we couldn’t be that upset about that. We’ve had the chance to meet him before and took an awesome photo with him. We had friends there who were going to be meeting him for the first time, and there were even people who had flown in from countries all over the world to meet him that may not have gotten the chance :( That being said, all in all, even with the disappointment of not getting to see Chris Evans, we still had a great time, and the things that did go well went very well.

Speaking of international visitors, right as we were heading in, an Uber pulled around and asked us if either of us spoke Japanese. Which was absolutely coincidental since I did actually take four semesters of it in college - even though it had been a long time, I knew enough to help translate between the young woman who had flown in by herself to the convention and the Uber driver. She was so sweet, another huge stucky fan, and we chatted as we waited in line to get into the con! (I have a terrible memory for names, but I believe she was Kanoko!) She was super sweet, excited to be there, and her sister had even spotted us at a different convention before and had photos of us - such a small world! She had a great movie-accurate Bucky Backpack with her that she was going to get signed ^^

The Location of the Arena was wonderful - since the stadium is designed to deal with a LOT of people, the area was beautiful with a ton of shops and restaurants in easy-walking distance that could easily handle feeding the crowds. There was an amazing Japanese place we went to called Kabuki after the con that only had a very short wait and some delicious sushi. There was a movie theater, Dave & Busters, bars who had decorated to cater to the comic convention crowd, and all-around a great time :) A comic convention IN an arena, however... there were definitely some growing pains. While the photo shoots were great, and they are run by a different company, all of the autographs were up in the top level of the arena - which meant if you had a narrow time-gap between a photo and an autograph, it could be tough. You had to sit in the very tight (especially if you were in a costume) nose-bleed seats that were angled so as vertigo could be a thing. It also meant that when you were waiting for your turn, since they were pulling people up a row at a time, you couldn’t watch other people interact with the guests while you were waiting.

The con also did not allot NEARLY enough time for the autographs. Sebastian Stan was running over an hour over his allotted time and the staff was rushing him with talking to people - we were at the end of his line, and when we came up he was talking to a handler about why they didn’t budget enough time, and feeling bad bout not getting time with visitors. Such to the point that while he was signing something for him and we were waiting for him to finish/finish speaking with the staff so we could say hi, one of the staff was trying to rush us out “you got your signature ladies, now go!” - I’m thankful Shipper said something - along the lines of we paid to at least get the chance to say Hi to him, and poor Seb - was very apologetic even though we weren’t directing it at him/he wasn’t the one trying to rush us out before we said anything. BUT - My wife got the chance to compliment him on his work on I, Tonya (during the panel, the emcee had spoken to Anthony Mackie and Chris Evans about other roles they’d done, but then asked Seb about The Martian (which he was in like 5 minutes of) and asked how it was working with Ridley Scott (who Seb said was like acting in the dark - NO guidance at all) - and you could tell he was miffed that he hadn’t been asked about I, Tonya since that’s what he’s been promo’ing and the movie is up for some good awards and he has a significant role in it! He also said that he liked my costume! Eeeee! Another down-side of the arena format was the stairs: we had brought a rolly-bag FULL of the MCU Artbooks (The bag probably weighed like 40 lbs) for signatures but rolly bags are not convenient for stairs. Most con floors - sure. Thanks again to Shipper for hauling it up and down the arena stairs TWICE before we were able to get them signed and taken back to the hotel. That being said, the upsides were good - All of the Arena staff were absolutely on-point. They were helpful, concerned about the experience and knowledgeable. When Chris cancelled they made sure guests had choice of alternatives (subbing-in a different op, doing partial-shoots and refunding the Chris “value” if he wasn’t there, or a full refund) - and stayed late to work on processing refunds. When the exchange-your-printed-ticket-for a photo-op coupon line got RIDONKULOUS (across the entire arena floor, up the stairs, and around a corner in the next level, arena staff got on it to make sure that people expedited it. And aside from the lady rushing us at Seb’s table, the rest of the con staff were nice and helpful. which after Comicpalooza, was incredibly refreshing.

That being said, one of my favorite things about cons - the artists’ alley where you have a lot of craftspeople selling interesting wares - was absent from the con. They had BIG comic/pop toy/etc dealers on half of the arena floor, and then a big circle of pro artists selling almost exclusively prints (which is great, but I like a variety) all around the (rotunda?) ground floor of the arena hallway. Then a few different vendors up around the signature area.

Tom Holland was absolutely sweet. I think that this was his first convention outside of SDCC - where he actually got to meet fans and interact with them. He had his own private security team that had a second round of checks after the convention group and were more limiting props for shoots, but that’s understandable considering how young he is and how up and coming he is! (And that this was his first con of this format I think) He was enthusiastic, friendly, and seemed genuinely excited to be there. He had also volunteered to be a sub-in for Chris Evans with group photo shoots, staying late to help people out. I missed most of his panel, but it looked like he was having a good time, and Ned’s actor was also thrilled to be there, taking photos of the crowd. Tom also was having fun peeking out of the curtain of his signature area and waving at the people waiting for him.

It was still a little weird for me to see all the girls likely half my age heart-throbbing after him XD I had no idea how popular he was with teens, but it makes sense! But we were thrilled to meet the MCU Spidey, get his autograph added to our shield, and I think he was an AWESOME Cast!

Signature Right in the blue in silver! Other things of note - Jon Bernthal makes me squee a little more every time I hear him talk. He spoke in his panel about the experience that made him an actor. He had gone to the college for sports, but wasn’t good enough for that to be a long-term career. He had wound up taking an acting class for an elective because he thought it would be an easy class he could hang in the back of. IT wasn’t what he expected and when he didn’t prepare for one class where he was supposed to bring a significant object and describe why it was meaningful, and seeing all his classmates breaking into tears talking about the things he brought, he felt put on the spot. He dug out a baseball glove and made up a story about it being from his grandmother. He had half the class in tears and felt bad - saying afterwards - no, man, this is just acting - it isn’t true. The teacher then pulled him aside - and said that he broke the rules of acting - he wasn’t genuine - but that he had a gift. She made him enroll in the play, and psuhed him. She changed his life and he tattood her name on his wrist and she officiated his wife and his wedding.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Micro’s actor), on the other hand, obviously didn’t want to be there. He came an hour late to his signing after a staffmember had to go retreive him, and apparently “came in with an attitude” about being rushed. He was pleasant enough to us for the signing (and was pleased that people picked up on his character's interpretation being a Snowden analog) - but at the panel he had stank face the whole time, and when asked the same question about what got him into acting it was “it seemed like the most logical choice at the time.” Moreover, when the emcee asked them about what their favorite role was the other actor had been in, Jon gushed about being a fan of Ebon’s work - his great role on Girls, some of his stagework, and Ebon just.... drew an uncomfortable blank - even after the fact two questions ago Jon had talked about his other roles. The moderator had to offer him to “come back to him”. It was kind of awkward. Anyway! All in all, the experience was worthwhile - and Shipper’s new iphoneX got some great photos of our cosplays :)

#Ace Comic Con #Tom Holland #Sebastian Stan #Chris Evans #Hayley Atwell #Punisher #Jon Bernthal #Long Post #MyWSCosplay #Winter Soldier #Captain America

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junker-town · 7 years

Text

5 winners and losers from the 2017 MLB trade deadline

Who won the trade deadline? Who lost? We don't know yet. But come guess at the five winners and losers with us.

Last year at this time, the Rangers made one of the biggest moves at the trade deadline, acquiring Jonathan Lucroy for some of their top prospects. He was widely seen as a huge acquisition, an All-Star who was still under control for 2017. Even though the Rangers gave up a formidable chunk of their farm system, it was hard to blame them.

Over the weekend, the Rangers traded Lucroy to the Rockies for a player to be named later.

That’s how quickly the walls can melt around you, so let’s not pretend that we actually know who won or lost the trade deadline. Last year, apparently, the only winners were the Cubs, Indians, all of the teams that got prospects back, and absolutely no one else. We’ll know the real winners and losers in a few months, if not a few years.

We can guess, though! We can guess. Here are the provisional winners and losers of the 2017 MLB trade deadline*.

*I’m not going to write about every team and every trade because I’m not that sick. Five. You’ll get five winners and five losers.

Winners

Chicago White Sox

ACQUIRED: Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, Bryant Flete and Matt Rose (from Cubs). Ryan Cordell (from Brewers). Casey Gillaspie (from Rays). Ian Clarkin, Tito Polo, Blake Rutherford, and Tyler Clippard (from Yankees). A.J. Puckett and Andre Davis (from Royals), sweet, sweet cash (from Rockies).

TRADED: Jose Quintana, Anthony Swarzak, Dan Jennings, Todd Frazier, Tommy Kahnle, David Robertson, Melky Cabrera, Will Lamb

There was no team that did as much, no team that has as much to show from the deadline, no team that executed their plans so faithfully. The White Sox looked like they were starting at a disadvantage, with Quintana’s season not going according to plan and Todd Frazier hitting close to the Mendoza Line again.

Instead, the Cubs were willing to pretend that the first three months of the season didn’t happen. The Yankees were willing to take David Robertson’s contract (or most of it) as part of a Tommy Kahnle tax and still give up some of their better prospects. The best part might have been the White Sox getting value from pitchers like Dan Jennings and Anthony Swarzak, the latter of whom was signed this spring as a minor league free agent.

I was bleating that the White Sox needed to contend, not rebuild, for the last two years. In a way, the bounty of prospects sort of proves my point — there’s a reason why they got so much back, and it’s because of the talent that went out. On the other hand, if you had told me that they were going to nail each and every one of their trades ...

Los Angeles Dodgers

ACQUIRED: Tony Watson, Tony Cingrani, Yu “Tony” Darvish

TRADED: Oneil Cruz and Angel German (to Pirates); Hendrik Clementina and Scott Van Slyke (to Reds); Willie Calhoun, A.J. Alexy, and Brendon Davis (to Rangers)

Oh, how I was going to savage the Dodgers in this silly little exercise. When the clock struck 1:00 p.m. PT, they had two new left-handed relievers, and both of them were buy-low guys they are assuming can be polished up. Tony Watson isn’t really close to the All-Star he was a couple years ago, and Cingrani is a befuddling mess. On the one hand, the Dodgers are the team that’s turned Brandon Morrow into a late-inning monster. On the other hand, tick tock. Better fix them before the postseason.

It was an underwhelming cavalry for a team that could be forgiven for assuming they didn’t need any substantial upgrades.

AND THEN KEN ROSENTHAL YELLED INTO HIS PHONE.

Source: Darvish TRADED.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 31, 2017

ROSENTHAL: SIRI, SEND TWEET.

SIRI: OK. What would you like me to tweet?

ROSENTHAL: “SOURCE: DARVISH CAPS LOCK TRADED CAPS LOCK OFF PERIOD.”

SIRI: Your pizza will arrive in 45 minutes.

ROSENTHAL: SIRI, IF MOROSI GETS THIS FIRST BECAUSE OF YOU, I WILL KILL YOU.

SIRI: Sending a hitman to kill Jon Morosi.

ROSENTHAL: WAIT. START OVER.

You can read why I think this makes the Dodgers winners over here. The short version: They’re going to have a four-man rotation in the postseason. That’s so danged huge for them. They’ve needed that for years, and now they have it. Terrifying.

Arizona Diamondbacks

ACQUIRED: J.D. Martinez, David Hernandez, John Ryan Murphy

TRADED: Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara, and Jose King (to Tigers); Luis Madero (to Angels); Gabriel Moya (to Twins)

The Diamondbacks played it cool, for the most part, and I actually dislike the Murphy trade an awful lot. Moya looks like a pitcher who can contribute in a major league bullpen right away; Murphy was hitting poorly for a Triple-A catcher, much less someone who belongs on a major league roster.

At the same time, the Diamondbacks got J.D. Martinez. They struggled against lefties, and they picked up one of the best lefty-mashers in the business. I’m not learned enough to accurately grade a lot of the prospects going back and forth*, but I know that exactly one exciting position player changed hands this deadline, and the Diamondbacks got him for what most prospect mavens felt was an underwhelming return.

The Diamondbacks didn’t have a great farm system. They still walked away with a player who fit their needs perfectly. That’s a winner.

* Which means I have no business deciding which teams are winners or losers. But you already clicked. Thanks ... ssssssucker.

Washington Nationals

ACQUIRED: Sean Doolittle, Ryan Madson, Brandon Kintzler

TRADED: McKenzie Mills and international bonus pool space (to Phillies); Blake Treinen, Jesus Luzardo, and Sheldon Neuse (to A’s); Tyler Watson (to Twins)

I’m not going to pretend that these pitchers don’t come with some red flags. Doolittle has troubles staying on the field; Madson is on the older side and often has injury concerns of his own; Kintzler is a weirdo no-strikeout pitcher, even if he’s been successful.

But the Nationals have a bullpen now. They can mix and match better. They can shorten the game just a bit. Their biggest weakness was addressed, which is exactly what a team in their position needs to do. There’s no thinking about 2020 for the Nationals. There’s Max Scherzer and Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper and go go go go go.

If they got Zach Britton or Justin Wilson, they would have made my “Super Winners of the Trade Deadline” column that’s available for premium SB Nation Gold subscribers. As is, they did what they needed to do.

New York Yankees

ACQUIRED: Todd Frazier, Tommy Kahnle, David Robertson, Sonny Gray

TRADED: Ian Clarkin, Tito Polo, Blake Rutherford, and Tyler Clippard (to White Sox). Dustin Fowler, Jorge Mateo, and James Kaprelian (to A’s)

Not only did they shorten the game by an absurd amount — Kahnle, Robertson, Betances, and Chapman in a postseason schedule with regularly scheduled rest days should be against the rules, really — but they added a third baseman and a no. 2 starter, both of which they desperately needed.

The best part? They kept Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier, Chance Adams, Estevan Florial, Justus Sheffield ... they still have one of the better farm systems in baseball. There are a lot of other teams who did moves that I liked — the Rockies getting Jonathan Lucroy for a player to be named later was outstanding — but the Yankees checked off all of their boxes, and they didn’t decimate the organizational depth.

The moral of the story appears to be “have a million prospects, and good things will happen.”

Losers

San Francisco Giants

ACQUIRED: Shaun Anderson and Gregory Santos (from Red Sox)

TRADED: Eduardo Nuñez

Oh, it’s not really the Giants’ fault. Getting the very bad players on their very bad baseball team was, I suppose. But after that, everything was designed to hose the Giants as much as possible. They had mid-tier, quasi-interesting relievers. The market was saturated with relievers who were a tier above.

They had an ace who had started last year’s All-Star Game and was going to be a rental, a similar situation to Yu Darvish, really. He was ineffective and blister-addled, though, and no one wanted to take the risk he would opt in to his contract.

They had a breakthrough year from a starter who ranks seventh in the National League in FanGraphs’ WAR. He has the seventh-best xFIP in baseball. He also ranks 55th in the NL in ERA and makes a lot of money, enough that teams weren’t willing to overlook the old stats to focus on the new stats.

They had a young pitcher under a reasonable contract who was ultra-desirable last year. That pitcher has the worst ERA in the NL.

They had a dominant closer, the kind every postseason wants, even if the Giants would have had to pay down his salary a little. The closer was partially ineffective, and now he’s hurt.

They had an outfielder in the middle of a very nice offensive renaissance. But he can’t field and, whoops, looks like absolutely no team is looking for an outfielder.

I could go on. Don’t make me go on. But the Giants didn’t make a move after Eduardo Nuñez because they couldn’t. They were screwed in all the right ways, bless them. And it’s why they’re stuck between a rebuild and a forced reload.

San Diego Padres

ACQUIRED: Esteury Ruiz, Travis Wood, and Matt Strahm (from Royals)

TRADED: Ryan Buchter, Trevor Cahill, Brandon Maurer

I guess a free Travis Wood is something that any team can use. Ruiz is an 18-year-old raffle ticket in Rookie League. Strahm is a 25-year-old starter with dodgy control and homer problems. It’s possible that all three work out, but it’s an underwhelming return for a team that’s openly rebuilding.

More importantly, however, we have the decision to keep Brad Hand. Considering that the Orioles held on to Zach Britton, it’s possible that the bottom fell out of the super-reliever market, especially after Justin Wilson went to the Cubs. With Hand under team control at bargain rates for the next two seasons, there was no reason to give him away.

There had to be one deal that made sense. One deal that fit in with an organizational philosophy of “We’ve found Brad Hand before. We’ll find Brad Hand again,” which would allow the Padres to get the kinds of prospects or young players they can’t find under a rock. Instead, the Padres set an Andrew Miller asking price based on a few months of Miller-like pitching, which is total second-wave-trend stuff. The Padres are trying to tell you why their fidget spinner is as good as those name brand fidget spinners, and you’re right to be skeptical.

Man, my analogies have been horrible lately.

Tampa Bay Rays

ACQUIRED: Steve Cishek, Lucas Duda, Dan Jennings, Sergio Romo, Chaz Roe

TRADED: Erasmo Ramirez (to Mariners). Drew Smith (to Mets). Casey Gillaspie (to White Sox). PTBNL/cash (to Dodgers). Caaaassssh (to Braves).

This was the have-cake-and-eat-it-too deadline, which is understandable for a team that needs a steady supply of prospects and pre-arbitration players in order to compete. That doesn’t make the bullpen reinforcements any more appealing, though.

Cishek is the big bullpen catch, a ball of funk who was having a nice season for the Mariners. But he still needs to be protected against left-handers, which isn’t something teams usually have the luxury of doing with their best relievers. Romo was designated for assignment for a reason, and his fall has been precipitous. Roe has thrown two innings in the majors this year, and the 30-year-old’s ceiling has been entirely ordinary up until now.

I love the Lucas Duda trade, but the bullpen reinforcements are what a team gets when they don’t want to give away good prospects. It makes sense for the Rays, given what they need to survive. That doesn’t mean I can slap a winning grade on them, though.

Chicago Cubs

ACQUIRED: Jose Quintana, Justin Wilson, Alex Avila

TRADED: Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, Bryant Flete and Matt Rose (to White Sox). Jeimer Candelario, Isaac Parades, and a player to be named later (to Tigers).

The Cubs are here for exactly one reason: Eloy. That doesn’t mean Quintana wasn’t a perfect fit. He was, and his contract will allow the Cubs to be even more creative in the offseason. I’m also a huge Justin Wilson fan, and reinforcing the catching position with a lefty bat who almost made the All-Star team was extra sweet. So I love the talent the Cubs got back, and it will make them a better team right now. Maybe even a much better team. Which is the point, I guess.

But the Cubs had to give up a top-10 prospect to get Quintana. The Yankees didn’t. While Quintana is off to the kind of start with the Cubs that reminds us all that he’s a better pitcher than Sonny Gray, I’m not sure that the difference is that vast. But the Cubs gave up a top-10 prospect in baseball and another top-100 prospect, and the A’s got to hang on to Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier, and Chance Adams.

I’m not sure if the lesson is to wait until the last second, but it feels like the Yankees helped themselves by waiting. The White Sox didn’t want to watch Quintana have a second half as disappointing as his first half, so they had some urgency too, just like the A’s with Gray. The Yankees waited the A’s out. The Cubs got things over quickly.

That means the Cubs got the better pitcher, too, I suppose. But they also gave up Eloy.

youtube

They will miss him.

Houston Astros

ACQUIRED: Francisco Liriano

TRADED: Nori Aoki, Teoscar Hernandez (to Blue Jays)

That’s ... that’s it. And it’s not as if they traded for a proven Andrew Miller-type, either. They traded for a struggling starter with the hopes that they can turn him into an ace reliever by the time the postseason starts. That sounds iffy, and that’s before you get to the part where Liriano has made just two relief appearances in the last five years, and just 29 overall. That’s before you get to the part where his ERA as a reliever is nearly a full run higher than it is as a starter.

I’m willing to believe that what Liriano did in 2012 as a reliever has little to do with how he’ll do in 2017. But that’s kind of the point. No one knows how he’ll adjust to a setup role. He dominates lefties like some of the other available power bullpen arms, as Crawfish Boxes points out, but this is still very much an experiment.

I hate experiments for teams like the Astros. Pitching Clayton Kershaw on three day’s rest every danged postseason was an experiment the Dodgers kept trying, over and over again. The correct answer was to take the existing team and make it exponentially better. Making the Astros five percent better doesn’t sound like a worthwhile goal when they’re going to coast into the postseason, but baseball fans know that a five-percent difference can be the difference between a .250 hitter and a .300 hitter.

For the Astros, adding Yu Darvish could have been the difference between them being a .350 hitter and a .400 hitter, metaphorically speaking. The .350 hitter is great, fearsome, one of the best. But ... the .400 hitter is Ted Williams in his best season. Wouldn’t you rather take your chances with the latter in a situation where the season’s success is going to be defined by how far the team makes it in the postseason? This is year three of the Great Astros Renaissance, and while division titles aren’t exactly getting old, they would certainly like one of the bigger trophies at this point.

We’ll see if holding on to their best prospects will pay off like it did for the Dodgers when they were in a similar spot. Three years ago, I was yelling about them keeping Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger instead of getting Chris Sale, and I’m sure the Dodgers have zero regrets there. But at some point, the Dodgers snapped. I think the Astros will get there. There are no guarantees they’ll get a Bellinger or Seager before they do.

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