jacksonianmarch

Houck is really sucking wind this year in A+ level. 1.73WHIP, 1.8HR/9IP and 6.6BB/9IP is terrible. Scherff is sucking donkey balls as well in A ball. 1.50WHIP, 5.9K/9IP, 4.9BB/9IP Cole Brannen is well under the Mendoza line. .157/.246/.205 Netzer isn't doing terribly but not great and Thompson has sucked in Salem. While development is a marathon and not a race, I doubt anyone from last year's draft is a good bet to be dealt for anything of value this year

You stopped watching after opening day? So the first game of the season turned you off to a team that was predicted to be in the playoffs and contend for a title? A team that currently has the second best win % in baseball (and it aint close) and is on pace to win 108 games? Either you hate baseball, don't understand baseball or really aren't a fan.

Defense does start with pitching. You could have the best defense in baseball, but if your pitchers are walking the park or allowing balls to be hit out, it isn't useful. That being said, pitching relies on the defense and a bad defense will ruin good pitching. I wouldn't say it's an 80/20 split. If it was, then you'd expect a pitcher to control the outcome 80% of the time. I don't know of a pitcher that controls 80% of their at bats (ie strikeouts or pop outs).

I would like that too, but I don't see it happening. We don't have the space like we did at 2b. Walker was a space holder from the start and when he started off poorly and Drury went down, an opening was made. I know Gardner isn't lighting the world on fire in the OF, but he is seeing a ton of pitches, reaching base 35% of the time and still wreaking havoc on the basepaths. Hicks isn't hitting well, but he is still walking and his .233 BABIP point towards an upswing. Even with his miserable slash line, he is worth 0.5WAR due mainly to his BB% and solid defense. I think the big thing is upside. When Gardner is on, he is a terror to face and a true leadoff hitter with solid defense in LF. When Hicks is on, he is a power hitting, high OBP switch hitter capable of playing elite defense. I know Frazier has the potential to be better than both, but the now isn't as sure fire as it seemed with Gleyber. I honestly think Frazier's time will come next yr. I doubt we pick up a $14 mil option on a 35 yr old Gardner. That'll leave LF or DH open depending on whether we plan to play Stanton out there. Or do we get Harper? Who knows

I cannot imagine the need for furosemide in a healthy 35 yr old athlete. It's a diuretic typically used for patients with congestive heart failure to drop their intravascular volume.

I played the game at a pretty high level (CWS twice) and I felt the same way initially when the stat revolution came about. But I’ve accepted that these stats have their place and have replaced the old “eye test”. I can look at a player and tell if he has big league skills, but the stats say how well or how consistent those skills are being executed. The new age stats also incorporate defense and base running, where in the past it was an afterthought. UN has an abrasive tone for sure, but he’s smart and knows the game and the stats. He just doesn’t tolerate baseless arguments Also, for those looking at the Yankee prospect machine, we built this with advanced metrics. Cash forced his scouts to use exit velocities, launch angles, spin rates, etc in their scouting. Those that didn’t comply were terminated. It’s a far more objective method to scouting and it started after we drafted a lip sticked pig in Chris Smith in the early rounds out of HS and when he got to camp, he was by no means showing the skills he was billed as having. He was such a bad miss that Cash and Oppenheimer changed their philosophy to objective data

Beeks must stay in the minors. He’s your only trade chip to land something of minor value. If he comes up and gets ravaged, then you’ll have nobody to deal. I disagree with the sentiment that you won’t add to the pen. You now need someone to stabilize your bridge. Barnes and Hembree cannot be trusted. Thornburg is a wild card. I guarantee he adds a setup man assuming he has enough to add one.

The Yanks have their dances and have their fun as well. You can’t be all business. What I’ve said for awhile is the sox jumped out to their ridiculous start with some damn good play and against some bad competition. They still swept the Angels in Anaheim, so it wasn’t all chumps, and it’s not their fault that they are playing their schedule. That being said, the sox rotation has been lauded from day 1, but only two dogs in that rotation can hunt. Price’s velocity is down and he keeps getting the tingles when he has to face us. Pomeranz’s velo is way down and he’s lost nearly all effectiveness after an early season arm injury. ERod continues to be enigmatic and provide short innings for a starter with his stuff. Your team wasn’t built to bash teams, and that’s what they did through their insane start. That wasn’t going to last. If the Sox are to get rolling again, it will be due to the talent in the rotation starting to show and less about hitters who aren’t hitting. For all the negativity about your lineup, you still have 6 hitters hitting the piss out of the ball with pretty much all of them outperforming expectations right now

New blood. They seem young. I remember being this vitriolic when my team was losing. We mellow out over time. These kids will too

You can probably just copy and paste this many, many times in every game thread

Exactly. It is a stupid argument

He is absolutely terrible. He pretends to be witty, but he sounds like an uninterested meathead

I don't think the sox can be faulted for getting Smith. They dealt next to nothing. The deal for Thornburg looks really bad right now, although he might change that a bit

And Ortiz

Who’s the douche with O’Brien? He’s terrible. Is that Gomes?

Shoulder injury that could be major. Wow. And here I was complimenting him earlier. Looks like the sox will be in the market for relief at the deadline

Who?

I forgot about Chance Adams. He’s been scuffling this year

I think the Cubs and Astros and to a lesser extent the Twins and Pirates show the benefit of tanking

Yes, but they can activate him after 10 games. He tested positive for a diuretic, so while he didn’t get slammed for a PED, he was hit for a masking agent

Pitching is rounding into form. Dillon Tate has been solid around one bad start and a DL stint. Abreu is finally back from his injury (I think it was back) and has been dominant. He needs a call-up to AA. Sheffield went down with "shoulder tightness" although he was pissed he was pulled and then DL'd. His managed expects only one missed start. Domingo Acevedo had a rough beginning. He made it through 2 starts then went to the DL with a blister issue. He was ready to return when he was hit in the head in batting practice by an errant ball and is working through a concussion. Erik Swanson has been otherworldly dominant. 5-0, 0.52ERA 11.4K/9IP 4K/BB 0.84WHIP. 0HR in 34.2IP. He is climbing up prospect boards significantly with his high 90s sinker/slider combo Trevor Stephan has been lights out. 1.85ERA, 0.79WHIP, 38-9 K-BB in 34IP. Dalton Lehnen has been lights out. 2.14ERA 36-4 K-BB 0.89WHIP in 33.2IP. On a down note, Glen Otto and Freicer Perez are on the DL. Otto had a solid 2 starts before hitting the DL. Perez had a velo drop and a loss of command before hitting the DL. I am concerned the latter might have something more serious, but no reports on the injuries released to this point. Matt Sauer didn't make a long season team. Sounds like they are taking it easy with him and will put him in a short season league for 2018. Clarke Schmidt is almost ready to return to the mound after TJS last year. We went pitcher heavy in the 2017 draft and already have seen positive returns with Lehnen and Stephan while Otto was making a name for himself before injury. The fact that we are seeing good things out of these guys and the top two draft picks haven't even played in long season games this year tells of how solid the Yanks draft was.

This Yankee team has been incredibly fun to watch, but we are starting to see the roster crunch actually get the best our of our players. Walker had sucked in April, but he's hitting over .340 in May and seems to be in on every late inning rally. He will currently occupy our 1B slot vs RHH until Bird returns Speaking of Bird, he has 4 rehab games under his belt and hasn't started hitting yet. With the crunch above, I anticipate he will be in the minors for a fair amount of his rehab allotment or until injury necessitate Miguel Andujar came up hitting like DiMaggio and Mantle in terms of EBH in his first 20 games. He has cooled off with the extra base hits, but is hitting over .300 on his recent hitting streak. During his hitting streak, all 8 hits are singles, though and he isn't taking walks. While he hasn't been abysmal defensively, he hasn't been good either. He is the guy on the bubble for me. If his bat doesn't heat up or his defense improve, he may end up in AAA for some more seasoning Brandon Drury is now wearing tinted glasses and says his migraine issues are significantly improved. He just finished his rehab stay, but with the roster crunch, he has been optioned to AAA. He is hitting the ever living s*** out of the ball in the minors to the tune of .315/.433/.481. I expect him to be up very soon, probably as a replacement for Andujar, who may need a bit more time to hone his approach Gleyber Torres has already provided 0.5WAR in 20 games. His slash line is .319/.360/.493 and he is playing lights out defense. His approach is that of a 10 year vet. He looks like he belongs. He is clutch. This kid has probably taken 2b and will be there for a long long time (unless SS gets freed up and he moved back there). I anticipate this kid will be the next Jeter type player. Tyler Austin has 5HR in limited time. He has cooled off of late and has lost PT to Austin. He is the likeliest player optioned out when Bird returns. I think eventually he should get a long run on this club, but we have too much talent to wait him out. He might be better off as a trade candidate to a team that can give him run. Clint Frazier is murdering the ball in AAA. His triple slash is ridiculous with a 1.000+ OPS and 4HR in 16 games. He is actually being called up today. I wonder who goes down? Either way, a good problem to have

ERod owns us. He always has.

Mesoraco being their starter isn't a positive notation for Mesoraco, rather a significant detractor of the Met's abhorrent catcher depth.

Hanley is a hitting version of E-Rod, IMO. Guys with tantalizing skills who have been unable to put it together in a sox jersey for more than a few months