jacksonianmarch

Stevander Bratiz

Tipping pitches doesn't cause your velocity to drop and the bite on your breaking pitches to vanish. The guy in the Rodriguez jersey this year is not the same one that pitched last yr. They need to figure something out with him, because he does not yet have the baseball acumen to pitch with diminished stuff, nor is he at an age where his stuff should be diminished. It is either a physical issue that they are hoping he can work through or a psychological one. Dislocating your patella is not a weight bearing, structural issue. But if you've ever seen your own patella yanked to the side of your knee, I am sure it is a bit unnerving. I've reduced many and I am sure there is some hesitation to trust the knee on his part

Gotta pump the brakes a little on him, which is actually a good thing. There are those that dominate the A ball leagues, but starting in AA, you start to see fringe big league smarts mixed with big league talent. He is probably seeing pitch sequences and breaking stuff/change ups like he's never seen before. Its a good thing he is actually struggling a little

The FA class after this year is one of the worst I have ever seen. With Strasburg off the market, the SP market blows ass. The reliever market is topped by Chapman, but the rest suck. If you're getting pitching for next year, you're dealing for it.

I have said before and will continually say that you MUST get another starter. The sox shot their wad this offseason dealing away top prospects to get a closer and spending $217 mil on an "ace". The ace of your staff currently is a 31 yr old journeyman knuckleballer. Price has come on of late and will likely supplant Wright. Porcello has been decent, but there are MAJOR warning signs with him. His HR rate is exactly the same as it was last yr yet his BABIP sits at .259, a full 51 points below his career average. I anticipate Porcello falls back into the low to mid 4 range in ERA. You also cannot consistently count on any knuckleballer, as once the flutterball flutters off target, he becomes a HR derby pitcher. Now Elias is in your rotation as well, and he has been abysmal to this point at all levels. ERod looks timid and hurt. Buchholz was awful. Owens looked scared. You have TWO spots in your rotation where you know you have to play offense like a beer league softball team to win the game, and that is not counting the regression to come for Porcello and the concern about a knuckleballer staying strong in Wright. Think about this, you're 19th in the bigs in starter's ERA and that is with Steven Wright pitching like a Cy Young candidate. Right now, youre behind the O's by a game, and while they can hit the dinger, they aren't the long term threat to the division. The Jays have found their mojo and the offense we all were fearing has started to come alive. And the craziest thing about them is that they're 2nd in the AL in total ERA, 2nd in starters ERA and 1st in all of baseball in starters IP (and it isn't close). They have a deep and diverse rotation fronted by a Cy Young candidate in Estrada, and filled out with knuckler Dickey, crafty lefty Happ and two power arms in Sanchez and Stroman. If the sox don't make a move soon, they will not win the division and Toronto will take it going away. After being 12 games over .500 coming into June, you're 5-8 this month with an ERA of 4.60. In those 8 losses, you've allowed 52 runs, in the 5 wins, you've allowed 16 runs. 3 of the 5 wins were due to Steven Wright allowing 3 total runs. Basically, your offense is starting to come down to earth a bit. The warts are showing and your team is starting to fade. Toronto has more staying power and is right on your heels. Baltimore is more like Boston, no pitching but solid offense. If you don't add to your rotation soon, you will be fighting for a WC spot

Just a few things that need to happen.... Once Gary Sanchez returns from his hand injury, he becomes starting catcher. McCann gets to take some time off and play 1B, DH some and mostly rest his worn down body. Keep him fresh for next yr. Once Beltran is dealt away, bring up Judge. The kid is kinda stagnating in AAA, give him a taste of the big time. If he responds and hits his potential, you have a star. If he sucks a bit, he can at least see what the life is like and work towards it for next yr. Deal away Gardner. His OBP is solid, he still has blazing speed and he plays phenomenal D. He would be worth something serious on the open market. He has two years left on his contract and we are gonna suck next yr, so acquire prospects Deal away 2 of the pen arms and keep Betances. Get some serious prospect capital. Shoot Teixeira. He's done, take him behind the woodshed, break out the 12 gauge and put Old Yeller in the yard somewhere (figuratively, obviously, just cut him) Release Roidhead, or plant some roids in his gym bag and call in a tip. He needs to go See which pitchers can be moved. If Pineda's stock rises after a solid month or so, move him. Same with Eovaldi. This staff has too many fluctuations in production. Keep Tanaka, rebuild the rest

Just pull the damn trigger already. If Beltran's injury is minor, he should be worth a fortune on the open market. He is the king of contract year production and this yr is no different. We need to rebuild. This team f***ing sucks ass right now

I disagree with Dojji about the lineup construction. It stands to reason that guys hitting higher in the order get more at bats than guys lower than them. Therefore, the more ABs you give to your most productive players, the more runs you'll score. 162/9 is 18. Assuming the law of averages and every game ends at a position in the lineup randomly, 18 games will end after the full lineup has hit an equal amount of time. 18 times, the 9 hitter will be left on deck, 18 times the 8 hitter will be left on deck, etc. In all but 18 games, the lead off hitter will hit once more than the 9th hitter. That's 144 more AB's for a lead off vs a 9 hitter. Dropping Hanley 3 spots is akin to cutting his AB's by 54 over a full year. 54AB's for someone OPS'ing .950 vs someone OPS'ing .717 has to be worth some runs. This is why I'm a fan of what Gibbons is doing in Toronto. His highest OBP guy just happens to be his most powerful hitter. But by giving him the equivalent of 54 more AB's over hitting him 4th has allowed him to reach base much more than a guy like Pillar, who was leading off. Their offense responded

Solak and Chatham are similar players drafted as a reach to save some money. Both MIF who probably profile outside the middle but can hit. If I'm saving money, I'd like to draft guys with a plus hit tool

Brady Aiken should ring a bell for this kid. Going back to school with a multi-million dollar offer in hand is a bad idea. That being said, the payout from #1-#12 is a significant difference. My guess is the sox take the 5% overage plus some savings from picks 2-10 and apply it to his bonus. I see a mid $4 mil bonus being signed. It's not often that the mocked #1 just a week or two ago falls to you at twelve. At that point, you change gears and alter your 2-10 to make it work.

I am very pleased with the pick. That sweet lefty swing in the stadium would be something nice to see. Currently CFer, but likely to be a RF in the bigs

Blake Rutherford. #8 prospect, HS CFer. I like the pick, hope he develops

Latos barely allowed any runs for 4 starts, then he allowed almost as many runs as innings pitched. He's done

Whitley was the guy I wanted. This stinks

If he has immaturity issues, we haven't heard anything about it. No arrests, no abuse issues, nothing. Instead, some phantom s*** dropped him into your lap

It's off the f***ing chart. You guys got a top 3 pick at #12.

Everyone did. He fell due to "maturity issues". The kid is 17, of course he's immature

You guys got the best pitching talent in the draft. "Maturity" issues caused him to drop. 6'6" 95mph FB, best curve in the draft. WTF

Mother f***er f*** this f*** mother f*** s*** ass f***

I really don't want him to go to the sox. He is exactly what you need, high end, high ceiling pitching

Jason Groome falling down the board due to character issues.

Ventura needs to understand how spoiled he has been. He came up with KC, which for the last 30 yrs basically meant you'd be groomed to be traded when your value gets high. Instead of being the big leagues' AAA squad, he came up when they were going to multiple playoff runs. Instead of sitting back and learning from the likes of Shields, Cueto, Volquez, etc, he has decided to be a hot head kid who appears uncoachable. He's going to find himself in Minnesota if he isn't careful

I really don't care what it was. The kid is a top 5 talent with the glove to stick at SS. He will be a big leaguer

I am saying the Clay of today. Clay used to have wipeout stuff. The Clay of now does not. Talking about wipeout stuff, Severino threw 6 shutout innings with 7K and 1 walk in AAA. He needs to stay down there for the month of June. This should allow his confidence to build and then bring him up when the typical injury/ineffectiveness bug hits again.

His stuff is far better than Clay's. Maybe Clay circa 2008