jung

I like your trade fillers category. Usually it takes buckets and buckets of those guys to fill in if you are shy any real talent under the actual trade principles. As it turns out, we have buckets and buckets and buckets and ......... You get the picture probably better than most of us.

Actually it is the time taken for this nonsense that matters. There are no longer Pitchers that do what many pitchers did while batters were going through all this nonsense outside the batter's box WHERE THEY SHOULD NOT BE between pitches. More pitchers were closer to if not doing what Andy Petitte used to do when these hitters are going through all this nonsense, consulting with the cosmos or their dead ancestors or what have you. Want to stick a foot out....fine. Once they get both feet outside the box over NOTHING....uncontested ball and strike calls....NOTHING....pitches they did not even swing at....NOTHING they can do whatever they want. Enforce the rule for f*** sake and if that is not enough, stiffen the rule. I would say the time taken by hitters for this nonsense from both teams for an inning is as much as 4 minutes on average per inning just for all the hitters both teams. Then take on another 2 minutes an inning because the pitchers are no longer standing on the rubber, glove up, ball in hand waiting for the hitters to end their lunacy and the pitcher does not even have a sign yet! That is 6 minutes total an inning x 9 innings or 54 minutes of horse s***. So NOOOOOOOO, we don't need a mercy rule for the time and we don't need a mercy rule to save pitchers. We need MLB to enforce the rules that exist for hitters and the batter's box and/or stiffen them and we need MLB to value command on an equal footing with velo and spin rate as it used to be in pitching and we need an honest commissioner and an honest baseball again (meaning one that does not perform so far outside a nominal rate of performance). As for our town team, Mookie is about the only hitter we have that does it the right way, time and again, AB after AB. He does not even get out of the box after he has been buzzed. Sticks a single foot out now and again and that is about it. The rest of them act like they are conducting a seance at Home Plate or having a Sunday picnic at the Public Gardens. But the last straw was that the Pitchers noticed how much time the batters were taking and simply refuse to stand there ready to throw for all that nonsense. The Pitchers don't do jack anymore until they see that the batter once again has at least one foot back in the box which is where the batter should have been in the first place!!!!! I would offer that at least half of that 54 minute estimate per game of pure waste is entirely unjustified and the other half is not much better.

If we were smart we would start to look very seriously at what we really have in the minor league system and get a head start on 2020 and 2021. You don't lay down like the Sox did last night and suddenly go on one of these runs we are dreaming about. We don't even have the pitching to go on one of these runs. Repeating 5 wins and 2 losses out the season won't get anything done and that is all this team is capable of doing. 5 win two loss runs will do quite a bit for you if you start the season that way and run out the season that way. Trying to catch up.....NOPE and we are not capable of better. Not even sure we are capable of that. Every 4th or 5th day we are going to run into a crap performance by our pitching and are on a similar cyclical basis going to run into a hot pitcher that just shuts us down or we simply become a tired offense for a day. Some of the pitchers we have could actually pan out to at least be respectable if somebody would work with them that knew what he was doing. In some cases, the best thing that could happen to them would be to get traded. BJ is one of those. DHern is probably another one. Even Weber might be one.

Meaning of course that he is a dime a dozen player that I can gleefully report is wearing somebody elses laundry. Good, solid little middle infielder....PLEASE!!!!! The Rooster was a good solid little middle infielder. Iggy is just an ******* with range.

nope!

Great play....But Iggy is still the same, makes a great play, bones up the play you really need made SS he always was and always will be. He is the same lousy teammate he always will be and its no accident that he went from one chump team, the Tigers to another chump team, the Reds as he will very likely play out his career just that way. His last year in Detroit, his teammates would literally laugh at him on the field for his absurd rages at them. He had become a caricature of himself in their eyes as they just could no longer take his on field glaring ranker seriously. He's just an ******* sorry to say and would only be my choice for SS under extreme duress. Other than one ASG appearance, has he garnered any accolades at all as an MLB player? Anybody willing to pay him for his nonsense? NOPE. Highest salary was Pearce money in 2018 and the Tigers seem to have immediately realized that was a mistake. Making $2.5M in Cincy and becomes a FA after this season. Don't want him on my team EVER.

Glad Iggy is gone. He is a lousy teammate for one thing and he always will be. One simple question. Would Rafi have made so much progress with Iggy at SS as opposed to X? Answer: NOPE...not on a bet. Drew made every single play in that series and you simply cannot downplay a shortstop in a short series making every single play compared to a hothead booting them and screaming at his teammates the whole time. So if you are arguing would I want Iggy now...NOPE....not on a bet. Would not have taken Iggy over Drew in that series and would not take Iggy now over X. We got Peavy and WS and the Tigers got....embarrassed AGAIN!!!

Actually Drew outplayed Iggy in the field in the Detroit series and it was not even close. Outplayed him enough to actually make a dif. Drew made every play at SS while Iggy fell all over himself screaming at his infield mates all the while....a horrid performance if I ever saw one. Iggy made one or two spectacular plays while booting everything else.

So lets see, the Phillies staff out-pitched our staff for the two nights no matter how much we might have liked the pieced together game last night. They outhit us though neither team distinguished itself there. The Phillies looked more like they wanted to win, particularly tonight when in the critical 5th inning they just went right past us like we were standing still and never looked back. PATHETIC.....PATHETIC....DOGS......laid down like dogs.

Sandy might actually have been better than Owings since Sandy hits better from the right side than the left. That said we would all have been laughing our asses off as Sandy stepped to the plate.

Well I have to admit I was wrong. The pen from Nuts forward only gave up 2/3 of a run per inning out the 9th.

Forgot about Holt...but I don't think he does anything in that spot v Alvarez either. Plus Cora would have been left to explain to his LH hitter why he was pulled for another LH hitter not a power guy if Holt was used to pinch hit there.

I understand Owings is a bum. But Marco would have done no better v Alvarez and the only guy left on our bench is Sandy. Heck Porcello has already been in and out of this game or I would have let him pinch hit.

Really kinda' surprised they let Alvarez pitch to Vaz in that spot.

Watch, the pen from Nuts forward is going to give up a run an inning out the game and we will be calling that a terrific performance.

Unbelievable....laying down like dogs so far.

Yea but that game 7 was a heroic performance. Even on 2 days rest, he was on the ropes multiple times and gutted it out until finally succumbing. Sox really had no choice but to start him and he had to go out there and pitch. Amazing that Lonborg had gotten them to that game. That team had Yaz and ah....Yaz and well Yaz.

Can't believe he got through 67. I remember listening to his final WS start that year convinced he was just going to blow up. Now that guy worked out of his own jams.

Don't lay one in to Segura nuts

You just knew nuts was not going to get out of his own jam.

Hitter walks on ball 5. He tried to bail "nuts" out and nuts just would not accept the gift.

"nuts" is either going to walk this guy or hit him

Thats OK Slash. I should pay off the bet just based on Marco making contact. That is not the sort of LHer Marco really has any hope of hitting.

Want to take odds on whether Marco has a hope in hell here?

Nay...we need Sam so we can turn that wasted Pearce money into something useful.