cp176

I would have liked to have seen Verdugo traded at the deadline. He obviously has some talent but is it possible that there might be a little too much me me me in him and not enough team?

I doubt that he does much to help us out over the winter. He may make a run at something flashy to keep interest up but signing quality top of the rotation guys costs more money than it appears is likely to be spent. Most people seem excited about what is getting stockpiled in the minors but how about the pitching?

I really do think that Bloom is looking at his current potential rotation which may or may not actually happen as being as good if not better than most - Sale- Bello - Paxton - Houck - Pivetta with everybody else in the pen could be very good. If you think that that is a pretty good group, why would you put together a trade that would cost you some pretty good players and possibly some pretty good prospects for anybody else? He has certainly added players to the farm unfortunately I don't see the next great arm down there. At some point in time, maybe not this season, some quality arms need to be added. Of the guys playing right now, Duran looks and is playing like one of the best athletes I have seen in a long time. He reminds me of a very young Yaz although just a little faster then the captain. Casas looks good and could be very good. As for anyone else, think I'd like to see them at the big league level before I go nuts over them.

Thank you for this.

I guess I should have noticed the highlighted area but now I do. I think many of the guys in the minors have potential. You obviously follow them very very closely and know much more about them than i do. If you see guaranteed greatness there, I'm all over it. I can't wait.

... one of your nasty little clips here genius or what ... I think my thoughts matter just as much as yours regardless of whether or not I could give a s*** about the things that you think are important.

Obviously not as closely as some but I try to stay in touch.

I've heard the word sustainability mentioned more than once here and of course that is likely what every GM wants. For many many years now I think that our ownership has done a pretty good job of this. I go back to the mid 60's. Right now I'm looking at a minor league system that has more players that look like they may have a future than in past years. Got to feel good about that I think. At some point in time is does have more to do with quality as opposed to quantity though. I do still happen to think that there aren't any "no brainer" guaranteed to be successful players in that pipeline right now. Hope I'm wrong but I don't see them. Some good athletes but we will have to wait and see what the future brings. We all know what one of the purposes of a stocked farm is all about - trades. Our boy in all reality chose to do nothing in that respect. It might have something to do with an overall change in philosophy from ownership. They continue to make money and lots of it. The ballpark continues to have enough attendance to carry itself and provide a profit. Maybe JH just wants to move in a different direction. I don't nor have I ever believed in this wait until next year nonsense . No crystal ball tells me that all of a sudden he is going to say lets get active again via the free agency route. I think what we are seeing is what we should have expected from Bloom to begin with.

Ain't that the truth. I wouldn't want to be that guy either.

Oh boy now you've gone and done it.

The reality of a post like this really bugs 3 or 4 of the 10 or so people that regularly post her! lol Good job.

Most high school shortstops would also be the best player at any other position on the field except perhaps catcher. And most very good high school catchers would be the best shortstops on their high school team. Oh well with all that said I would trade Verdugo yesterday and keep Duval.

Snappy is a nice way of putting it! I like that. I think that it was time for Kike to go but I appreciate everything that he did for us which was a lot.

Nasty comes in all shapes and sizes even here folks. Subtle, not so subtle. Personally I prefer the up front kind of stuff rather than the cutesy middle school read between the lines crap that we do see here everyday. Now, with that said, I'll say once again that I am a fan of whoever the current GM happens to be. I'm very happy with the array of talent in general that Bloom has gathered up for us. Looks a little like an overload of upper average kind of stuff and some could go. If any trades are made, I hope that few if any of our youngsters go. It would seem a bit hypocritical to me if anyone applauds to loudly if this happens regardless of who it brings in.

This is for sure and I don't necessarily think that that is a good thing. Playing guys out of position doesn't always work out well as we have seen.

Dick Stuart from tother side? lol

Kike i think would be an above average utility player. Able to play numerous positions adequately. type of player every team needs and wants. Playing him at ss is setting him up to fail. I like him too much to ever see him placed in that position again. it is Cora's job to figure this all out unless he is getting more direction from someone else.

never once did I imply that Cora is stupid. I was an athlete and a coach and if we repetetively did the same things over and over again with the same results which were obviously the wrong things to do then it was considered stupid. You are guessing as to what I think also. You are entitled to your own thoughts and beliefs which I am as well. Thank you but believe it or not I have been around awhile also and I am a little taken aback by the fact that someone who claims to know as much as you claim to know has really no clue as to what I am talking about. In my estimation, what he did was a stupid thing to do.

I have no idea. regardless of what he said, I just wonder what is going on in his brain when he puts him out there and has to face the music for his decision continually. Most of us who have been involved in athletics know what the definition of stupid is. The team is a lot more important than the individual in this case and he doesn't help the team by playing Kike at ss any time. Doesn't do much for Kike either I would imagine.

And this is likely why it just seems like such a strange way to do business. On the one hand Cora says that he will not be using Kike in the ss role and then when Chang is available he doesn't use him in the a position of great need when he could have. I get that he is concerned about the health of his players as well he should be. I just would like to know what's it going to be?

You might be right. I do like your way of looking at things like this better than mine. I would tend to call it a stupid move. hard for me to imagine any pitcher really being particularly happy with Cora yarding out an inferior player in such an important position. they do a good job of hiding their emotions out there when he continues to stumble around.

No one does that consistently. A few of the greatest seem to be able to step up more often in the most intense of times. I call those clutch players. I could not care less what anyone thinks clutch is or isn't.

You are probably right but my question would be was Chang available to play ss yesterday?

If "clutch" was a repeatable on demand type of skill so to speak, then I don't think that it would be called clutch. That would define damned good. when said player took his damned good game to another level when the situation called for it then that would be called clutch in my big book.

You obviously have a point. I don't know whether or not you agree with Cora using players out of position or not. I don't. I value defense too much. I know what is likely to come next but probably not from you. Someone will either take what I am saying to mean that no one else values defense - that would be a joke - I know that most do. I might even have to listen to how many times Turner who I happen to think is one hell of a ball player has played second base in the past and that he should be able to do this. It won't change my opinion of what I have seen Cora do for years now.