Way to start the second half. Toro with an idiotic baserunning mistake. Narvaez striking out like he’s never swung a bat then committing interference. At least Giolito looked passable. Gonna need to win five of the next 8 to stand any chance of making the playoffs.
Here’s what I think: if you want to compete for a ring you don’t compare your players to the average player at the position: you compare him to the best. If you have a group of average players you won’t be competitive for a ring. That doesn’t mean every player on your team has to be above average. If Rafaela flops and is the only black hole that’s fine
You need pitching and defense-but you also need to be able to score runs. A team can afford a black hole or two but probably not many more if they want to compete for a ring.
Thanks
Then in that case I could handle Rafaela batting at the ML average as long as the rest of the team’s starters bat above average. You don’t win rings with an average offensive team.
Not good enough for my liking. Not unless he’s the only one who is useless with a bat in his hands. You can’t win with a team batting.660 OPS.
And I believe the average MLB OPS is a bit higher than .720-closer to .750.
I could accept an OPS in the .775 range because of his other talents.
Whats the lowest acceptable OPS you would consider without thinking he’s not contributing enough?
As I recall you wrote something like “if I’d be happy if he hit an OPS of .700 because of what he brings to our defense “. Or something like that. But whatever….im happier with what he’s doing now-if he can keep it up. I don’t think he’s one of those rare guys who can consistently hit balls outside the zone with authority. He’s laying off most of those now. Let’s see where he is in September, as you wrote.
As I recall you wrote a post that essentially said that he would never be much of an offensive force because he had such poor recognition of the strike zone.
I would be very happy to be wrong about him. Add a productive Rafaela to the other kids (and I think Campbell will figure it out) and we have the basis for a competitive team for a long time
Recorded the game as real life intervened. Ten wins in row and Rafaela still hasn't returned to the form everyone expected. Don't lie. No one here thought he would suddenly turn into an offensive force. I still don't trust him but he is swinging less at balls outside the zone and for now isn't missing meatballs.
Just wondering how much the Devers distraction was affecting the team because as soon as they got rid of him the team took off. My guess is that it was a factor.
Kyle Harrison is also an option for a depth SP.
Then there’s the matter of all that money Henry saved by trading Devers. He should be willing to spend it. And we have a lot of OFs. The team should be willing to trade and spend to improve.
Nope. Not always-but I have a pretty good track record. The Flops can’t depend on 9th inning walkoff HRs to win. That’s a recipe for failure. And they aren’t going to win many games if they keep playing sloppy baseball like they did last night.