Hitch

Ffs!

If we don't I want Farrell sacked by the time the press conferences start.

Big strike out. Need Kimbrel to do something special here.

I actually cannot believe he's left Tazawa in there.

So why would you want him starting?

Really could do with keeping the distance between us and the Jays. It feels like they are close to going on a lengthy winning streak.

Fair point. I should have qualified my point with saying "Nobody would take him with what we were looking for in return"

Haha!

Yeah, no way am I trading for Clay if I'm a GM. Especially if Miley is available. I mentioned a few weeks ago, I wouldn't have been too surprised to learn we picked up the option and then looked to trade. I would also in no way be surprised, if nobody would take him.

Haven't been in for a while, been travelling the past few weeks. Now I've caught up, I feel like I am watching a man's slow descent into madness. Been a fun few weeks for you YOTN, huh? The offence has been flat out spectacular thus far. Been so fun to watch.

Yeah, you can certainly see why they would rather an innings eater like Miley over Buch, even with the vast difference in ability when Clay is 100%.

Exactly this. Although I would have looked to trade him after picking up the option. Which maybe they did.

A large amount to be positive about at the moment. Shaw and Hanley are both playing very good defence. Shaw is hitting better than we'd hoped. Porcello has settled and produced good outings so far. Wright is pitching superbly. The line up is very dangerous and capable of scoring big most games. Very early days, and there will be injuries and slumps to come, but there is a lot to be excited about.

Yup! The only fault I have had with this forum is that there were so few steady members and it moved too slow, when I was looking to procrastinate.

Exciting! I've never posted anywhere other than here, and even then, not all that often. I always thought the only thing this site was missing was bigger numbers, personally.

I'm assuming the reports of Lackey not being happy with the contract situation are true tbf. If he was happy to stay, or, they could work out a new fair contract then that was obviously the step to take. We've seen some baffling decisions in recent years but I can't believe they were willing to trade him if either of those options were available. There seemed like a beef there. So if that was the case, I don't hate the trade(as in what they were thinking). Take away his disaster both in form and injury in 2014, Craig was batting .312 over 1296 at bats from 2011-13. Get him healthy and back anywhere near that and it becomes a great trade(Edit - great is going too far. A good trade). I think tacking on Kelly was an extra they really wanted as they hoped they might be able to make something happen with a guy who had a great arm. It's clearly been a disaster, and it's sometimes very hard to look past hindsight while viewing these things, but when it happened I was excited, while being pretty disappointed we were losing such a good pitcher.

It looks like a disastrous trade now (because it is), but at the time they were getting a very good hitter and highly rated young pitcher in return. If only Craig continued to hit his average(obviously ignoring the injury hit last season) it would have been a good trade. It it has turned out very bad, but at the time it was a solid idea.

Extremely frustrating loss!

For which they are 4-3 whilst being very inconsistent. Edit - I'm assuming this game has gone obviously.

Extremely frustrating collapse.

I don't agree with many of your assessments recently (which is unusual) but you're a good un Kimmi.

Rotation 100%.

This is has been true for a while now, but it's absolutely glaring at this point. After Price, the rotation is very weak. I agree also, that Kelly needs to go to the pen. It would strengthen the pen quite a bit I believe. I'm also a little concerned about how much hope and pressure is going to be placed on E-Rod's shoulders. He looks the real deal but it seems some people are desperate for him to come back up and be the No2 and I think he needs time to develop more at the back end of the rotation without the added pressure of what that brings right now. It's annoying because this team is so close to being very good. I really, really like Swilhart. But at this point he isn't great behind the plate. He still lets too many balls past, has been struggling mightily with pop-ups and his pitch framing isn't too clever either. He rarely seems to try and pinch a strike by bringing the ball back in a bit. A stint in AAA might be what he needs. I do wonder if he could be packaged with Clay to bring back a No2. Although that might hurt a little too much.

I think he wants to go out there and perform. I don't for a second think he just doesn't want to play anymore. What I do believe is that he isn't prepared to put in the work for that, though. He knows how bad he was last season, and yet his answer to that is to walk in to spring training THAT out of shape? It can only be for three reasons: 1) He just doesn't have the desire to put the work in to get into good shape. 2) He thought he could turn up carrying that huge gut and think he didn't need to do conditioning as he'd be fine without all that work. Both are equally reprehensible to me. Or... 3) He has an eating disorder which has gotten out of control at this point and he can't help himself. If it's that, he has my sympathies and I hope he gets help during his deserved time on the sidelines.

By definition if you will defend all players until blue in the face you will defend them by looking for more and more tenuous reasons to do so. As equally loaded as your earlier question - would it be better to have Shaw playing 3rd base at the level he was last year and has been in ST, or, the Pablo at the level he was last year and has been in ST? And fat jokes or not, the guy is fat and out of shape. The fact he needs to lose weight to get his range back is absurd. A professional athlete supposedly. To walk into camp overweight after that performance level last season was an absolute disgrace. He deserves to be on the bench. A hungrier kid want it more.