moonslav59

I'm almost certain they won't get two solid, new SP'ers. They will count on Crawford or Houck and even Sale. I won't get it. I can understand thinking 2024 is the year to pounce. I had hoped 2023 was, but if they keep putting it off, or worse yet, never pounce, I'll be on the criticism highway. To me, our pen would be freaking awesome, if we kept all our proven "long men" in the pen. It might even be revolutionary. Whitlock Houck Crawford Pivetta Murphy and even Wink can go 2. Add Jansen, Marin and Schreiber and that's 9 solid pen pieces for an 8 man pen. (Joely & Bernardino makes it 11.) That leaves just Bello and Sale, with Sale being so unreliable, I'm not sure mentioning his name is worth it. No way we get 3-4 solid SP'ers, so we know we will be working backwards: Pivetta to rotation: Murphy makes the pen. Houck to the rotation: Joely or Bernardino makes the pen. IMO, that's as far as we should go, and that leaves 2 slots, with Sale still being discounted. SP1 _______ SP2 Bello SP3 _______ SP4 Pivetta SP5 Houck SP6 Sale Closer Jansen RP2 Martin RP3 Wink RP4 Schreiber RP5 Whitlock RP6 Crawford RP7 Murphy RP8 Joely/Bernardino I'd be fine, if we spent all our money on jsut those two slots and rolled the dice with our everyday players, as they are, now (minus Turner, Duvall), but in reality, we should have enough to pay for or trade for... 2 SP'ers and 1 decent bat who plays 2B or CF/RF. KIt's been years, since I have felt like we are down to just 3 significant holes.

I think teams figured that out and forced players to give up the dream.

Pablito!

Houck pitched well for Woo, in their 8-1 win. 4IP 1H 0ER 0BB 4K Abreu homered, again- (1-2 w 2BB) Scott homered (1-3 w BB) DHam homered (1-3 w 2BB) POR is winning 7-1 Dobbins 7IP, 5H, 1ER, 0BB, 8K Meidroth 2-4 Sikes 1-3 HR

How many of those switch hitters actually did well from both sides? Maybe, those who are not so good are converted early.

What's the definition of "is?"

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, if we don't go for and get Y.Y. from Japan and/or Urias as a FA, I'm not sure I want Bloom spending large & long on a 30+ pitcher- just pull the plug on a big trade, involving a top prospect or two, and maybe more for a younger top SP'er with 3_ years of team control.

Indeed, but the Yankee injuries seemed more predictable.

I don't think Mayer, Anthony, Teel, Bleis or Yorke graduate, next season, so I think we rise, some more. Rafaela may graduate mid or late 2024. Maybe Abreu and Walter. We have a few guys that have dropped, like Yorke, Bleis and Mata who might rebound, next year, but I'm really high on so many of our lower level prospects that I have to think some are going to jump a ton, next year, or even in the next month. Cespedes Monegro Zantello Joh Garcia Castro AAnderson C & I Coffey Yuten, Arias and others Maybe 1 or 2 from these guys surprise between now and next August: Wikelman, Perales, Drohan and E R-C or this group: Hickey, Meidroth, Bonaci, EValdez, DHam, Paulino, Guerrero, Kavadas and Scott Or this... Romero, Jordan, Alcantara, Dobbins, Bastardo, Rogers, Paez and more...

I'm all for for having 9 players that don't need a platoon, but when you have guys like Ref and Dugo, then, why not? BTW, I'm not for platooning Casas or Duran, but their splits are wide enough, that when they are to be rested, just pick a day the correct handed pitcher is starting. It's not complicated. It's also not all that big a deal. I'm done talking about it for a while.

If we win 5 out of 7 v HOU, they are not good to go.

PH him.

I still think our need for SP'ing is so extreme, it outweighs every other need. We should have enough resources to add two solid SP'ers and a bat or two, but who knows what the budget will be. I'm not sure we will ever make another top prospect for a stud pitcher trade, again, despite them all working, in the past. (Pedro, Schilling, Beckett, Porcello)

Other teams graduated some top prospects, too, so that can't be all of it.

Agreed. If you sub Houck for Kluber, thye GS numbers change by 4. Some might say Bello was always going to be in the starting 5, and that chances the numbers, a lot, but the fact is, we lost a lot of starts from Sale, Paxton, Whitlock and Houck. Kluber and Pivetta were demoted, so that should not count. Kluber's IL stint can be viewed as a blessing.

HOU has lost 3 from their rotation, almost all year: GS 0 McCullers 6 Garcia 8 Urquidy BOS has lost a ton of GS'd, but it's hard to put a number to it, because we don't know who our original 5 would have been. (Sale 12, Paxton 15, Kluber 9, Paxton 11, Whitlock 10)

All that "rest" has worked wonders!

Why? He's much better vs RHPs, so if I'm going to rest him just ione game, it would always be vs a lefty. Casas was never benched or hurt, as far as I know, so days were given off for rest, or because he was struggling. but since he never missed many games in a row, I can't see why he wasn't rested or sat down 5 games more vs LHPs and 5 games less vs RHPs. 5 games is 5 games, and we are within 2 games of SEA and TOR. I'm not saying we'd have won even one more game, but to me, playing him 5 more games vs RHPs and 5 less vs LHPs, would normally give us a better chance at scoring more runs. BTW, I think we've beaten this to several deaths by now, and I don't see this as a major issue.

It seems like Cora predetermines what days he is going to rest a player. Often, if is right before or after a scheduled day off. (One could argue about that, but I won't, here.) When you have a young player like Casas who plays 1B, I'm not sure why he needs a lot of days off, but my point is more about when Cora gives them out. Casas has a significant L-R split: .685 v L (.668 career) .872 v R (.862 career) He should not have sat 5 games vs a RHPs, unless he was hurt. I can't believe Cora could not have delayed or given a day off earlier, when we faced a LH's SP'er. (He has started 12 out of 22 games vs a LH'd SP'er. That could/should have been 7.) I'm not trying to say this is a major blunder that is going to lose the playoff slot for us. The debate came up about the Braves having a different philosophy, and I took a side. I like Cora and know he has reasons for doing things that are based on more information than I have, but I do feel I needed to say my philosophy differs, without it being an attack on Cora. In short, I can see why we sat Casas more early on. He was struggling, but I'd have sat him more vs LHPs than RHPs. Yoshida is one of our best hitters. I want to get Ref in every game vs a LH'd SP'er, and Duvall, when healthy, too. Duran and Dugo have histories of struggling v L, but Duran has improved, this year. When they rest, it should be v L. When ref and Duvall rest, it should be v R. When Yoshida plays DH, it is almost like a day off. 41 of them should count like 10-20 days off. IMO, he has sat, too often. His splits seem pretty even, so it's not the wrong hand so much with him- hust the total number of days off. (If he has been nursing an injury, then I am wrong, and maybe that's the case.) I'm fine with other points of view, and I don't have a big beef with Cora over this, but I don't agree.

I thought being hot or cold did not matter, to you. Even so, why did he start..... 81 games out of 86 vs RHPs and not 86? 12 games out of 22 vs LHPs, instead of 7 (take away the 5 games v RHPs and add days off here.) I don't recall Casas being hurt for 5 scattered games. I don't recall us facing only RHPs for 14 straight days, where he "needed" rest. I don't have to show dates. If you think he needed those 5 days off, then you show me why. BTW, Cora did the same with Ref, last year, but changed, this year. (Still not totally, though.)

My beef with the OF rest days is wrong handed days off and maybe hot streaks. At 1B, why is Casas given any days off vs RHPs while getting some v LHPs?

It's based on more than that. We are talking differing philosophies, and this started with a comp with the Braves- not as a complaint against Cora. We are not in the playoff slot, now, so maybe we'd have done better had Yoshida and other top players played more. Maybe not.

Okay, subtract 4 from 16, and maybe a couple more, too. He plays an easy position, physically and DH'd 41 times. It's a valid argument, whether you agree with our side or not.

I'm not big on their ranking system, but we did graduate a few very good players: Bello Casas Wong Murphy

We could even catch the Rays, if we ever could figure out how to beat them "head-to-head."