moonslav59

I listed the 4 major failures. I fully believe McGuire/Wong > Vaz/Plawecki, right now, and rate to be much better going forward. Turner will pass JD in OPS, this year- book it. Our OF is 20X better than last year's. Our pen iks 20X better than last year's. Replacing Nate, Wacha and Hill with Kluber and dreams of returning from IL pitchers was a major mistake. I've commented on being tired of relying on Sale more than I care to admit. Bloom & Co. have made plenty of mistakes, but saying one poor move after another is just plain wrong, IMO. Yoshida Jansen & Martin Schreiber & Refsnyder Valdez & Abreu for a washed up Vaz Whitlock (Last year: Wacha, Hill & Strahm.) It's not one after another. It's one after every two good.

I'm not sure Red went that far, but no pitcher is overworked, right now. We've had 3 days off, recently and nobody has been pushed over the limit yet. If our SP'ers don't go long in the next few games, that might change, but short or long term, right now, nobody is overworked. I'd even say most are well-rested. The DH'er presents the opportunity for overwork, and only Wink should not pitch from the pen, tonight.

Go through all the major decisions and tell me how many were wrong? Kluber Story, so far Richards JBJ and???

I'm not so sure about Duran, but the much improved D has increased his value. Rafaela does seem like a high trade candidate, because Mayer is seen as a big part of our future.

Don't we get a 27th player for the DH, too?

Coffey would go to AA, though. Who in AA goes to Woo? Gambrell? Van Belle?

Agreed. Even though he is our best defensive SS on the 40 and healthy, does not mean he should be our starting or even back-up SS, right now. Maybe this recent Kike mini-hot streak can continue, and he can (partially?) balance out his awful D with some good O.

That is the only real question. Obviously it's not Hamilton.

We've had 3 days off in the last 15. I'm not seeing an overtaxed pen, right now. The upcoming DH might hurt, and having to use Wink twice, recently hurts, but we have some innings eaters in the pen.

It seems like too many years in a row, our fortunes have been tied to Chris Sale. At the start of the season, I saw a path to the playoffs without Sale doing well, but it is hard to see a way, now.

At 29-27, we have the12th best record in MLB (tied with MIL & SEA.) We are 1 game ahead of #18. We are a 1/2 game from #9. We are 4.0 behind the last WC slot (NYY & HOU) and TOR is 3.5 back. Big series with the Rays. Time to heat things up!

BTW, Wink had these IP, recently... 132 in 2022 (MLB/AAA) 112 in 2021 (AAA/AA) 127 in 2019 (A+/A-)

Woo lost 8-6 2-3 Zimmer w HR & BB 2-5 Dalbec w 12th HR (1.033 OPS) POR was up 7-0 and lost 11-7. 3-5 Yorke (up to .911) 2-4 Rosier w 3B 2-5 Lugo 1-4 Rafaela w 2B 0-3 Mayer w 2 BB GRE won 4-0 Coffey 6 IP, 2H, 0ER, 1BB, 8K 2-4 Bonaci (.944) SAL lost 8-7 3-5 Ravelo & Lira 2-3 Chacon 2BB 1-2 Liendo 3BB

We will be pinched for the doubleheader and 4 days afterwards, but I really think the talk of our pen being over-worked is not based on any evidence. Having an 8 man pen with several long guys and starters that go 5.1 IP while the league avg is 5.3 is not putting a strain on anybody. That 20% of an inning differential is tiny. I posted this a few days ago, but these are the projected IP of our pitchers based on how many IP they have, now times 3, since we are about 1/3 done with the season. Name one pitcher who is on pace for over-working? 165 Sale (maybe less with this injury) 155 Houck (maybe more, since he misses some time) 150 Pivetta (likely less, unless he returns and stays in the rotation) 125 Kluber (same as Pivetta) 120 Bello (may get more) 65 Whitlock (likely a lot more, if he stays healthy) 60 Paxton (same as Whitlock) Now, the pen... 100 Wink 90 Crawford 60 Bleier 50 Schreiber 45 Jansen 45 Martin 15 Joely I see many pitchers who could and should get more IP than projections indicate. I see no risk of burning out anyone.

Sure, when they hit .550. Great CF D can make a .680-.720 hitter a significant plus.

Agreed. I was just saying, if he hits, he can play FT at several positions, including SS. It's a big if. With Mayer in the system, Romero behind him, and Story due back, at some point, I just don't see moving Rafaela to SS, FT.

Some of the payroll "opened up" was some big shoes to fill, and the odd thing is, we didn't spend "it all" (and still stay under.) This team is certainly playing like mediocre- no complaints on that call. The big Q is will we continue this way?

We gotta hope Sale is okay. To me, our chances drop drastically, if he goes down for a long time. Nice win. Good to see some of the guys who were supposed to carry the team do well.

He's good enough on D to be a plus defender at SS. If he hits, he's no utility man.

After 1/3 of the season, it's hard to fully grasp if we are headed in the right direction or not. Some farm prospects are looking good and moving up the charts. Some of our top farm prospects are doing very poorly. Our budget seemed to be headed towards a better set-up, with less dead wood than we've had for a while. The Devers deal will be judged years from now, but having him under control does seem like a step in the right direction, at least for the near future. The salaries coming off the books looks to be setting us up nicely for mostly addition by subtraction on talent and millions in savings: Kluber Kike, Duvall, Mondesi, Paxton and others. To me, the biggest improvement has come from building up roster depth. It was horrific in 2020. Some of the boost has come by not trading away prospects and some has come by trading for young players and prospects, like Wink, Wong, Valdez and others. Is the foundation good enough to make the big push at the deadline or next winter? My guess is we'll know more by season's end.

Yes, I got off track. I'll go back and remove.

Since April 27th: Won 8 in a row Lost 4 of 6 Won 4 in a row Lost 7 of 9 Talk about roller coaster rides!

I have for years.

Almost half of our 27 losses have come via series sweeps (13 of 27.) 3 PIT 4 TBR 3 STL 3 LAA Let's not make it 14 of 28 by getting swept by Cincy, the 3rd NLC team! Other than those 4 sweeps, we have only lost one other series- BAL 2 or 3, but we will be adding Cincy to the losing series list, no matter who wins, tonight. 4 game sweep 1 3 game sweep 1 3-1 win 1 2-1 win 8 1-1 tie 1 6 series lost 1 series tied 10 series won But, 28-27, overall.

Nobody said fans are saying "it's our god-given right." A poster said it feels like it. Not sure how that is "exactly right." I do thing the goal or plan is to build that "consistently good team" and those "years off now and then" were 2020 (the tear down) and 2022 (the near miss reset year.) Patience is no longer a virtue, and last place in 2 of 3 years is something no team should ever have happen, or heads should roll. That's what I feel some here think. I could be wrong, but the posts I read indicate otherwise.