moonslav59

Pick up a journeyman AAAA SP'er and move mata to the pen, now! Or, move up Drohan.

Yes, I think Abreu and Valdez were like their 9th-15th ranked prospects.

I'm not hemming and hawing, and stop trying to bait me into returning fire. There are many areas that are gray. Again, I don't throw hissiess over in game choices. managers know more than us.

I said I wished we had someone else to bring in, but we only have 1 Wink not 4. As MVP points out, our LH RP'er options are limited. We do have some RHPs who get lefties out, very well, but it's hard to bring them in so early. (Scheiber was better v LHBs, last year.)

Agreed. Like you mentioned, Hamilton will likely max out as depth- perhaps almost always in AAA.

Great point. Eventually, we will give Houck more chances with the third time through. His sample size is just over 60 PAs against- not much to really judge him, but enough to be cautious in winnable games.

Maybe they want to give Valdez a shot at lefties and righties, and don't plan on using Dalbec, except in emergencies. Kike and Mondesi are both FAs after 2023, and Arroy is after 2024. Maybe the lack of future middle IF depth scared them into protecting a guy with just a small chance at being snagged in Rule 5, at least we think the chance was small. At his age and with his recent success in AAA, one has to wonder about their confidence in him. Does he still have that much room to grow? I guess Duran showed some major steps can be made late in the process.

Credit for sticking with Dalbec in 2021, too, but then... Ooops!

He hasn't traded away many. The higher ranked ones were... Aldo Ramirez for Schwarber Jay Groome for Hosmer, Rosier & Ferguson Frank German for Denlinger Jacob Wallace for Wyatt Mills Seabold for cash Did I miss anyone significant?

Duran turns 27 in September. Some teams might have given up on him, because of his age, but seeing him play so well in AAA, kept the hopes alive, I guess. I will admit, I was never a true believer in Duran.

The defense issue doesn't hold water, when you think of Dalbec at SS, instead.

That wasn't me.

These days, 7 IP and 3 ER makes you a team ace.

I've always believed this to be so. They knew he'd never take that last gasp final offer. It was all for PR. I feel the same about Bogey. They never gave him an offer they knew or even thought he might take. It scared them that he might have taken $160M/6 early on, so they never offered it. (I, for one, have my doubts he'd have taken that or even $200M/7.)

I agree in theory, but these guys ended up being right on waiting to call up Duran. Maybe Hamilton has a major flaw they know will be exposed at the big level. He certainly seems like he has done what it takes to be the 5th string call-up over Bobby Dee, to me.

As a Red Sox fan, I have always hoped you keep Cashman and Boone at the helm. Cashman's other big fault is adding injury-prone everyday players, big hulky guys or dicks like Donaldson.

My heart says our rotation has a 67% chance to get to mediocrity, which may be all we need. My brain says 33% to maybe 50%.

The Yanks finally score some runs and have their ace on the hill, but the Rays still find a way to win. These Rays will not go away. (I once started a thread on that other site with this title. There was a poster there that kept saying the Rays would fade away in the "dog days of summer.")

Revisiting the pitcher-catcher tandems: it looks like we are settling into a binky system, but some are maybe still in flux. OPS Against/ The Starters: Sale .657 w Wong (96 PAs) 1.061 w McGuire (64) Kluber UNBALANCED .544 w Wong (just 19 PAs) .885 w McGuire (135 PAs) Pivetta .759 w Wong (69) .858 w Pivetta (65) Whitlock ONE CATCHER ONLY .944 w Wong (65) N/A w McGuire Houck ONE CATCHER ONLY .718 w Wong (138 PAs before today) Bello .836 w Wong (41) 1.026 w McGuire (41) Long men/spot starters: Wink .553 w Wong (51) .513 w McGuire (40) Crawford .854 w Wong (51) .412 w McGuire (51)

To me, the season looked to be an exciting one from day one. with very good offenses are almost always fun to watch. It's fun watching good pitching, and I wish we could have mor fun with that, going forward.

Max, I totally respect your opinion, and despite what another poster said, I would not have been upset had Cora left Houck in, at least until someone got on base. We've talked about this issue a lot, here. The numbers are pretty clear and do actually represent real games. The fact is, Houck often looks really good, but then starts to slip the 2nd time through, at times, and then the 3rd time through almost always leads to disaster. They key is deciding when to take him out, even when he has looked good. Waiting for 1-2 or two to get on base might be too late, since we don't have 4 Winks to bring into the 5th inning. The numbers are stark, although the 3rd time through is a rather small sample size, and one could argue Houck deserves some more chances to show he can do better. .479 1st time (234 PAs) .706 2nd time (217 PAs) 1.030 3rd time (59 PAs) An eye opener is that he has only 1 PA against the 4th time through. Let's look at this year: Game 1: After 4 IP 0 ERs, 1 hit, 1 BB- looking great going into the 5th right? Leave him in, right? (Better stats than today.) In the 5th, near the end of the second time through, he gets the first guy out. 13 outs, 1 hit, 1BB, then... Single and HR (last two batter of second time through, then he gets the second out. 14 outs, 3 hits, 1 BB, 2 R. Still okay, right? Leave him in? 3rd time through, starting with 2 outs: HR by Mullins. He gets the last guy out and then is yanked. Game 2: Cruises through the first time through: 9 outs, 0 ER, 0 Hits, 1 BB. 2nd time: ground out, BB, K, 1B, 2B, SF (2 runs in) But he was doing so well! He gets the next inning out 1-2-3 all groundouts and is yanked after 5. (only faced 1 guy 3rd time through.) Game 3: He struggles in the first (BB, 1B, 2B and 2 runs), then settles down a bit, although he allows a BB and 1B in 2 of the innings that followed and a BB in the other. He's yanked after facing 1 batter 3rd time through. BTW, we won all 3 games. Game is a win, too. Houck cruises through 3 (9 outs, 0 hits, 1BB). 4th inning (2nd time) he allows 2 hits but no runs. 5th inning (last guy up 2nd time through ground rule 2B), first guy 3rd time through- you guessed it- another ground rule 2B for a run. He was doing great up to then! Let's give him a chance to see the 3rd time through- great! a 1-2-3 6th. The 7th was not so kind (still 3rd time) 1B, line out, ground out, HR- Ooops! 6th start (only loss in Houck start, until today) Unearned run in 1st He does okay until the 4th: the last 4 guys of the second time through go 1B, 1B, 1B, Ground out, then 3rd time through... 1B (run) and deep SF (run) then lineout to end inning. They leave him in the 5th and he does fine- just 1 BB, then he's yanked. His last start (a win): 2BB and a 2B through the first 17 batters, then: 1B, 1B. K, BB, 1B, 1B, HR (6 runs) He was doing pretty well before batter #17. I just don't see how Cora can be blamed for trying to guess the exact moment to yank Houck. He could have left him in, which would have been fine, but who knows, really? I do not think it was so obvious. I think yanking him was a good choice. I just wish we had better middle guys to bring in. -

Indeed! But I'm just the resident Bloom apologist.

In 2021, correct. I figured out, later, this is what you meant.

They didn't need an OF'er? Our OF was close to the worst in MLB, last year. We had the 4th worst OF fWAR in MLB, last year and the 6th worst season in the last 2 seasons individually. I'm not defending protecting him over Ward. I made the point he is not in the same class as Rafaela- too skilled to leave unprotected, even if not ready for 2023 use, per se. Maybe, they felt someone would take him, and they think, over time, he will grow into a worthy player, but who knows if he will, or not? You'd think he's playing FT SS in AAA and doing well. He can even PR. We have 4 middle IF'er down, and he's still not high enough on the depth chart? I remember with Duran, the thought was his defense was so bad, we didn't want to place him in a position to embarrass himself.

When have I ever gone nutty over any one decision Cora has made? Hell, I'm one of the few who still defend it being reasonable that Grady left Pedro in. As much as I disliked Bobby V, I don't think I bashed individual game moves. There is just too many moving parts none of us are privy to, to be so emphatic over any one choice. (Someone may dig up some old post to prove me wrong, but I don't go nutty over game moves.)