moonslav59

It's almost always about the starting pitching.

Just got caught up. Looks like Sale is not the Sale we hoped he'd be. There is still time to get "it" back, but it's looking more and more like a long shot with every start he makes.

You seem to like to throw blame, so who's fault is it that the prospects acquired 4-10 years ago (pre-Bloom) are providing no help, now? Yes, Downs bit the bullet, but what about the long stretch from Devers call-up in 2017 to the Houck arrival in 2020-2021, and some may argue Houck is not good enough to count as a major impact homegrown player. Maybe 2017 to who knows? Mayer? You need guys coming up on a consistent basis- some newbies doing well, some 2nd or 3rd year guys doing even better and some nearing the end of their arbs doing great. We've had Devers and basically only Devers, but somehow Bloom was supposed to turn it around with the Betts (and Price, too, don't forget) trade and magically create ML ready prospects in just 1-3 years after being drafted. Many of the stars, today, were drafted or signed as IFAs over 3 to 5 years ago.

Bloom needs to trade for someone, anyone, even if nobody is being offered. That's the repeated answer. He should have traded for a nonexistent 1B, last June, too.

.342 was not a bad OBP in 2021, and it was a lot better in the second half, but I agree. Yoshida should lead off, and I said that before the season began. Once Kike went back to leading off on June 27, 2021 and never hit anywhere else but leadoff, his OBP was .374. Then... .500 ALWC .429 ALDS .407 ALCS I'm not saying he deserves a long look at leadoff, but I wouldn't say he has never done well, there. The guy seems lost at bat and in the field. I'm optimistic he recovers, but how long a leash does he get? It's not just about 11 games in 2023. Last season was not good, either.

Yes, more than the norm, but still 6 RH'd SPs vs 5 LH'd SPs. 270 PAs v R 155 PAs v L Yet, Wong has 26 PAs to 16 and 7 GS to 4. OPS Splits, so far... Wong .250 v R (12 PAs) .445 v L (14) McGuire 1.038 v R (16 PAs) no PAs vs LHPs, so far It seems obvious, they don't want McGuire facing lefties, but why allow Wong to start vs a righty?

He did hit .792 v LHPs in 2022 and faced them in 59% of his PAs, which is more than he had before. Maybe it was luck: maybe hitting the ball harder than his norm had something to do with it.

While I agree BAbip numbers have real meaning, and Ref was likely helped by some luck, last year, there can be other reasons why a batter, suddenly has a good year- like he actually hits the ball harder than his norm. Refsnyder LD% 28.2 in 2022 - below 22.9 other years combined Hard Hit% 37.3 in '22 and under 30.2 the rest of his seasons combined. Another oddity that is a bit eye-opening. His career L-R splits are significant: .717 v LHP (380 PAs) almost the same sample size as vs RHPs 47% .631 v RHP (434 PAs) 53% of career PAs, including 2022 2022: 1.005 v LHP (73 PAs) was only 41% of his PAs vs 48% other seasons combined .792 v RHP (104 PAs) 59% He faced more RHPs than his norm, hit the ball way harder than his norm, and had better numbers. I think he does deserve some credit. Will he continue like 2022? Who knows?

SP: I like the fact that we have 6 decent or promising pitchers to choose from, and I'm not counting Houck (Sale, Whitlock, Kluber, Bello, Pivetta & Paxton). I like the chances 1 or 2 from Winckowski, Mata, Crawford, Walter or Murphy can step in and do alright, if we need more than those 6-7. Our starters have not looked good, so far, but I still have hopes. Pen: I think this pen is a good one, especially, if we can keep Houck in the long role, all year. Maybe Wink can keep this up. We have several pitchers who can go more than 1 IP and the nest closer since Kimbrel. Pens are fickle, so it's hard to predict anything, but it looks good on paper, especially if we can bring back some pitchers and lessen the leverage innings Brasier, Ort and Kelly get. Offense: Even without Duvall and Story, our offense should be top 10. That may not be enough to outweigh the bottom 10 D, but if and when Story and Mondesi return, we may be able to improve our O and D. Defense: It's hard to find anything good to say. If we can get Kike back to CF and Story at 2B, it would help a lot, but we'd still be bottom 15. I've not given up on Kike, Casas, Turner and our catchers, but they need to start turning things around, before the tone is set and we are too far behind to make a move. I think they can and will, but maybe I'm just a homer.

I am fully prepared to roast Bloom alive, if his winter moves end up leading us to another poor season. I do cut him a little slack over how absurd the cost would have been to sign guys like Rodon, Bogey and other top players, this past winter, but he was given a massive budget, when you count Story, Kike and Devers. If he can't create a winner by spending $335M+ from Story to now, not counting the devers extension, then he deserves what he gets. I'm not sold that he swung and missed this winter. There is still over 90% of the season left to play. We lost Duvall, but we got back Whitlock and will be seeing Bello, Paxton and others. Later, we may see Mondesi, Story and maybe even Duvall. Time will tell. I'm not a "sky is falling" kind of person.

I would not want to sign Vaz, beni or JD. It sucked losing Betts and Bogey, for sure, but we did sign Devers and offered Betts pretty close to what he signed for, so I'm not sure we have gone as frugal as many seem to think we have. We've spent over $650M since the Story signing, last March.

To me, going over the tax line was unforgivable. I'm not sure who was most responsible, but certainly Bloom has to take some of the blame.

The O's might not be so bad, either.

At the start of the year, I think guys like Devers, Yoshida, Turner, Casas, Verdugo and maybe even Kike were viewed as occupying a big part of the line-up as much as Duvall. Story would have been, too, had he not been on the IL. It's only because of his massive start to 2023 that this loss looks so costly. Indeed, he was an important righty bat for 2023, but we still have an offense that may very well outscore your Yankees, especially if Story comes back strong.

As bad as we have looked, we are just 2 GB a WC slot, and key players are returning to the roster. (Although losing Duvall kinda squashes that hope, a bit.)

Meidroth has been meteoric.

$242M first 3 full offseasons (counting Story) $517M after the Story signing and including Devers and Kike. It's more than double the previous 3 seasons, combined. That was a make or break winter.

They never said it, but when you look at the team spending, since Bloom took over, the change was enormous. 2020: We cut spending, and our biggest signing was Perez at $6M. 2021: We barely replaced who we lost, and nearly everyone was on a 1 year deal. 2022: Until the Story signing in March, it looked like a repeat of the ongoing pattern or 1 year deals. Starting in March 2022, the spending in 13 months has way overshadowed all of the previous 2.9 year spending. COMBINED! You don't have to hear expectations rose from top brass to be know it has to be true. NOV 2019 to MAR 2022 Contracts: 6M Perez 4M Pillar 3M Moreland 3M Peraza 1.5 Lucroy 10M Ricjards 8M Ottavino (trade) 14M/2 Kike 5M Perez II 3M Renfroe 3M Marwin 3M/2 Sawamura 2M Andriese 11M JBJ (trade) 8M/2 Diekman (traded away) 7M Wacha 10M/2 Paxton 5M Hill 3M Strahm 2M Robles 1.5 TShaw $102M before the Story signing (2.9 offseasons) $140M/6 Story ($242M over 3 off seasons) April 2022>> 314M/10 Devers (starts in 2024) 80/5 Yoshida (not counting posting fee) 32/2 Jansen 22M/2 Turner (incl option) 19M/4 Whitlock 18M/2 Martin 10M Kluber 10M Kike (summer extensión) 7M Duvall 3M Mondesi (trade) 2M J Rod $203M, not counting Devers or Story $343M spent since the Story signing. $657M spent, counting Story and Devers vs $202M in the 2.9 years prior to the Story signing. If this is a "tank," then I need to rethink the meaning of the word.

Talking rank, yes. We may end up spending at the deadline and moving up, but we'll see.

Turner 1-2 w 2 BB. That's it for the O.

It was, last night, yes.

OPS Leaders WOR 1.327 DHamilton (#9 in INT League and 1st in SBs w 5 in 7 gms) 2 HRs 1.261 Sogard 1.230 CHamilton .891 Alfaro .889 Goodrum .879 Dalbec .855 Duran .848 Fitzy .842 Allen (2 HRs) .825 Palka (2 HRs) POR 1.750 Dearden (#1 in Eastern League) 1.714 Rosier (#2) .911 Yorke .902 Binelas .900 Koss .895 Scott GRV 1.833 Decker 1.603 Meidroth SAL 1.127 James .844 Bleis

Bello w Woo 6 IP 4 H 1 ER 0 BB 4 K 3-4 DHamilton (2B, 3B, BB) 1-5 E Valdez 2 rbi POR w 7 BBs 1-3 Rafaela 2B, 2BB, 3 runs 1-3 Yorke 1 BB, 3 runs 2-4 Kavadas 1 BB, 2 rbi 2-5 Scott 2 rbi 2-5 Lugo 4 rbi Salem: Rogers 4 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2BB, 8K Castro 1-5 w HR and 6 rbi Anthony 1-3 w 2B, BB and 2 runs Bleis 1-4 w BB Greenville Meidroth 2-4, BB, HR, 3 rbi Ferguson 2-4, 2 rbi Jimenez 2-4 Hickey 1-4 w 2B

Your numbers need to be checked.

I know McGuire has a CERA through the roof, but Wong is not working. At least McGuire seems to be able to hit.