moonslav59

He should be our #4 not our #2. And, yes the numbers matter. It means we either have 1 or 3 starters who are better. That matters.

It doesn't look promising, but if we can go 12-2, it also means those we need to lose are going 2-12, since we will be playing them almost exclusively.

The injuries have not been the only reason for our staff's downfall, but I do think it was a major factor. They all seemed to happen at once, which forced us to go way down the depth chart to places few teams ever have to go. The injuries also forced us (or led us) to use guys like Houck and Whitlock in various roles- jerking them to and fro. The season still has over a month to go, and we've already used 20 pitchers for 15 or more IP! 15 pitchers have 30+ IP. Our best pitchers weren't the ones who had the most IP. Here's a look at out best ERA pitchers with their rank in IP on the team. 4. Wacha 2.53 6. Whitlock 2.90 8. Houck 3.15 10. Schreiber 2.24 Some of our worst: 5. Crawford 5.30 7. Winckowski 5.83 9. Davis 5.33 (before today) 12. Brasier 6.47

Agreed, but I'm not sure if it could just be a slump. I'd normally say trust the docs, but I don't.

He hasn't really drafts pitchers with his top picks. 2020 1. Yorke 2B 2. Jordan 1B 3. Wu-Yelland LHP (Injured in '22) 4. Drohan LHP (Doing well, lately.) 4.05 ERA/.682 OPS Against in 2022 A+/AA IFA: Top 6 of 7 were non-pitchers 2021 1. Mayer SS 2. Fabian OF (did not sign) 3. McDonough 2B 4. Rodrigues-Cruz RHP (1.95 ERA/.590 OPS Against in FCL) 5. Hickey C IFA: Top 3 were non-pitchers 2022 1. Romero SS 2. Coffey SS 3. Anthony OF 4, Rogers LHP 5. Meidroth SS IFA Signings: Top 7 and 9 out of 10 bonuses given to non pitchers

As minor league depth, I'd say these guys might be as good as most other team's bottom of the 40, but assuming we add 7-8 new players, plus the 6-7 Rule 5 guys, I'm thinking some of the 4 you listed will probably be traded. (Also, Davis, Sawamura, Brasier and DHern)

Lack of hits, when it counts, has really hurt this team. Lack of HRs, especially with men on base adds to the hurt. It's hard to predict this type of thing, but it seems to be contagious. Just as clutch is not a skill or a sustainable thing, neither is this. Better luck, next year.

Hickey hit another dinger and had a BB (no Ks) His OPS is now .969 w GRE. 61 BB 65 Ks

He did have an .833 OPS in his previous 4 games, so...

It’s good depth but shy on quality and high quality. A couple years ago our 40 man roster was as shallow as I’d seen in decades. I have no idea on win totals until I see how many of the slots are added to, so these guys are depth not starters.

Too many questions, and I agree. Go large at SPer! We probably need 2 solid starters not one!

At least the end of this season has helped us know we never want to see Sawamura, Davis and Brasier again.

Wink continues his downward slide... 4.1 IP 5 H 4ER 3BB 4K

Abreu had an .816 OPS w 16 Hrs and 43 XBHs in 112 games, this year. (,858 last year)

Enmanuel Valdez had a .937 OPS with 25 HRs in 103 games, this season, before today. (.860, last year)

Turn down the option, yes!

Enjoy the shots!

I don't see it that way. We play so many times vs teams ahead of us, that if we win, they lose. We don't have to "hope they lose." We make them lose. I'm not saying we will make the playoffs, but if we go 7-2 or 8-1 vs TBR and TOR, we'll be in, as long as we do well in the other games, too.

No.

Bloom has tried to add to the pen, but nothing too costly- like Foulke or Kimbrel. Maybe he's hoping he finds the next Uehara, but that's a needle in the haystack. 2022: $4M x 2 Diekman $3M x 1 Strahm $2.3M x 1 Robles Waivers (Feb 2021) Schreiber Minor League R5 (Dec 2020): Ort MLFA (in season): Familia 2021: Trade: Ottavino & German $1.5M x 2 Sawamura (w option for '23) $2.1M x 1 Andriese Trade: Robles Trade: Davis Extended Barnes $18.8M/2 2020: Waivers (Feb 2020): P Valdez Min Salary: Osich

https://lastwordonsports.com/baseball/2022/05/11/michael-king-emerges-as-relief-ace/ https://www.baseballessential.com/news/2018/04/12/like-all-baseball-experiments-the-relief-aces-future-will-depend-on-its-success/ https://www.pitcherlist.com/going-deep-the-secret-relief-ace/ Here's one from 2015: https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2015/7/6/8895347/the-relief-ace-strategy-in-practice I think our pen could be in great shape in 2023 with this as the core: Houck: traditional closer Whitlock/Schreiber: "relief aces" The rest is kind of shaky and would need some turn-arounds or recoveries from injuries: Barnes Taylor German Not counting on much from... Sawamura Danish Crawford/Winckowski/Seabold/Murphy or other converted starters.

He deserves a chance, of course. I'm hopeful he doesn't end up like our last 1Bman who came up with a .362 career minor league OBP, but is at .318, now (.281 in 2022.)

It's not worth the bother, Bell. Wordsmithing is frowned upon by many.

I'll take a stab at providing a positional depth chart for 2023, assuming no free agents are re-signed. In other words, this is the foundation of the 2023 roster that will certainly be added to... (plus farm players not likely to be part of the 2023 ML club) C: McGuire, Wong, RHernandez (Marrero/Cottam/Hickey) 1B: Hosmer, Casas, Dalbec, Cordero (Kavadas/Jordan) 2B: Story, Arroyo, EValdez, Downs (EValdez/Rafaela/Koss/Hamilton/Yorke/Bonaci) SS: (Story), Arroyo, Downs (Lugo/Mayer/Romero) 3B: Devers, Dalbec, Arroyo (Koss/Binelas/Paulino/Coffey) LF: Verdugp, Pham, Cordero, Duran (Granberg/McDonough/Sikes/Anthony) CF: Ja, Davis (Rafaela/Bleis) RF: (Verdugo), Refsnyder, WAbreu (Jimenez) DH: Dalbec, Cordero, EValdez, Hosmer, Arroyo, EValdez, Wong (Kavadas) SP: Sale, Paxton, Pivetta, Bello, Crawford, Mata, Walter, Seabold, TWard (Drohan/Gonzalez/Uberstine/Song/Perales) SP/RP: Whitlock, Winckowski, Murphy, Santos RP: Houck, Schreiber, Barnes, Taylor, German, Sawamura, Davis, Brasier, Danish Ort, Bastardo, DHern, Feltman, Politi, Thompson, Shugart (Wallace/Fernandez/Encarnacion)

Indeed. The hit or miss factor is much higher for 17-18 year olds. He may end up never even reaching AAA, but it will take years to find out.