moonslav59

Agreed, but I prefaced my statement with countering a rather weak OF by greatly upgrading in other areas, like SP, RP and staying even at SS/2B. (Maybe spend more on C or 1B or stack the pen.)

Assuming we add a RF'er, the only way Pham and ref stay on the 26 is if one is part of a DH platoon, otherwise, we wont carry 5 OF'ers. (Pham and Ref are out of options.)

I don't want to see Farnchy or Duran either, and with Ref or Pahm as back-up, hopefully, we won't, but we will not be adding a 5th OF'er via trade or free agency, unless it's on a minor league deal (not a bad idea.) If we add someone like Nimmo, we might have a hard time getting playing time for Pham and Ref, so no minor league depth should be needed.

I agree, and with Refsnyder and Pham as the 4th OF & possible DH platoon, we should be fine.

I really would prefer Dugo in LF, and since Pham and Refsnyder both bat righty, it's hard to work out a platoon for LF or RF. (I'm not counting lefty Duran in the OF mix, except as minor league depth.) If we can find steep upgrades at SP & Pen, and someone close to Bogey's production at 2B or SS, I guess I'd be okay with ... LF: Pham CF: Kike RF: Dugo or LF: Dugo CF: Kike RF: Refsnyder Pham & Ref might end up being part of a rotating DH slot, along with Arroyo/EValdez and one from Hosmer, Dalbec or Cordero.

We had a 13 man staff, all year. The league average for starter IP is 5.2. We went 5.0, so I'm not sure our pen was taxed much more than most. To me, what killed our pen was the need to use Houck and Whitlock as starters, and needing to us "openers" a few times, which really tax a pen. We also had to se Crawford, Wink, Seabold & Bello as SP'ers, when we might have used them more in the pen- perhaps with greater success than they gave us a starters. What's hurt this staff the most was needing to pitch 31 different pitchers- 27 if you take away the 4 everyday players pitching here or there. 22 pitched more than 9 IP, 19 over 20, 17 over 30. I wonder what our ERA+ would be, if any pitcher under #15 in IP did not need to pitch: 71 Bello 73 Barnes 72 Robles 64 Ort 96 Valdez 36 Seabold 89 Familia 20 DHern The team ERA+ is 92.

Wow! I love it!

But it was never, ever DD's fault.

Here is a look at many of the prospects Bloom traded for or drafted Rule 5: (MLB are career numbers/ minor league numbers are 2022 only) Whitlock (Rule 5) 2.72 ERA in 149 MLB IP Winckowski (Beni) 5.75 ERA in 67 MLB IP 3.83 ERA in 47 AAA IP (.576 OPS Against) Seabold (Workman/Hembree) 10.67 ERA in MLB 14 IP 3.18 ERA in AAA 76 IP (.646 OPS Against) Ort (MiLB Rule 5) 6.43 ERA in 21 MLB IP 2.88 ERA in 41 AAA IP (.572 OPS Against) Wong (Betts) .855 OPS in 31 MLB PAs .838 OPS in 323 AAA ABs Downs (Betts) .427 OPS in 41 MLB PAs .728 OPS in 284 AAA ABs German (w Ottavino) 2.83 ERA in 48 IP AA/AAA (.500 OPS Against) E Valdez (Vaz) .968 OPS in AA/AAA ABs W Abreu (Vaz) .828 OPS in 423 AA ABs (102 BBs) Binelas (Renfroe) .729 OPS in 400 A+/AA ABs Hamilton (Renfroe) .695 OPS in 418 AA ABs (62 SBs) R Hernandez (Springs/Mazza) .769 OPS in 355 AAA ABs C Koss (Y Abar) .774 OPS in 448 AA ABs M Ferguson (Groome) .716 in 402 A/A+ ABs (59 SBs) C Rosier (Groome) .730 in 371 A+ ABs (40 SBs) J Wallace (Pillar) 4.18 ERA in 52 IP at AA H Potts (Moreland) .726 OPS in 245 AA ABs

Max, our culture is all about blame, and since the old adage is the buck stops at the top, many feel it has to be Bloom & Cora's fault. It's oversimplification and more of the blame everyone but the actual people responsible for losing- like the players. The GM chose the wrong players. The manager played the wrong players. The manager managed the players wrongly. Sure, they get pissed at players, here and there (see the game threads), but for the most part it's more Cora and Bloom's fault than the fact that Bogey and JD can't get key hits, that 80% of the rotation got hurt, often at the same time, the 800+ OPS 1bman was a fluke, one of the second half & playoff heroes (Kike) slumped, then got hurt, then when a bunch get healthy, Houck and others get hurt. That all has to be on Cora and Bloom. Someone has to be blamed. It can't just be poor or unfortunate circumstances. Someone has to pay for the frustration we all feel. You "can't fire the team," so...

It's nice to play in meaningful bowl games, and advancing one round will be better than we've had in ages.

Cept the granny.

I was going to say the same. I thought PH'ing Arroyo was best, but Cora made the right choice. Many probably felt brining in Kelly was a big mistake. Oh, wait...

He's made some mistakes, like every manager does, but he is so far from "horrible," it makes me laugh when someone says it.

Wrong! Exclamation point!

I am feelin g better and better about offering Wacha a QO.

Had he gone 7, the 8th and 9th innings guys might have done what they did.

He did have an RBI 2B, earlier, but that did seem like the defining moment of the loss. I hardly ever blame one guy for any loss, and blaming Story would not be one of those times, for me.

It doesn't matter who it is, we just can't get "the hit."

We just can't ever get the big hit, anymore.

Let's see if the BA leader can get a hit, now. GO BOGEY!!!!

Ok, Dugo, Bogey and hopefully Devers. Let's pull this game out of our asses!!!!

Is he hurt?

There is nothing to defend.

I'd have started Arroyo, too. Pham in LF. Maybe this was "Pham's rest day."