moonslav59

bingo!

Play ball! One game at a time, guys!

Even if Kike was healthy?

The Rays have been held up as the shiny example of how to build a dependable pen, year-after-year, with very little financial investment and not always so much from their farm, but rather from shrewd signings, trades and waiver wire pick-ups. The hope was that Bloom could bring that to the Sox. Last year seemed to show some promise, and the additions of Whitlock (rule 5), Schreiber (waivers), Strahm (cheap FA deal) and a few others have shown a step in the right direction, but here's a look at the OPS Against numbers of the top Rays pen arms in order of PAs against: (Remember, they use pen games, often) .649 Wisler (108 PAs Against in relief) .808 Thompson 98 .329 Adam 96 .799 Garza 96 .607 Beeks 93 .536 Poche 83 .536 Raley 79 .638 Kittredge 75 ,264 Feyereisen 74 .844 Fleming 56 .590 Sanders 39 .686 Armstrong 39 .316 Springs 36 1.152 Mazza 35 9 other pitchers used in relief with less than 35 PAs against They've used over double the amoun t of pitchers in relief than we have (29>14). We've used 13 pitchers for more than 35 PAs Against to their 20. Now, the pen games and designated starter practice makes a difference, but who are those guys? Where did they find them? I never heard of most of them.

I wasn't really asking "why." The guy has been great and outstanding, and he's charismatic. I was just saying, personally, I'm sick of it all. I think it's gone overboard, but I understand, fully, why it has.

Afternoon game. 1. Refsnyder RF 2. Devers 3B 3. JD DH 4. Bogey SS 5. Verdugo LF 6. Story 2B 7. Vaz C 8. JBJ CF 9. Dalbec 1B

His one good season since 2016 was the short 2020 season, when he had 20 IP. His 6.5 Hits per 9 IP from 2019-2021 is impressive enough to think he has something good in him. 12.4 K/9 is nice, too. I'm not saying he's been totally ineffective, but yes, that 5.3 BB/9 during that same stretch and 5.1 career was enough to scare me away from wanting anything to do with him. Hell, we had that guy in DHern, already in the system for min wage. DHern, since 2019: 7.0 H/9 (slightly worse) 7.4 BB/9 (much worse) 14.2 K/9 (much better) 1.1 HR/9 to Diekman's 0.9 HR/9 FIP 3.81 Diekman 3.85 DHern

There is always an issue about when and for how long you give a prospect a look, when you are in the middle of a playoff attempt. Maybe one reason bad teams seem to develop more good young pitchers is that they can give them long looks in low pressure settings. I've been talking up Seabold for a long time. I can't think of why we haven't given him a try, by now, other than something like I just mentioned. I think German has not been given a try, because they think he needs a little more time in AAA. Kelly, Ort and others are probably just not viewed as good enough to displace a vet. Instead, they choose to recycle players who have already been tried before, in hopes we catch them on an upswing. It's not like that has not been tried by many teams for many years.

To be honest, I saw nothing in Diekman that looked positive. I trusted Bloom saw something, and there is still time for that "something" to emerge, but I'm done hoping for it.

Not trying Seabold makes me think they just don't believe in him, despite his sub .500 OPS against in AAA. My guess: they trade him at the deadline, and they didn't want his stock to fall by being shelled in the bigs after a call-up. How much has Crawford and Winckowski's stock suffered after their call-ups? Probably not as much as we think, but still...

The Houck piggy-backing decision seems to be the most perplexing choice made by Cora/Bloom.

I think the hope was Houck or Whitlock could start, and the other could boost a pen that looked about the same as last year's pen. I'm not defending the choice. I'm always for adding more quality pitching, no matter how good we look on paper, and we did not look good on paper by opening day. One problem is, some of the names we were throwing around, last winter, have sucked, too. In hindsight, we should have brought Martin Perez back, but who here would have felt any joy with that re-signing?

Not by much. The thing that gets me is that this pen, on paper, going into the season, was not much different from last year's pen- on paper. Ottavino was largely a question mark and Whitlock showed much promise in ST'ing but was not somebody we could count on. Barnes was a decent 8th inning guy, but the talk on this site was about having no closer and very weak pen depth. The pen was not great, last year, but they carried us for long stretches, particularly Barnes until June. Guys like Richards and Robles played key roles after Barnes' implosion. I think I went into this season thinking maybe Bloom and Cora could work magic with unsung pitchers year-after-year. So far, the only magic we've seen has been black magic. The season is not even half over, and trades will likely be made. One of the few things we all seem to agree on is that we will likely fail if the pen is left, as is. Some want Whitlock to close. Some think Houck can be the closer. Some think trying some prospects is worth a shot. Some want a trade made ASAP. Some want to just complain about Bloom's incompetence. Others mix and match or perhaps think something I missed. All-in-all, I think all of us think we need new blood, and with the roster limit of 14 pitchers being trimmed to 13 on Monday, somebody has to go, even without adding new blood, so if new b lood is to be added, two have to go or be demoted. I think the lists being posted are good fodder for debate. I doubt we DFA Barnes and that salary. Diekman's second year makes me think he's not going anywhere, as of Monday, anyway. Sawamura is not being paid much, and maybe could be traded, but every team is trimming pens, right now. Sawamura has options, so demoting him could be the solution, at least temporarily. That leaves Brasier and Robles. I'd say Robles is choice number one. soxprospects.com shows Brasier with one option remaining, but I wonder if he need to okay a demotion. If not, he might be demoted to keep all options on the table going forward. I am nearly 100% certain we make a summer deal or two for pen help, but remember, Sale's pending return will add someone to the pen. If Paxton ever joins the team, there's another pen addition. With either of these two, the return of Whitlock to the pen seems likely. That would be a huge boost and better than just about any trade imaginable.

I had mentioned McHugh's name a lot over the winter, and from day one questioned the Diekman signing, especially the rare second year given by Bloom. I know the money was not large, but still... It's one of the few critiques I got right, last winter, and there may still be time to turn that around. In 2021, the Perez signing looked great until June. Now, he looks like a Cy Yong contender for another team. In between, he sucked.

Brasier has some good pitches. He was struggling for a while, but he has missed a lot of time due to various injuries over the past few years. I can understand why GMs keep RP'ers and "recycle" them often. They are often hit or miss, and when you hit, they can help for extended periods. Maybe Brtasier is onto one of those periods, now. I think I may be one of the few that sort of defended keeping Brasier on the roster and often had him higher on the depth chart than others, until recently. He really sucked badly in so many key games, early on. I lost faith. I'm not sure I'm at the point where I'm gaining it back, but your numbers opened my eyes to possibility. As many know, I use OPS and OPS Against often. Some of the names on my list do not have bad numbers: .403 Schreiber .573 Valdez (on some people's DFA lists, maybe) .581 Strahm .585 Danish (Not someone people have faith in, either) .616 Sawamura .661 Davis .734 Robles .768 Diekman .784 Barnes- a salvageable number .795 Brasier- same as Barnes

I'm hopeful Bloom can hire some of the people from Tampa or other capable people to help our farm get to the level some of these other teams have seemed to maintain for many years, especially finding and developing solid pitchers. It's not luck these teams churn out quality pitchers so often. It's really the best way to set your team up for long term success. You see very few teams winning even one ring, that had a weak farm in the years before the ring, and just about every team that consistently wins has had a solid farm continuously feeding them studs and solid role players year after year. It's clear rebuilding the farm was a high priority with Bloom, but it remains to be seen, if the building will produce. Here are the 2022 numbers of some of Bloom's farm additions: OPS or OPS Against .859 Mayer .675Yorke .652 Bleis .562 Winckowski .487 Seabold .693 Downs .823 Binelas .774 Jordan .741 McDonough .911 Hickey .709 Wong .529 German .746 Koss .658 Hamilton 1.006 Kavadas .572 Ort

Pivetta v Paliante One game at a time!

The Cards are a good team. Win tomorrow, and we win yet another series.

So, there is no chance your pitching can slump, this year? Pitching doesn't slump in 2022.

You really believe pitching doesn't slump? Sometimes, you say the darndest things. 2021 Yanks 4.12 ERA in April 3.16 May 2.75 June What was that? Consistency?

Davis is okay. 4 super weak links: Barnes, Brasier, Robles & Diekman Semi weak: Sawamura

Castellanos is really heating up. 4 for 5, today. Rafaela has his AA OPS up to 1.036 by going 2-5 w a 2B. GRE game not over, but Jimenez is 3-6, Lugo 2-5 and Binelas 2-5 w 2B. SAL won 9-6 w Uberstine pitching 4.2 IP in middle relief (6H, 2 ER, 1BB, 5K). Hickey 2-4 w HR, Kavadas 2-2 w 2HRs & 2BBs, Jordan 2-5 w 3B, Paulino 2-5 and Bonaci 1-2 w 2B and 3 BBs.

Pivetta, the stopper, to the rescue. One game at a time. Forget what happened yesterday.

Why not?

We can do that without winning 10 straight. I’m not against the idea, but steady .667 ball gets us there, too.