moonslav59

You crack me up.

I think we sign a very solid infield utility player who can play SS and 2B well. If Arroyo keep getting hurt, the guy can be counted on to play FT. Iggy seems like a nice fit and should not cost much. The Schwarber vs JD or Schwarber AND JD debate will rage all winter long, but to me, the best way for a team to improve is to work on improving its weakest areas. DH/OF is not our weakest area. It's actually an area of strength, especially when keeping Kike in CF. If we can find a way to move JD and bring Schwarber onboard at little extra cost, I'm fine with that, but JD had been a big part of this team and the clubhouse. Our highest need areas are obvious, to me. 1. Pitcher 2. Pitcher 3. Pitcher (Utility infielder is a distant 4th, and more pitching is at #5 and #6.) I don't mean to put down anyone who thinks differently by saying it is "obvious," but aren't we all on pins and needles when anyone but Eovaldi starts and anyone not named Whitlock or Houck are brought in from the pen? Expecting Cora to continue working miracles with the staff, next year, so we can enjoy watching JD and Schwarber rake is too risky for my liking.

Maybe you meant Robles, who is a FA. Davis is not a FA.

Who was the guy who wanted JD left off the ALDS roster?

I respect the hell out of what the Rays can do year after year with that budget, but it's not the low budget that keeps them winning. It's great management and an incredible ability to judge the value of their own players and those on other teams and their farms- not so much via drafting. We can and seemingly are taking some of their strategies to heart by acquiring gems in the rough, but we can do that and spend, too. If we got the money, spend it. I'm even okay with adopting some strategies of the Rays that seem to be money orientated- like trading studs before their big paydays, but that can and should be a strategy used by big spending teams, too. It's a winning strategy not a poor team strategy by itself.

I said cheapest not cheap. We are going to spend, this winter. If it's not on SP'ing it will be on something else. I'd love to have Scwarber back, but despite how this season has proven you can win with offense and not pitching and D, I'm still a believer that adding top quality not quantity to the pitching staff as much and as often as possible is the winning strategy. Right now, we are working wonders with having 1 capable starter and a couple pen arms, but don't expect that to be a long term winning philosophy. Just my opinion. It's going to take more than a whacked out AL season, this year, to budge me from it.

Every AL team had known serious flaws from day one. Even if the Astros had no new rotation injuries, we'd have had a very good chance at beating them. Just watch us against the vaunted Dodger staff..

He was obsessed with us when we sucked, too.

We aren't going to apologize for having a better GM than you. It's part of how good a team is. Same with the manager.

Good stuff, max, as always.

Using career stats for young players is misleading. You normally expect improvement from ages 22-28 or 29 not flatining or regression from previous better years. You keep brining up JD's massive drop off in a 60 game season, like it actually meant something and set his "new norm." A normal regression due to his age makes 2021's numbers just about right. Bogey and Devers had better years before, this. They may be better next year. Vaz dropped off a lot, and using his career stats is like saying LeMahieu was close to his career norm, this year (.711 to .778). You know damn well a player's most recent 2-3 years is a better indicator of norm than career numbers. It's not uncommon to have 2 or your top 10 PA players having career years. It should actually expected- just as a couple having drop off years. That's what we had. The rest held true to their recent norms or season (2019 or 2020). When we hit even better, next year, maybe you'll be convinced it was no fluke.

Houck. I have enough confidence in these guys to bring them in: Robles Brasier Ottavino Taylor but not a whole lot.

I've been arguing for an 11 or 12 man staff for the playoffs since day one. If we want to keep one scrub to take the mop up innings, just go with Perez, until his arm falls off.

I fixed that for you...

The guy has some major talent, but he never seems to be able to harness it. Here is an interesting tidbit about DHern: 5505 pitchers have over 70 IP in their careers. Here are the top K/9 rates, career: 15.4 Josh Hader 14.9 A Chapman 14.7 C Kimbrel 14.6 Devin Williams 14,4 D Betances 14.4 Adwin Diaz 14.3 James Karinchak 14.2 DHern (Note: He's also 24th on the list for most BB/9 at 7.4!) Top K/9 Pitchers of all time with 1000+ IP 11.2 Robbie Ray 11.1 Chris Sale 11.1 Yu Darvish 10.7 J deGrom 10.7 Scherzer 10.6 Randy Johnson 11. Pedro Martinez 10.0

That's just not true. Vaz had a near .800 OPS from 2019-2020. He dropped 150 points. You can say JD's age led to his decline, but it was a decline. (No, don't pull the 60 game 2020 season crap on us.) Arroyo was hurt a lot- expected but still... Kike missed time and then the COVID thing hit him and many others - all at once. Verdugo had a down year, at an age when you'd have expected further growth. Bogey is in peak prime but did not have a career year and played hurt for a big chunk ofthe year. Devers is on the rise, in terms of age progression, but took a step back from his career high a couple years back. I'm not making excuses. We had some big years from some of these guys and biggest from Renfroe and Kike, but we also assembled a roster of players not known for injury (except Arroyo), unlike your Yankee GM. Give our offense the props it deserves. It is good on paper and became great when we added Schwarber. Just admit it.

No argument there, but the offense is no joke and no fluke.

So has Whitlock and Houck. I know you have no faith in ERod, but the guy is a winner. (Not saying his next game is a good one, but I think there is a good chance it will be good enough,) Some other pen arm might step up and deliver, next. It's been our history, this year- rotating go-to pen arms.

Would you stop with the not good on paper mantra? Sure, I agree on the pitching being highly suspect on paper, but the line-up is for real. There really were not that many career high or outlier years.

Baseball is a game that has no guarantees.

He's gonna get hammered.

Yes, and 2B is not the neediest IF position on defense- by far.

Yes, so let's see next year.

The cheapest route may not be the best.

Our infield is fine, too.