moonslav59

Our farm is really taking shape. It's fun to get to see them play in September, for once.

Are we ever going to hit a HR with men on base?

UZR/150 uses trained and calibrated "experts" who judge what balls are in the zone and should be caught. I'm not sure, if they use launch angles and distance needed to get to the ball. According to fangraphs, Duran made 34 of 35 plays on BIZ (Balls in Zone). They also factor in plays made out of the zone by great defenders. I'm looking at fangraphs, now. Duran has made 12 OOZ (Out of Zone) plays in 215 innings, but I don't know how many OOZ plays he had a chance to make. I can see that his OOZ plays to Innings is very low compared to many others, but it's not the worst. They have Duran dead last out of 60 CF'ers with 200+ innings in CF at -25.6 UZR/150, They gave him a -0.6 ARM, which is very bad for the amount of innings. -2.3 Range and +0.1 Errors. Michael Taylor made 100 OOZ plays in 1021 innings. Buxton 20 in 274 innings. (He made 69-71 BIZ plays) Link: https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=cf&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=200&type=3&season=2021&month=0&season1=2021&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=&enddate= DRS uses a different method and has him at -6 runs. Maybe a lot is due to his arm not just range limitations.

Got that right. Then, when nobody expected it, poof, he was gone.

I always thought Seabold was going to be part of the ML team in 2021. The injury set him back, but if he's recovered and is deemed "ready," he seems like as good a pick as anyone else, if not better.

I thought he was what this was all about. Do you think it would hurt him to call him up? (Not the team- you obviously think that.)

I projected Potts and Rosario as rule 5 or FA addition DFA top candidates.

you think Groome is ML ready?

I doubt that's the only reason players are held back, but it is a major factor for some players, especially the studs.

Sure, no player is going to refuse a call-up, but do you really think every minor leaguer, especially the younger ones, think they are MLB ready right now? (I'm sure even some 17-18 year olds do, but not all prospects feel ML ready, right now. IMO)

The build confidence in the minors. Maybe the system weeds out those who can't handle pressure in the minors.

Much of baseball is based on confidence, especially with pitchers on certain pitches. I do think it's only a very slight risk of over-throwing. I doubt that is a factor. If no harm can be done, hey Bogey's out- call up Mayer. He's got the hot hand. Call up Yorke to take the place of the clowns we've had at 2B the last few days. No risk, right?

I was speaking to the point he needs to play everyday. Is "the man" ready to oust Verdugo, Kike or Renfroe from an OF position even by September of next year? I said I was fine having him as our 4th OF'er, but when the discussion turned to having a defensive 4th OF'er, so maybe Schwarber can be moved to 1B in late innings, I asked about where that leaves Duran? I am not down on Duran. I have been maybe Dalbec's biggest supporters on this site. Duran and Dalbec are "men" in terms of age and maturity. My issue with Duran had nothing to do with an age or fragile emotional level: it had to do with thinking maybe his defense was not ready and that he just made a major change to his batting approach. My position on Duran was to call him up when Bloom & Co. deemed him ready. (I'm not for demoting him, despite his slow- small sample start.) Groome is a whole other case. The guy has barely pitched in the minors. Age is not everything, and his numbers don't even warrant a call-up over others with better numbers- some even older than him- like Seabold or Crawford. I'm not against calling anyone up, but I do think it can do the team and the player harm to call them up too early, especially way too early. Again, if Bloom calls Groome up tomorrow, then I trust he's more ready than Seabold and Crawford. I'm just speculation like everyone else.

No, but do you believe no harm can be done? No harm will likely be done? Totally not sure?

Many seem to feel like it can't hurt to call anyone up too early, let alone way too early.

If that's the case, then a trade is the only way he plays everyday, unless is at WOO.

This also begs the question: why Duran as the 4th OF'er in 2022?

I remember that game. I think Papelbon went 2 or even 3 innings. I also remember Price getting the save in game 7 for the Rays.

7 out of 11.

In reality, the choice is just $8.5M, since his buy out is $1.5M on the team option of $10M. I'm not sure what the 2022 lux tax number is, since they counted the $1.5M on his 2021 lux tax cost. I know, more dollar signs.

To me, the game 7 loss in '75 was the worst. I was a teen, and after game 6, it hurt the most. The '78 play-in game with the Yanks was probably #2, but game 6 of '86 is close. While the 2003 loss was very bad and just added to the long-standing grief, somehow the fact that I expected us to lose made it easier to handle than the other.

The narrative was false to begin with and was based on 1 or 2 years where he had one or two awful late season games that totally skewed his numbers.

I think Ottavino has been a plus. He may barely be worth his contract. I've always liked Kike in the OF, but I also wanted Marisnik as our 4th OF'er. I would not pay Richards $10M to be in our pen, next year, unless he keeps this up (or nearly as good) to the end of 2021.

So was not benching JD for 3 games.