moonslav59

Some prospects I’m curious about are the De la Rosa, Freddy Valdez and Gambrell kids we got in the Beni trade. Winckowski may end up being the best of the deal, but any thoughts on these other guys? .

Archer had to leave the game due to a hip injury. Cruz has a COVID issue. Choi pulled a hammy. The Rays don’t even blink.

There is a 2022 thread.

Saying the AB trade was a disaster is an opinion, not a fact, and likely a wrong one, too. AB sucks and we have a long way to go to see what the 5 players we got for him will give us.

You really don’t know? Look at the 2020 roster, especially our top innings eaters, and then ask again.

They do all the things not captured by stats very well. They don’t have to pay their players as much as others, because on paper, they are not as good.

Nice memory, That was heartbreak hill before the 75 WS heart ache. I went back and looked at the game logs from ‘74. They had actually lost 6 of 8 before that doubleheader. Many remember the 1978 collapse as being worse, and in some ways it was. We were up 10 games on July 8th and shortly later won 5 in a row to be up 9 on July 19th, but the the wheels came off, all at once. We lost 5 in a row and 9 of 10 to get down to a 4.5 game lead, then won 6 in a row at the end of August to get back to 7 up. We then went 3-13 to fall back 2.5 games, and everyone, and I mean everybody counted us out. Amazingly, we finished 12-2 to force the tie with the Yanks., yet that team was always thought of as big chokers.

I remember reading a book called something like “In the Zone,” where it focused on basketball and tennis players, maybe golfers, too, and how they all described their hot streaks in nearly identical ways. They spoke of how it was like they were not even thinking about it. It just happened. In a way, they were “outside their minds” and everything seemed slowed down. They also mentioned that as soon as they started thinking something like, “man, I’m hot,” the streak would end. Not sure how this fits into the discussion, but felt it seemed real to me, as I had felt that same way during the finer moments of my sports career.

The Rays have scored 46 more runs than us, this year, despite these numbers: .739 OPs/ 104 OPS+ Sox: .765/111 OPS+ By batting slot: TBR/ BOS 1 .858/.742 2 .744/.745 3 .601/.859 4 .852/.883 5 .685/.883 6 .746/.711 7 .778/.655 8 .745/.759 9 .625/.625 I know team speed and base running smarts has something to do with it, but still... How about non repeatable numbers? Late & Close .701 TBR .671 BOS High Leverage .843 BOS .777 TBR BAbip .308 BOS .292 TBR

The A’s lost again, this time by allowing 2 in the 8th to lose 2-1. We gain a half game and are now tied for the WC2 slot.

It felt like a sweep.

I’m more worried about the Jays than the As. Even when I posted the Pesky Rays thread, the Yanks were always my biggest worry.

I like Gausman, but he’s not the type of guy I give the type of deal he will get. Plus, he could easily be a flash in the pan. He sucked in 2018, was nothing special before that and has a smallish sample size of doing well. He has never pitched 187 innings. That’s too many ifs for. Me. One more thing, the whole idea of a 6 man rotation seems like fantasy, to me..

Mayer cranked his first HR, today!

We were 54-32 on July 5th. That seems like eternity ago. We’ve gone 16-23 since then, but had some moments where it looked like we were going to get back to our winning ways. We won 4 in a row and 6 of 7 vs NYY & TOR in the middle of July and 3 of 4 just last week, but it seems more and more like that 86 game team was the fluke and not this most recent 39 game team. Take away those 6 of 7 and 3 of 4 stretches and we have a 7-21 record, I still think there’s plenty of time to turn things around, especially with a favorable schedule when compared to the A’s, but we gotta beat up the bad teams and hold our own with the good ones. Losing 10-1 to the Rangers after seeing them sweep us in Texas months ago, hurts, badly. .

How about Voit?

I could see that happening, and fans would love to point out how that was Bloom’s MO in Tampa. I could also see us trade Vaz a year before free agency, but catchers are hard to find. (That’s also why Vaz’s trade value might get a nice return.)

I’ll go over what next year’s pitching staff looks like. Gone or mostly likely gone: ERod (free agent) Ottavino (free agent) Richards (option declined) Perez (option very likely declined) Andriese (already gone) Robles (free agent) That’s a lot of money off the books for only 2 key slots to backfill. Here’s my look at the 13 man staff for 2022: (What I think not necessarily what I want) Sale _____ (FA) Eovaldi Pivetta Whitlock _____ (FA) Houck Barnes _____ (FA) DHern Taylor Sawamura Brasier AAA depth: Seabold, Winckowski, Crawford, Bello Valdez, Rios, Davis, Bazardo It’s hard for me to name names for the 3 slots we might fill via free agency or trade. I like R Iglesias as a closer/set up man but doubt we outbid everyone for a pen arm. I’d like us to find a younger arm for a solid #1 or 2 slot starter, but none jump out at me as being large and long type contracts, to me. I think we sign an aging starter or two rather than look for or repeat the Price type deal. 42 Rich Hill 39 Verlander 38 Greinke 38 Morton 37 Scherzer 36 Kluber 36 Cueto (no) 34 Kershaw

I wasn’t sure if SEA claimed him off waivers or he cleared them and then was signed for the min. I assume, now, it was the latter.

Nice summary old timer. I eagerly await your breakdown of our returning pitchers. Here’s what I would add: Devers on D has gotten “comfortable looking” several times in recent years, only to relapse into stinkdom, often in April’s. I’m still open to moving him to 1B, a position we happen to be very weak at. That begs the question, who plays third? I’ve never been high on Bogey’s D at SS, but he is clearly a big net plus, so no beef, here. JD’s opt out is big question mark, this winter. I have mixed feelings about what I’d like him to choose. If he goes, I hope we can keep Schwarber, but keeping both only hurts our D, even if just for one year. I was hoping Verdugo could be an .850 hitter: now, I wonder about .780. His D is fine. If Renfroe can stay near .800, he’ll be a great steal by Bloom. His RF D shocked me. Let’s keep him in RF, Kike in CF and Verdugo in LF. It’s the one solid defensive part of out team, but we’ve had to mess with it, too often. Vaz has not been on a steady decline on offense. His 2019-2020 numbers were the best back to back seasons of his career and was about .800. That’s awesome for a catcher. I’m not sure what happened, this year, but it’s not the first time he’s yo-yo’d. I won’t get into my feelings about our staff’s comfort pitching to him. I love Plawecki as a back-up- not a starter. I expected better D from Dalbec, or at least signs of marked improvement. Struggling on offense was a little more predictable, but he still has a lot to prove. I’m not sure how long a leash a contending team can give to a guy who p,as a position known for big offense. I’ve not given up on him, but my hopes are lower than they were over the winter. We need a better 1B plan, next year. Mayb e Schwarber can play there vs RHPs for one year, then move to DH. I don’t see Munoz, Arauz or Casas as anyone we should count on for anything in 2022, except maybe as 3rd stringers. Duran should get plenty of playing time as the 4th OFer, especially if Kike is needed at 2B a significant amount of time, as Arroyo’s health may be an issue, or he may be needed at SS, 3B, 1B as relief or in case of injury. I like what we have coming back on offense and don’t see any easy fixes on defense that don’t mess up our offense. Move Devers to 1B? Trade Bogey before his opt out? Find a better catcher somehow? Sign a 1B that can hit and field well? I think we’ll add a 1Bman or Schwarber plus a utility guy better than Marwin was. The new pitchers will be the keys.

We pay the difference, right? Unless you guys claimed him through waivers.

Is anyone hinting at re-signing Richards or taking the option? .

Just a reminder of what we had, last year, and just how many holes Bloom needed to fill with about $40M to spend- short term deals only. IP Rankings 1. Pérez (re-signed him) 3. Weber 4. Valdez 5. Mazza 6. Godley 7. Brewer 8. Brasier 10 Springs 11. Brice 13. Osich 14. Covey 15. Kickham (even at #15, he was on pace for 40 IP!) These guys for over 25 IP: Stock, Walden, Hart These over 15: Hembree, Triggs, Hall How about our PA leaders? 7. Chavis 8. Pillar 9. Peraza 10. Dalbec 11. Plawecki 12. Aráuz (on pace for 200 PAs) Lin, Pueblo, Munoz and others played some. We had a very weak roster from about 16 or 18 to 40. We’d have had to spend like the Dodgers to fill all those slots, p,us add an ace and top closer. Let’s get real, here.

So, it’s a repeatable non skill.

True. The only player that does seem to slump on D is Devers.