moonslav59

Without Henry, where would we be? I can take some of the crap that has happened under and by Henry, because I went over 30 years wallowing in grief and frustration. Even many of the bad seasons we had since 2003 were years we went into the season thinking we had a shot at the playoffs. I think 2020 was the only one I had zero hope going into the season.

The 9 games after the Yankee 3 games in 2 days series looks pretty easy, but we have to romp and stomp. 3 v TEX (pay them back) 3 vs MIN (not the same team as earlier, this year- they are wrose) 3 @ CLE (not easy, but we need to take the series) Then, TBR for 7 of the next 10 (CLE the other 3). Then, another very tough stretch on the road: 3 CWS+3 SEA. We end with 3 v BAL 2 v NYM 3 v NYY 3 @ BAL 3 @ WSH

We can't let the Yanks catch or pass us, so 2 of 3 is minimum. That's not to say we can't rebound from losing 2 of 3, but don't give the Yanks the confidence to go off on a tear.

It's been a pattern not really a "at some point." Henry has forced a reset 4 times, and most of those times were followed by 1-2 more years staying under the tax line. It's what he has always done.

Gotta give Henry credit for swapping out GMs to fit the current situation. I had hoped he'd have given Ben one more year, but DD had more experience going all in. I'm hopeful Bloom can win a ring like Ben did, while he pumps up the farm. I also hope he doesn't make the Pablo-HRam type mistakes with free agency, like Ben did. I think getting Mayer is going to boost our farm value, and having the extra pick for not signing Fabian should help next year's draft be better than it might have been. I was a lot higher on a number of the prospects Bloom recently acquired than the probably deserved (Potts, Rosarion, Wallace, German and others), but Whitlock was a real gem, and Seabold, Yorke, Jordan, Wong and others still show a lot of promise. (I'm not done with Dows, yet, either.) Deepening the 40 man roster with a very limited budget was not easy, and we all seem to notice the Santanas, Corderos, Marwins and a few others more than Pivetta, Renfroe, Verdugo, Plawecki, Ottavino, Sawamura and yes, even Perez, who put in a very decent first half for us. Maybe Richards can redeem himself a bit in the pen, and Schwarber looks like the wild card.

I've always been very high on Bello. He could be the guy that makes a difference, sooner rather than later. This was my rankings from a week ago on the prospects page: My top 30 1. Mayer 2. Duran 3. Houck (I'd flip Houck and Duran, now.) 4. Casas 5. Bello 6. Jimenez 7. Downs 8. Yorke 9. Seabold 10. Song 11. Jordan 12. Winckowski 13. Murphy 14. Mata 15. Wong 16. Groome 17. Bonaci 18. Wilkelman 19. Crawford 20. Howlett 21. Lugo 22. Bleis 23. Hickey 24. McDonough 25. Cannon 26. Bazardo 27. Rosario 28. Ro Hernandez 29. Paulino 30. Arauz/Lira/Potts/Drohan

No arguments, here. Ownership chose DD as the right guy for that philosophy. It was a great choice. It worked very well. Then, we paid the price. (It's this part some can't seem to even think about, let alone say.)

Take away the SFG games, and Oak still has a tougher schedule going forward than the Sox. We play the same amount against CWS, but the difference is, we've already played them more. That's part of the reason we are only tied with Oak. We also play way more games vs these AL ranked teams: 1T. TBR 6. NYY 7. TOR 15. BAL Oak plays most of their games vs... 1T. HOU 8. SEA 9. LAA 14. TEX I'm pretty sure who had the tougher schedule, all year, and I'm pretty sure ours was tougher, to date, and we're tied with the A's. If we pass them, because the A's have a tougher schedule going forward, I won't cry any tears for them. Team Records: Sox vs .500+ teams: 42-35 Oakland 22-31 Sox vs .500- teams 26-16 Oakland 46-18 Tell me who has played the tougher schedule?

Again, nobody is arguing with your point, but you asked what was extreme, and we said the amount of prospects traded in a short time- not the quality- the quantity, and you did respond to that point, until maybe, now. BTW, Moncada, Kopech & Margot are not trash. Almost all his prospect moves proved to be good ones. No argument. The farm was over-rated, No argument, except that even in hindsight, that farm was not bottom 3. I never said he traded too much, in hindsight. I said I disagreed with two of his moves, and that both turned out well. One I agreed with, did not. In hindsight those trades were a big plus. All this has little to do with the farm and budget issues he left Bloom. Why is it so hard to just say it?

Oakland and TBR lost to bad teams, today. The Yanks are up on the CWS 5-1, late. TOR up big on SEA. HOU now has the best AL record. We are 3 down to TBR, but 5 in the loss column. We will be tied with the CWS for the 3rd best AL record, if they lose to NYY. It looks like we can gain ground as quickly as we lost it.

It helps we have tomorrow off, and the Yanks don't. Also, the Yanks pen has been in shambles, of late, too. Chapman hasn't pitched in over a week (Aug 5th). Britton has been lit up (10.13 ERA in last week) Even Chad Green has a .741 OPS Against in his last 5 games and .867 in his last 12.

Yes, LAA & CLE are no push-overs

Some Selected OPS Numbers on New Teams 1.167 Schwarber .962 Rizzo .864 Turner .808 Bryant .720 Gallo .559 Baez ERA 1.74 Scherzer 3.18 Gibson (3.60 Sale) 3.86 Berrios 5.40 Kimbrel 9.00 Heaney

MIN 4-4 TBR (7th) TB has bases loaded w 1 out NYY 3-0 CWS (6th) TEX 7-3 OAK (7th) LAA 0-0 HOU SEA 0-0 TOR

I'm not saying there is no need for concern, but the concern over our rotation evaporated pretty quickly: i'm hopeful the pen concerns will be, too. While Ottavino and Barnes have looked extremely shaky, of late, it seems the rest of the pen may be able to take up some slack. (BTW, Ottavino's OPS against was .522 over the past 2 weeks, before today.) Last 2 weeks: .543 Sawamura .674 Rios Last week: .533 Perez .543 Sawamura .700 Taylor Last 3 inning game: .682 Richards I'm certainly not ready to anoint Richards the pen saver after just one pen appearance, but it could be a great role for him- maybe Perez, too.

Is Houck, if he can't get by the 19th batter? Sure, if he can get 14 to 16 of the first 18 out, every game, but I'm not sure we can count on that from anyone.

We could do that, but I think we'll use the spending budget on a solid SP'er and use Houck to fill Ottavino's role or become the closer. Sale Greinke Eovaldi Whitlock Pivetta Houck and Barnes as the top 2 RP'ers. (I'd be fine swapping Houck & Whitlock, but as of right now- and things can change- I think Whitlock fits the role of SP'er pitcher better for 2022.

With 3 of the next 8 days off and despite the doubleheader on Tuesday, our pen is now well rested and should not be taxed until after next Monday. I'm not saying that's all they needed, but let's see...

Absolutely, and if you look at Oakland's schedule, the WC1 slot should be ours, if we fall short of winning the ALE. It's funny how a 3 games series against a team like the O's can change so many perspectives. This schedule was there to see before this series, too.

Now, look at Oakland's remaining games: 3-4 CWS 6-3 SEA 3-3 HOU 4-0 NYY 3-0 SFG 3-0 TEX 0-3 TOR 0-3 LAA 0-3 DET 0-3 KCR The Yanks... 4-3 TOR 3-3 BOS 3-3 BAL 4-0 MIN 0-4 OAK 1-3 LAA 3-0 TBR 3-0 NYM 3-0 CLE 3-0 TEX 0-2 ATL

Again, why not respond to the point we actually made: DD traded an extreme amount of prospects- whether they ended up being good or not is a separate issue that nobody is disagree with you on.

Just like that, Schwarber now leads the team in OPS at 1.167.

Don't believe all the bad press. 2020 (.772 OPS Against) .644 AUG .910 SEP (one bad month) 2019 (.624 season) .634 AUG .641 SEP 2018 (.509 season) .638 AUG .542 SEP 2017 (.786 season) .771 AUG (one not so great month) .674 SEP While there has been some drop offs later in the season, all but 2 of these 8 months listed were very respectable. Career (.677 overall) .632 AUG .704 SEP (Combined pretty close to .677)

The Yanks play tomorrow- the day before our doubleheader with them. We have Monday and Thursday off, this week and then Monday off next week. (Time for other teams to catch up on our total games played.) I'm guessing we go with these starters: 8/16 off 8/17 @NYY Eovaldi (+1 day rest) 8/17 @NYY Houck 8/18 @NYY Pivetta 8/19 off 8/20 TEX Sale (+1 day rest) 8/21 TEX ERod (+1) 8/22 TEX Eovaldi 8/23 off 8/24 MIN Houck (+2) 8/25 MIN Pivetta (+1) 8/26 MIN Sale (+1) then 7 straight road games (3@ CLE & 4 @TBR) with no days off from 8/24 to 9/9- 16 straight games.

ROBO Umps- yesterday, already!