moonslav59

Should we worry about Sale not even hitting 94 mph, today? (Or did I miss a pitch?)

I've been noticing, over the last month or so, he often gets 4+ balls thrown outside the K zone to him, but hasn't walked much.

Well put, and since we have Whitlock and Houck on the big club, already, who aren't technically "prospects," our young pitching looks better than in a long time.

3-0 TOR over Yanks.

Still getting the big K's. I'm not seeing the 96+ mph pitches, today.

Pitch count on the rise.

He can plat a short corner OF better than JD, IMO, and if he can show he can be okay at 1B, his value goes up even more. I'm thinking he can get $64M/4 or $75M/5. (I'm not very good at these projections.)

It's a short term fix, IMO. Yes, his UZR/150 was in steady decline before falling off a cliff, this season: 12.2 10.2 9.7 7.6 6.3 -8.7 His DRS over the past 3 years: +5 -2 -21

We trading Bogey? Big factor utility man?

Vaz swings at too many balls.

Bobby Dee with the big hit!

No doubt, and that's even without 2 more arb years!

Has Sale hit 95, today?

I know! We hit hard outs and they dribble hits left and right!

Is Jimmy Williams making out the card?

How many times do make hard outs in key situations?

A sweep by anyone could really do some damage.

I almost called that, when I saw he was DFA'd, and Bogey went down with COVID. Welcome back! (This should be on the 2021 thread.)

They were a little better than middle of the road in last year's short season (12th) and 2019 (11th), but yes, they were largely known for pitching defense, base running and doing all the little things right. They trade Snell and lose Glasnow plus their top closer, Anderson, plus a couple decent pitchers like Chirinos and Beeks and suddenly turn into an run-scoring team. On the surface, it looks like smoke and mirrors, but they've done this for too long, to believe it's just blind luck. Look at the offenses of Houston, LAD, BOS, CWS and TOR. The Rays have scored more than all of them! Almost 50 more than the Jays! Runs 733 TBR 710 HOU 699 BOS 692 LAD 686 CWS 685 TOR/CIN OPS is supposed to be one of the best predictors of runs score: the Rays are 10th in OPS- closer to 11th than 9th. .785 TOR .774 HOU .772 BOS ,762 CIN .755 CWS .754 SFG .752 ATL .750 LAD .750 WSN .743 TBR Within the OPS stat, they say OBP is more important than SLG: TBR are 13th in OBP at .319. Power? They are 5th in ISO and 3rd in the ALE! .192 TOR .190 ATL .188 SFG .186 BOS .184 TBR .181 CIN .180 MIN .179 LAD They are 7th in team speed, according to fangraphs. They are 12th in BAbip at .292. (BOS, CWS & WSH are 1st at .307). They are 10th in wOBA at .320 (TOR, HOU & BOS are all over .331.) They do look better, but still not best in... wRC+ 116 HOU 111 TOR 109 CWS 107 TBR 106 BOS 106 LAD 104 SFG 103 OAK 102 CIN fangraphs base running 12.4 COL 9.1 KCR 8.6 TBR fangraphs batting 102 HOU 69 TOR 59 CWS 44 TBR 39 LAD 39 BOS Will they come down to earth, or have they found ways to defy the odds and score more without being better hitters and runners?

It's a huge game, no doubt, and a win here could give us the added boost we need. I do want to point out that we are 7-4 in our last 11 and 9-5 in our last 14, so one could argue, we started turning things around a couple weeks ago.

On a DH only player?

Although signing a top SP'er costs more than a top closer, they seem more likely to not fail than RP'ers often do. I have no evidence to support this, and out last big pitcher signing, Price, did not work out all that greatly. I know we want to avoid 5 or 6+ year deals, so I really would not be surprised, if we sign one or two of the older pitchers to a 2-3 year deals and use Houck in the pen. Yes, Houck has great value as a starter, even if he continues to get yanked after the second time through a line-up, but getting starters who can go 6-7 takes a lot of stress off the pen.

I already explained this.

He wasn't much before either, especially after Scwarber got healthy enough to play.

I think it was to make a point about sticking with someone, despite a long slump.