moonslav59

I haven't really seen the plus defense in CF by Kike, despite his UZR/150 numbers showing he was pretty good out there. (Saw a nice catch by JBJ in LF, the other night, on some highlights.)

So, Kike at 2B and Marwin in the OF or vice versa?.

Me, too, but maybe not as an 8 inning set up man. That position is still open. Applications being accepted.

It’s pretty amazing we’ve basically gone with the 14 pitchers we started the season with. Not having an active AAA for April may have played a role, but if we didn’t keep Bazardo up, we likely wanted the 14. Houck got a couple starts and relief outings in, but he’s injured, now. I’m sure we’ll see other pitchers before season’s end, and hopefully we see a healthy and productive Chris freakin’ Sale, but so far we’ve done pretty good avoiding pitcher injuries or clear needs for replacements, except for maybe Brice.

The perfect example of a gamble gone wrong (for the Phillies.) Last year, Bloom traded Workman, Hembree and Osich along with Moreland and Pillar.

Agreed, and maybe we can get a good one who is also a salary dump that does not put us over the tax line. We may also need a very good RPer or two, so we may have to go over to greatly improve our 2021 chances. Getting RPers is almost always a dice roll.

I’d say somewhere between 32 and 53 seems about right.

Yes. Cordero is struggling of late. I'd rather not have him "work through it" at the expense of the big club. Chavis may or may not struggle going forward, and one could say the same about Cordero, but I think Cordero needs to take a step back, right now.

Exactly, and at least Chavis is hitting over .600 and has a dinger. I wouldn't be against seeing Cordero again, later- once he shows he's hitting well in AAA.

I'd like to give him another shot. It's not like he's hitting .448- like Cordero. Yes, he needs to lay off the high fastballs, and you'd think he's had long enough to do that, and he's not likely to learn it in the next few weeks, but as of now, he's not hurting the team like Cordero is, so I give the nod to him. I also have this position of trying not to keep guys like Chavis on the 40 man roster for years while never really giving them a long look to find out once and for all, if they are ML material. I know when you are a winning team, it's not always easy to find time to do that, but with our current situation, it seems like the perfect time to give Chavis a long look- perhaps his last one. That's not to say he can't go on to show he belongs with another team, if we end up cutting him loose, but I'd like to see him get a long enough look to say, "We tried." Yes, he K's a lot, but he had some decent numbers in the minors and his first month in MLB, so I'd like to see him get at least one more extended chance. Cordero may get another look, later, but let him show he can do it at AAA, before he gets a second loo with us. maybe by then, Chavis will have shown it's time to say bye-bye. Maybe not.

In all fairness he did get 705 PAs in 2018 (38 HRs and 100 RBIs) and 692 in 2017 (59 HRs and 132 RBIs), but that seems like ages ago.

Or is Stanton just someone who always takes longer to get over minor injuries?

Chavis allows Marwin to play OF not 2B or 1B, so he basically evens out the OF need, in my book. Cordero obviously needs to work on some things. Chavis just needs a chance to show whether he belongs or not. Now, seems like the perfect time. Cordero can play everyday in AAA. That's what he needs. Playing him everyday in Boston would (likely) be harmful to the team.

They already demoted Arauz for Kike. Arroyo is next- hopefully for Cordero (or Brice) not Chavis.

If he could just have one year with a healthy 675 PAs, one wonders what numbers he'd put up. The guy is a DH. Being this fragile playing that position is a wonder.

Another look at the Yankee starters not named Cole: Kluber was a stud-no doubt, and not for a short time. He was one of baseball's most dominatnt pitchers from 2014 to 2018 9151 ERA+ 1.016 WHIP), but he's pitched less than 37 innings from 2019-2020. He looks to be getting back in form, but is still far from those 5 year numbers. 3.48 ERA (116 ERA+) 4.00 FIP 1.403 WHIP is a worrisome number. His 4.1 BB/9 is over double his career number. Even if you can put aside German's personal issues, and missed 2020 season, his numbers are not all that good from 2018 to 2021: 4.47 ERA (98 ERA+) 1.207 WHIP 2.7 BB/9 and 9.9 K/9 rates (1.8 HR/9) He's doing much better, this year and was decent in 2019, but still... Although Montgomery's FIP of 3.92 since 2019 is decent, his low BB/9 rate and good K/9 rate are about his only redeeming attribute. 5.02 ERA (84 ERA+) 1.249 WHIP I've always liked Taillon, but he has not looked all that good, so far, this year: 5.40 ERA (75 ERA+) 4.48 FIP 1.200 WHIP is encouraging, but the 2.2 HR/9 hurts. His K rate is way up, too (11.6). All in all, I'm not sure any of the concerns from pre-season have been answered, although Kluber is showing nice signs, despite some troubling numbers. No doubt, the Sox starters have been overachieving expectations, and one could show similar past troubling numbers on every Sox pitcher not named ERod, but so far, they keep chugging away and adding to their sample size of plus production, except for Eovaldi.

I didn't realize those were 1 run games, so you are right. It is happening, but let's see if they use him in the 8th, soon.

Machado still a dick... https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mlb-world-reacts-to-dirty-play-by-manny-machado/ar-BB1gPfND?ocid=mailsignout&li=BBnb7Kz

Starter ERA last 28 days: 2.08 Perez 2.89 Pivetta 3.03 Richards 4.34 ERod 5.79 Eovaldi Team record in starts: 6-2 Pivetta 5-2 ERod 5-4 Eovaldi 4-4 Perez 4-4 Richards 0-2 Houck Yankee team records: 5-2 German 5-3 Cole 5-3 Kluber 5-3 Montgomery 2-5 Taillon 0-1 Garcia 0-1 Nelson

Yes, and as much as I try to avoid those inclinations, I too have succumbed. (The "sucky Six" being my latest.)

I'm talking 8th inning stressful situations. While the 7th inning can be high leverage, we have not used Taylor very much in Late & Close situations. He pitched the 9th in our 11-6 win on May 6th and the 9th in a 6-3 loss on April 21st. Valdez was not used from April 24 to May 6th (injury? no IL). He's been used mostly in the 6th or 7th and once in the 9th in a 6-2 win and the 8th in a 4-1 loss. Neither has been used in a tight game beyond the 7th inning in over 5 weeks.

Taylor did very well in 47.1 IP in 2019. .642 OPS against 1.183 WHIP 3.11 FIP 11.8 K/9 Let's hope he can come close to those numbers, this year.

Apparently Kike will be activated before Tuesday's game. That is for Arauz. That leaves Arroyo for _______. DFA Brice or send Cordero or Chavis down. (You all know my choice, but I doubt it's Bloom's choice.) Santana for _______.

Getting Kike and Arroyo back effectively add 2 OF'er to the mix (Kike and Marwin, who will be freed from IF need.) I'd like to see Cordero sent down for Kike. Brice DFA'd for Arroyo. When Santana reaches his opt out date, we send Chavis back down, assuming nobody else goes on the IL.

Some of these numbers might be surprising. (note some very small sample sizes) OPS Against in High Leverage (PAs) .000 Sawamura (3) .267 Barnes (38) .500 Valdez (4) Yes, try him some more .644 Ottavino (47) not as bad as I expected .661 Taylor (8) more, here too? .733 DHern (31) too many PAs here .800 Whitlock (15) .810 Andriese (36) very bad, lately 1.167 Houck (7) 1.333 Brice (3) thank God only 3. Late & Close: .325 Barnes (53) .507 Taylor (17) .553 Ottavino (64) .696 Andriese (41) .909 Sawamura (11) 1.000 Houck (4) 1.125 Whitlock (16) 1.136 DHern (29) Seems like we need to move away from DHern & Andriese, late in games, and start using Valdez & Taylor more often, but then again, maybe they are about to slump.