moonslav59

Not today.

Good time for Renfroe to remind us he's on this team.

I was about to type WTF!!!!

This is not looking good.

Time for Devers to bust it open!

and JD swinging at balls.

There's our lead off hitter!

Same as his second start. He let up a 3 run HR after going 5.1 IP allowing 1 ER. (He ended up with 6 IP and 4 ER.)

Devers, forevers! Lock him up, longterm!

At this moment, I do think sending Taylor packing is more important than finding someone else to lead off or take the rotation slot held by Richards. I also think Renfroe should just face lefties. The way Arroyo, Marwin and Cordero are playing, there's no reason for him to start ve a righty. I don't drink beer at the ballpark, and part of the reason is just what you pointed out- it has melted candle wax finish.

It was almost 20 years ago.

I'd like to see Pivetta get established, this game, gain some confidence with his control, and go to 3 and oh.

1. Kike 2B 2. Verdugo CF 3. JD DH 4. Bogey SS 5. Devers 3B 6. Vaz C 7. Marwin 1B 8. Renfroe RF 9. Cordero LF

Yes, his last 5 starts were not long, except 1: IP ER 2.0 1 0.2 6 3.2 0 7.0 3 4.1 1 but only one was bad. Remember, this guy has barely pitched since 2015, and didn't start pitching in 2020 until late July. He's kind of a hard guy to figure out what he can do and for how long. He was a very fine pitcher from 2014-2017, although he did not pitch much in '16 & '17 (3.06 ERA, 123 ERA+, 1.15 WHIP, 3.25 FIP) We paid him $10M on the hopes he can return to that form. I think he's going to get a chance to show he can. It may not be 8 straight starts out of the gate, but unless he gets hurt, he's getting a longer look than 4 starts.

He did better than kike is now, but it was not his best slot. .804 in the one slot/.844 overall. .362 OBP/ .367 overall. Career (OBP/OPS) 140+ PAs listed .380/939 8th .344/.760 1st .331/.748 6th .317/.799 2nd

Kinda what we all think.

It really is that simple. They are over-thinking this one.

It was a head-scratcher, as we, too were seeking to stay under the tax line, but who has won the trade, so far? BTW, Ottavino comes off the books in 2022- just in time for us to start spending big, again.

I'm not sure the lead off slot is less important than the #3 or 6 slots. It has to help having a .370 to .380 guy up first over a .320 to .330 guy like Kike. That being said, over 600 PAs, .325 vs .375 is just 30 less times on base. It's actually the 3 slot that has been over-rated by "traditionalists" not the #1 slot. My point was that maybe the 2, 4, 5 and 6 slots should be filled by our top 4 hitters, and we only really have 4 clearly better hitters: Bogey, Devers, JD and Verdugo. personally, and I think the metrics back me up, the 1 slot is more valuable than the 3 and 6 slots, so the best 4 hitters should be slotted somewhere in the 1, 2, 4 and 5 slots. 1. Verdugo 2. Bogey 3. ______ (Vaz?) 4. JD 5. Devers 6. _____ (Vaz?) I'm not complaining about Cora's line-up, however. Putting Kike or Arroyo first, in a sense, lengthens the lineup by putting a top 4 hitter up 3rd or 6th not 1st. There is an advantage to that, despite the metrics showing the disadvantage outweighs the advantage. I'm a huge Cora fan. I have some different opinions, but I don't see that as being critical of Cora. He knows what he's doing, and it's working. I have complete confidence in our management team, and if things start going bad, I'm sure Cora will make adjustments, as needed. Here's an example: maybe looking at Arroyo and his numbers, one could argue- "lead him off!" However, maybe Arroyo is doing so well, because Cora put him in a situation (lower slot) that did not have as much pressure on him, and allowed him to be so successful. Who are we to know better? Now, if Kike keeps getting on base at .280-.333, and Arroyo gets on base at .350+, maybe we ease him into that slot. (He has batted there the two times Kike did not start and has a .300 OBP in those 10 PAs/ .250 career in 12 PAs.)

Great take. I'd add Brice to the list with Taylor, but this team has shown a lot of guts and resilience.

Then, he hits the solo job, next time up. Those are signs of a snake-bitten team, but it has not happened often enough to see that as being a trend. Instead, we have come through more often than not. We've won more games that could have gone either way than lost them. I'm glad we got off to a good start. It builds confidence and pulls the team together. Hopefully, we bounce back, today.

I do, too, but it's nice to dream. I do like the fact that they think the top 4 are all solid, and it drops off after that. That means we will likely get a solid player at #4. I don't pretend to know more than Bloom & Co., but I'd feel better if we get one of those 4, and even better, if he's from a college.

He had a .389 OBP in AAA (a bigger sample size than his MLB one.) Overall, his MiLB OBP was .359. He has a .345 OBP in the bigs but has never really played near even 120 games in MLB a season. JBJ came out of college and had a .366 AAA OBP and .340 overall- similar to Verdugo but not as good and at much older age periods by level. Kalish had a .339 AAA OBP and .349 overall, but at least he started as an 18 year old. I think Verdugo is for real, but I worry a little about him playing 154 games, or so.

I find it hard to believe the metrics that say the 4 and 5 slots are more important than the 3 slot and that even #6 is close to #3, but I do think it is right. I like Devers 5th. JD seems like the perfect clean-up hitter. Since the 2 slot should be your best hitter- put Bogey there. That leaves Verdugo for the 1, 3 or 6 slot. I choose 1. So.... 1. Verdugo 2. Bogey 3. Vaz 4. JD 5. Devers 6. Arroyo (for now, anyway) 7. Hernandez 8. Cordero/Renfroe 9. Dalbec As the season goes on, maybe the 6-9 slots are juggled. Maybe Dalbec or Cordero/Renfroe move to the 3 slot, if Vaz slumps. We don't really have 5 clear best hitters: we have 4, so one slot always seems to get short-changed.

Verdugo would be nice at leadoff, but he's nice in the #2 slot, too. Moving EHern down, shortens the line-up, in a sense. Since the 3 slot is not supposed to have a great hitter, by the metrics, maybe putting Vaz there would work out. That, however, would weaken the 6 slot, which may be more important than the 3 slot. (Is your head spinning, yet?)