moonslav59

Yes! Max was 100% right and yes, 12 IP with 3 ERs is a plus not a minus. We had a 1 run lead 3 times last night. We were down 1 run just once. It's been all about the timing, this year.

It's been all about the lack of timely hitting and untimely meltdowns by our pitching staff.

MLB.com's updated prospect rankings has us with 1 Top 100 player, and he's at #97 (T Casas). http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2019?list=prospects The Rays have the #1 prospect and... 3 in the top 34 5 in the top 55 8 in top 94 The Yanks have 48 Florial 98 Loaisiga The Astros have 9, 10 and 11! (Plus, 49 & 99)

Pearce was on fire before he got hurt. Moreland was heating back up, too. JBJ's cold streak was 38 games at .421. His hot streak is nearing the same length at 28 games (1.015). Vaz & Leon combined are hitting way better than last year. Beni is not far from last year. Bogey has improved on a great 2018 season. Our 2B mix has hit way better since Chavis was called up and Holt returned from the IL. Even Nunez is hitting better than his putrid start. Marco has helped. Devers has taken a huge step up. Only Betts and JD have declined (and JBJ's overall numbers vs 2018). It's the timeliness of our hitting that has gone south. That's not something easily corrected by trades, demotions or whatever. It's not a teachable skill. It's not something you can just call a player into your office and tell him he needs to hit better when we need it. (That might actually make it worse by adding pressure.) I do not think we are losing because of Cora's decisions. It's not like he has Kimbrel in the pen and is choosing not to use him. He's had 2-4 scrubs on the 13 man pitching staff all year long. I'm not going to cry about injuries, because we've had way less than the Yanks, but the Eovaldi, Johnson and Hembree injuries have hurt an already shallow depth staff. Our starters blew a lot of games early- now the pen is not coming through in key situations while looking very good for long stretches between those blown saves. The pen is doing better than expected, but what does that tell you about how well it was constructed? If we cut the season in half (May 7th), here's how our team has done by position: Last 38 games/First 37 games OPS .736 C .743 .716 1B .767 .706 2B .654 1.021 SS .810 .917 3B .781 .682 LF .818 .893 CF .419 .809 RF .881 .773 DH .699 SP 1st 37 games 7-15 5.08 1.39 WHIP/ 4.36 xFIP RP 1st 37 games 11-4 4.12 1.25 WHIP/4.25 xFIP SP last 38 games 14-11 3.92 1.13 WHIP/ 3.98 xFIP RP last 38 games 8-5 3.71 1.35 WHIP/4.08 xFIP .

Many were blown before a traditional closer even got into the game, but I agree, getting a closer bumps everyone else down into a more reasonable role.

We've gotten lucky with guys like Walden, Shawaryn and others. I'm not saying these guys all suck, but we can'y have 2-3 of them on the 25 man roster all the time. Tonight, we had these guys all on the staff at the same time: Johnson Velazquez Taylor Shawaryn (been doing well, but is it smoke & mirrors?) Brewer (who has actually done better since I said we should cut his ass) Trade for 1 RP'er now. Wait out Hembree and then trade for another one at the deadline. Send 2 packing soon.

You're right, but having one more solid RP'er has to make us have a better chance in games like this. (I'd like to see us get 2, and they don't have to necessarily be closers.)

Vaz did leave 7 on base (JD 4).

We've had 2+ scrubs at all times. We've been burned too many times by our 6th, 7th & 8th best RPer's at any given time in the season. Our better RP'ers have struggled, at times, but to me, we can't keep needing to go to these scrubs in key games day after day and expect better results.

3 times we had the lead by 1. 1 time we trailed by 1. Tough way to lose.

14 men LOB

Killed by Kepler!

We got too many white flags in the pen: Velazquez, Johnson, Taylor, Smith, Poyner, Thornburg... We need pen help, and it doesn't have to be a closer.

It looks like loss written all over it.

true enough.

Yes! It was easy to throw blame at the pen, but with just 1 run scored in the last 10 innings with so many chances, it's on the O.

One of those games where you keep telling yourself, "We had our chances." I hope we pull this out- somehow, it would be a big boost. With Velazquez & Johnson we are pushing our luck.

This game we needed 4 closers.

I did. I got bored. I was glad to see a post that did not really misrepresent my position. On your point about our crappy 5th starter, one could argue having to fill in for Eovaldi not only took a long relief pitcher from our pen, but it also taxed the pen by forcing "pen games" way too often. My position remains unchanged. We need pen help for the rest of the season... like yesterday, but our pen has been a plus, so far this year. To me, it's beyond debate. They have added wins and lessened losses when compared to our rotation up to now.

I've been calling for a trade for a solid pen arm or two all year and all last winter. I don't have faith in our pen. I like Barnes a lot... as a set-up man. Hembree, Workman and maybe Walden are okay as 6th & 7th inning guys. Brasier is a tough call. My point was about what what our pen has done to date. Like em or not, on the edge of your seat or not, our pen has won more games for us thatn our SP'ers and they have lost less games than our SP'ers, too. It's not about the numbers. I went back and looked at every win and loss our team had over the first 59 games, and it was crystal clear our pen was way better than our rotation. They have slipped since then, and our starters have improved, but not by enough to swing the pen into negative territory. You can argue they did it with magic, with luck, with both, and I'd be fine with that, but they have- some how- some way- gotten the job done more than our starters have. Going forward is another thing. I'm not willing to bet this continues. I still want a solid trade or two, and the sooner the better. Those are two separate issues.

Word is Chris Paul and Harden can't play with each other next year. Paul's contract is obscene, so any trade will be hampered by it. I don't see a match with the Celtics. I hope my Bucks don't trade for Paul.

The QO has really hurt FA values recently. If I were Porcello, I'd be worried about becoming the next Keuchel.

It's hard to know what market rate is these days. I've said before that Keuchel is not a good comp, but Porcello with a QO attached to any signing on the open market may not be valued as much as some of us think he is worth. There are some similarities with Keuchel. Keuchel had an "outlier year" in 2015, and Porcello had one in 2016. 2014-2018: Keuchel 67-45 3.28 121 ERA+ 1.18 WHIP 4.35 FIP 3.11 K/BB 145 GS/950 IP Porcello 74-56 4.04 107 ERA+ 1.28 WHIP 3.95 FIP 4.04 K/BB 159 GS/994 IP Keuchel is almost exactly a year older than Porcello, but Porcello will be his same age when they reached free agency. I think Porcello is better, but how much better? Other recent signings: 2019 $140M/6 Patrick Corbin (2 years younger) $68M/4 Nathan Eovaldi (I feel Porcello is better than NE) $34M/2 JA Happ (6 years older) 2018 $126M/6 Darvish (Close to same age when a FA) $75M/3 Arrieta (About a year older when a FA) $57M/4 Cobb (About a year under when a FA) $38M/3 Chatwood (About 2 years younger) $28M/3 MMinor (About a year younger) Hard call.

Here was the summary of our first 59 games based on who was more to blame or more to praise for our wins and losses- the pen or the rotation. Our pen has blown some games since then, but not enough to make it an overall negative on the season.

An update on how our pitchers do with each catcher: Overall CERA numbers are deceptive, since our catcher pair with different starters very often. CERA 3.55 with Leon 4.41 with Vaz 6.17 with Swihart OPS Against by catcher (listed in order of most PAs per catcher) Only 20+ PA sample sizes listed. Leon .658 Porcello (258 PAs) .526 Sale (250) .901 Brewer (49) .684 Hembree (45) .619 Workman (35) 1.008 Walden (31) .172 Brasier (29) .883 ERod (29) 1.041 Smith (28) 1.010 Barnes (27) .500 Price (22) Vaz .727 ERod (285) .684 Price (225) .876 Sale (114) .910 Velazquez (112) .457 Walden (104) .773 Porcello (95) .326 Workman (91) .863 Weber (88) .561 Barnes (83) .689 Brewer (82) .847 Brasier (79) .568 Hembree (55) 1.015 Thornburg (52) .831 Eovaldi (49) .825 Smith (40) .882 Johnson (34) .850 DHern (30) 1.091 Lakins (29) .440 Shawaryn (27) .857 Taylor (21) 1.246 Poyner (21) Ina ll fairness to Vaz, he catches the scrubs way more than Leon. Swihart .975 Eovaldi (44) .423 Velazquez (26) 1.338 Porcello (26) 1.077 ERod (24) .769 Walden (23)