moonslav59

When is Barnes going to get the props he deserves? He's only got one more IP than Kimbrel but has a 1.6 fWAR to Kimbrel's 1.2 fWAR. His 1.6 WAR is tied for 9th in MLB. Yes, the Yankess have 5 RP'ers in the top 40 by fWAR, and that's not even counting Britton, but I like our 1-2 punch of Kimbrel and Barnes. If Kelly can get to the top of his game by October, our 1-2-3 punch might be all we need to win us another ring. Look at these numbers: fWAR from 2017-2018 4.5 Kimbrel 3.7 Treinen 3.7 E Diaz 3.5 Osuna 3.5 Chapman 3.3 C Green 3.0 Soria 2.9 Robertson 2.7 K Giles 2.6 M Barnes 2.6 Y Petit 2.5 A Miller

I would never spend $18-21M a year on a closer. We may end up letting Thornburg & Smith fight it out with Barnes having an outside shot. Some has mentioned Feltman being fast-tracked, but I would not plan the 2019 roster with him holding a key role. I could see us signing a lower cost closer type to throw in the mix, but I would never go with a "closer by committee" plan. If we let Kimbrel go and gain a draft pick via a QO declined, do we keep Kelly or just start over?

Yes, and I wish we had gotten Cole, but I'm not sure we had what it took to get him, and things worked out well with Wright, Johnson, Velazquez and Eovaldi.

Funny but true.

Our SB rate is above the line where SBs help more than the CS'ings hurt, but when you're only over the line by 10-15%, it's not a major impact. What doesn't get mentioned in the metrics or data is how a threat runner on 1B bothers the pitcher and defenders to the point where the batter has a better chance of getting a hit. (I'm glad we don't hardly ever bunt.)

Bring 'em on! The Yanks with Severino starting only game 3 of a 5 game series do not scare me.

He'll be hurt by then.

He was close to "terrible" in one year. He was okay one year. He was Cy Young one year. He is doing very well, so far, this year. It was a very good extension then and still is now.

Plus, having the best record insures we face the play-in game winner who has presumably exhausted a start from one of their best starters.

Some people just look at BA, OPS or WAR, which is okay in some cases, but with catchers, handling the pitchers is often ignored or not prioritized highly enough. It's not just about pitch-calling, either. It's not just about pitch-framing and blocking WPs. To me, it's more about the comfort level a pitcher feels with certain catchers over others. It's not something that can be captured in stats or metrics, and even CERA numbers can be deceiving or misused. Leon helps out pitchers do better. Vazquez does, too- maybe to a lesser extent with several pitchers. For argument's sake, let's assume a great "pitcher handler" like Leon can shave a half a run off a pitcher's ERA. The guy could hit .100, and still be a huge plus to the team. Yet, we'd still hear a lot of bitching about "holes in the line-up" and "fat catchers dragging us down" from some. I love our catchers and how they get the most out of our staff. Look at our pen: we have Kimbrel and a bunch of nobodies, yet we have had the second best RP'er WAR since 2017. People still call it our weakness. I have called it one of our "weakest areas," but that is only because we are so strong just about everywhere else. It's nice to see Leon get some props.

One plus about the end of our season schedule is that we have a day of rest before each of our two 3 games series with the Yanks (9/17 & 9/27). The Yanks have the 17th off but not the 27th. The Yanks play everyday this month, except 8/20 and 8/23, but they have a double header on the 25th. Their first day off in September is the 6th. They then have the 13th and 17th off before ending the season with 13 games in 13 days- the last 7 on the road.

Let's finish these guys off with a sweep. (I'm not saying a sweep clinches the division, but it would put the Yanks on their heels.) We have some days off this month, so keeping our starters fresh should be easy. Here's how the month might look.... 8/5 NYY Price 8/6 Off 8/7 @ TOR Pom (+1 day rest) 8/8 @ TOR Johnson (+1) 8/9 @ TOR Porcello (+1) 8/10 @BAL Eovaldi (+1) 8/11 @BAL Price (+1) 8/11 @BAL Sale (off DL) 8/12 @BAL Pom 8/13 Off 8/14 @ PHI Johnson (+1) 8/15 @ PHI Porcello (+1) 8/16 Off 8/17 TBR Eovaldi (+2) 8/18 TBR Price (+2) 8/19 TBR Sale (+2) 8/20 CLE Pom (+3) or Johnson (+1) 8/21 CLE Porcello (+1) 8/22 CLE Eovaldi 8/23 CLE Price 8/24 @ TBR Sale 8/25 @ TBR Pom/Johnson 8/26 @ TBR Porcello 8/27 Off 8/28 MIA Eovaldi (+1) 8/29 MIA Price (+1) 8/30 @CWS Sale (+1) 8/31 @CWS Pom/Johnson (+1) 9/1 @ CWS Porcello (+1) 9/2 @ CWS (Maybe ERod) Price 9/3 @ ATL Sale 9/4 @ ATL Pom/Johnson 9/5 @ ATL Porcello 9/6 Off (We also have September 17th and 27th off.)

Me three (on "that other site")

I've often made lists of all the largest and longest deals in MLB and how so many of them were failures or near failures- some even from day 1. However, I feel Mookie is different, and I don't think it's because of homerism or bias. He'll be younger than most free agents, and his skillset looks like it will age well. He'll turn 28 right before his FA winter. A 10 year deal would give us 6 years before he turns 34 and 4 years from ages 34 to 37. It's not like Pujols.

That's because you are in tremendous shape and all buffed out and all.

Make that 3!

...something WAR does not capture.

I know we differed on the "desire" thing last year, but I still feel like we didn't have enough of it. Sure, having fun and winning more is part of it, but we had some nice stretches last year, and I just didn't see all that much. There are no stats to back it up, but it's what my gut was telling me last year. Yes, I blamed JF for much of it.

More on next year's 40 man roster. We currently have 44 players on the roster, counting 4 guys on the 60 day DL (Pedroia, M Hernandez, C Smith & A Maddox). 6 Free Agents or re-sign? Kimbrel Pomeranz Pearce Eovaldi Kelly Kinsler One has to believe we either keep Kimbrel or replace him (and Kelly) with one or two very good RP'ers. Starting the season without Pom & Eovaldi or any out-of-system replacement would be a gamble. No depth beyond Sale, Porcello, Price, ERod, Wright, Johnson & Velazquez. It's hard to imagine not replacing Peacre with someone who can bash lefties. Going without Kinsler or a replacement might be doable. We've talked about the high probability of Ockimey, Chavis and H Hernandez being added to protect them from rule 5, so here is how i see the roster shaping up for next year (subject to change, of course): Bubble = Red 9 Starting Pitchers: Sale, Porcello, Price, ERod, Wright, Johnson, Velazquez Haley, Shepherd 12 Relief Pitching (counting 1 signing): ______(Kimbrel), Thornburg, Barnes, Hembree, Brasier, C Smith, Workman, Poyner, Walden R Scott, A Maddox, Cuevas 4 Catchers: Vazquez, Leon, Swihart Butler 3 First Base Moreland, Ockimey Travis 4 Second Base Pedroia (retire?), Holt, Nunez Renda 3 Third Base Devers, M Hernandez, Chavis 2 Shortstop Bogaerts, Lin 4 OF Betts, Beni, JBJ, JD (DH) There are 41 names on this list, including Kimbrel or his FA replacement. Any signings would force a bubble player off the roster. Here are the bubble players I listed above: Renda Butler Travis Cuevas Shepherd Haley Scott Maddox No big loss with any of these guys, IMO.

Let's hope he's our new Rich Hill. Gotta love it!

Phew!

Show some grit!

I know adding JD was a big boost, but I really love how Cora has gotten this team focused and loving the game.

Were you going to say, "Dog Catcher?"

Eovaldi for Mayor! Porcello for Governor!