moonslav59

Agreed. It's Nunez & Holt at 2B for the remainder. RP'ing is now DD's focus, although he might be happy moving Pom or Johnson to the pen, especially if Eovoldi does well his first few starts and/or Wright comes back strong.

Remember all the Skankee fans telling us how many holes are team had? Look who is scrambling to fill holes, now! Big holes with big-named players, too.

If we face the Yanks after the WC play-in game, they will likely have used Severino to win that game. Bring 'em on! Besides, the Astros will probably be just as hard to beat (round 1 or round 2). I ain't ascared of nobody!

57 IP is not really enough to judge anyone, but these numbers are encouraging: 0.982 WHIP 8.4 K/9 1.3 BB/9 Too bad, he's only a rental.

Yes, and this has nothing to do with aggressiveness.

You conveniently omit the fact that our middle pen has been carried by Barnes, Hembree and Velazquez/Workman.Poyener/Brasier. RP'er innings only IP/ERA 43/ 2.30 Barnes 41/3.73 Hembree 40/2.45 Velazquez 19/2.89 Workman 14/3.68 Walden 11/1.69 Poyner 7.0/0.00 Brasier Maybe you are underselling this group. Some of these guys have been doing well for 2+ years, but because their not named Betances. Robertson and whatever, I guess they suck. Yes, we expected to get 2 reliable set-up men out of Kelly, Smith & Thornburg, but I'm pretty sure DD is going to plug that hole soon, even though there still is a chance Kelly regains form or Thornburg gets stronger.

Me too. Yes, there was no glossing over that play.

It will be his first game back after being out for a while, so one bad game against a bad hitting team may not be all that telling.

I'm just hoping he does well enough to give us confidence that he can start again in 5 days. We need him to take ERod's place and allow our other starters to not get over-taxed, not to mention our pen.

I totally agree, and I have to think Sale is happy with the way he is being handled. He's on a tremendously great streak.

JBJ has 80 Ks in 332 PAs (291 ABs). JBJ has 2 Ks in his last 15 PAs and 13 ABs. He has 5 Ks in his last 38 PAs and 34 ABs. He did K 6 times in his previous 21 PAs/17 ABs, but even if you add them to the more recent sample sizes, he's actually improved on his K rate, of late.

With just 60 games to go, I think it's a good time to revisit the L-R split concerns I expressed before the season began, namely Beni, Moreland and maybe Devers vs LHPs. Here are the OPS splits: vs RHPs 1.059 Betts 1.059 JD .969 Beni .910 Bogey .885 Moreland .762 Pearce (with Sox) .756 Devers .708 Holt .684 JBJ .666 Nunez .644 Leon .606 Lin .558 Swihart .508 Vaz vs LHPs 1.647 Pearce (with Sox) 1.221 Betts .884 JD .862 Holt (Ccontinuing his career reverse splits) .783 Bogey .740 Moreland (Doing okay here.) ,728 Beni .662 Vaz .601 Leon .576 Devers .549 Nunez (Continuing his career reverse splits) .537 JBJ .462 Swihart .167 Lin Platooning Nunez at 3B makes no sense, since he has reverse splits this year and over his career. Holt should probably play 2B vs LHPs and Nunez vs RHPs. Moreland is locked into FT 1B for two reasons: He is doing okay vs LHPs and we have nobody better. Beni's .728 OPS vs LHPs is much better than it was earlier this year and last year. I don't see an argument for platooning him. I might see maybe moving some of these guys around the line up due to their splits, but it looks like Cora was right to not start the year off with any platoons.

Well said. I usually hate getting 5th starters, unless injuries force your hand. I'd wait to the deadline to see what are needs are, since we should know more about Pom, Wright and ERod by then. We could also do a waiver deal later, if things go south. I'm also hopeful that Nunez will come back to life, or Holt has built up the stamina needed to remain strong through the second half. I feel our best way to improve the team for the season AND the playoffs is to get the best set up guy on the market at a reasonable price. I think Britton will be too costly, but if we can find a deal like the Herrera one, I'd go for it. Wait out the 5th starter. Wait out the 2B duo. I do not see 3B as a weakness. It could be improved on, but with Devers having immense upside and being so young, I don't see us making a move there.

I'd have pulled him an inning early as well. I'm not sure about a 6 man rotation, though it might help Price as well. We shouldn't need it in August with all those days off. Scheduled days off: 8/1 8/6 8/13 8/16 8/27 9/6 9/10 9/17 9/27 (nice to have right before 3 game series with Yanks to end the season.) That's 9 days off in the last 2 months! (9 out of 58 days before the last 3 game series.) That's a day off every 6.5 days. That's almost like a 6 man rotation.

Did you mean first half 2016 (2.47 ERA)? Or, maybe second half 2017 (3.01)? He also wasn't bad in the first half of 2017 (3.60). I'll take that the rest of 2018!

Mike has always responded to my inquiries with detailed and informative answers. I haven't really noticed a drop off in quality, but to each his own. (There is a lot of helpful information on the site.)

Agreed. Maybe an extra day 3-4 times in August as we have 5 off days, and then keep his pitch count down should be just about right, but it's walking a thin line, if we rest him too much. He's in one of the best grooves seen in MLB. Messing with his timing and schedule could backfire. I'm hopeful Cora is able to keep him fresh through October. Nobody knows if his late season struggles will go away with more rest, but logic suggests it might/should help.

Not surprising. There's also less Sox fan naysaying.

I've never given up hope on Swihart's offense, but he has yet to prove he can hit well in the bigs. I've never been high on his defense, but he's looked okay on defense in his tiny sample size behind the plate. I'm pulling hard for him to show he belongs.

Leon is 6 for 34 since Vaz went out. He has 3 BBs. It's a small sample size, but he has not been overworked. 1/2 game July 7th Off day July 10th 4 days off for allstar break (July 16-19) Off day July 21 That's probably more days off than when Vaz was healthy.

I agree. I hope with the 5 days off in August, we give him an extra day off 3-4 times plus limit his innings as much as possible in the starts he does get. It would help if 2 out of the 3 guys (ERod, Pom & Wright) out back soon. Pom is due to start soon, and we could use a nice game from him, so we can feel confident about starting him again in 5 days.

Nice win. Severino gets drilled. Life is good!

I hope the Yanks trade their future for deGrom. We'll still win it all, and the Yanks will be worse in the longterm.

He's done well for his last 8 outings. That is a pretty good stretch, and might be enough to think he is totally back to form, but I still think it's too risky for the probable cost it will take to get him. His velocity still has not got back to his recent norm. 2015: 95-98 mph 2016: 96-98 2017: 95-97 2018: 92-94 right after returning and 94-96 his last 8 games. Is that enough of a drop to worry you?

You can have him and deGrom. I hope you get both and trade away your future to get them. We don't need Britton. He's too much of a question mark. You can have him.