moonslav59

Agreed. I'm usually the last guy wanting the manager fired. I do think managers make mistakes, including Cora. I like him more than many here and much more than some here. I shy away from in game criticisms because we don't know all the facts, and I feel it is too speculative, even for someone like me, who is always presenting what if scenarios. I realize many fans call it a bad move before the move blows up, so it's not really "hindsight" criticism, but we rarely hear about the times Cora's moves worked, over the objections of posting fans- on and on. (Not that you do that. You don't. I respect your views, a lot.) Weissert was struggling. There were likely very good reasons for not bringing in Hicks a batter or two earlier, that maybe we don't know about. Maybe it was a mistake, Maybe even Cora would say it was. Like you, I don't roast managers and call for their firing over a few questionable moves.

Rafaela sure has shown great improvement over his previous MLB and farm approaches. The June batting leaders are a bit shocking, even beyond the 4 you mentioned.

I will say that the bottom of the A's 40 man roster can probably make room for adding 3, but the point is valid. Take Yoshida & Romy out and add Paez & Monegro and maybe they don't hang up.

Add Wilson to the good offseason additions. Only Buehler looks like the bad move. Then came the Devers dump. This season reminds me of 2022, where it looked like we made better off season moves (Story, Wacha, Strahm & Hill) than the previous season (Richards, Perez II, Marwin & Andriese) but the team record got significantly worse. (Okay, I left out Kike, Ottavino & Renfroe in 2021 and JBJ, Paxton & Diekman in 2022.)

I fully expect this and would want us to trade Bregman, if we know he's not coming back in '26. There is also that sli chance we trade him and then re-sign him, this winter, but I think that would be a first.

I like the suggested moves, but I think DD demands Abreu over Duran. I also think MIL would get more than DHam, even for a rental 1Bman. They might prefer Grissom over DHam, but they also want more than Monegro or Paez- maybe Sandlin or Cespedes or Bleis. Maybe they take DHam & Jordan or DHam & Guerrero or Kelly, but those are two 40 man roster guys.

No, It's Devers Fordevers. (as in only for himself)

I get what your opinion was. You and I both thought and expected they'd do more than just Gio. After the Gio signing, we both agreed it was okay, but only if we added an even better SP'er. Sadly, we didnt even add a worse one.

I wasn't aware of Peralta's 2026 low cost option. Why is MIL trading him, then? If they are looking to cut $8M, then they would not want Duran, but maybe they'd take Abreu. I'd like to keep the RHB, Garcia, but for 1.3 years of Peralta, I'd do it. I'd add Mullins, too.

You are not alone in wanting to avoid trading any of our better prospects for rentals. I am with you on this. With Bregman out and Meidroth traded away and Devers, too, we had to play players where they are not a good fit. (Toro has played 3B in his career, I might add.) IMO, the Romy-Toro platoon at 1B and the Abreu-Refsnyder platoon in RF are two big reasons we are still in the WC race. I'd like to see Mayer play FT 3B, until Bregman returns, but that does not fix your "out of position" issue. Who would you play at 3B? I was fine giving KC a very long look at 2B, but he was doing very badly on defense, and then he seemed to totally lose his batting skills. That went on for a very long time, too. DHam has a very nice 2024, so I can at least understand why they gave him a lot of reps vs RHPs. I'm not sure what other options we had, other than Mayer at 2B (out of position) and then Toro at 3B (not 1B, where he has played good D.) Some players have not worked out, and Cora made changes- kinda like taking Weissert out when he was sucking.

Of course it's speculative, as we only have hindsight to show how one move worked and speculation on what might have happened with another move. Of course, it's hard to imagine worse than a grand slam, in this case, but how many times have we thought a pitcher should be removed, then he settles down and does well. We just don't hear about those speculations.

I understand these types of criticisms. I would point out the the quality of arm to replace him with are highly suspect, and the guy they did bring in let up 3 hits and a BB on his way to getting 2 outs (Hicks.)

Very nice list! I shoulda stuck to the 60's.

The Jays have caught the Yanks in the standings and are now tied for 1st. Both are 48-38. The Rays are 48-39! SEA holds the last WC slot at 45-41 and is looking to add at the deadline. 43-44 TEX -2.5 42-43 LAA -2.5 43-45 BOS -3.0 MIN & CLE -4.0 KCR -5.5

I'm not saying the call was right, but I just am not into this sort of speculative blame assigning. It's sad that Weissert is our #4. We had just seen RP'ers ranked below him get us through 6 innings. Sad,

I feel that way about our 5 rookies, Garcia, Arias, Tolle, Clarke, Early and maybe even Valera. What can we get for Cespedes & Sandlin, Romero and Paez and/or Bleis and Mullins? That's the types of deals I'm looking at. We did get Nate for Beeks and Schwarber for Aldo, so maybe we can....

We'd need to involve 3 teams, since trading Duran or Abreu at the deadline would normally be for prospects- not a #2 SP'er. Teams wanting Duran or Abreu will be needing their #2 SP'er, too. Duran or Abreu to contender: Contender send prospects to 3rd team along with some of our blocked ones. We get team 3"s #2 SP'er, who most likely will be a rental or high priced 2 year guy. It's possible. I'm not giving up a top 7-8 prospect for rental, unless an extension is involved.

You may not like it, but we have nobody better than Weissert to bring in. He's our #4. fWAR 1.4 Chapman 0.7 Wilson & Whitlock 0.3 Weissert

I take this back.

I guess Cora was supposed be out there with a whip in hand.

Also, the same manger that got 6 scoreless innings from Bernardino, Alcara & Murphy.

I'm not sure sure you'll be right, this time.

The worst part is he stood at home watching his hit for a full second. He could have been safe at 3rd.

For nothing. MIL is 10 games over .500, so I'm not even sure they will be looking at selling.

I would not give up Garcia. Bleis or Cespedes plus Sandlin or Mullins, maybe. Hey, Maybe Chris Murphy is the answer to our pitching woes! He was pretty good, a couple-three years ago.