moonslav59

I have no faith in Casas staying healthy: I just wish he still was healthy and think we'd be better, now, if he was. Do we bat Bregman 2nd?

He should be able to. This would be back to back games not days.

We need to get a lil of what their smokin'.

Nobody is happy with a .475 OPS from DHam. His 12 SBs in 99 PAs (20 times on base) is hardly a big boost, but the fact is, this is way better than what KC was doing. Then, there's the defense. Maybe, someday, we'll see a Grissom/Romy 2B platton, or Story/Mayer at 2B.

To me, this isn't even as bad as thinking Duran is a better defender than Abreu, even when shown Abreu has a better Flg%, which is his go to stat. I have a Duran/Ref DH platoon as our best solution for replacing Devers at DH. (Rafaela & Anthony FT OF'ers with Abreu vs R and Duran v R, when not at DH v L)

Many managers pull starters early in April, and gradually increase pitch counts and IP'd. We started the season with something like our 11th or 12th SP'er on the December depth chart (Newcomb) as well as maybe #8 or 9 guy, Fitts. Houck was stinking up the place just about day one and every day afterwards, which further taxed our pen. Buehler has not been good, either. Our staff has a 93 ERA-, so far (7th in the AL.) Our 3.86 FIP is 4th in the AL and 0.09 from 3rd. Our 0.95 HR/9 rate is second in the AL. These are not numbers you see from a mismanaged pitching staff missing 3 of their best SP'ers for all or most of the season, so far. 15 missed starts: Crawford, Sandoval (Wink & Murphy do not count, but were rotation depth) 7 missed: Houck 6 missed: Giolito 2-3 missed: Bello & Buehler It's too bad Cora ruined a pitcher like Dobbins. The pen was widely viewed as our preseason weakest link. It is the big area where managers often get blamed for "pitching the wrong guy," often when no better guys were available. 2nd in pen fWAR in AL (81) 2nd in ERA- (5th in ERA) 3rd in FIP- (83) FIRE the BUM!

How about the Houston Astros model of pitching staff building? They lead the AL in Pitching fWAR and are missing: Lance McCullers, Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Arrighetti, Blanco & JP France & Wesneski. That's 5 of their best 6 or 7 Sp'ers and 7 out of maybe their top 10 or 11 SP'ers!

I think he was signed for his glove and hopes that he could hit his career road OPS w COL, which was like .740, I think. They preferred that over Bogey's .780 road OPS and bad defense.

Again, I don't get giddy over 7-11 games stretches. I said our 5th starter is a mess, but I also said we need a solid #2. It's just that our current # is not a "mess." I just think I'd feel much better calling Bello & Dobbins my 3-4's and Gio my 5th. I am optimistic, but excuse me if I'm not giddy over Gio, either. Hell, I'm not convinced Dobbins & Bello are for real, just yet. I have no reason to think they will crash and burn, but just look at the Houck example, last season and to start this season. The possibility is still out there, even for an optimist. I don't think Toro is better than Casas, either. Ok, better than a teenie tiny, hand-selected sample size for both of them, but I'm not buying. I'm not dissing Toro or Romy. I love what they have done, but even an optimist has to doubt this continuing. I'd bet my house on Casas having a better OPS from 2026 onwards than Romy or Toro. He's a better hitter. I don't even see a debate on this. Again, I'm fine with you thinking this, but we differ on recency sample size values as predictors of what will be going forward. Story to 2B does fix the issue, but Bregman may not be back until August, so we have a .475 DHam at 2B and a AAAA Eaton there, now. The return of Abreu is great news, but he doesn't play 2B or 1B, and I'm not for moving Rafaela to 2B, either. He will likely replace .074 Anthony, but again, I'm not projecting Anthony to hit .074, if he keeps playing FT. I'm optimistic about our chances to make the playoffs. I think the rest of the AL sucks or is mediocre with as many or more issues as we have. My point is our odds got worse with the Devers trade- not better. I've never said our hopes were extinguished. You seem to be implying our odds are the same, because our pitching is doing great. Well, they are not doing great because Devers is gone. Our offense is struggling, even as we eek out win after win. I'm not a pessimist to worry how long that can and will continue. Here's a bright angle for you and may help reaffirm my optimism in your eyes: Record in one run games: 6-17 before June 11. 3-0 June 11 and after (We've also gone 4-0 in 2 run wins since June 10th) Last 8 games: 20 runs scored/ 17 runs allowed and a 7-1 record!

Agreed. Refocus. Make adjustments. See you again.

Not sure how playing the worse batter and worse fielder is "politically correct," either. Not even bringing up the baserunning.

Max, it's even worse than that. He makes $25M in 2026 and 2027, then has a $5M buyout on '28, so it's essentially $55M/2 after 2025! You can see why I suggested a trade. With Campbell in AAA, and Bregman still on the IL, a trade now is not as worthwhile than it was when it looked like the Bregman return was going to logjam SS/2B.

You mean in the stands watching?

I've kinda written off Yoshida for 2025. I'm looking at a Duran/Refsnyder DH as our best solution for this moment, anyway. v R: Duran DH, Anthony LF, Rafaela CF, Abreu RF vs L: Refsnyder DH, Duran LF, Rafaela CF, Anthony RF (I'd also be okay with leaving Anthony in LF, FT and having Duran in CF vs lefties, with Rafaela in RF.) When Bregman returns, we need to decide on who plays SS and who plays 2B. I'd go with Mayer SS/Story 2B, but that could wait until 2026. Someone suggested Romy/Yoshida at DH or maybe even think of Romy/Toro at DH, if we add a 1Bman.

I'm not for trading any top prospects for a rental. Romero, Bleis, Cespedes and Jordan might be the highest I go for everyday players and maybe Rule 5 guys Monegro and Mullins as pitchers I'd part with. This may not be enough to get what we need, and by the deadline, I might be arguing we should be sellers or mostly sellers. I'm fine with clearing up some logjams, but again, not for a better player who is just a rental. Trading Duran or Abreu for a multi year player who plays 2B, 1B or is a sild SP'er might be an idea. I'd even add some prospects I mentioned above to grow the return, but I'm not sure I can come up with a fit with another contending team, of a rebuilding team willing to take on guys about to start making increasing arb money. We aren't getting anything of value for Grissom or DHam. While I don't have much faith that Toro/Romy can continue over .800 the rest of the way, I'm not sure trading anything valuable for a 1Bman or DH is a good idea, or if they will do better than our current platoon. Our 2B position is jinxed. I'm convinced. Our 5th starter is a mess, and replacing him with a solid #2 would be a huge boost. Who might that be, that won't cost us KC or Arias + Jh Garcia? This won't be easy. We fixed ourselves into a hole, I'm not sure any GM can get us out of.

We have a great defensive Catcher hitting over .800 and under team control for 4+ years. He may win ROY. Of all the positions we need upgraded, catcher is down on my list. To get a good one will be very costly.

I mentioned 2B as a reason not to trade Story. I fully understand your point, and am not sure we'd be much better with the trade, except financially after 2025. I'd much prefer a deal like Grissom & Mullins for Hoskins.

We need the pitching with Devers or without. You stated you don't think the pitching got better as a result of the trade, so certainly, if our pitching keeps doing well the rest of the way, having Devers would not change that and would help them get mor wins, due to more run support, than they will likely get, now that he is gone. The loss of Devers does not "prevent" a playoff shot, but the odds are diminished with him gone.

LOL, true. Mullins is not trash, though, but is Rule 5.

I'd give Grissom & Kelly for Hoskins...maybe even Mullins over Kelly.

I'll take a bite at this... BA (Your choice of stats, not mine) since April 30th (a significant sample size that is larger than April alone's.) .222 DHam .220 Mayer .207 Abreu .200 Story .190 Wong .154 Campbell .074 Anthony DHam >> KC on 2b Defense, too. .983 DHam>> .968 KC using your stat, not mine, Flg% OPS? DHam .564> Campbell .451

True, but .700 at BOS would beat KC, and his D is no worse than KC. .600 would beat DHam, but not his D.

Agreed. It's the same pitching staff, mildy improved by the hope that Hicks or Harrison can and will help a tiny bit. I'm totally done counting on returning pitchers from long IL stints- Houck, Crawford, Sandoval, Murphy, Hendriks and now Slaten. We need to add a SP'er and a bat to be back to close to what we had with Devers, and that still might not be enough. Since I'm against trading top prospects for rentals, we are in a near impossible bind. Even trades for multiple year players cost way more, now, than in the winter. It looks like wait till next year, all over again, and I'm sick of it. Nothing is good about this trade, in terms of our team on the field in 2025. Nothing. If we happen to spend $30M AAV in deadline trades, without losing top prospects, it's still highly doubtful we can get back to square one, and the next point is that "square one" was a highly doubtful chance at squeaking into that playoffs, as it was. This sucks, and no sugarcoating how Devers was slumping changes a thing. He was our best, healthy bat. He knocked in runs. He killed the Yankees, year in and year out. He sucked on D and he was overpaid for a DH. That's all true, but we still lost out bigtime, this year.

The trade sucked for us. There are too many ifs, ands and buts involved, with the main one being if and how we "spend the savings," that will ultimately complete the grade on this trade. The Betts trade sucked, bigtime- all by itself, but it was made worse by not only failing to replace the $30M we offered him, but falling way short of replacing it, along with Porcello, Kimbrel, Kelly, and many that came afterwards. I was a huge Devers Froevers fan and defended him as much as anyone. I cut him slack on the translation and perhaps cultural context of his initial comments about "being the 3Bman." I avoided piling on, since reports claimed they never directly asked him to play 1B. The FO chose to attack via the media, once again. I was shocked and saddened when I heard of the trade and am still far from happy, despite our moderator claiming I'm "happy" attacking Devers, now. There is plenty of blame to go around, and I assigned less than half on Devers, until he said, "I'll play anywhere they want me to play" in the SFG presser. That was when I flipped to blaming Devers more. He obviously was about sticking it to the FO and ultimately the team, to send a message, and it wasn't really about his thinking he shouldn't be "asked to play every position." Sure, he was playing tit for tat against a FO that deserved it, but in the end, the bottom line is, he hurt the team on the field by not jumping up and saying, "I'll play 1B to help the team," and by dogging it more than once, as well as in the clubhouse as the perfect non example as a role model to the many rookies and 1-3 year players on the team. Maybe I'm at 50-50, and I'm fine being called a "flipper." I think I've tried hard to spread the blame, check posters out to bash Devers as a batter, and keep a fair and balanced opinion on what went down. I've corrected my mistaken comments, and may change my opinion, again, if new information comes out. I'm pissed we lost his bat in out line-up, during the first season in a long time, where I thought we had a legit chance at making it to the WS. I'm pissed our FO keeps repeating the same mistakes, over and over with no hint of learning a lesson. I'm pissed that I'm back to the drawing board trying to figure out what sort of plan the team could take to help us get back to being a legit contender, now, without losing a top prospect or needed vet. I'm back to the same question, again, sadly... "How Soon Is Now?

The second one is about run differentials in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. They were/are: +80 in 2021; -52 in 2022; -4 in 2023; +4 in 2024, and +18 in 2025. Devers was on all 4 of the previous teams, whose cumulative run differentials add up to +28 total or an average of +7 per season. Now it's +18 in half a season. So it's a bunch of crap that Devers was or is superman. -Max 1. Nobody calls Devers "superman," but he has been a top 15-20 hitter in MLB in just about any timeframe you choose larger than 100 games. 2. Blaming him for our poor run differentials over the past few years is not fair, at all. 3. He hit .740 after Bregman went down, as teams pitched around him (19BBs in 24 games.) He hit .702 in his first 24 games of the season with Bregman on the team. I don't equate a mini funk to Devers not being a huge force those last or first 24 games. We don't need to tear down Devers the batter to justify why the trade needed to be done.