moonslav59

Brez could go down in history with a simple hire.

Brez could gain a lot of cred, if he just hired Thunder as the Travel Secretary.

It's been a very long time since I've been this jacked up over a game in mid June.

Hicks is better than our 8th pen arm for sure and may be better than our 5, 6 and 7. He might challenge Weissert for the 4 slot. Harrison, if he doesn't take Buehler's job, will slot in nicely at 5, 6 or 7. Our pen is better, after the trade. Brez needs to be on the phone for a #2 SP'er and a big bat.

Gotta admit. That was momentous. I know I'm a homer and prone to optimism, but I'm getting a feeling I haven't had since 2021. I'm not making any predictions- just a gut feeling.

He did: wait for Hicks to come off the IL or for Harrison to be promoted.

All I can say is... DAMN! That was a sweet win!

He'd probably have refused to move to DH, anyway.

Oh, Nooo.. You Dih- ENT!

He's answering all those who complained he pulled guys too early.

Jordan has really proven me wrong. Wow! Uberstine down to 2.45. Tibbs got a couple hit for POR, too. Bleis up to .773, now w 2B.

Just a gut feeling, but this team looks like a totally different team. I'm seeing spark. Energy. Confidence.

Cal just passed Bench for more pre ASB homers, and he did it in 14 less games!

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.