moonslav59

Not as bad as the Sale trade. LOL!

I think I'd rather give Criswell another start or two over May, but I doubt that happens. Criswell does much better starting than in the pen. He was one of our top 3-4 SP'ers, last year in many categories. Out of our 5 SP'ers in 2024 with 85+ IP, here is how Criswell did: 2nd in ERA (3.49) to Houck (70 points higher than #3 Pivetta at 4.19.) 2nd in ERA- at 83 (Pivetta was 100, Crawford 104 & Bello 107) 3rd in HR/9 (1.06, just 0.01 from Bello at #2) T4th in OPS Against (.726 w Pivetta and just .002 from Bello and .024 from Crawford) 4th in FIP (4.21, just .02 from Bello & .06 from Pivetta) 4th in WHIP (1.235)

I think we slightly improved, on paper, but all the other AL contenders improved by more, except maybe TOR. In past years, we've hoped and waited on returning players from the IL to give us a late boost. Last year, we hoped Devers would get over his injury issue that caused his major slump. It never seemed to happen. This year, all our major injury pitchers are expected to be done for the year, so that hope is nonexistent. Crawford, Houck, Sandoval & Dobbins are 2026 hopes, now. Where can we look for in system help or upgrades? 1. Mayer is our best hope at significantly upgrading what we have at 2B, now. His return would also allow Romy to DH or play 1B vs LHPs, thereby improving those slots in the line-up. 2. Campbell at 1B has to be done, ASAP. Toro helped us for a bit, but it's time to move on and give KC another look-see. 3. Buehler needs to pitch like last October for August, September & hopefully another October. 4. Criswell, May or Harrison have to be decent #5 starters or possible long men help in the pen. Criswell has not been able to do that, May seems like a starter only type. Harrison seems more fungible. 5. Burdi, Kelly or Guerrero offer little hope, but I'll mention them anyway. Both are on the IL. I think Burdi & Kelly are rehabbing. Maybe they never get another look, since we added... 6. Matz. Another LH'er joins the pen. It never hurts to have another arm, and our pen has been saving our asses for almost the whole year, so IMO, it's hard to imagine seeing our pen do better or "upgraded," but improving the odds we do the same is a step in the right direction. We can't see any major regressions from our younger players, as the dog days or August are upon us. We can't see any major injuries. We've reached our quota, already. Bregman, Story, Duran and the other vets must show leadership, grit and production over the next 2 months. I think we have a shot to make the playoffs, and maybe the "crapshoot" theory knocks me upside the head, this year.

We coulda... Brez shoulda... I woulda... Yes. You are right.

We keep relying on has been pitchers to somehow regain their past level of performance. They come cheaper for a reason.

I realize, now, that my anger over the lack of significant moves at the deadline caused me to vent. I still think we had some minor pieces we could have parted with to get a better platoon 1Bman and could have added a mid level prospect or two to get a better pitcher than May and or Matz, but as I said before the deadline, we only have two major weak areas (I think 1 but maybe 2 moderate ones.) 1. solid SP 2. 1B platoon 3. RP 4. maybe back-up C We slightly improved on #1 and #3, but my view today is, we still have 2 weak areas. ONLY 2 significant weak areas. That's really not all that bad. Other teams, even some who made some major moves, still have 2 or more weak areas, as well. Maybe the sky is not falling, afterall.

Casas and Devers forced the need for Toro to play 1B. The Bregman injury forced him to play some 3B, since Mayer was not called up, right away. Keeping Toro playing, while he cannot hit is on Cora and Brez. It's not about assigning blame, to me: it's about fixing the problem, now, with the best options we have in our system, now that the deadline in passed and nobody on the waiver wire looks better than Campbell.

It's our only hope for 1B, unless Toro has another hot streak in him. (His last one was not as long as it seemed.) I broke down his OPS into 4 sections: .638 in 1298 career PAs before 2025. Many times, I discount a players first 300-600 PAs due to the "learning curve," but it would barely change Toro's number. (He was .657 in his first 561 PAs, so he actually got worse in 2022 to 2023.) .538 in first 26 PAs of 2025 1.031 in next 69 PAs .576 last 139 PAs (by far, the largest sample size of my 3 picked samples for 2025.) Here are some other breakdowns of 2025: .928 after 95 PAs (27 games) .576 in last 139 (37 games) Half and half? .835 first 32 games .572 last 32 games Breaking down those last 139 PAs,, is he getting worse or not? .595 in 68 PAs (from game 27 to 45) .478 in 67 PAs 9from game 45 to last night) This is Wong or DHam bad. I have nothing against Toro. He filled a big need at 1B and 3B, this year. He is what he is, and we should and must do better at 1B. Romy is doing great, but he's a RHB like Campbell, and we have a hole at 2B with Mayer's injury, so Campbell needs to start playing 1B FT, starting yesterday!

That wasn't my point. The point was that Romy still would have played somewhere had we not traded Devers- not so for Toro, except when Bregman was hurt. Had Devers played 1B, there would be no room for Toro, except at 3B or 1B due to injury or maybe rest games.

LOL. He's in Nebraska.

It was nice seeing you be wrong, tonight. Maybe this is the start to something! LOL I'm not sure the word "flops" fits, as that implies we had good teams that underperformed. Maybe our management team are flops & misers, but the teams have largely played up to expectations.

What a game baseball is, huh? We do still have a nice team. I get the point about the high cost of SP'ers, but not finding some cheap platoon bat for 1B is a real headscratcher. Nothing to do with anatomy.

Sox now 4 down to TOR and the ALE lead. 1/2 behind NYY SEA playing TEX means one loses

...and after a night like last night!

Isn't baseball such a wonderful game?

No deadline balls, but Bloom never made a trade like Crochet (or Sale.)

Hard to know how teams value Campbell.

Dham at .500 might still be better than Grissom, due to his D and running skills.

It does suck, now. The deal was more about the long run, so I try to give the GM some slack. There were reasons, but they all ring hollow, now.

Yes, w HOU announcers.

Maybe in FEB or a Rafaela plus deal.

Anthony is the real deal.

Huge play!

I've given similar stats several times, before. Toto's nice run is over. It's time to call Campbell up for a chance at 1B. Too bad he's not the right hand to platoon with Romy, but we can use Romy at 2B, anyway.

Why do you keep saying Toro is doing better than Devers. He's doing way worse since the trade, since opening day and over his career. That's not to say it wasn't the right thing to trade Devers- it was, but why misrepresent how well Toro is doing, when he has sucked for nearly 2 months now and was a .638 batter before the year began. The guy filled in well for Casas for a nice stretch. The stretch of sucking is way longer, now. .538 first 8 games. 1.102 next 16 games .587 last 39 games (not counting 0-3 tonight)