moonslav59

Defense is not that much different, and we've wanted to get Avreu playing time, all spring. With Duran and O'Neill being two of our best O guys, playing Rafaela at SS some games, seems like a logical choice- as is keeping him at one position: CF.

It has actually been his "norm."

Exactly. Now, how can they get to wanting to?

His point was about getting to these guys, when they were kids in the minors. Better coaching would (not could) have made them better on defense.

There should 10 Chang types out there, at any given moment. For some reason, we hardly ever have defensive whizes on our bench. It's not a cost thing.

It's a parade of strawmen.

Remember, we are prohibited from stating anything we know is extremely unlikely from happening. You still just don't get it!

Agreed, and since we want to play Abreu more to find out what he can do and Duran and O'Neill need to play, Rafaela at SS seems like a very reasonable plan. It's not the long term plan.

He's got one year left. Do you see JH extending him? (I'd be okay with a 1-2 year extension, at a reasonable cost.) When we get near the deadline, we will look to trade him, and anyone else with value, who is not part of the 2025 or beyond plan.

We can get something for O'Neill, if he stays healthy to trade day. Martin and Jansen might get some value back with a few good games under their belt, coming up. Yoshida would involve paying nearly all his contract, now, and we'd still get peanuts. If we wait, in hopes he starts hitting, like last May & june, maybe we can save half his contract. Story won't be traded while injured. (That might mean never.)

Before today, our defense ranked 28th in OAA at -7. (The Mets are -8, and MIA is -13.) Last year, we were 30th and way behind the next couple team. Last year, we were worse than #28 and #26, combined! It's hardly a ringing endorsement to say, we are not quite as bad as last year, but last year was mostly about Kike, and we don't have a Kike to bench and replace, like last year. OAA by position: 1B: last year we were 29th at -10 (just 1 from worst) This year they have us +1, so maybe my eyes deceive me. 2B: Last year, just like 1B, just 1 out from being worst in MLB (-13 to -14.) This year, we look to the great unknown in Grissom, but we are already at -1. SS: Last year, Story saved us from finishing wort, after that horrific start by Kike & Co. We still finished 7th from last at -3. This year, we are already at -4, but actually ahead of where we were last April 15th. 3B: Somehow Devers & Co. finished just 3rd from worst in '23 at -12. We are second to worst, so far at -3, which is on pace for -30. LF: Yoshida & Co. placed 7th from worst, but Yoshi is no longer in the LF mix. Predictably, we look better, this year. We are at zero T9th best) CF: Duran, Duvall & Associates finished 8th from last in '23 at -10. It was thought by some that Rafaela might bring us to a big plus in '24, and so far, we are tied for 8th at zero, despite his 3 errors. He must have saved a lot of outs to offset that. (I still have hopes for CF.) RF: Last year, we were -1 and near the middle of the pack. This year, we are at -1 with O'Neal & Co in right. Fangraphs has the team ranked 27th, so far in '24. DRS has us 24th at -5. Not the improvement I had hoped for, but the Story injury busted up that dream.

These guys are not even filling all our FT slots adequately, so wondering why they skimp on the subs should be easily explained, but not justified. I mean Andrus won't cost hardly any more than DHam or Romy. Brez seems to be falling into the same trap as Bloom, so it makes me wonder, if this goes over the GMs head.

I'm not sure any of them make it, this season, and it might not be about starting their clocks, either. My guess is the longer term plan is Duran/Abreu in LF, Rafaela/Anthony in CF and Anthony/Abreu in RF. There should be plenty of PAs for all 4. (I'm assuming Ref gets traded and O'Neill, too.) I'm fine with using Rafaela at SS, at least until Grissom returns (to 2B, I hope,) and maybe Rafaela ends up playing SS most of the season, so we can get a longer look at Abreu. This season could/should be used as a testing year: Can Casas improve his D at 1B, or do we consider moving Devers to 1B/DH, next season? (Casas/Devers share 1B/DH and might not need any Cora rest days.) Can Grissom show he belongs at FT 2B? Can McGuire beat out Wong as our expected back-up to an up and coming Teel? (If yes, we should extend him. If no, maybe we trade him this summer, winter or next summer.) Can we find a decent back-up SS? Pretend our life depends on it, because it has, now, for 2 years. I've given up asking about Devers on D at 3B. I'm convinced we need to plan on moving him, at some point (not now.) Can Abreu and Rafaela show enough "stuff" to warrant a FT slot in 2025? Can Duran continue to improve on his defense, while showing his 2023 offense was no fluke? Can Yoshida improve on 2023, even if just to increase his trade value. (We will certainly have to pay part of his contract, unless he hits .850+, this year, and maybe even some, if he does.) Can our rotation last teh whole season and allow us to pencil in 2-3 SP'ers into our 2025 rotation. (Pivetta will likely not be extended or brought back, and I doubt all 4 of the other SP'ers prove they deserve a slot. If they do, and we get Gio back, I'd still like to see us add an ace.) Can the pen sort through the season and leave us with a few arms we can count on? (Jansen & martin will likely bolt.) Maybe Slaten, Wink, Weissert, Bernardino and some(s) yet to be determined? Will Cora be back?

I'm all for that. On Rafaela, I'm okay with him playing some SS, because we want to get Abreu some playing time, anyway. We wont be sitting Duran or O'Neill, unless it's a Cora rest day.

He could have played 2B!

Although Grissom did not do too well on D at SS with ATL, last year, they may view him as better than DHam, Romy and Reyes at SS. Man, the SS position has been such a mess since last Spring!

Yes. Closer to 37K for day games.

Often they get 3 outs, but with this D, they need to get 4 or 5.

The pen is showing cracks. The rotation is continuing to greatly impress.

It might just be for one game/

Yes, and while you added a couple younger guys, you still added two older players, too: Stroman and Berti. You still have a lot of old or older key players- some with long injury histories.

We've just about reached the 10% point of the season. It is certainly early, and we will have some players coming off the IL (Grissom, Ref & ?) or the bench (Devers) in the next couple of weeks. To have any real shot at doing something special, this season, we need to play well over the next few weeks as we play short-handed. Our rotation has been unreal and needs to continue doing well. I doubt they can keep this pace up for the whole season, but being respectable and healthy would be a big boost to our chances. Our bats need to wake up. Our D needs to settle down and be more consistent and focused. Our baserunning has not been horrible, and Duran offers some spark we haven't seen in a while.

And those are two suggestions you made, that Red holds against you, because there is no way they could have happened. (Twisting what you say is another popular ploy.) We all get things wrong. Some admit it, others never do. Some rarely, if ever, offer specific suggestion yet bash just about everything our GM does, and can brag about never being wrong.

Very good points. Wanting to "see what we have" with DHam & Romy seems absurd. They know what they are. Neither is going to light the world on fire, unless it is some sort of fluke hot streak. It's just not sustainable. Maybe the idea is to ride this out, until Grissom returns, and then use Reyes at SS more often than not, but is that really a season-long, good option? The other aspect is, Cora has been saying he wants to get Abreu more playing time, and Refsnyder returns from rehab, soo. Our OF is overloaded. Maybe some of those OF choices are not great, but they look better than Romy, DHam, EValdez and Reyes at middle infield FT. (first 2 positions, then 1, when Grissom returns)

So many of your key players are 31 or older: 35 LeMahieu 34 Rizzo & Stanton (Berti) 33 Cole, Stroman 32 Judge 31 Rodon, Holmes (Trevino) That's about a third of your top 20-24 players. It might even be half of your top 14-16 players. Adding Soto and Dugo helps with the age thing, but both have one year remaining of control, so it may only help for one year. Many of the oldest players on the Yanks still have 2+ yrs left of control.