oldtimer

Our lineup has one hit in 4 innings and have not pushed this guy as yet (just 50 pitches). Second time around at least they started to hit the ball with more authority. This guy throws a lot of sinkers. Betts and Beni went to center and JDM got a changeup and hit is better. Can't beat the ball into the ground.

Foe Eovaldi to be an effective long reliever, he needs to be able to throw a higher % strikes. He went 20 pitches in his first inning and had trouble finding the plate.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Cora's opinion counts. Cora needs to wrap up the pennant while still getting closure on the BP. 3rd base and catcher. What you have that looks debatable is; 1. Swi at util instead of starting catcher. The top pitchers will want Leon 2. Porcello as the #3 starter is more likely 3. I agree that at this point in time Nunez looks like the 3rd base starter, although that is still up in the air 4. Barnes will almost certainly make the RP roster if his hip inflammation is solved. 5. Brasier will probably be used as 8th inning bridge or to squelch scoring opportunities earlier in tthe game. 6. Poyner is our likely left hand short relief specialist. (Don't like POM or Johnson in that role) 7. If we go with 11 pitchers, I see Thornburg, Kelly, Workman and Hembree in the mix, in that order over Velazquez. I personally like Cuevez but he is not ready for the PO pressure.

I'll weigh in by saying we still will be carrying Panda's contract next year less the little that the Giant's will pay him. Panda by the way is playing as a 5'11" 268# while Devers at now 22 is a 6' 237# youngster, with the potential to improve, but also to get heavier and less mobile. I see Moreland as our left handed first baseman and we don't need another. Swihart may stay as a utility player who can back it up at first so Pearse may be gone. No place at first for Devers next year. Phillips won't be here next year and maybe Nunez will also be gone. Maybe we will try Chavis at 3rd, to go long with Devers. I hope we keep Kinsler to co-anchor the 2nd base slot with Pedey. I wonder about catcher. Hard to find good defensive catchers who can hit. We should be well set in the outfield, SS and DH. No cliff in the field.

I'll bet Cora has it boiled down to 4 starters and 8 or 9 relievers and his effort now is to decide on which of the remaining 1 or 2 to drop. If Barnes can make a quick recovery he is in. If we take 7 relievers, I see Kimbrel, Barnes Brasier as sure things and also Wright and Eovaldi as long relievers. That leaves either 2 or three spots depending on how many we take. (I am assuming E-Rod may wind up in long relief, at least in the first series.) Poyner looks to be going the best for left handed relief as Johnson and Pom look weak. Henbree, Kelly, Thornburg and Workman all stand a chance. I think it will be Kelly and/or Thornburg. You can make a case for or against any of the 4 righties. Cora can take his time in reaching a decision.

Of those you mention, Johnson, Hembree, Scott are questionable at this point. In addition, Velazquez and Cuevas are unlikely, and what of Barnes hip inflammation? After Kimbrel, Sale, Price, Porcello and E-Rod we probably can only take 6 more. My guess for the 6 are Wright, Eovaldi, Brasier, Barnes,Thornburg or Kelly and Poyner.

Everytime I watch the guy pitch I get nervous as he often has issues.

Last night we were in a situation where it was a particularly important game to win while of course Cora is still trying to get a look at which personnel he will need to take forward into the playoffs. We were fortunate, as Porcello looked good except for one lapse in concentration early and we got good hitting to have a nice 5 to 1 lead. Sitting pretty early, especially since the Houston BP is very good. Another lapse by Porcello and then the signs were pointing to him losing effectiveness in the 6th. Two out two on with a 5 to 2 lead and Cora rightly made the decision to go to the BP. Several had pitched and weren't available and arnes is out with hip inflamation. I think it called for our best reliever not used as a closer. Instead, Cora chose Hembree who can get strikes on a batter and then throw the ball off the plate putting you into a 3-2 count, letting the baserunners be off and have to come in with the pitch. Two across the plate later and a double with two in and Cora then chooses Johnson with his difficultly throwing strikes and not great stuff, to walk a batter and then give up a hit. Walla, tie game and Cora has to bring in Brasier anyway, which if he wanted to win, he should have done in the first place. Too predictable and winning the game should have trumped looking at players for the post season. We did see that Cora doesn't believe in bunting later on in a clear bunt situation. As far as a better understanding of the pitching for the PO's and the lineup, my takeaways were as follows: 1. We are much better defensively with our normal outfield and with JDM at DH. JDM is okay in a pinch but not a guy you want covering right field if there is an alternative. 2. Porcello looked pretty good last night and may be a better 3rd starter than E-Rod. He gives us a right handed starter against the lineups which hit lefties well. 3. Johnson is not a solid choice for left handed relief. Neither is Pom. Need to keep looking at Poyner. 4. Hembree is a power arm but I rate him below several others since he doesn't seem to be able to come in under pressure and get outs consistently. 5. Our catchers for the PO's still are unclear. Leon is a guy that doesn't hit period. The starters like him and he is good defensively so that is in his favor. Vaz doesn't hit well either and his is a decent defender while Swihart can hit, especially from the left hand side but may rate third defensively. How does Cora amove forward with this situation? Take all three? 6. Another look at 3rd base. Phillips this time. He had one bunt situation which he fielded well and had to make a good throw to get Altuve. He made a one bouncer that got past Pearse. Would Moreland have picked it? No matter, still came out as a throwing error against Phillips. He didn't hit well in two plate appearances. Nunez hit better as DH. Clearly Devers was not the guy against a lefty starter. Really, 3rd base remains wide open. We may just have a situation where there is no top notch answer.

That win required 3 of our guys to come through. Got to look at a lot of players tonight. Cora really needs to ponder his BP useage for the POs. Now I can go to bed without thinking whaqt might have been.

When we get up 5 to 2 with 2 men on base and 2 outs it isw clear that you want to take your best shot of not giving up any more. So, in my view the best shot who is not our closer is Brasier. Cora knows he doesn't want to match BP's with Houston. Putting in Henbree who has been pretty unreliable is not the thing to do and then Johnson on top was also not a good idea. We got a beak on Altuve not scoring or it would be over. Don't understand the relief pitching moves nor to some degree the pinch hitting choices.

Agreed. Hembree is a proven bad choice and Johnson is not adequate. With two men on you bring in Brasier right away to quell the rally. No Barnes tonight so it might get tough. We should be cruising but the choice of relief pitching no has it tied.

It might be a matter of choosing the best man for the job. You have to admit, neither of the others is particularly good defensively at 3rd. As an aside, has anyone mentioned that Barnes is sidelined indefinitely with a hip inflamation? Don't know how long he will need to recover at this point.

He's a 4 time gold glove guy at 2nd who can play third. Thats better than Nunez and also better than Devers

Bogaerts is hot right now but JDM will get back to his outstanding performance level. He is still a major threat either in 3rd or 4th in the oder.

I'm gradually coming to the same conclusion as our regular catchers are not hitting at the ML level. Swihart is showing up pretty well offensively since being given more opportunities. If we wanted to go to the FA market for a replacement for either or both of our current catchers it might cost a bundle to land a superior talent so Swihart remains a solid option.

Our BP is made up of mainly fireballers that have maybe one other solid pitch. Probably not a lot different than many pens this year. I see that as a bit of a weakness and look to Wright and possibly Poyner to give us a little variation in what we can bring in. We still need to get a good look at our pen arms such as Wright and Poyner and possibly others before making the choice but being 6'4" or more and having a 100 mph fastball is not the only criteria for selecting relief pitchers.

Is Phillips a hopeless addition. i do think he is a superior fielder and may just be as good a hitter as either? Unless he can play in the post season, there is no reason for him to play oter than to rest one of our others.

I noticed this time we pinch hit for Vaz with Swihart and he came through. Must give Cora something to chew on as catcher and 3rd base are our two most unsettled positions going into the PO's.

Devers is still very young and really something needs to click for him to reach real ML status. Slim down, stop making throwing errors like he made again today, become a more consistent hitter. Maybe he moves to first base but we do have Moreland for another year. No guarantee that Devers game awareness plays well at 1st either. It maybe overly harsh to say that he just doesn't seem to understand what it takes to be a ML player. He very well may become a valuable player in the future, so we need to find a place where he can flourish. Possibly we keep Swihart and groom him for first. I would keep both Kinsler and Pedey for next year while I look for a younger replacement. Neither should play 162 games at their age anyway. Bogaerts is becoming very valuable and will need to be paid. Third base is a conundrum for next season. Do we keep Phillips for another year while we try to bring Devers along?

Another loss to a very good team. They made the plays and we less so. Their pitching was a little better than ours. My game thoughts: 1. E-Rod wasn't in command today. Watching him is like watching grass grow. So slow between pitchers. Not much rythmn. Good fastball but Houston made him come in and were able to hit his fastball. Maybe it was just a bad outing, I hope that is the case. 2. Our catchers are weak hitters. No question about it. We only got to see Swihart once as a pinch hitter and he delivered in a pressure situation. 3. Devers got to a ball and then threw it away. He didn't look good at the plate either. I know he has power and might run into one, but is he ready for the PO's? 4. Mookie, Bogaerts and Beni all looked like they can get it done. Not a good day for JDM but he will figure it out. 5. The BP didn't do badly and Poyner earned some PO consideration. Maybe he is the lefty we carry forward with. 6. We need a win tomorrow. It will be interesting to see who Cora lines up.

What we saw last night is Price with he93 mph max fast ball succeed with his cutter, change up, fast ball by using location and keeping Astros uncomfortable. Brings to mind that we have our BP consisting of mainly hard throwers, which seems to be all the rage these days. Kimbrell and Kelly both get close to or over 100 mph and have a knuckle curve as thier main alternate pitch. As we saw last night the Knuckle pitch becomes a risky pitch with a man in scoring position. Brasier has been excellent but got hit on his first pitch. He has excellent velocity and movement but was complacent on his first pitch and got burner. Barnes also is another big guy with excellent velocity and has a breaking ball and changeup. When right, he gets it done. Hembree, out of the same cookie cutter mold. Eovaldi, same again, although a more complete pitcher. The only member likely to make the BP who is different is Wright with the Knuckle ball.Not a great guy to bring in with men on base, but definitely a different look. Cuevas has some really good stuff, but has yet to prove he belongs in the relief pressure cooker. My point is where are the Uehara type pitchers these days, who don't throw hard but get people out with splitters and a high 80's fastball. Hard to deny he was one of the best we had, even into his late 30's.

Last night against the Astro's we got a preview of hoow we might play third base going into the playoffs. The FO played Nunez against a tough right handed starter and a predominately right hand BP. Devers was brought in to pinch hit in hopes of running into a pitch late in the game. No Phillips at all. Nunez is not the most mobile of 3rd basemen and on a couple of plays he couldn't make at third we suffered. Clearly Devers is not trusted defensively or he might have started. Small wonder as Devers has had a tough year with his throwing and would be better trimmed down to 217 instead of 237. I understand why he was pinch hitting, but his plate discipline was not so good earlier on but maybe has improved in the interim. Phillips didn't play and frankly we don't know how well he might hit given more AB's. He may well be superior to either Nunez or Devers in the field based on his long history of excellence in the past. Third base is among the few positions not yet settled for the PO's so these competitive games are important looks for the FO to make those decisions.

Funny how this is the first we heard about the July surgery. Maybe next year. Maybe we try to keep Kinsler and/or Phillips and let them share with Pedey. Doubt any of them can go 162 games.

Thoughts after watching the game. 1. One key juncture is when Bregman got the double down past Nunez. That was followed by a walk and Price was tired and tightly taken out. That led to a three run inning. The ball past Nunez was a tough chance, but Brooks Robinson we don't have at 3rd. One other ball for a hit might have been played by a more mobile 3rd baseman. 2. Brazier threw a first pitch FB to Quriel (sp) and he was looking for it. Little smarter pitch and we might have gotten out of it. The hit by Kemp was just excellent hitting. Tip your hat and move on. 3. Kelly was a bit unlucky and also made some bad mistakes. He really has his FB and Knuckle Curve. When he gets men on through infield hits, it takes away his knuckle curve. Can't just go at Houston with a FB. he tried the knucle curve anyway and gave up a run. Then a weak curve for another hit and run. 4. Beni hit the ball hard 4 times, trouble is they were all slicers to left field. Would love to see him try to pull just once in a while. 5. Great effort by Price. 6. Houston has an excellent BP 7. I understand why Devers pinch hit so he might run into once. I would have preferred Swihart there, but Cora made a reasonable decision.

I don't agree with picking such a long span of time for your figures. I think looking from the AS break on gives a better picture of what players arre doing now and I would stick JBJ on your list as his numbers dramatically improved over the span I suggest. To me its wait and see on Devers. What I saw is a young guy who lacks plate discipline and frequently swings at balls outside the zone. He does have 3 weeks to show improvement and we do need another lefthanded power bat, so I'm open to him earning a spot, but he won't do it with his defense.