Hugh2

I’m not a doctor, and if I was I’m certain I would tell you I can’t diagnose someone thru my tv, but it just looked so much like a back tweak. I’m betting he just pulled a muscle and he will be fine in a few days.

This is my take as well. In the spirit of the discussion, if the playoffs started today and everyone was healthy, Turner plays first and pushes Yoshida to DH. I’m hopeful Casas turns it around, I think he will.

Yes but if you’re looking at those clutch stats they usually have a much larger sample size than a game. Also, that’s not a lot of starters you’re facing. Most guys coming into a game in the 8th 9th on a lot of teams are premium arms.

It’s kind of nice to see them both competing well showing they belong behind the plate. Hopefully McGuire comes back strong, but Wong is showing he’s more than capable

I don't think it's a zero-sum game here. The playoffs are NOT starting today, but if they did we would be a playoff team. One can speculate that we are or will be or SHOULD be in the hunt for the playoffs in October. We do know however that players will come off the IL. So that's fair.

Problem is who is playing SS if Story is at 2nd? maybe Mondesi, but what if he can't stay healthy? I don't want Kike touching the position.

That's a fantasy lineup.

For starting maybe, but I think they will still pinch hit McGuire and Wong on their days off and could always slide one into the position. One thing this team has a lot of options with in the lineup is it's ability to interchange guys and play match ups. So far it's looking great for the offense.

To me clutch is real, and it's a skill. But the skill is "maintaining composure" while others fold. This isn't like some kind of anime where they can swallow a pill and magically become much better.

Also wouldn't an .800 OPS late and close be better than a .800 OPS overall? Because "Late and close" often means you're facing elite relievers.

I love how they move guys around and get guys into the lineup who didn't start that day. Your best players will perform better when they are rested and healthy. I think Wong has won the starter's job, I'd still like McGuire to get a lot of games. Wong's emergence + McGuires past + an unreasonable amount of faith put into CERA have built this ideal around here that Reese isn't a good catcher. It's quite the opposite. Also, Wong is so good in other ways you don't see with a catcher with his speed on the bases, that I think he can actually be a better player when he gets a reasonable amount of rest. I think he's earned that role to start but I'm very comfortable with McGuire being his running mate. Obviously managing the roster it Makes sense to start McGuire vs. RHP and Wong vs. LHP as best you can, but there's no way Wong should sit vs. all RHP, he's your starter. Maybe Reese gets 40-50 starts this year and those should mostly be against RHP, in a perfect world, it would be. But this is not a perfect world and there are other considerations such as who a pitcher likes throwing too. I think Wong is earning that role.

Can't believe I forgot about Story. I made the edit and split him and Duran to keep in more L/R/L/R

HOW DARE YOU!!!!! lol

I've been giving some thought to this recently. Weighing past performance, projected future performance, and anticipating guys come back from their injuries on schedule, what the best lineup on this club would be if the playoffs started today. Because as of today we are a playoff team. RF - Alex Verdugo 1B - Justin Turner 3B - Rafael Devers LF - Adam Duvall DH - Masataka Yoshida SS - Trevor Story CF - Jarren Duran C - Connor Wong 2nd - Kike Hernandez I'm hoping Casas is the first baseman. I still have a very high level of confidence in the kid. He's putting together great plate appearances and I said the same thing about Masa weeks ago. Anyone who has the mental acuity to see balls and strikes better than most other people in the MLB will eventually hit. He's young, he'll be fine. BUT if the playoffs started today and everyone was healthy, you just can't be starting him right now. Turner can play 1B and Duvall is a better fielder than Masa. Depending on how things shake up during the next couple months, I could see a trade for some help at SS/2B

Kind of makes me feel a little hypocritical haha.

yup. Like me, I will always complain about people complaining.

It's not that some people don't believe in "clutch" it' just that some think there's a "reverse clutch" at play. Lets say for example said hitter has a lifetime OPS of .800 and he becomes an .800 OPS guy in the playoffs. Ok status quo, lets say for arguments sake that 25% of the population do not have the mental acuity to control their emotions and often let their anxieties get to them. I think this is reasonable, we've all seen a guy lose the strike zone, or a slumping hitter look lost at the plate. Baseball IS a mental game. What happens to said players' .800 OPS when 25% of the people he's facing in these clutch situations fold? his .800 OPS goes up to .950. Did it go up because he got better? or because the other guy folded? It seems much more plausible to me that "reverse clutch" is a thing, and clutch players are good players who have a high-level ability to control their emotions in those situations. I think that is a REAL skill and perhaps this is just semantics and we can attribute that to a "clutch" factor. But I don' think anyone is getting better. No one is increasing their cognitive ability to pick up a spin rate faster or magically becoming stronger driving the ball further. Maybe in a sense "reverse clutch" and "clutch" are the same thing. If you can continue to be the person you are under circumstances where many other people would fold that's a real skill. It's a debate I've always been fascinated with, but I'm a firm believer that there is a major "reverse clutch" component of clutch hitting.

Is it? Yoshida criticized by many here Duval criticized by many here Turner criticized by many here Mondesi, Chung, Kluber, Jansen, Martin, Joely, and Mills. To varying extents, all of these moves were harshly criticized by many in here. Why on gods green earth would we think Strahm would be any different.

I know. That was sarcasm. In my opinion, I don't think that is accurate at all. I think in hindsight it's easy to say that. Strahm last started in 2019 and had an ERA north of 5.00 This team needed serious pitching help and people were looking for "upside" People criticized almost every move made this offseason because it seemingly wasn't "big enough" or at least a lot of people did. I think it's very reasonable to point out that many would have criticized that move. Signing a career relief pitcher who looked horrible as a starter would not have flown over well on this board.

But Strahm will become good starting pitcher and should be resigned. Is what no one on this board said during the off-season.

Ummmm Wong is really good at baseball.

Chang, not Wang. my bad

THere's zero chance of that happening, and it would be a very poor decision if they did.

SOrry my mind was in 2021, Iglesias had a minor league deal with the Marlins that he opted out of. Still pretty funny that he was released for a guy named Junk however.

This kind of sounds like a different way of saying "dumpster diving" which oddly enough is harshly critiqued around here when the shoe is on the other foot.