drewski6

Friday is smackdown day

I was wondering if you guys knew that he was obviously pumpsie. I didnt want to fully dox him, so I started calling him puntsie.

Looks like one .850 OPS bat, one #2 starter, and a couple solid relievers away from being really really good. The better we are , the less Im willing to settle. Not more. There is no reason to not at least replace Devers, right? Thats what we were told.

Positions are guidelines, not laws, in 2025

You couldnt get Ortiz out in 2013. Thats not as rare or crazy as it may seem. Plenty of bats have gotten super duper hot at the right time and carried a team on their back all the way.

Looking at positional players by offensive WAR: our top is Bregman at #34, second is Duran at 40. And theres a huge gap. And as Im looking for #3, Im scrolling past guys like Xander , Schwarber, Devers. Guys we "didnt need". Or were willing to part with. A lot of the reasoning was position. I think getting an elite bat is priority one. I fit them into any position. Even CF. I just dont look at the team at position. I see it more like you want 2 elite hitters, 5 adequate hitters. Fit it in while not having terrible defense. If guys have to move around thats just Baseball in 2025. Theres no such thing as a third baseman or a first baseman or even a middle infielder in my eyes. Well, I shouldnt say no such thing, but its a rarity. You either have to be so good at a position for me to prioritize sticking you there vs versatility to fit a bat (like PCA) or so bad that you can only do 1b or lf (but then bring the bat). But most dudes, I see through the lens of how good of a hitter are you, are you a decent defender. Thats kind of it. Bellichick made a living out of converting linebackers to lineman. I think we need a masher because we got rid of our only proven masher. I care not what position he plays.

If you never get bluffed out at the poker table , you are calling too often If you never lose a showdown, you are folding too often If you have no underwater contracts, you arent trying You have to be willing to make mistakes You can talk yourself out of any contract due to the risk and your in-house candidates. BUt if half your lineup has an "if" , and you are okay with that, its too complacent for my tastes.

Because there is an expectation that they should be trying to get better. Not crossing items off the shopping list because they have a body there. And if you are trying to compete, you shouldnt be going into the season with 3 "if"s at your positional player mix. Its too many. And sometimes adequate isnt good enough. Gotta stick your neck out.

Im okay with being capable at either 1b or dh. But not both. I want one of those positions to push a .850 OPS to complete the top half of the lineup=. Feels like 1b or DH is the easiest route to getting a slugger. And I dont want hope at both positions. I want an Alonso or a Brent Rooker at one of them, take a chance with inhouse candidates at the other

I liked Ben the bot

Casas only recently decided to start hustling. Of course he doesnt know how to step on a bag at full speed. At the very least, homeboy needs a peloton

WHy you keep trying to give me homework? Who are you, my third grade teacher? Well, let me tell you something, mrs burnett..... I would assume the answer to your trivia question is Dombrowski. Listen bro, Im on a campaign. And that campaign is justice for the dude who Bresbot fired for saying "what a stiff" about Bres when he thought he was on mute. Maybe a little reflection on why people think that. Maybe a little less thin-skinned , shoot the messenger. Unless he fired the guy for not knowing how to mute on a call , which is more justifiable to me I want Alex as President of Baseball operations. It will be up to AC whether Bres stays. But I want AC to be Bres boss, not reverse.

Being okay with capable is how you get stuck in mediocre land. I can see them doing this, but I hope they dont. I wanna trade for Brent Rooker but Oakland isnt Oakland anymore. They are Vegas now and prob not giving him up.

Fair, but most unathletic dudes are either pitchers , catchers or homerun hitters. Maybe a couple quick twitch 3b athletes. Like chubby but great reaction speed. But casas isnt my guy. Hes , to me, none of those things. There may be some power that we havent seen, but Im going to want to aggressively make the team better this offseason and so hes going to get competition for reps. I prob bring in 2 big bats if its me and let the chips fall where they may. One is prob a middle infielder, so there should be a spot open (either DH or 1b). But I am NOT using a bunch of in house guys to justify a boring off season.

It didnt feel like AC to me, to hold there.

Half these games Im yelling "SWING ON HIM" We need like Joe Kelly to be our manager or something

I know, man. Terrible. Whatever happened to take the fight TO THEM. Make them make the play. At the poker table, you want to keep your opponent uncomforatble. IN hockey you wanna force the goalie to make the save. Make the dude make the throw with the game on the line. Put him in an uncomfortable decision. That wasnt ACs call I bet, but if so, then maybe Im too quick to promote him. Whatever happened to the human element? Wheres the competitiveness? WHeres the fight? Im 41 and have a desk job and even Im down to fight.

Yeah, that would be a double benefit. Like how when they promoted Brad Stevens , a nice perk was that he was no longer coaching. AC isnt a great manager. BUt I think hed make a great GM.

My rule is that if I am more athletic than you, you shouldnt be a professional athlete. Casas is a waddler, he cant even pump his legs. Donezo. Id make an exception if he could ding 40, but I dont see that either. I care not that he draws walks and then clogs the bases.

im a math nerd and bresbot is too much of a math nerd.

If we want to make Cora president and he chooses to keep bresbot, ill give bresbot a fresh start.

I say its time to promote Cora. Hes what we lack. A human. A person. Not an algorithm.

Bresbot lies to me like Im dumb and fired the dude who called him a stiff when he is so obviously a stiff. That being said, a lot of people were saying we needed a bat. I dont look at position players through the lens of their position. I say position shmosition. We need a bat means get a bat and work out the position. Im not like well we are fine at 1b because of this dude, and this guy could be a decent DH....When you need a bat, you find a way. And Im not alone in that, these days , the new school line of thinking is find a way to get your best nine hitters on the field. Defense is important so dont completely disregard it, but optimal defensive alignments are just so far from everyones radar. You want your good defensive players to be versatile so you can move them around and play some all bat, no gloves at easier positions. I think good defensive players can play anywhere and bad ones cant play anywhere. I dont think mid season adjustments are hard for dudes who just "have it" So I dont think we needed a DH, or a 2b or a 1b but I think we needed 1-2 bats and I would have found a way to fit them. I would have sent Mayer down before his injury and moved Breg to 2b if I had to. I would have played Duran at 1b if I had to. I do like team but I dont like Breslow. I want AC to run him over.

Okay but just because you can justify inaction, and use a lot of "if"/"then"s to say that we have some options there....We could really use a homerun hitter and we should not let rookies and retreads stop us from bettering the team. We dont have a masher. There are some mashers out there. Granted I realize I am arguing with Bres through you as a conduit, not you.

point is this: right now baseball is a bad product full of bad owners and bad GMs who care too much about the business side. Im no purist myself, but teams are too content to sell tickets right now. Very few teams are actually trying. So we could win. But the only team that deserves to win is the dodgers. They dont care who they have if they can get someone better.