drewski6

I like Schezuan hot pot but theres usually a price to pay on the other end if you catch my drift. My friend who is a cook is huge into japanese curry so ive been eating a fair amount of that even though i do probably prefer the aromatics of indian curry or the freshness of thai curry, and i also enjoy hibachi and door dash runs a lot of bogo sushi rolls. And Im a social butterfly so im usually dining with friends, and sushi is easily splittable.

and before i finish that , whats the policy on mildly dirty jokes.

I eat a fair amount of hummus, does that count as bean eating? Hey whats the difference between a chickpea and a garbanzo bean?

I surrender a lot of civilization games against the cpu. But if you dont get out to a fast start , you are behind where you want to be all game and the game is at its funniest when you are industrializing and its still BC. Get way out ahead.

I dont eat that many beans Im more of a ethic Asian/Indian cuisine eating surrender monkey. My diet is heavy Korean/Thai/Indian/Japanese Also, im not sure where percentile i fall into , when it comes to speed of surrendering. I do surrender in games when they are taking too long. Ive gotta make my rounds, too social to get stuck in a game at a party. Unless the whole party is playing, that I enjoy. But I dont want to be trapped in a game wiht like 5 people when there are 30 people at the party doing sometihng else.

Nor is it Wisconsin

I would hit Gaper second but other than that....Looks great. Dunno what wed do if Mead got healthy.

Yes. Anthony, and Story keep hitting like this and getting healthies. Adley makes the trade worth it. Contreras comes back fine and Abreu heats up and suddenly our offense is looking potent. Then you get Gray back to who he was a month ago, so you have a top 2 of Tolle and Gray and wed be officially dangerous. Even more so if we can 3-4 innings out of crochet and he can start game 3 or piggyback with someone like Sandoval/Bennet/Bello

But he was one of the players that I was thinking about when I said, who a player is - is not static.

Agree. The high level vision is there. The specific plan on execution varies , swerves and isnt set in stone. I was at a presentation and the lady said "get out of the tactics, into the strategy" , and I was impressed by that. Focus on the bottom line and the high level goals. Its not about focusing/micromanagement. So more : we want to spend roughly 40m this offeseason, and would like to add righty power and sure up our OF depth less: we have 18.5 million to spend on a RF and we are going to go after this free agent specifically, if he gets more than that , then we pivot to this exact player, but we max on 17 for him, which gives us an extra 1.5 to spend on the bullpen in which case we'll go for this guy. But if he gets resigned, we'll go for this guy who we think will cost 400k more. So well make this other move to free up the 400k. Its not mapped out to that degree ^. Folks are thinking on their feet and adapting to changes and making decisions case by case. Its not like Breslow goes into an offseason with a very specific plan. You just cant plan for every potential outcome and its not wise to. But absolutely, there are downstream effects. I think we considered that we could keep shopping after Contreras and that is part of the reason we have him over Alonso. And the plan was to spend that money on Bregman. When that didnt work out, I think moving to Ranger was an "on the feet move". Now maybe it was "try to get contreras over alonso because then we can get someone else too, preferably bregman, but if we dont get him there are other players i like with suarez being one of the options" ....That type of thinking, I think goes on. But i dont think it was some long as case statement and if/thens. I dont think its that formulaic. I think there is a fair amount of adjusting and thinking on feet that goes on. But thats how I am. Im not an overplanner, so maybe I just insert the way I think in others. But I do think that most GMs/executives have plans and strategies but also think on their feet and swerve a lot.

I dont think he was thinking specifically giving Gray some obviously needed rest. I think he was speaking more generally. Like a coach benching half his team for the final week if theyve clinched the division. That can backfire. Just like how sometimes when you sweep and then have a long layoff that can backfire.

i kind of meant playoff hero or playoff darling over superstar. But I think i could defend my initial comment but you would have to allow me to include guys who were more late bloomers or later career breakouts, like Joey Bats for example. And then also allow me to include like steve pearce. So with Joey Bats I may expanding what I meant by bench player.....and by Steve Pearce I may be expanding what is meant by superstar But my point is that I care about career avg over recent success and who a player is when im thinking about offseason signings or trades for guys w term on their contract (not rentals). But when we are entering the playoffs, I care about hot at least as much. If Gasper had the month he had in August, but in May and on June 3 you were like this guy wont carry us, I would have no issue. But right now, Gasper cannot be benched until he cools off, and if he doesnt cool off between now and playoffs (which is very possible) - hes a must start in the playoffs and yes he will bat 2nd or 4th and yes he absolutely can carry our offense or at least be one of the pieces that do. If Contreras is back and Gasper never cools off, then someone like Duran (Anthony takes the field in left, opens up DH) or even Rutschman (if hes playing hurt) is going to have to get benched. Gasper may be the best pure hitter in the entire organization when a righty is pitching.

What if that bullpen game is 3 innings of crochet?

Rosters expand in September for a reason. Im bout that balance. Yeah, it prob is smart for some guys who are a little dinged up/fatigued to get a little extra rest. And in some cases, it may be wise to let a dude who is hot keep rolling, rolling, rolling. September is for 3 things: locking up a playoff spot, getting healthy for october, getting guys hot for october. Contreras, for example, wasnt exactly peaking before his DL. So Im very hopeful we get him back with like a week before the playoffs (hopefully more), so we can focus on getting him hot. If he comes off the IL and goes right into the playoff lineup, Id worry a bit. And limping into the playoffs never goes well. And some fans seem to think that dudes who are really good usually but have been stinking of late are just going to snap out of it because now its playoffs. Or that players who are red hot but not usually stars are going to revert to crap just because the playoffs start. I dont think it works that way.

I agree. Where you and I have disagreed in the past is one time you said (or at least I interpreted your thoughts) as them having a plan A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H all mapped out separated by if statements. And I think theres a lot more swerving and thinking on the feet and reacting. I think the plans are more abstract than that. The plans are like try to add righty power, heres a list of guys wed like to target. And maybe there is an order. But I dont think its like try to get alonso, and if cant than try to get contreras but only if they eat 10m, and then plan c would be this and that. Think about yourself when you are fantasy drafting. Well I like this Catcher, and I could take him 5th round here, but I see like 3 other Catchers I like still on the board, so Im going to take a pitcher here because I think this pitcher is the last of the tier 2 pitchers, and i bet one of these catchers who i lke will still be around.

Pretty early to be declaring can only be a wash. Some postseason success and a decent year next year are still possible.

Gasper was hitting like .350 against righty pitching in AAA this year.

Gasper is more likely to be Super Steve Pearce than Steve Pearce was before he caught fire and became super steve pearce. Its a myth that talent wins out in the playoffs. Talent is more important during the 162 where streaks come and go. But playoffs are short samples. In short samples, its hot > good

Who or what a player is - isnt static. Players are who they are in that moment. Bench players can become superstars and superstars can become bench players. Its all fluid. Plenty of mediocre dudes whom you would consider bench pieces have gotten red hot and contributed significantly to playoff success. Right now, Gasper is one of the hottest hitters in baseball and he is a must start until he cools off. And he may cool off btween now and Oct, and he may not. If it were May it would be different. But right now, its about whos hot not career averages.

Or if they need to DFA him to give his 40 man spot to someone else.

Are you sure that Chesapeake bay is nowhere near baltimore?

Feared hitters, elite hitters, and stars are worth a premium.

No. I disagree with that.

You can carry a 5 man bench and be one RP short for one day in August. Nobody is going to die.

Especially in the playoffs with all the off days. Carry an extra pinch runner or platoon bat which they didnt last year I dont think and it bothered me. Obvs for the bulk of the season I go 4 man bench. But in the playoffs, Id like to see 5. And maybe also during a stretch when they have a ton of days off