drewski6

First of all, you are all underestimating cedanne at 2b. Hes going to be a plus there and a big one. Hes too good to not be. I think if hes an A+++ centerfielder, hes nothing worse than a B+ at infield and anything else is small sample size or adjustment , but he'll figure it out Its also temporary. Even if hes getting some reps at 2b, hes still playing a lot in cf (even with full health) and there will likely be an injury to an OF at some point, opening a spot for him. Hes prob already there vs lefties as one of duran / abreu prob sitting. Im not worried about it. Versatility is always good.

And we still do, so.....

if we are noodling at the plate and bres doenst get a big bopper at the deadline , hes out for the same reason bloom was. I dont think brez fails a third deadline with so much on the line.

but whats done and done and we chose to upgrade our #2,3,4 pitchers to Gray,Ranger, Oviedo I would have put more focus into the bats, but im not throwing in any towels. Im not pumpsie, and judge could get hurt. I also think our lineup will improve MULTIPLE TIMES between now and next playoffs. So thats not just paredes. Thats paredes + an offensive bust out from somewhere + another deadline bat. Slackers get benched.

My only point is if anyone other than Crochet is on the mound (and Judge is healthy) or vs Tor (and Vlad is healthy) Our best way to win is to score some runs vs hoping that a starter who isnt crochet blanks the 2 superstars 3 times and then our bp blanks em another 2. Score3 runs so if judge goes 2-5 with 2 rbis we can win. HOping that Gray/Ranger blank judge over and over again is asking for a lot (IMO)

we win the the 2026 playoff series against them

I believe the narrative that breslow accused boras of bluffing and thought he had the best offer on the table and didnt. We may be better for it, agreed. So I agree here. With all of it.

I think pitchers should win MVP more, and I really dont think they should be penalized for having a good defense behind them. Wins matter for MVP in basketball and thats taking into account something the player himself doesnt control. I think Crochet was clearly our MVP last year, and he probably should have gotten votes considering where the team was with him vs where without him. Prob skubal too. But Judge and Raleigh had monster years and were so far out in front of most batters (more so out in front than teh pitchers were) but keep in mind, im saying all of this with crochet in place. You can beat the yankees or the blue jays 2-1 when croceht is on the mound. But not when anyone else is. Judge is going to eat off your #2 pitcher or he wouldnt be Judge. And hes prob gonna eat off crochet too, but at least you have a chance. Sonny Gray vs Whomever the yanks got out there...it doesnt matter, cuz we couldnt hit against their 4,5,6 pitchers last year (they had a lot of pitching injuries) schittler was like their early and he dominated us. So it doesnt matter who we pitch (unless its crochet) cuz they gonna eat. And it doesnt matter who they pitch cuz we're not gonna eat. Cuz we didnt eat against them last year despite them having a slew of pitching injuries.

They were playing KC in the outfield and Cedanne at 2b and that only changed cuz KC forgot how to hit.

But yet it happened last year.

I agree, and thast what im trying to say that hitting + baserunning = pitching + defense TO say that one side mattes more, I disagree with. I disagree less if someone says the offensive side matters more, but I wouldnt go as far as to say I believe that run creation > run prevention. But I think that defense > baserunning. Its just logic Run creation = run prevention hitting + baserunning = pitching + defense defense > baserunning Therefore hitting > pitching

No, its because run prevention elements include more than just pitching.

Im just immune to all the cliches. If you think that pitching is more important to hitting , youve internalized cliches. Im borderline that pitching + defense even equals hitting. Build your team around your bats.

Also , an 8-7 game is still a lot of fun.

Who told you that defense matters more than offense, i want names.

You really dont see a difference between a team with aaron judge and a team whose best hitter is a 21 year still growing into his body?

ROmy isnt depth , hes our #2 hitter against lefties. If he gets hurt, we wont hit lefties or righties.

I would have been fine with Crochet, Tolle, Bello, Early, Crawford So we've added a ton of pitching depth. But I dont think our 5 starters today are better than they would have been. Or much better. I think Tolle is better than Gray or will be by season end, Early vs Ranger, I lean Ranger but its not really the same as upgrading a position player who will play every day. The impact of replacing Early with Ranger I dont think is huge. So fine, you built a team that has elite pitching and sub-par hitting. I would have went the other way and I dont think its a preference. I think that teams with good hitting and suspect pitching generally go further than the inverse. But I understand that we didnt want to spend what it would have cost (yes, thats thing) to have a good offense, so we put together a great pitching staff cuz the big dogs know that hitting matters more - so youre competing with small dogs for pitchers vs big dogs for hitters and we came up short. But Im not goin to lie to myself and say this was plan A for us or Breslow. He missed on improving the offense so he built a great staff. Okay but.....we;ll need some serious breakouts or great hitting external acquisiitons to win the AL, which we always needed and still do.

Young pitchers also seem to do better to me than young hitters.

Pitching can be figured out, and it can come from nowhere. Look at early. Also, you really dont need more than a true ace and a few more average starters to win. Its simply not the same. Also, defense contributes heavy on the run prevention side, so its not the same Offense (50%) = pitching (35%) + defense (15%)

Cliches bounce off my ears. So i dont believe that pitching wins or anything like that.

Capable of? I believe Anthony is capable of .850-.900 this year, and I think hell improve his launch angle over time, and eventually be even north of that. But I think the downside is closer to .800 because he doesnt hit the ball into the air enough (right now). Im expecting a .830ish OPS. I think it could be .900. I think Abreu is....the thing is, honestly, that last year he was our #5 and #6 hitter (like in the order), and we struggled to score runs. So leaving him there, Im fine with and its a huge plus. But if we're moving him to 2,3,4 in the order I get a little sketched out because we failed to score runs last year with him at 5/6 and i think hes an excellent hitter for that spot, but not as much for a 2/3/4 guy Lets inverse it. Pretend its pitching that is worrying me. Lets say last year, we finished the year struggling at pitching, and then we lost our #2. And you tell me "youre underrating our #3". Well, my issue is that lst year, pitching wasnt great, and now you are moving up your #3 to #2 and while I think hes good and like the guy, im a bit nervous when you consider last year. I love Abreu as a hitter in the 5 or 6 hole. But if we move him up, i get concerned that the hitting wasnt great last year with him at 5/6 I dont think you are identifying me correctly (no offense). I dont think the issue is that I am underrestimating Anthony or Abreu. I think I have a very high bar for offense. Top 3 in MLB. I can live with top 5.

Understood, but I dont care. THere are three types of teams in mLb Teams with a top 3 offense Teams that are trying to improve their offense Jokes

According to projected wRC+: we have - RA #38 in mlb Contreras - 80 in mlb Abreu - 90 im mlb Duran - 149 in mlb. Paredes is 31 in MLB. U-G-L-Y ANd I dont care how good the pitching and defense is - wihtout Paredes this team is unwatchable and it is NOT a serious contender. Paredes helps a lot, as he'd be the best bat on the team, but its still not great with Paredes. But yeah, we need him, right now, or really any top 30 bat. Id take a top 30 hitter who plays outfield. And I dont care. We are desperate for bats.

I agree with Paredes, it isnt bad. But its not great, and there isnt much offense to spare. Injuries will happen, but no Paredes, or Duran for Paredes and no additional offensive additions, and we're not gonna score enough. The simplest solution is to bring in Paredes for pitching. Then we'll have a C- offense and an A+ staff (we can lose Bello and still have an A+ staff) Right now we have D- offense and an A+ pitching.