drewski6

So because of how our anemic our offense looks, we need to trade Duran? Or did you mean Masa? But thats not really "trading an OF'er".

Nice! Sounds like hes making the all star team.

Over 90 MPH exit?

Either the best hitter ever or a small sample size aberration. Also, hard hit balls is kind of subjective.

Maybe win that first game 2-0 instead of 3-0 but its kind of hard to go from 1-3 to 0-4 by subtracting anyone not named Crochet. Regardless, Duran isnt the guy right now, I would give away to get him off this team. Im not a big believer in addition by subtraction or that you turn all these would be L's into W's by cleaning up the roster. Even on the pitching side. Had we never gotten Gray, that prob just means Oviedo starts game 4 and Ranger starts game 3 (Early starts game 2). And we'd prob still be 1-3.

Had we traded Duran for prospects in spring training, I have a sneaky suspicion our record would be 1-3.

Im fine with high number of Ks if they come with extra base hits. Now if you are K'ing and not driving the ball, thats a problem, obviously.

LOBs arent from K'ing too much, they are from too many singles and walks and not enough driving gaps. You drive gaps by swinging through the baseball. You do that by meeting it out in front and attacking pitches. That will also lead to more K's. Some players are just good at picking up spin. They will K less without trying by being good hitters. But looking at players solely through their K% can be misleading. Just like looking at NBA players by their FG%. The guys with the highest fg% in NBA arent the best shooters. They are centers who never shoot and all their FGs are dunks or layups.

Do these guys stay back and slap? And why is 20% the magic threshold. Going up to the plate trying to not K is scared money and wimpy. That doesnt mean that everyone who isnt K'ing is a wimp. The how matters. I care about Xtra base hits. If someone is K'ing too much that will show in their xtra base hit totals.

Only baseball fans on a forum like everything to be set, consistent day to day, and its not a reality in 2026. Mix and match, critical thinking, everything is case by case. Its okay that not every decision is obvious. The problem with this team isnt player x doesnt play the same position or we have some depth....The problems are all the new people we've brought in have f'ing stunk. Ranger, Gray, Oviedo, Contreras, Durbin...Literally all of them. And its too early right now to start drawing conclusions or tinkering. But its not too early for each and every one of us to blame what we want to blame and confirm our biases. This is why MVP thinks the issue is not having a set player for each position, you think the issue is K's, and I think the issue is a lack of meeting the ball out in front/driving the ball. All 3 of us are just repeating what we thought the problems were going to be entering the year. Ive learned that people seeing what will confirm their biases will likely continue.

Sure, but Duran and Story can be counted on for more than just "swing and miss" and the fact that they are not elite hitters, but may need to be, is on Breslow not them. Duran and Story are 2 good hitters, and sure we need a great one. I was screaming that all offseason. Now we dont know what we are going to get from Contreras or really Anthony....So its early to get panicky. And Im not. But Duran and Story are more than just guys who strikeout at whatever rates they strike out. You act like K's are the reason for the offensive woes, and they are extremely telling towards hitting ability and I fundamentally disagree. Guys who dont K stay back too long and slap. They arent better hitters, they are wimps. Im not interested in avoiding K's and I dont think its productive. Im not interested in judging players by their K's. Im not interested in OBP or really OPS. Im interested in total extra base hits. If you are selective but without being selective to a fault, that will show in your total xtra base hits at end of season. But if you are too selective or stay back too long, youll have a good OBP, but you wont have enough extra base hits. NBA players who never take shots except when they are in close have misleadingly high fg%'s becasue they dont really shoot anything but bunnies. But if you only look at misses, you will think that guys that dont shoot are keys to offense but its just conservatism. Im not into that wimp-stuff. Take a chance , swing a bat. If you dont chase sliders you are not swinging enough.

If anything is concerning, its the lack of extra base hits. Thats why Im kind of over the OBP side of OPS. Singles and walks lead to LOB and when looking to drive the ball (important for extra base hits) , there will usually be an uptick in Ks. Im really not wanting our guys going to the plate trying to not strike out. Thats passive. Story has 2 extra base hits, Abreu 5 - the following guys have 0: Narvaez, Roman, Duran, Yoshida, Cedanne, Contreras, IKF, Durbin

When you said the only thing you are confident about them is that there would be swing and miss....I dont think thats fair. Im confident they will both have a lot of extra base hits, for example. Im confident that if healthy , they are both 3+ WAR players. Im confident that they are both very good starters. Agreed, not elite.

Story was a tick shy of 30-30 last year and was our hottest hitter in the playoffs.

Story was carrying this team on his back end of last year, and Duran has been our highest WAR guy multiple years in a row.

Thats just completely unfair to Story and Duran. Good hitters are going to trust their swing decisions, start the swing process earlier, and drive more balls. They will also have more swing and miss. Duran and Story are not the problem. They are likely, our 2 best players. This team is going nowhere without either (just like last year).

Its easier to go from stretched out to pen then it is to go the other way. Im not making this move *yet*. But I do realize that after him struggling in AAA with 6 SP already with the big club, that they are going to give Ranger all the chances and Gray a lot of chances...And with 2 potential SP candidates on the horizon....The path to helping this tea in 2026 may be a bp arm and thats significant help. But I see both sides as well. If it 1.5 months from now and the SP has settled and bp is blowing games , then i consider it for sure.

YOURE BLUFFING!!!!!

You graded the offseason A-

Oh no, quinn priester part deux.

The reasons why lefty-lefty matchup is far worse than righty-righty is due 1) the type of pitchers lefties usually are (lower arm slot on average, more junk on average) and 2) because you jsut see way more righties growing up. Im not one to accept conventional wisdom and I hate cliches. I think we have too much pitching. Thats never where I am coming from (repeating "wisdoms"). Outside of the MLB, everyone sucks against lefties (even righties). If you go Anthony-Duran, then late in games , they will face mostly lefties. There are true (not just because conventional wisdoms, cliches and all that lame stuff)....there are true reasons why a lefty is disadvantaged vs a lefty. And against a lefty ROman is a league average hitter (which is super impressive for lefty-lefty) and Duran is bad....And why do that to your 2 best hitters? There simply must be a better option, e.g. putting the hottest right handed hitter of the moment in between them.

It depends a lot on that lefty. Arm slot. Pitch mix. If he has multiple speeds, throwing from a lower arm slot, and has effective west-to-east pitches (sweepers, sliders) .... even Anthony is f'd. Any lefty is a .200 hitter there (at best).

Id be taking into account who they have available in the BP that day, for example is there a freshy lefty who is good? Im not sure Cora is going that deep into the mixing and match bag, but he does go pretty deep. But I cant get behind Anthony-Duran because they are both simply too good and too important to be put in a situation that is so counterable. And its a huge disadvantage to Anthony too. Maybe not as much because he stays back more than Duran who will chase every slider a lefty throws at him. But lefties dont hit lefties. The Ball is coming out from behind you. I dont want games getting decided by hoping for a lefty (any one) against a lefty on the mound. Righty - righty is wayyy different.

2 lefties in a row is a bigger deal than 2 righties. I have my doubts that Anthony would be as good vs a lefty as an average righty. Lefty - lefty is a killer matchup for all lefty batters. 2 righties i have no issue with. I really dont have an issue with 2 lefties in many cases. IN this case, you are putting our 2 best hitters together in a situation that is too counterable IMO. This is going to drive up % of lefties that both face. Its possible that people overrate the importance of L-R-L-R and also that its a bad idea here. End of games they are going to be facing nothing but lefties and they are too good of hitters to do that to. Lefties stinking against lefties is universal.

Because theyll sub a lefty in at the top of the order every time after the first or second time through.