drewski6

Touche. My point is really just that I think we should build through the offense vs through the pitching. If you have 2 great starters and a team of noodle bats, they wont carry as far as they would have in the nineties/early 2000s when dudes would throw 300 innings. I do thnk Crochet was this teams MVP last year, and will be this teams MVP next year, and I dont really think theres a convincing argument against. So my point is not that pitching doesnt matter or that you dont need it. Just right now, Im a bit lazer focused on the offensive needs because we had Yoshida batting cleanup last year, lost Bregman, will probably trade an OF'er and I dont think the youth is enough to compensate for all that. We need a pitcher, but not necessarily one as good as Skubal. Or, at least, we dont need an elite pitcher as much as we need an elite hitter (my opinion). A lot of that is because we already have Crochet.

First of all, I dont slap - when I swing, I do it with a closed fist. I would happily swing on any billionaire given the chance, but especially the one who owns the Pittsburgh Penguins, the organization who employed Matt Cooke, who ruined Marc Savards career with a cheap-shot elbow. But my point here is that Im not sure that even if Henry opened the checkbook, that would be enough for Breslow to close deals. Breslow has come up short quite a bit, and it hasnt always been just about money (for example the deadline). Ive also heard him talk and interact, and I honestly think at least part of the problem is hes a pompous jerk. You have to talk to people to sign people, and I think people genuinely do not want to talk to him. That being said, obviously the agents have their price, and wont let Breslows awful personality and puchable face stop them from getting their clients paid. I do hope we splash some money around this offseason. I like your comment that one bat or one middle infielder is just getting back to where we were with Bregman so we need multiple. My dream is Bregman, Schwarber, and trade for a pitcher. I can live without Bregman, as long as we get a solid (or better) infielder + Schwarber. Im fine with like Polanco or Peredes. Marte would be even better than Bregman. But in any of those cases, still need Schwarber and a solid (or better) starter

Ah, Yamamoto.....Yeah, hes really good. Still, of the top 30 WAR , all of baseball, 8 are pitchers. Highest was SKubal who was 7th. Not trying to say that pitching doesnt matter, just saying that in todays game, where pitchers are rarely pitching into the seventh, its better to have a stacked offense where the players play every night.

His 3 ER in 2.1 IP rally won it for them.

Having an elite pitcher in 2025 is like having an elite big man in basketball. Aint what it use to be. Game has changed.

SKubal is vulverable the third time through the order just like any pitcher in todays era. His 6.5 WAR is not Maddux-esque or even close. Its just one of hte ways the game has changed. Pitchers are asked to do less. All of them, including SKubal and Crochet. Skubal is 66% of Maddux. Thats very good. But the era of the 8-10 WAR pitcher is dead. Build through your offense.

Plus Skubal is not as good as people make him out to be. Hes the best pitcher in AL, but only a tick above Crochet. He aint like prime Pedro.

He had 2 years left which matters a lot vs Skubals one year left. You trade for Skubal and you need to fork over 400m and we'll have no money for offense.

Swing the bat, boomer.

Not swinging at fastballs will get you BENCHED. Doesnt even have to be srtike 3. I still would bench dudes more than they are benched for it, but its not like its accepted anymore. We are not in the era of draw walks and work counts and foul and drive up pitch count. We are in the era of punish mistakes even if they are on pitch 1 of an at bat If I was a manager I would bench dudes in middle of at-bat for taking a fastball hahaha. Unless they are a 7,8,9 hitter or we are against an ace. You can work a count if its vs an ace.

Its not. It was for a while, but its changed back. I agree though. If you are taking strike 3 that also means you are taking too many meatballs early in the at-bat. Working counts is yesterdays news. You have to use your time in the on-deck circle to time the fastball. On a 0-0 count, you pull that trigger if its a fastball.

Garlic fries and crab at Oracle park.

It bothers me that Breslow is Coras boss. Id be much more cool with it if it was the inverse. But I guess just because Breslow is technically Coras boss , that doesnt mean he can just fire him.

"Playing with my money is like playing with my emotions" - Big worm in the movie "Friday"

I cant pitch for sh*t real life. Im an elite pitcher in the show. Real life? I throw my arm out on the third pitch. Real life with the bat? Im a DH righty who can crush righties if they throw around my knees. Cant hit lefties at all or anything up in the zone at all. In the show, Im dirty with a bat in my hand too but not as elite as I am a pitcher. And I hit righties better in teh show too even with a righty batter. Crazy how realistic the game is. My real life tendancies show up. (Cant hit lefties) Boggles my mind that most righties hit lefties better. I understand lefties cant throw that slider running away from me like righties can. And righties get me with that a lot. But even take that away, and I still cant hit lefties.

Hes cool. We have bigger needs, but hes cool.

Its rare to get arm-side run with a 4 seam grip, but hes a super rare pitcher. Think they call that "the running fastball" (arm side run with a 4 seam grip). Its got less verticle drop than a 2 seamer usually. Kind of funny, how if it runs arm side with no drop, its a running fastball, wiht some drop its a 2 seamer, but not too much drop becasue then its a sinker. King of like 1-to-7 oclock is a curveball, but 12-6 is a 12-6 curve, but 3-to-8 is a sweeping curveball So many different names and more are added every year.

Its also his set-up pitch. His bread and butter is the screwball, which he throws like 55%. Fastball is solid too. Does have arm side run. Wonder how he grips it.

I screwball when wii bowling (left to right spin from a righty)

Williams is a screwball guy. The only one.

Are the rules still the same ... Revocable waivers vs irrevocable waivers? Send someone down without options, revocable waivers. Remove someone from 40 man = irrevocable waivers. Thats how it use to be but I know things got shifted when they changed the post deadline waived payer trading.

I think he does have that clause, which is what MVP said.

They paid Rusney like 60m over 4 years to rot in minors hahha, 36m is nothing to eat.

Rusney Castillo was worse than that.

ANd the year before that, he won the cy young and everyone was like omg. Then he couldnt pitch in the postseason. He would have, people think, had they made it out of the first round. But back to the wall and their ace was not available. People dont seem to realize this for some reason. Prob cuz "we got hosed" is a better narrative. Im not against trading for Sale, but I dont think hes anything different than what he was. Wirey dudes usually break down. Not all, but most.