kleedawg

Really? How do you know? A young kid growing into his power that has a great approach at the plate. I'm not included in the "all" that would trade him as a third piece in a trade.

I think the conforto $$ should be spent elsewhere. He did not have a good year last year. Even if he rebounds I do think Sheets has better offensive upside. Gavin's biggest defensive liability in rf is lack of range. It wasn't like he was dropping balls all over the place. He is new to the position and its possible he will improve with practice...it has been known to happen. His defense may cost us a game here or there, but his bat will win us much more. Any deficiencies will be mitigated by 2 CF that run like gazelles to cover the RC gap. Platooning them with Engel in Rf, and the quality of our pitching staff. I know Gavin's not going to prove himself hitting 30 hr's be occasionally DH, Ph, and spot starting in an aformentioned pos. He may hit 30 if he plays the 80% of the time when a rh is pitching. Gavin may be that lh slugger we've been trying to acquire for so damn long. Not the 3 outcome Adam dunn's we've tried, but a guy who can actually hit. I'd hate to trade him because we didn't play in rf for a couple of years until Abreu retires. I also find it funny that some want to trade him because of defensive deficiencies but suggest getting Schwarber cuz he can play of & 1b.

No, in TB case its shows how they treat their pitchers as a disposable commodity. Use them up plug in someone else, use them up.

and he is Starting most of those games not coming of the bench as the 4th or 5th outfielder. he is also on a National league club where benches have to be deeper to ph for the pitcher and for double switches. Kind of like Leury's role no? Problem was we had more injuries than Legend could plug by himself.

"regularly healthy outfielders get hurt too. Tampa Bay (an organization the consensus thinks is well run) went through 28 different pitchers by mid August (no clue how many they finished with). Should they have better prepared for that?

I would say most Gm's are mostly autonomous in their decision making up to a point. all owners have the final say on anything as its their money. Generally, GM's have to get the owners thumbs up on any major expenditures or revenue acquired via trades. I would guess Hahn could hire whoever he wants as manager when renteria was hired, but when LaRussa became available The owner stepped in. Trades have been nixed in the past by various clubs when the Gm wanted to trade the face of the franchise and the owner said not so fast my friend.

Its a little bit of fools gold looking at reverse splits and stats like 32hr vs rh pitching because stats are damn lies. Here is why. There are far more rh pitchers than lhed. Many of the the rh pitchers suck or ar mediocre at best. Some, even if good don't rely on a nasty breaking pitch that breaks away from a rh hitter (fb, change-up, split guys) so are not a particular problem. Of course all hitters are going to feats on crappy pitching and struggle against elite pitching. But the stats are boosted by the sheer vloume of subpar pitching and scarcity of elite pitching. But in the playoffs, all you see is elite pitching. Guys like mcullers have a distinct advantage against a rh hitting lineup. Not only is their stuff devastating, but its easy to find their release point and through more strikes and pitches that appear to be strikes and break away. If you have a line-up with more balance, Those type of pitchers are more reluctant to throw their breaking balls into a lefty and rely more on change-ups or splitters to lefties. They are more likely to make mistakes or lose command because this is their 3rd or 4th best pitch,. Then when they face a rh hitter they have to find their release point again and again. This makes it more likely they make mistakes or have command issues. Therefore, it may give you 2 or 3 more better opportunities in games were the margin of success is razor thin. Now, getting guys like semien, duvall, marte etc would be upgrades to the team. Would probablly help us win more games and the division easier and possibly get HFA. However we would still be at significant disadvantage come playoff time. Could our talent overcome that?...Possibly. But I think you want the least flaws going into post season. Being RH dominant hitting team was a significant contributing factor that cost the yankees the playoof, the whitesox in the playoffs, and may cost houston ultimately in the playoffs.

Can we stop with this false narrative that we lost HFA because we "rested" players. We didn't rest players, we gave them time off because they were injured. TA tweaked a hamstring, Yaz was coming back from knee surgery, Lance hurt his knee, Lucas tweaked a hamstring, Rodon had shoulder soreness. If we played them everyday without time off we may have finished a better record than the astros, but TA & Lucas may have then tore hamstrings. Rodon may have blew out his shoulder etc, Would we have been better with HFA and mendick playing short with Keuchel, Lambert, & Lopez starting in place of Lynn, Rodon, & Giolitto, Collins catching? LaRussa has a lot to be criticized for (such as the aforementioned use of crochet 2 days in a row when bummer was available) , but he did the prudent thing here. It cost us HFA, but still gave us the best chance to win with everyone being available. But, i'm sure if he went with the everyday approach so many here are espousing and those injuries did occur that ended their season you wouldn't be bitching at all of the mis-managemnet of injuries would you?

I predict Yankees sign seager for ss, move Laemahieu to 2b and trade Gleyber Torres. I have been working out a 3 way trade with Phillies & Yankees that gets us torres & Nigioshioka while getting rid of kimbrel, keuchel, & burger, but don't know how realistic it is. Also, the trade makes us even more rh hitting.

Those stats are really not meaningful in this instance. We could bat 9 really good rh hitters and win the division going away. But in the playoffs we are going to see the best rh pitchers with the most devastating sliders. could we still beat them? maybe, but better line-up balance makes it more likely we will see success. We scored 1 run in our elimination game. A hr from Sheets a lh hitter. The Jose urena's of the world won't be pitching in the playoffs.

I love Simien but he would make us even more right handed. We got slidered to death in the playoffs. Give me Jose Ramirez next year though.

If the sox do let him walk, they have to handle the situation delicately. He is a big reason all the Cuban players want to play here. We should probably offer him a contract but "allow" him to seek more money elsewhere if he wants while holding a press conference thanking him for everything he is done for this organization. I wouldn't be surprised if he still has some productive years ahead of him because of the way he keeps himself in shape. We just need to retaliate some when he is HBP and force him to take some days off when he is Moncada...I mean ouchie.

so disagree

I said Rodon signs OR we sign A FA pitcher not and

For what its worth, I think the sox trade both Kuechel & Kimbrel (I don't know how much if any salary they will have to eat). I think we acquire a backup defensive catcher who can throw thru FA or trade...Roberto Perez (if Cleveland doesn't pick up option) Yan Gomes, Jonah Heim etc. Rodon comes back on a QO or we sign a FA pitcher as our big expenditure. Cesar's option is picked up...Next Year we sign Jose Ramirez as a FA to play 2b. Leury re-signed. Engel tendered. Tepera re-signed. Maybe another bullpen FA at a modest salary signed. Burger traded with Keuchel to a rebuilding team (something like Burgor, Keuchel, collins to Texas for Heim, & Barlow.) Could also be Baltimore, Pittsburgh, arizona, etc.

Do you really think Katz is the reason our pitchers are bad at holding runners? For chrissake how long had Lance Lynn been in the league?

How do we know this, he has only been playing Of for a few months? Likewise, we don't know what his hitting ceiling is? Look at the FA left handed hitters for next year...pretty bleak. Plus in a platoon he will be limited how much he is playing rf. That will also be divided by appearances at 1b and dH. And he won't be out there in late innings of close games.

I concur with this and would add the following: Abreu should win the gg this year. I would trade burger in a package with Keuchel to a rebuild team for a reliever and/or defensive/strong throwing catcher to pair with Grandal. Burger is blocked here, someone will take dallas (prolly some salary being eating) to get burger. Dallas will eat innings and mentor the staff. If he does well early in the season (like he did with us) they trade him in may for more prospects. Sheetes/engel rf platoon next year with engel giving Roberts an occasional day off and being alate inning replacement for sheets/eloy.

Ah, then that comment was for the guy I was quoting an not me.

He had tommy john surgery as did many starting pitchers. We do not know if Kopech gets hurt a lot.

How much do you think those 3 players will cost?

Thats like 400 million dollars right there

The tighter the spin on the slider the harder it is to identify but its still easier to identify than a change up. Sliders generally have a dime sized "hole" in the middle created from the rotating seams. Change - ups and fastballs look similar and the hand of the pitcher is behind the ball in both cases. The fingers on a slider are usually off to the side a bit. Curves are the easiest to identify because its the only pitch where the ball comes over the fingers when thrown. Now, pitchers are doing better "tunneling" their sliders and all pitches to look more like their fastball. Even when you fool a hitter into thinking a slider is a FB it is easier to make a last second adjustment and redirect the bat to hit the slider because the velocity between the slider and the fb is more similar then the Fb and change. I have gotten quite a few hits on sliders off the end of the bat in this way. A good change is death to a hitter. 2nd point, Thats if you subscribe to the 2 pitch hypothesis for relievers. Some relievers throw way more...joakim soria for example. Kopech would only need to throw a couple of changes every other outing or so in a relief role to keep hitters honest.

Vaughn didn't prove he couldn't hit RH pitchers either. You can be slow footed and a good defensive outfielder (Tom Brunansky for 1). Having a gazelle play CF also helps in this regard and makes it less likely Vaughn crashes into that gazelle as the faster Eloy would.