Jack Parkman

+1 Great post. My criticisms, again, are related to the 2018 season only. Nobody's happy that Moncada has a .218 BA. I think that if the Umps start giving him respect on the zone, more hits will follow when pitchers know they can't nibble vs him and get the benefit of the call. The Umps have a lot to do with his poor season. The only question is whether he'll ever get that benefit from the Umps I think it is pretty likely that he can turn it around if pitchers are forced to throw pitches in the strike zone vs. him. Right now, he's getting basically 1 pitch to hit every 2-3 PA. Not a lot of hitters are going to do anything with the pitches that Moncada is seeing. As long as pitchers know they can nibble against him and are going to get them called strikes, there isn't much he can do.

My mom was pretty conservative when I was a kid, so I was stuck in the 70s until around age 11. When I was finally able to amass my own album collection, I picked the following from late 1998-early 2002 Offspring: Ixnay on the Hombre/Americana Pearl Jam-Ten Foo Fighters-The Colour and the Shape Nirvana-Nevermind Smashing Pumpkins-Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness System of a Down-Toxicity My first concert experience was a couple years ago, and as I thought I absolutely hated it because it was too crowded and loud. I'm autistic, so the sensory overload was too much to take. Music was great when I could pay attention. It was also a complete disaster because I was in charge of driving to Northerly Island for the event, and my car broke down downtown in 100 degree weather. I was completely paranoid that my car would get towed. We ended up missing 2/3 of the acts there.

Well if the shoe fits.......Anyway Ixnay on the Hombre and Americana are on my list of top 10 90s albums. Love The Offspring.

I hate everything, I even hate you too....So fuck you. Cut you down, cause I'm a fool, being positive is so uncool.

Hey, I'm not writing Moncada off or anything, but his 2018 in a vacuum isn't good. I would agree that in a vacuum it isn't bad either, BUT as the headliner in the Sale deal having a start like this to his career isn't going to endear him to the fanbase, to say the least. In context, 1.5 WAR from the first full season in the bigs as the headliner in the Sale trade is nothing short of underwhelming and a massive disappointment. That is all I'm saying. Like I said earlier I think he still is raw and has enormous potential, and how close he gets to it depends on one thing: Hits. The rest will take care of itself, and that includes the Ks.

I don't think he sucks per se, but I do think he's had a massively disappointing season. I'd feel better if he was hitting.240-.249 with the same numbers.

I would have absolutely loved that package for Rodon.

Go look at my posts earlier in the thread. I'm not saying he is what he is, I'm talking about only his 2017-2018 seasons. I truly believe he could easily settle in as a 5+ WAR player, with the potential to put up 7-10 WAR seasons. I'm one of his biggest fans on this board. Go look at my profile he's my favorite current player. I think it is likely he gets much better as time goes on. Moncada is incredibly raw for a 23 year old. I get that. To say that his 2018 season hasn't been a trainwreck or awful is flying in the face of logic. It's ok to call a spade a spade. Nowhere does it say that if you say he's been awful this year, you're not allowed to still root for him/believe that he'll turn it around. But for his 2018 season in a vacuum, he's been bad. Saying otherwise is just making excuses for him. I can't make excuses for him anymore. The dude oozes talent. He's probably got more physical tools than anybody in the bigs outside of Trout. It all comes down to the batting average for Moncada, and if he makes contact the rest will take care of itself. He's probably always going to strike out at least 150-175 times per season. '

There are a lot of rebuilding teams in the AL so rebuild filler is supposed to be bad. Next. Go look at players on the teams that won 81+ games last year and tell me how many of their main position players were worth less than 2 WAR. Then go look at the 5 playoff teams. He's not been good enough. Listen, I've been defending Moncada for the majority of the season but there comes a point where his performance(or lack thereof) cannot be defended anymore. By almost every metric he's been bad. The I have no idea why WAR grades him there.

When you put it into context, it is. Especially since Moncada was the #1 prospect on a lot of lists, and top 10 all except Keith Law's. All of his positive value comes defensively. he's been below replacement level as a hitter.

This x infinity. To me, the 1.1 fWAR that he's put up in 2018 qualifies as "barely above replacement level" which is bad. Sorry. You aren't an MLB regular unless you put up at least 2-2.5 fWAR.

How so? This is a serious question. It isn't like he's been historically bad like Dunn or Davis, but whatever he's putting up is nowhere near good.

10-15 degrees to the right? I think it is more like 20-25 but that is just me. I can live with the 15 number.

Yes, now anything to the right or left of center is extremism. Do you want to know my definition of extremism? Libertarians, Nazis, and socialism where the government nationalizes most industries. I don't want the government making cars, and most consumer products. There is a place in politics for fiscal responsibility. In a democracy, government should do what is best for the majority of its citizens. Otherwise, it isn't a democracy anymore.

I rip both of them for that. The difference is that Giolito has been getting swings and misses on his fastball lately and Lopez really doesn't get swings and misses of any kind. It doesn't matter as much if it still fools hitters. I haven't seen Lopez have 3 pitches working once this season, and I've seen all of his starts except maybe one or two. Last year I would have thought both players had a chance to be TOR starters because Lopez actually had 3 pitches working. It seems though as all hitters needed was a scouting report on him and now they're on everything.

Just watch how comfortable hitters are vs. Lopez. They're not scared of his stuff. Hitters are on everything. Lopez lacks an out pitch.

I honestly don't understand how anyone can think this. Lopez has nothing. I see nothing more than #5 or long relief for Lopez, I can see at least a #2 for Gio, did you see that pitch that was disgusting. That was an excellent job of tightrope walking by Giolito. More progress.

I don't disagree, but it is still way too early for him. Ideally he would have been fixing his issues in Charlotte, but the options issue got in the way of that.

What offspeed junque is Lopez supposed to use to get hitters off his fastball? He has nothing. His stuff absolutely won't play in the bullpen. It is starting or mopup for him.

Yup. Velocity slowly returning. It was all mechanical with him. As he gets more comfortable with his delivery expect him to start to turn it around.

I agree with Giolito and Moncada, disagree with Lopez and Covey.

Giolito is missing tons of bats lately. That is a really good sign. He misses way more bats than than Lopez since he got his delivery straight. The curve has also reappeared. Look for him to have a big final 6 weeks. If he can fix the first 2 inning bugaboo I think he'll be a solid #2-3 at least. If people think that Lopez has more potential than Giolito they're nuts.

Just awful pitch selection.

Wimpy.