caulfield12

https://news.yahoo.com/watch-live-tropicana-implosion-bring-070119640.html

Can't believe Edwin Diaz's arm hasn't fallen off at this point. Mendoza is really pushing that guy to the brink. Also Kopech has come a long way from months ago with the Sox.

They love the "save the Polar Bear" storyline in NYC...plus it would be hilarious if the Mets surpassed the Yankees without intentionally attempting to compete this season. Stearns just seems to have things go his way...shocker, I know.

Going into the season with that completely inexperienced bullpen and just two strong defenders (if healthy) in Robert and Moncada was already doomed to fail if you simply went by health histories. It seems they were counting on another Santos-like breakthrough from the youngsters like Measure and never got it. Otoh....look at what the Detroit Cleveland and even KC pens did this year. They were true strengths for all three of those teams down the stretch. None of them were close to being "the most expensive bullpens in the history of the game." (And then we overspent on jerks like Kelly and Graveman that didn't even want to be here in the first place. Kimbrel never fit either.)

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/rafael-devers/17350/stats?position=3B Devers is your classic 4 fWAR player...but his defensive limitations and potential for injury as he ages keep him from being a true all around superstar. More like Manny Lite, or Ortiz Lite. But Betts was the real star that got away and was irreplaceable to the Red Sox lineup.

That Tigers' win over Clase was much closer to the definition. I guess it was simply being a one run game for six consecutive innings...but neither team was really all that close to scoring after the third. For Padres' fans that were mostly expecting Suarez to collapse again in a key moment...

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-playoffs-2024-padres-show-they-arent-intimidated-by-the-dodgers-or-anyone-else-in-nlds-game-3-victory-063924389.html https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41665721/mlb-playoffs-2024-san-diego-padres-nlds-peter-seidler For his postseason career, Tatis is 17-for-40 (.425) with six homers. The only players with more homers in their first 11 postseason games are Carlos Beltrán with eight while Daniel Murphy, B.J. Upton and Nomar Garciaparra each have seven. Tatis also has five homers lifetime vs. Buehler over the regular season and postseason combined.

So far this postseason, Tatis is 10-for-18 with four home runs, seven RBI and a 2.151 OPS. His career 1.528 OPS in 36 postseason at-bats (including two series in 2020 against St. Louis and LAD) is the second-highest in MLB history, behind only that of former big-league outfielder Colby Rasmus.2 days ago. Tatis Jr.RF 4 1 1 2 0 0 .556 1.969

This sounds like an all-too-familiar argument around these parts... Maybe hire someone from the Padres, up until today, every single thing they've done for the last calendar year has worked out exceedingly well. And they've had a Top 3 Latin American operation, along with the Dodgers and Rangers. You can EVEN see the the pitchers SD identified to bring in over past seasons, Manaea Lugo Wacha and Nick Martinez, three of those guys are pitching effectively into the postseason, and Michael King (slight blip tonight) was another one the Yankees definitely let get away (while paying the likes of Carlos Rodon a lot more than King in the process.) Balta will like this, the ONLY pitcher who really "failed" in SD among starters acquired was Clevinger (and he pitched well for most of 2022 until the NLCS), and that was one of the biggest bust trades of the AJ Preller career transactions list. PS DRAFT/SIGN guys who can play C/SS/CF and 2B (at least 2 of those 4 spots)...with up the middle levels of athleticism, then, if you have to, put them on the corners where they will be overall pluses from a defensive standpoint.

Looks like SD has Cease listed as the G4 starter. Martin Perez would be the other choice...G5 theoretically Darvish on short rest. London Knack countering for LAD, probably...tough spot for a rookie starter with the weight of the world on his shoulders. No idea who for G5, maybe Yamamoto but he just gave up 5 runs in his first playoff start.

Kopech time against the heart of the order. About as high pressure at it gets. Both teams' seasons on the line, seemingly. Top of the 9th...must be absolutely crazy amped up there right now at PETCO Muncy Smith Lux Edman (0-12 so far tonight, been ages since a clean Suarez inning)

But you need to have that 8-10+ mph differential between the change and the FB to really make it effective...throwing changes in the upper 70's or low 80's these days, hitters' eyes light up. Or you need to have that massive arm extension like a Giolito, where they ball is getting on hitters faster than they realize, then you can play off of it with the change. There has to be some kind of major deception in the delivery, otherwise.

Gutsy move walking a rookie in Merrill to face Bogaerts with a RISP. This game went from insane early offense to an entrenched bullpen battle. That's where Preller invested his trade assets, into Tanner Scott and Jason Adam (of course, Suarez at closer remains the biggest X factor for SD with how many leads he surrendered down the stretch).

If you think it wasn't all about the money (it was), Tatis' presence was cited as the main reason that Machado wanted to sign in SD (versus the lowball offer from the Sox). To me, it always felt like his drive to prove the White Sox wrong for trading him in the first place without even first seeing what he was capable of doing in an MiLB game was a pretty compelling reason for his eventual success. Without that, unless he really had a strong mentor around (like Manny), and I'm not sure it was Abreu (compared to Grandal/Moncada/Eloy)...he much more likely ends up foundering like Luis Robert. Because you already had Anderson at SS, and Moncada at 3b (well, I guess he was thought of more as 2B at the time Tatis was traded, so that would have had to sort itself out. In theory he would have been moved to 2B/3B or the outfield with the Sox. You'd have to imagine a universe where Tatis and Eloy excel and successfully recruit other Dominicans to the Sox.

Cannon and Burke are the two most logical at this point.

Surprised there's no Pete Vukovich State Farm ad attached...

It should be noted that FG had Holliday as a net positive defensive player in 2024. OAA at 64th percentile, speed at 95. While a 2b on the Orioles, or even 3B...he's going to be a SS on about 15-20 other big league teams, roughly. Obviously they have Westburg already as well.

Unless you count Burger as "good." That one will be hotly debated. It's a pretty sad indictment of the system when Sheets is arguably the next noteworthy draftee after the list of first rounders from above. All of them, though, other than Anderson, with limited athleticism and dynamic impact tools in terms of affecting the game defensively or pressuring pitchers on the base paths.

And Zack Wheeler is one of the 3-5 best starting pitchers in baseball now...if not #1 overall. Not to mention he stayed healthy during this time frame, compared to the beginning of his career with the Mets (Harvey and Thor were instead cursed).

And back in it again...bullpen game. That line-up is just relentless when it's clicking on all cylinders. Can't ask for much more than a 6-1 lead at home with your best 2nd half starter on the mound...against Buehler, who has struggled all season long in his return from TJS.

Jose Ruiz still scuffling...

Greg I still wouldn't bet my house but KC on paper at least has the advantage. Will they sell out both games? KC didn't finish that much ahead of the White Sox in attendance after all. It's really a Chiefs town now if it wasn't already. 1/4 or 1/3 of fans will cheer for NY.

Yes, the increased "regionalization" of the sport, versus back in the 1950's and 60's and even early 70's when radio and network tv broadcasts dominated the airwaves. There's just never going to be a comeback for baseball in the James Earle Jones "Field of Dreams" speech sense where its part of the very fabric of America like the NFL has been for the last thirty years or so.

Can't imagine the national t.v. ratings if it was actually the Royals vs. CLE/DET...in some ways, it would prove yet once again that mid and small market teams can still be viable. As long as they get any team from the NL other than SD, I imagine MLB would be satisfied, and even the Padres have enough superstars and the whole one of five teams out there without a World Series title thing to make their story compelling, plus the owner's death and cutting payroll pretty dramatically (especially in the face of how much the Dodgers spent on Yamamoto Ohtani Glasnow Teoscar).

Then Shawon Dunston would have been the best SS in mlb history. Jerry Rice consistently ran 4.55 40s but nobody ever caught him in real game situations.