SonofaRoache

I think you mean he won't have to hit behind our DH position for this season.

Actually in scenario B, if he singles, he'd be followed by our 4, 5, 6, and 7 guys. I'd hope these guys aren't weak singles hitters. I think we need to bat Madrigal either 1st or 9th, preferably first. Batting him 9th sounds bad, but having a great hitter with no power at 9th gives you a legit chance to score in any inning. If our 7th and 8th guys get on, we wouldn't have to worry about the back breaking DP in front of our lead off hitter. We will be strong 2-6 so no room for him there if he's not leading off.

Actually I think it does with Robert. If it takes hom a year to figure it out, that would mean he would be ready to shine next august and into the playoffs. I also like the idea of having an offseason to get to know the guys, the city, and work on things that were troublesome in his 2 month stint. The service time argument makes sense, but I stipp think you'd be handing over a playoff run in 2020 for an unknown 2026.

Robert hasn't forced the team's hand yet. He must learn to play a great CF while in yoga positioning.

The only lefty bats I can see us bringing in are Didi and JDM. Yolmer and Leury may just have to be used to balance us on the fly if need be. I wouldn't move Robert from CF even though he'd be a good RF unless we bring in a CF who can hit a little bit.

I think Vaugn may come up early if they are contending.

I knew Hahn wasn't dumb! He is calling him up now so that he will be good to go next season. I think he's gonna be our best player for the next decade.

Wouldn't the last decade be 2009-2018?

I actually think we were that incompetent hoping that he'd turn it around and foolishly paid him.

This team needs a vet starter. with playoff experience. I want Cole but would settle for Stras or Bum. Grandal and Ozuna work if you get your pitcher.

Just because we weren't competing this year doesn't mean we can't make moves to improve the team for next year. That's why they went after Machado to begin with. If guys make sense for our window, we should be trying to bring them in. I think we brought in Herrera in Hope's that he could turn it around. Nova was an innings eater. It'll be interesting to see who we bring in this offseason.

I agree with this. We will spead our money around though and not take any big risks. Cole and Wood are the absolute way to go for pitching. Wood and all other free agents should get 4 year deals or less.

If anyone touches him he will get hurt.

Well, he hasn't forced their hands yet so no explanation needed.

Yep, Hahn was clearly lying when he said players may force their hands to come up. Robert can't force Hahn's hand much more than he has.

No one wants to think of Gio regressing. He was slotted as an Ace a month ago. I pray he doesn't slip to a 4.20 ERA pitcher.

He can still be coached on the good and the bad of his first two months. He can study his swing and approach against these pitchers whom he'd see again. The mindset of how you attack the off-season is probably different when you know you will be starting opening day as opposed to being in AAA. I think they they will wait to mid April, but I'm not sure that history will show it as the right move.

True, but then you don't have the best possible lineup on opening day. CF Robert, 2B Garcia is much better than CF Garcia and 2B Yolmer.

1. It's about calling him up August of this year so he is much better in a contending season of next year. 2. 15 games is a lot when talking about a division race. Two games may decide the division. 3. To compete, we need to have a good free agency and the best possible team out there ready to go day one. Madrigal is different because Garcia can man second just fine for two weeks.

We can do the same in 2025. We know that Detroit and KC will suck next year. Minny and Cleveland will probably win between 80-90 games. The division is their for the taking if we make the right moves. We don't know how good any of our teams will be in 2026, or that we will even have Moncada, Tim, Gio, or Kopech.

We want that extra year because we think we can contend in it. But what is the point of that if we decide to not compete in 2020? Either way you are losing a year of competing.

It's all good until we lose out on our division by one game after starting the season 5 and 9. And then still suck in 2026 and lose Robert.

It's either bring Robert up in a few weeks or wait til mid April.

If we make the playoffs next year after calling up Robert this year, we can say it ended up working out too. The Cubs were in a tough spot as a second wild card. At that point, the odds were in favor of it not working out. Had they lost to Pitt on the road, who knows if 2016 even happens. The team wouldn't have had the playoff experience from 2015. If Pitt wins and beats the Cards, maybe they retool in the offseason to try to win a title, etc.

My argument is call Robert up next week so that by 2020 he is more ready to help us win from day one. The bonus of the call up is getting that extra win or two in early April.