SoxBlanco

He got hit on the hand a couple days ago.

Vargas was scratched, Julks inserted into the lineup in LF, Baldwin moved from LF to 3B, Rojas moved from 3B to 2B, and Sosa moved from 2B to 1B.

This is exactly how I feel. The downside is wasting $20M, but isn’t that actually also a win? Everybody here would be thrilled to rip $20M from JR’s wallet.

That sounds about right. Maybe hitting in Charlotte can give him some confidence.

I feel like there was a stretch where he was hitting pretty well. Maybe it was the month before the last 30 days that you are referencing?

Same here. But boy was it fun to watch on Gamecast like it was 2002.

Sorry that you had to change the 3 to a 4 and then the 4 to a 5 in the title before hitting submit. But nice win! That was fun.

Exactly. His pitch count was low and this is the first game of the series. Use the bullpen as little as possible. If we weren’t about to trade him, nobody would question sending him out there for the 7th. And those three runs won’t change his trade value.

This was my first thought.

I always thought of it as Fedde for Vargas and then Kopech for the two young guys.

So hope he continues playing well for the remainder of the season, pick up the option, throw in $10 million to the team you trade him to, and then that team gets Robert on a 1 year, $10M deal with an option for the next year?

I think he lost his release point more than he lost his focus.

Tough to score four runs in an inning without coming even remotely close to hitting a ball hard.

Keep his confidence high instead of playing him against a tough righty.

But imagine if he shut them down.

Gut feeling? Or something specific about Thorpe and the way he pitches?

I completely forgot he existed.

We might not have many outfielders after the all star break. I imagine Baldwin will be playing every day at that point.

In my mind, I keep penciling in Thorpe for next year’s rotation, but the more I think about it, he likely won’t be ready by the start of next season, right?

Is this a fake ankle sprain to limit innings? Glad to see Brooks back.

I don’t disagree. I want him there, too.

Which part?

With those nine guys in the lineup, how would you line them up? Seems like the only other option is Vargas at 3B, Colson at SS, Chase at 2B, and Sosa at 1B. But I’m terrified of Sosa at 1B after dropping a ball that my son could have caught.

I also hate that he’s not playing SS, but I don’t think this is a case of them deciding Colson can’t play SS. I just think with a lefty pitching, this was a way to get the nine guys Venable wants out there into the lineup.