poppysox

We may lose today but at least we showed....ah...ah...ah...I got nothing.

I agree...and extra bench-bat like Sheets or legs like Hamilton are more useful in playoff baseball IMO.

No one has been to more October games than TL. I will assume he and Katz will have this well thought out by the time decisions are made.

It's starting to come back to me why I wasn't very keen on TL back in the day.

I agree...but they won't cut someone of his stature.

If the average major league salary is 4.3 million but the median salary is 1.5 million...that difference is because 20% of the players get 80% of the money or thereabout. Need to fix that imbalance in order to have a healthy game. I think it's fair to have a much higher minimum wage but ridiculous to be having players making in excess of 30 million. How much more are fans willing to pay for a ticket, parking, beer, and a hotdog?

Yes, people often have differing opinions on these forums..and you are certainly entitled to yours.

I am aware that Hamilton and Engel are out...therefore Robert should be playing today. Not that hard to figure out IMO.

If his name isn't Robert, Engel, or Hamilton I don't want to see him in CF. Also, please rest one player at a time when necessary. These games with multiple players being rested are non-competitive and alarmingly boring.

Goodwin has the athleticism to get out to CF but he is certainly not a centerfielder.

If he would take some pitches and get some walks he'd be great. Part of the job for the first two guys in the lineup is to see what the pitcher has today and start working immediately on getting him 100 pitches and out of the game by the fifth or sixth inning.

I imagine that Tampa plays all their starters only 2 out of 3 games. You have to love TL's strategy of resting Anderson the day after every great game.

Some of these lineup decisions are just plain hard to stomach.

Thanks for doing this!

I had the same thought on sending Collins. Better to be lucky than smart I guess.

They need to not walk people.

What??? We are the best team in the AL!!!

Bummer is a big concern currently as are relievers issuing walks.

Yep...we gave up a lot of player capital and money in order to have this lock-down bullpen. I think we need to trust Kimbrel when these situations arise.

I want my high OBP guys in the first two slots with my best hitter batting 3rd. Ideally, the lead-off man has speed and the 2nd in the lineup takes lots of pitches. Using those criteria my first four in the lineup would be Robert...Grandal...Jimenez...Abreu I like Anderson a lot but a leadoff hitter needs to take some pitches and get some walks IMO. Abreu is a great RBI man but hits into a ton of DP's taking the bat out of Eloy's hands frequently. Anderson, Moncada, Vaughn, Hernandez, and Engel complete my everyday lineup in no particular order.

We have 6 more weeks and Vaughn will be seen on the national stage due to our position. IMO anything can happen in the ROY voting including a come-from-behind Vaughn victory.

I would be in favor of a lower cap but the union will never take a step back. Therefore, I would freeze the cap (maybe a hard cap) while raising the floor to the highest possible number say 125 million. Baseball needs to get away from the current situation of half the teams in baseball tanking and a few teams having a totally unfair advantage of spending 5 times that of their competitors.

Now if you can hold serve for six or 7 games...that would be awesome.

Yeah...I was told the same stuff when I said Moncada, Eloy, and Robert at various times would be extended. Many of you glass half empty guys said with their big signing bonuses they wouldn't take some discount contract offer from the WS. You should start to take notice that this group likes playing with each other and money isn't the only thing that motivates already rich people.

Obviously, I can't prove it but I think you're wrong. My guess is Rodon stays and Lopez is in middle relief. Kopech will be in high leverage middle relief and get to starting as rest and DL situations happen. After winning the WS non of our guys are going to want out. They are one big happy family.