Snopek

Is there a general sense of what we're thinking Kopech's IP will look like next year? I can't imagine him going much more than 150 or so, so we'll need another body to help fill that rotation spot. I'd agree that Lopez will likely play a big role in spot starts/back end of the rotation, though I prefer him coming out of the pen. The team was pretty fortunate with SP health this past year. If they're banking on that good health once again, things could get ugly pretty quickly while scrambling to give starts to Lopez, Stiever and Lambert. Unfortunately, I don't think it's realistic to bring in a Gausman or one of the other solid SP options out there, but at the very least I'd like to see some depth that is a little less of a question mark than Stiever and Lambert.

Thanks for elaborating. I understand your point a little more, but I still think we shouldn’t ignore sustained success in the playoffs from teams like the Dodgers and Astros, even when they get knocked out some years by seemingly inferior teams.

I don’t think I understand your overall point because how is the Dodgers making it to the World Series 3 of the last 5 years not relevant? Is the Astros making it to the World Series 3 of the last 5 years also not relevant? Are those not random enough for the crapshoot thing? Teams that are seemingly underdogs can win playoff series, yes. Teams that are clearly the better team can also win playoff series.

You mean to tell me that a hall of fame manager can’t find a way to address these things at the same time? And if your answer is somehow no, exactly whose fault is it that so much time was needed to gain the respect of the players?

I get what you’re saying here and I agree with parts of it. The playoffs are definitely a crapshoot. That said, I think the whole ‘randomness of the playoffs’ thing has gotten a little carried away where we’re forgetting that the better teams still win a LOT of these series. The lesser team winning is still the exception to the rule, but it gets a lot of attention for obvious reasons. I guess my point is…Comparing the Sox/Astros series to the Dodgers/Braves series, which it seems like you’re doing, feels a bit like apples to oranges. Getting beat by legit good players like Altuve, Correa, Yordan and Tucker is very different than getting beat by an out of his mind Eddie Rosario. I have no interest in rolling the random playoff dice and hoping for storybook hot streaks. Gimme the best team we can put together on paper and I’ll take my chances there.

Yep. I've had similar thoughts with how the Keuchel contract is playing out. (Although his regression should have been a little easier to see coming than Kimbrel's IMO.) And yeah, technically Keuchel was not "top of the market," but in the White Sox world he basically was.

I mean, sure, in hindsight this all seems crystal clear, but: - Is a 0.52 ERA sustainable? Probably not. But I'd argue that just as few people anticipated an ERA over 5 the rest of the way. - I feel like the closer vs non-closer argument didn't really gain traction until well after the trade when we were looking for answers for his struggles. - He had 39 appearances in the 2021 season with the Cubs, but only 19 of those were vs the NL Central. And if you want to remove the Reds from that, as your point indicates, 14 of his 39 appearances were against the rest of the weak hitting NL Central. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=kimbrcr01&t=p&year=2021 Was it a bad trade? Of course. It turned out to be an absolutely awful trade. You could argue they gave up too much, ignored larger areas of need at the deadline in favor of this, and stubbornly mismanaged Kimbrel down the stretch and I'd completely agree with you. But I'm not on board with the argument that they should have foreseen this type of implosion coming for the reasons you say.

I also think it's reasonable for fans to have a "I'll believe it when I see it" mindset, no? He did look a bit improved after coming back from the torn pec in terms of being reckless out there, but I think it needs to be seen over an extended period of time before he sheds the liability/injury risk labels. To your point about how he's getting injured, yeah, it's a good sign that the majority are not body failures. Instead we have dugout foul balls, wall collisions, player collisions and no hitter celebrations: https://southsideshowdown.com/2021/07/01/eloy-jimenez-injury-updates-history/ "Freak" injuries shouldn't really generate the injury-prone label, but when there's a pattern of freak injuries, what the what?

That's certainly an interesting way of looking at it. Not having to face McCullers at all in a series is definitely catching a break. But having to face the ace of a staff twice in a series is not a bad break. I believe that's just called the playoffs.

Nailed it

Not gonna quote your entire post cuz no one needs all that scrolling, but I agree with every point you make. Well said.

Tied for 5th lowest launch angle in baseball in 2020 and tied for 4th lowest in baseball in 2019. Also ranked in the top 5 for highest groundball rate in 2019 and 2020. Also also had the 2nd lowest fly ball rate in those years.

Looks like I chose the wrong career. Being a baseball player sounds perfect for a lazy person like me.

Do we actually know this? No snark, I’m genuinely asking. I’ve been wondering how much of it was poor approach from the coaching staff and how much was poor execution from the players.

I don't even necessarily disagree with the stuff in bold, but it comes of a little as "players do bad = bad job players, players do good = good job manager." It's easy to say in hindsight that he managed the pen perfectly in game 3 when the pitching was lights out.

Those aren't the contradictory statements you think they are.

Outplayed, outmanaged and totally exposed as the team we all hoped they weren't. So many different decisions and outcomes to be upset about. This hurts.

Thanks for all these posts throughout the race. You rule.

A little confused on the Rodon bit. Wouldn't commit either way to what?

I remember liking the Astros and A's when I was younger (late 80's maybe?) because they were the only teams that wore white cleats.

Yep. Let's not put ourselves in a situation where Lambert or Stiever are making a bunch of starts for a title contender. Depth is not a luxury, it's a need.

Feeling some of that swagger starting to come back to the team ?

His velocity being waaaay down is still a huge concern, but the results were great. Wondering how much he can get away with similar stuff vs that Houston lineup. If he can get by, Rodon > Kopech > back end of the bullpen is a great looking formula.

My only real takeaway from that is Goodrum seems like a good dude.