Snopek

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.

Seems like this has been overshadowed a bit by the performances of Kimbrel and Cesar. Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but banking on some combination of Goodwin, Hamilton, Vaughn, Sheets and Engel to effectively fill that role feels like a "good enough" approach, which is inconsistent with their other "going for it" moves.

I don't know that Lange was actively trying to hit Abreu, but it definitely feels like he wasn't exactly trying to NOT hit him...if that makes sense. Lack of command and lack of care, essentially. I'm throwing it in this general area and if he gets hit, he gets hit.

Nice to see Abreu fired up. Getting hit 21 times is brutal. That said, that was a dumb slide and a lapse in judgement to take out your frustration on the next guy in your way. It's not like Detroit has been throwing at him all year. Play with a chip on your shoulder (and some damn padding on your elbow) and retaliate by sweeping them over the weekend.

That's a big no thanks on Foster, but point taken on Wright. I get that mop up guys are mop up guys for a reason, but are there really no better mops in AAA?

That makes sense. I'm just hoping they're not tempted by the whole 'experienced veteran' thing to give him a start if Rodon can't go.