AJ'S Cousin

I believe that the bullpen can be even better next year. Crotchet pitches the 6th, and even the 5th if necessary, need to get him stretched out ASAP, Tepera, if resigned and we really need him resigned pitches the 7th. Bummer looked like the old Bummer of 2 years ago, if so he’s the guy in the 8th and of course the Aussie closes. Ruiz would be long relief along with Marshall if we can get the 2020 Marshall back. Marshall, Ruiz, Crochet, Tepera, Bummer and Hendriks, we need 1 or 2 more, that’ll be decided in camp who can emerge Remember, this is all predicated on Bummer in spring training being the Bummer we saw in his 6 or 7 appearances down the stretch this year.

Things we need to do for 2022, some serious some sarcastic: Serious- get a second basemen who can hit!!! Sarcastic-Teach Engel or Vaughn to play second if you can’t get one Serious- go after Semien or Story if they are willing to play second Sarcastic- pick up Kimbrel’s option and trade him back to the Cubs for Madrigal and Huer Serious- Do not pickup Kimbrels option or even take a home town discount if HE wants to stay, doubt that he would stay Sarcastic-Bring Ozzie back as manager LOL Serious- Bring TLR BACK if nobody else decent is available Sarcastic- If TLR leaves make either Abreu or Anderson, player managers. LOL Serious- Force Abreu during Spring Training, whether he wants to or not wear the elbow guard, if he gets 20 games in with it he’ll get used to it. Eventually somebody is going to shatter his elbow Sarcastic-Bring Burger up and shift Moncada back to second. NOT Serious- Have Burger play every game in the minors at second base or bring him to camp and he only plays second until he learns the position Serious- 2022 Rotation should be #1 Gio #2 Lynne #3 Cease #4 Rodon with a home town discount or #4 Kopech #5, if no trade or signing is done Lopez, I don’t think Crochet is going to ready next year, he needs to take the Kopech route and MAYBE with pitching 2 and 3 inning stints in relief, he’ll be ready either in September or 2023 Serious- resign Garcia, he’s earned it Serious-Resign Tepera, he’s the new 7th inning guy Serious-get a right fielder, a real right fielder!!! Don’t know if Sheets or Vaughn would an answer Serious-rotate Sheets,Vaughn,Jimenez, and Abreu at DH, KEEP THE ALL HEALTHY and at the plate as much as possible Serious-try to trade Kuechel for anything we can get to get rid of the dollars to spend on another starter because Rodon will leave and I still don’t think Lopez is the answer as a number 5 Serious-DO NOT pick up Kimbrels option, LET HIM GO!! Serious-ONLY GO AFTER Simien or Story if they are willing to move to second base. Sarcastic- Teach Vaughn how to Second if you can’t get a real one. Sarcastic-Teach Engel how to play second base

This is NOT Hahn’s fault entirely. He did fuck up and trade Tatis for a piece of shit pitcher who’s name I refuse to mention. HE DID TRADE FOR Kimbrel which could turnout to almost as bad as the Tatis deal. I can almost guarantee you TLR was not his choice as manager, that’s all JR. Hahn did some great this also: Kopech, Moncada, Hendriks, Vaughn, Sheets, Lynne, Robert, Cease, Jimenez, Grandal, Crotchet, Tepara , and KATZ. Hahn needs to find a second baseman. Needs to figure out how to play Sheets and Vaughn everyday. Need a better backup catcher. Collins or Sevy just don’t cut it. Need to extend Lucas and POSSIBLY Rodon. Need to find out if Burger can play second or is he just a 3rd baseman, if so trade home for something, he won’t and can’t replace Moncada. Can they win 3 straight? Sure, I love the team but I’m a realist also. Sunday will be a Rodon/Cease/Kopech show I predict. can we still win, of course, will we win the series?? Would you bet your house on 3 straight wins? I know everyone going to say Boston won 4 straight down 3 zip. 3 is easier than 4.

My top 10 list 1. TLR gets out managed 2. Great trade, I hope Nicky wins multiple batting titles and Huer becomes a great closer eventually 3. TLR NEEDS TO GO 4. KIMBREL should be traded for a used bat bag 5. whatever we can get for Bummer we should take 6. Am I glad I didn’t fall into the trap of buying season tickets for next year to get 1 playoff game 7. KATZ GOOD TLR too old to manage anymore but JR, BEING THE LOYALIST THAT HE IS WILL BRING HIM BACK 8. Garcia is great to have around but only to played the infield, hide his outfield glove. 9. Went to about 12 games this year, if TLR is still the manager and Kimbrel is still on the team, I’ll save my money. 10. Kuechel also needs to go and Kopech needs to start in his spot, TRADE HIM FOR ANYTHING ALSO.

Did Lynne Deserve this start?? Yes he did. Should TLR have started him in Houston with an 0-5 record against the Stros?? it looks like NO. Maybe GIO should of started Game 1?? Being a Monday Morning Quarterback is easy after the game is played. If Gio comes up big tomorrow and we win, all will be forgotten and we have homefield. Honestly I did not expect a 2 game sweep in Houston. Was i hoping for one, absolutely!! their Lance was their best they have. Our Lance is the best we have. But our Next 2 or 3 pitchers are better than their next 2 or 3 pitchers. We can win tomorrow and Sunday. Our offence is too good to held down like this. Abreu will be healthier. Yasmani will be better. Tomorrow will be our day. Rodon or Cease for game 4?? I say Rodon for 5 and than Kopech if not overused tomorrow.

Game officially rained out today. Sox now as TLR wanted can click on the field in Cleveland. Don’t think this game will be needed to be made up unless by some miracle it is needed to catch Houston for home field in there series. I assume Lopez will start game 1 in the Cleveland series. ROAD TRIP to Cleveland to maybe watch a clincher. ?

Only way your theory works is if Lynne, Gio and Cease have the games of there life. I’ll be shitting in my pants if Kimbrel enters a close game in the 8th. In a 5 game series if Rodon is not right, that’s the rotation. If Rodon is good, he takes Cease’s slot and Kuechel, Cease and Lopez move to the bullpen Bummer is not the Bummer we gave the money to,Kimbrel CHOKES. Tapera doesn’t know how to walk out the door without slicing his finger you literally have to bubble wrap these guys Cease may become your Rodon if Rodon can start and give you 5 or hopefully 6 innings Can Kopech handle the pressure along with Crochet? Way too many questions with this team to say at THIS POINT they can win a playoff series can they? Sure, if murders row gets hot it will be fun and I won’t miss an inning

Yes, the same cold streak happened 2005. Then they got hot. BUT the injuries and slumps worry me. Of course we’ll back into the playoffs. Is this team ready to go on the road in a 5 game series with the 1st in Houston?? I’m worried. Rodon iffy, Kuechel sucks. Lynne good. Cease, you either get Nolan Ryan or Nolan Ryan’s shitty brother. Gio, who knows. can they get it together and win a series, a big maybe. Can they beat Houston, who they are a lock to play now and open in Houston, not sure. Yes IF HEALTHY we have murders row 1 through 6 in the batting order. the reason we will win the division is because of the 1st half the pitching staff had, especially the starters. I’m not a Debbie downer, but the way things are going they cannot beat Houston, and especially TB. Yes, they can get it together but it’ll be a nice and surprising miracle.

How many times are we going to have to see Kimbrel give up a run in the 8th? Looks like we’d have been better off waiting for Nick to heal and kept Huer.

It’s 2024 and Lynne is gone. Hypothetically Rodon and Gio were extended. 2024 rotation: Gio Rodon .Kopech Cease Crotchet Big if that hopefully Rodon and Gio will still be around Rodon should be extended now. If he hits the free agent market and has a great post season, we’ll lose him

I’m not so crazy about the Kimbrel trade any longer. Kimbrel is starting to look like Bummer. One day good, one day bad. We paid a heavy price for an 8th inning pitcher that is about .500 in holds. I don’t know if he feels out of place not closing. He had an opportunity Sunday again and blew it. Tempera seems to be a steal at this point. Bummer may be ready to reclaim his 8th inning spot if Kimbrel doesn’t wake up. Is the American League a tougher league with better hitters?? I’ve always thought saw. Hernandez is not doing his job offensively. I believe he’s only hit 1 home run, maybe 2. Again an NL player facing AL pitchers. Better glove than Nicky would ever be but Nick is going to be a legit 300 hitter in the NL. I miss Huer, he’s thriving. We can carry Hernandez especially when TA comes back. Lopez needs to replace Dallas in the rotation for now and Dallas needs to come out of the bullpen. We only need 3 maybe 4 starters and we now know who Number 4 would be. NOT DALLAS. Hopefully I’m wrong about Kimbrel and he gets his shit together

Unless there’s extraordinary circumstances, the playoff format is set unless massive injuries befall all the teams. TB vs Boston/NY Winner CWS vs Houston hopefully Boston or the Yankees upset TB, WE WIN and have home field

Thought so. We need to be the home team against Houston,

This is not deluded playoff am I wrong and this is the 2019 regular playoff? A play in game and then the other series start

No comparison of the 2005 Astro’s and this version. This version is much tougher. Yes we can beat them, but need to be at full strength. Engel will also be back soon. Grandal and Anderson staying healthy along with the big 3 starters, Gio, Lynne and Rodon is the key to getting out of the 1st Round. The Yankees and Boston may be the Wild card game and that would eliminate one of them. TB gets the winner of that game. We need to host Houston, we need to catch them

The AL Central is a farce, THIS YEAR, Minnesota and Cleveland gave up early. KC and Detroit are not quite ready unless they play us every game, KC that is. We’d be fighting for a wild card slot if we were in any other division. our record WOULD NOT be our record if we were in a different division

Still going to win the division easily. IF Anderson comes back, the top 6 is still a wrecking crew offensively if no further injuries. Anderson, Robert, Abreu, Jimenez, Moncada, Grandal, with, Vaughn/Sheets, Goodwin and Hernandez bringing up the rear. THE HUGE QUESTION IS Pitching. Will Gio, Lynne and Rodon be healthy or not? Can Cease handle is as a 4th starter if needed. Is Kopech/Crotchet/Bummer ready to pitch the 6th and 7th without choking. Is Bummer going to be great or a Bummer? Kimbrel/Hendriks combo should be fine. The health of the pitching staff should be a HUGE CONCERN or it’s 3 and out. is 6 Starters the answer, each going a max of 6 innings if we have a big enough lead? Lopez needs to be inserted into the rotation to make this work. we have Dallas, Lopez, and Ruiz for long relief if necessary.

As I said yesterday, read my post. Either we have the stupidest pitchers, coaching staff or catchers. WALK HIM.

We have to have to dumbest pitchers or maybe catchers we the fuck do we continue to pitch to the Perez’s and Cruz’s of the world? Don’t these guys know about an unintentional intentional walk. I can sort of live with the 1st home run but the second one? Very tired of this happening against these Sox Killers.

I guess the shit we got scored 13 runs

Moncada should lead off the next 2 games.

It’s too late to upgrade. Trade deadline over and the waiver wire has nothing. We go with what we have. PS, getting Grandal back will be like a trading deadline deal like getting Robert and Jimenez back in July. Don’t be so negative, we are still the best team in Central. LOL. I KNOW LIKE BEING THE TALLEST MIDGET. But we are a force still because of our starting staff and closer(s). We’ll be fine in September

We need to risk a game and let Kimbrel close and Liam pitch the 8th. Worth the risk to try and get Kimberly head straight. If that doesn’t work we lost in this trade. Another thought, why not bat Moncada lead off until TA is ready. With Robert and Abreu hitting after him, he’s got to see better pitches. He has improved lately and seeing the ball better

Every team has injuries. Look at Atlanta, Look at us, injuries galore and still safely in 1st place and going to win the division. If we have a complete A Team, start only Lance, Gio, Rodon and If necessary Cease and send Kuechel to wash the team bus. The ATeam is the key

Once again we lose a close one against a top team. Can we win a 7 game series against Houston, Tampa Bay, Oakland, or the Yankees? Doesn’t look that way. I don’t want 40 threads saying it’s because TA DIDN'TPLAY. GOOD OR GREAT TEAMS OVERCOME. Looks like we got the short end of the stick in the Cubs deal, LOL. Kimbrel is not doing what he’s getting paid for. In other threads I’ve mentioned that Kimbrel should got a shot or 2 at the 9th inning just for his confidence. TLR WONT DO IT. IS HE AFRAID OF HURTING LIAMS FEELINGS? Liam is a big boy, he understands the psychology of a closer. Not blaming Sevey on the wild pitch. But he and Jake do allow too many past balls. This team will beat good teams when TA’s legs are better and Grandal is back!! We have not had a complete A TEAM on the field together yet. Our catching will be better, lead off will return to normal with TA. A HEALTHY TA And Grandal will give us a shot to beat the good teams. The A Team will take us to the promised land unless TLRlets Kuechel start a playoff game. He cost us last year and made us play a bull pen in game three which Renteria fucked up.