CentralChamps21

5/18 Team MLB ranks update: Batting: 2nd in AVG .264 1st in R/G 5.4 T-23rd in HR 39 5th in BB 160 14th in (fewest) K 350 1st in OBP .349 5th in SLG .417 2nd in OPS .767 1st in WRC+ 119 1st in fWAR 9.8 Pitching: 5th in starter ERA 3.03 (1st in AL) 11th in reliever ERA 3.74 (5th in AL) 5th in team ERA 3.29 (1st in AL) 5th in fewest HR allowed 6th in K/BB 3.16 9th in WHIP 1.19 2nd in ERA- 81 3rd in WAR 6.6 All this while Jimenez, Robert, Anderson, Abreu and Engel have all missed varying amounts of time due to injury. Lynn and Rodon have each missed a start.

Is Vaughn going to end up playing every position?

Only Grandal can come up 5 times in a game and not have an at bat.

This is where starting pitchers get punished for their team's offensive explosion. If the score is 6-3 instead of 14-3, Keuchel doesn't get sent out there for the 7th inning but now he gets to go out there and struggle, though he may get out of it without giving up more runs anyway

Now would be a great time for Madrigals first career HR.

A better way to present this data would be a linear graph of EXPWP-SOS

This is why that call was so bad. Instead of being out of the inning and Keller getting through 4+ innings, it should have been 3-2, maybe the Sox score more runs, knock Keller out in the first inning, and burn up their bullpen. It changes the outcome not only of this game but possibly other games in this series. It's not the umpire's job to show sympathy for a team that's lost 11 straight. And why the fuck was Tony not out there getting tossed over that?

Eaton needs to drop down to the bottom of the order at least until he gets going again. Either Put Madrigal 2nd or just move everybody else up a spot with Moncada 2nd.

This lineup, even without Eloy and Robert, is better than the 2005 lineup without Frank.

Yeah, he's doing the hard part in getting the most out of the players and he's managing Kopech very well, but he has but he's made some very bad lineup decisions, both in who to play and in what order to hit them, and a couple really bad pitching decisions.

Aside from Rodon, all the starters have been allowing too many baserunners, throwing too many pitches, struggling to get through 5 innings, yet managing to not give up a lot of runs. It's going to start taxing the bullpen if at least a couple guys don't start going deeper. Be in the zone more. With this offense, don't be afraid of giving up the occasional HR. The offense has you covered.

Back to back sweeps vs division opponents.

Twins have the worst record in MLB, at least through the end of Colorado's game tonight.

On May 13, 2021, at 4:42 pm CT, the Minnesota Twins have the worst record in MLB.

No way, that would kill Luis playing between them. You just have a rotation among Abreu, Yermin, Eloy and Vaughn. Each day one of them is off. Plus at least one of them is bound to have some IL time.

Abreu needed a day off from 1B.

Having to hold Kopech back to start tomorrow is hurting here. At least tomorrow Burdi (presumably) should be available for a few innings.

How does Baldelli let a lefty hit vs Crochet with 2 outs???

SHHHH! I was gonna tell him I got it changed to the Yankees just for him.

I'll pull some strings and get it changed to the Yankees for you.

I want to be a fly on the wall when Tony asks Jerry for more money to sign better bench players so he can play them more.

Garcia doesn't make sense. He has always hit LHP better than RHP, and Madrigal actually has reverse splits. Lamb giving Mercedes a game off makes more sense tomorrow when there's a DH.

They can, but they aren't going to until his sample size gets larger than the 13 1/3 IP he has so far this season. He can mostly be kept out of high leverage situations, only coming into games that aren't within 3 runs and not with runners on base, until they get a chance to see if he can fix what's wrong.

Well, it would hurt to send him down since he can't be sent down.

The Sox have historically been lacking high OBP guys. When you don't have guys walking, it takes 4+ hits in an inning to push multiple runs across without a homer. That's really hard to do. This year's team has Grandal walking at an obscene rate, plus Vaughn has proven to be adept at taking walks. Add in Madrigal and Mercedes, who both have extreme 2-strike contact skills, and you have a team capable of multiple multi-run innings in games without needing homers. These guys allow the Sox to keep scoring runs in bunches while two of the biggest power bats are out.