Kalapse

I got a hunch it's going to be a very happy birthday for Robert.

That was brutal to see live and eerie with no fans applauding him as he hopped off the field.

oh man, Mike Soroka appears to have just torn his achilles, you could see the calf muscle spasm.

What? That makes no sense, he spent 12 days on the IL for 2 days of strep throat?

Props to the players out there wearing masks at all times even on the field, athletes are creatures of habit and one small change like having a piece of cloth covering half their face could mess with their head but dudes like Didi Gregorius (4/11 w/ 2 HR in 3 games wearing a mask) and Rhys Hoskins aren't taking any chances and it's great to see.

Eddy actually drove to his parents house in Florida and yelled through the door that he was getting called up, he wanted to tell them in person. Extremely happy for Eddy, just a remarkable story.

This is really good, did you draw the panther or reuse an existing asset?

Ha, welcome back. Pitched last year with Toronto: 10 starts 1.56 WHIP, 4.4 K/9.

Man, making up 7 games in like 7 weeks is going to be next to impossible.

I'll say this: Madrigal should absolutley not hit at the top of the order, this lineup has too many dynamic athletes and well rounded hitters to have Nick anywhere but the bottom. I like him just fine in the 9 hole. Robert - Moncada - Eloy is your top 3 for the next 7 years IMO.

Yep I'm with you, Leury is actually one of the few success stories Rick Hahn has from pre-rebuild trades. Identifying him for Rios was a coup.

Eh, Engel can't hit but his elite defense and speed are hardly a dime a dozen, he's a pretty good 4th OF and Leury can't hit for power or walk but he's ok at many positions and can hit for a decent average and run a bit, good utility guy.

Also, what about a GLOBAL conspiracy to suppress a Covid treatment isn't political? What else would be the motivation behind ignoring this miracle cure?

It doesn't have to be political, the people pushing a Malaria drug as a Covid cure are doing so as a political ploy because the POTUS has been pushing it since the beginning. There's no global conspiracy here, the "doctors" that you mention have been exposed as loons with ulterior motives.

WHAT DOCTORS???

Not good for Lambert.

What doctors? These? https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/americas-frontline-doctors-hydroxychloroquine-breitbart-donald-trump-1034927/

Freddie Freeman had a 104.5 degree fever and thought he was dying, Eduardo Rodriguez has inflamation of the heart muscle related to Covid that has shut him down for the season and some players have said they have trouble catching their breath even weeks after having a "mild" case. I don't think we know the long term ramifications but the trauma to the heart muscle that's popping up in mild cases is concerning.

Speaking of Grandal, take a look at his average exit velocity this season and the damage he did the Royals series, he went 5 for 13 in the series but was scorching the ball consistently, he had 7 hard hit balls (95+ MPH) and could easily have had a few more hits if not for the shift beating him.

They literally threatened to shut down the season over the weekend. Also, your sarcasm in regard to the seriousness of this virus is embarrassing.

My guess is he's going to start seeing a lot more fastballs up in the zone. That .143 batting average you see below is the sliders low and away, the .500 and .400 batting average are those that caught a bit of the plate, he's making them pay dearly when they miss their spot even a bit low in the zone. One more chart to illustrate where they're pitching him currently:

I'm not even sure what adjustments they can make, right out the gate he was seeing nothing but sliders low and away, one of the lowest FB% and highest SL% in baseball, looking at the numbers this morning I think they've started to adjust a bit as his FB% is increasing but if the adjustment is to throw more fastballs I don't see how that's going to work with his bat speed. I'm just not sure what they can do differently to get him out.

Looking at the updated Statcast data, holy hell Robert. He's now at the very top of the league in sprint speed and the defensive metrics continue to get better, he's already elite in so many things.

You do know homeruns count as an extra base hit, right? Both Encarnacion and Jimenez have HR's off Anderson. Also, Edwin, Yasmani and McCann are the only ones with more than a game's worth of AB's against him and Edwin has an .856 OPS so it's a meaningless exercise anyway.

Quick aside: It is pretty cool having a dude with literal light tower power on the team, I remember being so jealous of the Cubs when the video from that home rum derby hit the internet, now he’s on the dang Sox.