Jake

QUOTE (raBBit @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 06:51 PM) If each pitcher in the bullpen was rated by recent performance, track record and potential Thompson would rank last in each category. I'm not really on an anti-Guerra crusade, he's just the guy who screams "DJ Carrasco" in our pen. ie, seems to be over his skis, not great stuff, has been exposed to lots of MLB and MiLB and just doesn't seem that great. But this falls into what I was saying in the game thread, which is that our bullpen isn't stuffed with "worst" pitcher types, it just lacks "best" pitchers. Who do you go to when it matters? After Petricka, there are no obvious answers Thompson isn't exactly a super-duper exciting guy, but has been successful as a closer at every level - seemed like a guy who might have earned a longer shot at creating a valid sample size. With that said, if we're going to send guys down with options rather than cut boring vets like Guerra, Rienzo seems like the better candidate for that...and might be later this week when Putnam returns

QUOTE (raBBit @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 06:44 PM) What? I'd love to hear this argument. Guerra just being the guy with the least desirable mix of recent performance, track record, and potential development

QUOTE (flavum @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 06:38 PM) Cleto's last 5 appearances: 7.2 innings 2 hits 1 bb 13 k QUOTE (Lillian @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 06:41 PM) I heard the other night, that he was throwing 99-100. Welp, why the f*** not

Seems like an odd choice over Guerra, at the least. He's no special talent, but I remember looking over the Charlotte roster before his callup and thinking he was the only possible addition

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 06:08 PM) I still like Rienzo. I believe he would be a solid mop up guy in the future. He's just been all over the place as a starter, reliever. I dont think he's the type of guy who should only be pitching an inning to. Same with Surkamp. Problem is, we have too many of those types. As someone pointed out, you can probably name one.. maybe two guys in our pen you can consider locks for next season. I think Rienzo profiles well as a reliever because he has a good heater and generally is too iffy to see a bunch of batters. I think his cutter would play up against righties too (uses it like a slider). He just hasn't really done it before and is so all over the place he probably won't be right until next year. Surkamp is a sinker baller who has historically been better against righties and never relieved before. There were a lot of reasons to think it wouldn't go well. The sinker won't play up out of the pen and he's seeing a ton of lefties. Tough to quantify the effect of learning to be a reliever as well.

Let the dink and dunk parade commence

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 05:00 PM) How do you figure this isn't a terrible pen? It's not that I think they're good, but you can compare to the ERA of the Tigers' pen, for instance and see that they're getting more out of less because they still have some semblance of a hierarchy. Still - in terms of player acquisition, etc - the two best relievers to start the season are both hurt, the next guy to emerge as best is now hurt, and the LOOGY we signed in the offseason who had been one of the most consistent relievers in the game was inexplicably terrible. Not much has gone right and the fact we are very deep into our organization's reliever talent pool is evident.

It's really not so much that it's a terrible pen as much as there are hardly any guys better than others. Petricka is obviously your best guy and then everyone else is "meh." There's no obvious choice when you need to not give up runs

Last night the pen got dinked and dunked and dealt with some bad D. Guerra, though, is just getting pounded

Gotta think Semien is being prepped for MLB 2B with the way the lineup was today

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 03:07 PM) 0-4 with a K. Would have rather seen Thompson get the chance. Neither were ready. The obliviousness to whether hitters are ready for a promotion in our system is becoming tiresome.

good god, why did we call Mitchell up

I'm not sold on Wiggins, but I hope he makes the Cavs regret it

Not including today's game: Leading at start of 7: 38-8 Tied at start of 7: 10-9 Leading at start of 8: 43-7 Tied at start of 8 8: 7-7 Leading at start of 9: 47-6 Tied at start of 9: 4-4 http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-ind...amp;team_id=CHW No good way to compare teams, as far as I can tell, except to just look at each team's page. From a look at about 10 teams, we certainly are at or near worst with lead at start of innings 8 and 9. Ninth is our worst (no big surprise there). We also seem to be a bit better than many teams at winning games when losing late and our performance when tied isn't particularly bad. Last year, we were better with leads in the ninth but no better with leads in the eighth, a bunch worse with lead in the seventh, and a bunch worse in tie games.

Catch a ball in LF and we're probably winners tonight

There has been some absolutely brutal umpiring in the early going here. He threw 6 strikes in a row and had 1 to show for it

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 2, 2014 -> 03:21 PM) Wonder if the logic behind batting Beckham ahead of Abreu is to get him more good pitches to hit. That's about the only thing that makes sense to me. I think it might have more to do with wanting Alexei to bat with men on, not wanting to invite LOOGY matchups with Conor later in games, and a big vote of no confidence for the rest of the lineup (Flowers, ADA, Viciedo)

I'm guessing he has few resources, if any, besides himself and Mayo over there and therefore it's easy to overlook a far from top-tier guy like Ravelo. You try knowing 30 different systems 50-deep.

I have nothing against Paul George, it's just not THAT big of a deal. If he had torn his ACL, there wouldn't be nearly so much fretting about it despite it being a more serious injury. They're acting like the dude died. This happens to soccer players all the time. PG will be fine and unless they want to go Rose level with the recovery, he should be back before the season ends. And yes, it will be a bad thing if this kills international basketball. It drives interest around the world and a game like last night was a lot of fun to watch. Of the four major sports, basketball is by far the least likely for players to get season ending injuries. That's why Paul George is the first guy to have an injury of real note while playing for Team USA

Castro and Flowers would be a decent complementary tandem given their platoon splits

Abreu would seem to have a good toolset for long hitting streaks. If we assume his May was an anomaly, he's fairly adept at making contact. He also does not take very many walks and swings at a lot of pitches. He has shown a proficiency for being pretty successful on balls he puts in play. He bats highly in the order. Not prohibitively slow, though he would be better served to be able to get some infield hits.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 2, 2014 -> 09:41 AM) Espn saying he's out season. Maybe I'm downplaying this but that seems premature. That allows for the heroic early comeback narrative

Is Paul George really in need of everyone's prayers? He got a bad injury, apparently some people get squeamish to look at it, but he's going to be okay. He's not dead. It's dubious to say his career is really threatened by this. He'll be back and pretty much the same guy.

ZachOsterman @ZachOsterman · 2h Didn't see the Paul George injury. But Derrick Rose crying in the ensuing huddle is a pretty bad sign.

GAS