Balta1701

Yeah, I didn’t like Kimbrel being put into that inning in the first place. That was even a time for LaRussas middle relievers he loves. But once Kimbrel was in, pulling him for a trio of bad matchup moves was worse. Interesting the lack of consequences for LaRussa when he doesn’t perform.

And they might be. But they have to give it time to see if it will work it’s way in, rather than panicking over a walk and a WP made worse by the catcher.

If he isn’t the guy we added to lock down the 8-9, why did we bring him into a noncritical situation in the 8th when Kimbrel was already on the mound?

Fwiw, I agreed with that call and would have done the same.

So his ERAs the last 2 seasons matter but his best in the big leagues performance this year doesn’t even get a mention from you once? That seems…less than fair?

Yes. But Kimbrel has to get used to it, so let him pitch.

No it wasn’t the right decision. Not with Arozarena on the bench.

And you’re acting like he’s not Craig Kimbrel. You run him out there until you legitimately can’t. He gets Lowe out and this is a conversation no one is having.

And he was one out away from pitching over it without giving up a run. He’s good enough to do that.

He got 2 outs and gave up 0 runs. Yes, he was wild. But he was pulled because him versus Lowe was somehow a worse matchup than Bummer versus Arozarena? No. Pitch him, he’s one of the best closers ever. If he fails, it’s on him.

I mean, he got 2 outs before he got pulled. Yes he needs to be better than that, but he didn’t get the chance to lose the game. He loses the game, fine he got beat again. Give him the chance to at least win or lose. He’s a big boy.

I mean, win the next 2 games and we are 1 game away from the number 1 seed. Tampa Bay cannot have a winning record against the White Sox after today. One more win for the tiebreaker.

Exhales.

Just keep him in the park Tepera

I thought that was gone by the arc on it.

Abreu just does it again.

Done.

Cesar Hernandez has 1.9 fWAR in 2021. That would be good for 5th best among position players on Tampa Bay, and Joey Wendle is at 2.0 so they only have 3 guys clearly better.

Abreu is up this inning right? So that should be a run somehow?

Since 2019 apparently

Yeah that was a good call and I didn’t know that I would have been confident enough to do it.

No, it’s literally fine. It’s an average player. He will probably have some slumps during a season, and he will surprise and win us some games. If everyone is healthy, he would be the only average player in the whole lineup. That’s fine!

Do you walk Cruz now? I dunno.