Balta1701

If our manager was (mother F***er I have to say this) Terry Francona, I would say I had confidence that the coaching staff has enough to put this together as a solid playoff bullpen, especially with 1 or 2 additions. You just have to know how to use a modern playoff bullpen. Can LaRussa? Mumbles…

I was thinking about this earlier today. The Nats won in 2019 with the 29th best bullpen ERA in baseball, Hudson in the 9th was the only decent reliever they had. In playoff baseball, Crochet can give 2+ innings but you can’t use him in the 9th or extras, or bring him in if anyone is on base. Hendricks is nails. If they stretch him out, Kopech is nails for 2+. Presumably Cease also is going to the pen since LaRussa is the manager and Keuchel’s a vet. With the extra off days, you could legit pitch Kopech 3 times in any series, with 2 days off between. Bummer is struggling, but if you use him sparingly maybe you could get through a couple lefties. Without any help, if the starters did their jobs, you could survive a playoff series like this. Add 1 quality reliever to this, and there are a lot of options. If Lopez just can do what he did tonight…there’s a championship bullpen here with 1 addition.

I think Kopechs line against the Twins was 2 IP, 1 HR, and like 4 strikeouts.

4 ks is still not terrible.

Dammit.

I would not complain, he doesn’t help currently. But IMO, he’s a throw in based on his current performance. Would I do Heuer for Escobar? I don’t know ask me when sober, it’s Saturday night:

What do I care about Ruiz, Burr, and frankly, Heuer, based on their performance right now? All 3 can be sent down right? Lopez can’t be worse than them, because the worst he could be is awful and the way already have that. Send one of those 3 down when a trade is made and see if maybe, just maybe, Lopez out of the bullpen is something and we steal an extra decent reliever for the last 2 months?

The first slider he threw to the last hitter was a hanging slider, but because he was out of the bullpen the guy wasn’t ready for it.

There are some plays that end when the ump makes a signal because the player will respond to the signal. That is what he means by “finality.” If the signal says “you have scored”, the right move for the player is to get out of the way and off the field, not to retag the plate. This is fundamentally different from slipping off the base at 2nd or 3rd.

Someone smack me as hard as you can because I just thought that Reynaldo looks like an awesome reliever.

Where the F*** did Lopez pull that pitch out of?

I think I just explained that play to someone on Twitter since the unps wouldn’t do it. God that has to be awful in the park. “Here’s a 10 minute discussion. Zack Collins is hitting. You get nothing more and like it.”

That seemed longer than 413. Must have been a big arc.

Said “ohhhh shit” loudly at the sound off the bat.

Health?

If it was almost straight up, yeah I would do That, but I don’t like giving up the deep minor league pieces as small parts of a bigger deal.

Since you clicked laugh on my post, will you say that you think Adolfo, Sheets, and Burger is an overpay for Frazier?

Oh I have no problem moving those guys. I am thinking more pieces like Kelley. If you could get Frazier for Sheets, Burger, and Adolfo, I would say go to town. I wouldn’t do that deal if I were Pitt.

Homer here and fuck up this ump Yoan

Bah, we could get the best lineup possible and still lose. Ask the Dodgers. This team should have a 3 year run before Giolito is gone. Yea, Rodon is gone, but Kopech replaces him. Lynn is here through 23. We can’t sell out for everything this season if it hurts the next 2.

Well sonofabitch.

If we didn’t have a 2nd baseman option next year you would be correct, but we do. Frazier is way less valuable if he is moved to RF next year, and I am trying to think of this as a 3 year window.

I am hoping they come back in one of these next innings and say it is being played under protest, but yes I am surprised we have not been informed of that yet. I have seen managers protest games in situations far less likely to succeed than this.

Moncada missed the plate. The replay was started ungodly late for reasons we don’t understand. The replay booth saw he missed the plate, took forever to figure out what to do, but called him out. The replay booth called him out, but the announcers are correct - Moncada was called safe, telling him that he didn’t need to tag the plate again and could leave the field. This is a rule problem, and it should lead to an official protest and maybe even a rule book clarification.

Honestly, the right answer, and the answer I don’t like, is that this game should be played under protest, and MLB should accept the protest for this reason and restart the game right at this at bat.