Friend of Nordhagen

2 pitches

Love watching Great Young Hitter Andrew Vaughn flail away at sliders, year after year.

Yes, definitely something that Mr. Great Young Hitter should know how to do by now.

Shitty owner. Shitty GM. Shitty manager.

6th best starter, behind Davis Martin.

Wait -- so you're allowed to sac fly a guy in from 3rd?

I would imagine they'll wait 5 days on that, then have one, misread it, be confused why he's not getting better after 9 days, DL him 10 days retroactively to today, be mystified by his continued pain, look at the MRI again, and realize that he needs surgery and will be out for a year.

Ryan Tepera WHIP = 1.093

And then give Giolito Martin's starts . . .

This right here, multiplied by 400 grillion.

Fuck off, Vaughn. Seriously. That was 85-90% going to be a ground ball to the left side of the infield.

So if y'all are right -- and we're balking people to 3rd on purpose and working from the wind-up with a guy on second because we're afraid of getting our signs stolen -- WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND STRATEGIC GENIUS OF OUR HALL OF FAME MANAGER?

Dude is a shell of what he was last year and is pitching terrified. The day Davis Martin comes back up, Lucas is starter #6.

Why is he working from the windup with a man on second? Why do they still not hold on runners? What in the hell has this team improved on from year to year?

Giolito is just a huge, yawning disappointment.

Leury OPS = .456

Tell me if you've ever seen Tim Anderson make a great defensive play when it mattered. I'm legit having trouble remembering any.

Wait, you're telling me that Giolito threw Gurriel a slider that . . . sucked? When you're talking about $100 million contracts for starting pitchers, I tend to like the guys who can throw more than 2 pitches. This has been a 3-year problem for Giolito. He can't control any kind of effectively moving breaking ball. That just isn't gonna cut it.

Imagine a world where "ace" Lucas Giolito has 3 pitches, not 2.

Like, getting the ball into that material existing above ground. What do you call that material? Oh yeah -- the air.

Yes, it's early, but Vaughn is starting to remind me of Greg Walker as a hitter -- a gorgeous swing that doesn't quite seem to add up to production. (But I'm sure Steve Stone will assure us for the 1000th time what a prodigious hitter he's going to be.)

This is what he did during the second half last year -- whiffing on changeup after changeup. When that was pointed out, his main supporters cited his OBP. Both can be true. He gets on base and has yet to master hitting off-speed pitches, substantially lowering his ceiling.

Guys, I'm starting to think that Donaldson may be an asshole.

And why was he still out there? Because he was due up the next inning. And why was he due up the next inning? Because he's batting 9th. Can't make this stuff up.

THIS