caulfield12

Here's why you need to have QUALITY depth. Padres have lost Nola (starting catcher), Tatis, Morejon (very easily for the season if he needs surgery) and now Snell. Trent Grisham was out the first week, and is now the hottest hitter in baseball upon his return (the little-noticed Brewers deal with Zach Davies for Urias/Lauer/$$$ or player to be named later.) That's not even mentioning Pham almost dying in the offseason stabbing outside a strip bar...and quite clearly not 100% himself if you look at his numbers. They've now had two games in the span of a week that the entire bullpen has had to cover from the 1st or 2nd inning on. Fortunately for them, they still have Dinelson Lamet (one more rehab start), Weathers and Gore backing up the starting rotation. Very quietly, they're 8-3, but the first real test will be this weekend against the Dodgers.

Twins, Royals White Sox and division-leading Indians all separated by 1/2 game. Even the Tigers are only 1 1/2 back. Otoh, we could be tied for last after tonight, or alone in first with Twins completing DH against the suddenly resurgent Red Sox.

Didn’t Renteria hit Palka and Delmonico 4th? Those were the days... Btw, Byron Buxton at .484 is closing in on Mercedes’ batting average of .500. We’re sitting the league’s best hitter statistically.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/mlb-player-yu-chang-shares-racist-messages-received-after-game-n1263945 It wouldn’t be 2020/21 without incidents like these being added to every major sport...with the irony being he actually is from Taiwan and not mainland China, which had perhaps the best Covid-19 response in the entire world.

Can anyone recall a top 3 draft pick being recalled so quickly to the majors then mostly sitting? This is just as much on Hahn as LaRussa. Or TLR is trying to send a message to the front office that he believes Vaughn isn’t ready for Cy Young-caliber pitchers? Trying to showcase his purported strategic brilliance with crappier line-ups every day?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Hagin A 30 year career spanning six teams is still pretty difficult to pull off...with just a couple of one year breaks in between gigs. But yeah, Rooney is always going to associated with the Cardinals now, like the Bucks, McCarver and Mike Shannon.

Even Frank Thomas spent a couple of months in Birmingham.

The best pairing was Wayne Hagin (went on to the Mets) and John Rooney...

Well, one way to look at it is that simply "treading water" and staying around .500 (likely 6-8 games over) until the end of July might be the way this division goes. CLE doesn't have the offense to bury anyone, despite their pitching strengths. The Twins are having all kinds of bullpen/late game issues and also have to figure out how to keep Josh Donaldson and Nelson Cruz healthy. Everyone's going to need to go 13-6 or 14-5 against the Tigers, if not 15-4/16-3.

So Cubs' fans aren't really without the broadcasts, and there's another Cubs' affiliate station in Illinois...maybe Peoria or Geneseo. Listening to the White Sox on 670 WMAQ back in the 80's and 90's was the best. Also had KMOX, Buck and Shannon, for the Cardinals to listen to at night.

The Chang Gang is not happy in Cleveland tonight.

With his .375 OPS. No doubt he starts with another RHP in Bieber and simply because of the "superstitious" don't change the winning players from the game before nonsense in baseball.

Sunday night baseball against the Angels returns. That was pure luck, but Winnin' Ugly.

I said to live up to their contracts. Robert, his defense and speed/baserunning gives him the much higher floor. From a Balta-esque, $7.5-8.0 million/fWAR on the FA market perspective, Moncada might get there but he's still only had one outstanding season is his entire career. I never said "I'm not sure anyone claims Robert" if you re-read the post, that's ridiculous. I have been one of his biggest fans since he was signed and have him on my fantasy league team, but he's still got a ton of volatility attached to him, whether we want to admit it or not.

Not sure why SS's always try to make that throw when it's hopeless and the ball can easily get away down the line...

Terrible break by Luplow, ball hung up too long.

Maybe that's what Grandal needs to get this team going...some kind of spark.

Umm....basing a whole season's worth of production off the first ten games is equally nonsense. We need athletic players who can drive the ball out of the ballpark and change games defensively. Baez is the definition of that type of player. There's no way in hell we're going to line up to pay guys like Seager, Story or Carlos Correa. If they could get bargain deals with Correa or definitely Baez instead of overpaying Seager or Story...that's the only way, they just have to make another risky FA move because a fix isn't coming from the farm system. We're not the Padres or Dodgers or Yankees. That said, I think Hahn is equally wedded to playing Madrigal for the next half decade, at least while TLR is the manager.

What is the old adage about bringing closers into tie games...even at home? That said, I honestly don't know who else Tony should go to. Foster or Ruiz...? He's going to get second-guessed no matter what happens because of how many leads we've already watched disappear.

How in God's name is Bryan Shaw throwing a 96-98 MPH cutter??? You've gotta be bleeping me.

Bringing back Bryan Shaw at this late stage of his career feels like a Sox move...

It doesn't matter, because Hahn has no choice but to go down with the ship one way or the other with Moncada or Robert. The whole rebuild revolves around those two being superstars and adding Kopech/Cease/Crochet as the third, as it has to be one of those three pitchers unless they suddenly start becoming a free spending team. The comparisons between Javy Baez and Robert offensively and defensively aren't off by much, IMO. In fact, you could argue that if you were going to discard Madrigal, Baez has the most upside (buying low) if you surrounded him with all the young talent on the White Sox and he didn't feel the offense pressure he does with the Cubs. That said, you only want so many "feast or famine" hitters in a line-up. There has to be some balance.

Francona really does make a difference for that franchise, which is running a $40-45 million budget. They are almost always right when they part ways with a player....too soon rather than too late. Lindor is one of the few counterexamples. But Dolan was never in a million years going to shell out that kind of money for Franky or Jose Ramirez. They develop plenty of their own pitchers, and many are not high draft picks. The Indians have run out some of the worst outfields in MLB the last couple of seasons and still basically remained competitive throughout.

Well, everyone not named Acuna, Soto, Betts or Trout seems risky right now. Bellinger, but he's had his own series on injuries to overcome.

See Alex Rios claim...