caulfield12

Not chewing tobacco or "Latin Americans with a supposedly increased propensity for DV," lol...

Let's put a retractable dome over GRF largely because of Ron's post about warm weather Abreu.

Ron, never forget! And nothing about chewing tobacco and being a bad role model for the next generation. Nothing about how he was on track for an unheard of 4.8 fWAR at 1B coming into the game, considered by many one of the most improved defenders in MLB this season.

Davis Martin sounds like a Southern golfer, ala Davis Love III. Or a NASCAR driver.

Defense, he was Pasqua-esque. Not sure if "good" is the right way to describe him from a fWAR standpoint.

Bieber Cy Civale T.McKenzie (who just came back from the minors) Quantrill Hentges OUT/Minors: Plesac, Logan Allen

Umm...okay, he's definitely usually clutch in RBI situations, but these are the Indians we're talking about. Do just enough to get by. That's why even winning the first game of the DHer yesterday was a shocker. Maybe they relaxed and let off the gas too much until the last couple of innings tonight. Thankfully, we have Lance Lynn going tomorrow, he and Rodon have been our true stoppers so far this early season.

We keep saying the Indians are going to fold, and they probably will...but we need to be better than this. First time one team in the series won two consecutive games in the season series. With a $50 million payroll, MLB's lowest, without Lindor/Carrasco/C.Santana/Plesac/Luplow/Reyes...they're hanging right in there with the $130+ million bigger budget White Sox. Tomorrow looks like an absolute LOCK for the White Sox, which invariably means NOTHING when it comes to the White Sox and Indians in the AL Central. Mercedes is fading back into what he was originally expected to be, and we're down at least one veteran arm in the bullpen to stabilize the 6th and 7th innings.

Terrible games from Abreu and Mercedes. 2-0 count, you can't just reach out and make contact there ala Madrigal. Have to win tomorrow behind Lynn against a rookie in his second big league start. Lamb, Collins and Hamilton carrying the team, along with Moncada. Cease is falling back into that "huge question" mark category.

Fortunate to not trip over the bat. Still you take a 3-3 game against Bieber and Karinchak with an elevated pitch count in the first game yesterday.

75% on the pitchers.

Not sure that will be the move. We can’t even be sure that all our other starters can make it until the end of the season. Keuchel will probably struggle to get through a full 162 game season.

Man, we can’t stop any team’s running game. Some team is going to pick us apart in the postseason, like the Rays.

Sigh. How are these guys hitting .217? Hanging slider.

Jose Ramirez has 133 career stolen bases.

Which is why we need one more veteran bridge hitter to get us to August/September...when Robert/Jimenez are both back. Seems Vaughn is going to have his ups and downs all season, and not looking for Engel to be the savior some are expecting, or projecting.

Elevated fastballs to Jose Ramirez...no bueno.

Moncada now over .300 in the season, seems to be locked in on Bieber. Bieber ERA a more human 3.28. Sigh...so much for that threat. Guess the only choice to avoid thst was runners in motion, which easily could have gotten Madrigal gunned down and run them out of the inning.

Is Hamilton okay? He might be the most important secondary/complementary player on the entire roster right now... Hey, Jose Ramirez is on deck, throw some strikes! Thankfully Cease corralled one. Advice from Ethan Katz, make an outstanding defensive play.

Time will tell. He was a 230’s hitter in May. He’s another 7-10 days from his MLB numbers offensively matching his minor league marks...which is a normalization many feared. That said, he still blows away Mazara and EE from last year at a much lower salary.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/mookie-betts-already-could-changing-173152410.html Betts trade looking less and less lopsided...

Did he make a speech in the middle about Leury Garcia bring the most underrated utility player in baseball since McEwing/Oquendo?

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-power-rankings-after-week-8?partnerId=zh-20210601-416244-MLB-1-A&qid&utm_id=zh-20210601-416244-MLB-1-A&bt_ee=m9oogvjyq45cSE%2B57g%2BMen24MG7RJYzp3ccJ8Jv6bWAHQ8KUC13nT3cYkfYdsvWZ&bt_ts=1622560409053 New power ranking out...Sox 3rd. Rays ascending, winners of 16/17. Red Sox right there, but will soon experience a brutal stretch in their schedule. Are Yankees still the #1 threat to the Sox, the Rays (defending champs) or is it actually TLR? 3. White Sox (3) The White Sox run differential of +80 is impressive enough on its own, but considering they’re the only team in their division with a positive number in that category, it’s fair to wonder if the American League Central race will be a race at all. It’s not just the offense that is humming -- prior to their doubleheader with Cleveland on Monday, Chicago starters produced a 2.24 ERA over an 11-game stretch, allowing one earned run or fewer nine times.

But how do you account for the easier schedule in 2020 vs. 2021? Looking simply at records through X number of games isn’t going to do it. At the 49 game mark, we were around 32-15 before going 3-10 down the stretch. If you compare the starting pitching and bullpen talent year on year, it’s not even close. Goes completely in TLR’s favor. So then you’re also left to consider the impact of Eloy, Cordero, Robert and Engel being out...or Kopech, Lynn and Jimenez added this year, etc. Rodon’s breakthrough, Cease’s as well. As someone else wrote, Keuchel manning up in Game 2, Lynn for Game 3, a healthy Crochet for multiple innings in Game 3 or a healthy Eloy Jimenez in Game 3...no Tony LaRussa at all. That’s mostly on Rick Hahn, not Renteria. You can even argue Renteria saw something in Rodon or Cordero that others didn’t...as he experimented down the stretch with the relief core.

Last time against him we scored at least 2-3 runs...