caulfield12

Has fallen from a 923 OPS on April 26th to a still decent 782 in the last month. .163 BA and 478 OPS vs. lefties, .286 and 916 OPS vs. RPH Strikeout percentage down to 32.5%, although the last couple of games haven't helped in that area. 29 walks vs. 74 K's 659 OPS and .228 BA in the month of May (that felt kind of like a worst-case scenario season result in April) I will stay with what I said at the beginning of April when he was struggling out of the gate. Will be happy with an OPS between 750 and 787.5 for 2018 (age 23 season) and between 787.5 and 825 for 2019 (age 24 season) That gives you those prime years starting in 2021 when he needs to be an All-Star caliber 2B. Obviously, he has shown tantalizing glimpses of that so far this year.

Konerko was a great fastball hitter until injuries started to take their toll...maybe the best fastball hitter of the last 20 years for the White Sox. That's almost always the FIRST thing to go, bat speed (of course, along with pure foot speed and athleticism). The poster child for a 30's decline is probably Albert Pujols, but there's always been the scent of steroids around him because of how his body has seemingly broken down, and how precipitous his decline has been (exacerbated by advanced stats/metrics, because his traditional numbers alone like HR's and RBI's don't look terrible at all).

http://www.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post/_/id/18519/olney-hitters-who-cant-beat-the-heat-getting-left-behind Details (midway through the article) some of the struggles that veteran hitters (Goldschmidt is the prime example, hasn’t had a hit on a single mid 90’s fastball and above YET this year)...are having with the threefold increase in high velocity pitches, especially as most starters are only going through line-ups twice and relievers are throwing harder and harder. So BAA fastballs (two and four seamers) is going to be one of the strongest indicators for Abreu losing (something) from his previous fastball dominating self.

Flowers homered off Sale today...rare dud from Chris.

I don’t think anyone (scout, etc.) ever projected a 30/30 season out of Anderson until this past week. 20/20, sure...for whatever reason, though, it seems his interest in stealing bases has picked up this year. Probably the coaching staff pointing out his success rate and encouraging him to run more frequently/be more aggressive. 25 homers would be pretty crazy to me, but it’s at least a realistic possibility now.

Hanley Ramirez will take up one of those spots with a contender for just $565,000.

That’s easy to say coming off yesterday’s game, or actually the last couple of games. Just imagine if Anderson’s two errors in the 9th led to another blown save, it wouldn’t be so easy to take the position you’re arguing right now. It’s a LONG season. A month ago, Moncada was an All-Star and going to put up a 6-8 fWAR. It was also just recently that people were arguing that Moncada was already one of the five best defensive 2B...and now Anderson’s numbers are better than Yoan’s, at least at Fangraphs. I’m not sure how many of those who have watched every single game this season would give the nod to Timmy over Moncada. Probably very few. As of this moment, he’s 10th out of 27 SS’s with at least 150 at-bats. He’s even ahead of Didi Gregorious (Moncada’s also 10th out of 25 2B.) That said, I’m not counting on him to be a 4 war guy...2.5-3.0 is good enough, although 4 would be great. IF IF IF he can keep that up, there’s obviously no point in moving him off SS. Of course, a month ago, Yolmer Sanchez (once again) looked like he COULD be any everyday 3B. That’s no longer the case. Let’s see where we are after another 1/3rd of a season, at the trade deadline.

Trump is closer to Joe the Plumber in mentality... Fwiw, Cuomo’s dad one of the four best Dem orators since JFK, along w Jesse Jackson, Clinton and Obama.

Well, except for the Reds and Padres...

Cubs’ fans aren’t going to be happy when they find out Darvish has triceps tendinitis. Milwaukee’s looking really good right now...

Jameson Fisher homer...JImenez had a hard line-out to the OF. Seems like every ball he puts in play ends up there...with a few ground balls pulled down the line.

Anderson really should have two errors on that one play. Or we put Madrigal at SS, lol...has now gone from 5 to 8 errors in one day. Tomorrow, he’ll probably be put on the DL for his thumb, sigh.

Yeah, if they platoon Davidson and Sanchez at 3B, it could work because you get more of Sanchez’s defense but are limiting Davidson to only facing LH pitching, and he’s so streaky not so sure how effective he would be in that situation. Moustakas will be out there again, and Donaldson’s going to be discounted at the rate he’s going...I guess it also depends what they do in the draft, if it’s Bohm/Madrigal or Singer. Or Burger has a health miracle, but nobody’s counting on that now.

Anderson up to 760 OPS, Abreu 942, Palka 824 and Moncada 800...Yolmer down to 705, need to get him and Moncada hot again. Abreu might be AL Player of the Month for May, but Gleyber Torres probably takes it.

Why do I get the feeling Fry will come into a save situation yet today...?

Moncada OPS slowly falling back to the 800ish level...needs to get another hot streak going soon. Won’t be easy to do against CLE pitching, but higher-level competition tends to bring out the best in him.

Moncada has to learn how to protect himself there, Stone’s right. Took too long to get rid of it. Also, Avilan flat out sucks. Luckily, Fry has risen to the occasion, and Bummer’s been doing well in non-pressure situations.

Rain problems galore in NC. Could be that Birmingham is the only team to play tonight...

That will only drive down his signing bonus, lol. Plus we can give him one of those contracts that guarantees big league playing time in 2019/20. Then we go Beer, Thomas (overpay) and Kyler Murray rounds 2-4 and WIN THE DRAFT.

At 5:00 a.m. on Sunday morning in China, lol? At least I made my first game thread...might even turn out a winner.

Moncada 2B Luis Robert RF Abreu 1B Jimenez LF Palka/Adolfo DH Yolmer/Davidson 3B Collins/Zavala C Anderson SS Madrigal CF or sign AJ Pollock and put Madrigal at 3B...? Not sure where to fit in Basabe, Rutherford...need a utility INF for when Yolmer’s at 3B.

Also, can we please just hire a real comedian to replace Benetti...go three man booth with a “pure” baseball play by play guy? Or have three innings of comedy in the middle and switch with DJ during that time?

Can we hire Rusty Kuntz to teach Palka to be a passable corner outfielder...?

Abreu now tied for AL Doubles lead with Betts, Pillar.

This game took a huge turn...fell asleep.