caulfield12

Well on paper Phillips is their best reliever and threw a ton of pitches but needed at least one run there to make it a real game. At least fans starting to get money's worth.

Just stay away from Clevinger and Manaea in free agency. Too many injury concerns with the former, degraded quality of stuff with the latter.

The only way SD gets over their fear of the Dodgers these last two years is getting Tatis back...swagger is still missing from that team. Actually played LA so much more competitively in 2019 and 2020. I think that's 24-5 now in the head-to-head.

Injuries.

Schildt and racism accusations...

Big spending is the cure for this lethally boring SF Giants roster 81-81 was the perfect record for this unwatchable Giants team, Dave Tobener writes https://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/sf-giants-spending-aaron-judge-17492001.php

Oh it's because the times here always show up as 12-13 hours ahead on my phone. "And now the Mets are on the firing line, entering a winter of constant questions of fight, fortitude and free agency -- the group that can go free includes deGrom, Edwin Díaz, Brandon Nimmo, Seth Lugo, Adam Ottavino and Trevor May, and perhaps Bassitt and Taijuan Walker." And a whole feast of relievers for Hahn to ponder over...

Of we have to hear one more iteration of that was sure a professional/competitive at-bat there from Beckham... don't love Benetti, but Gordon is ten times worse. If they piped his feeds into Midwesr prisons, the recidivism rate would easily halve.

Forgot they have the offday on Tuesday so they can still stay on regular rest. Should be Darvish/Snell/Musgrove. Urias/Kershaw/Anderson/Gonsolin...nobody knows the order yet for LA.

Preller lives to fight another day. The rest is gravy. Unfortunately, no Braves for them to play. They just can't beat the Dodgers....and this has been the case ever since they were swept after beating the Cardinals in the 2020 post-season. Pretty sure the current streak is 23-5 or something hideous like that (see Minn/NY). The problem is they're now down to Clevinger and Manaea, who they would love to skip if they could. Guessing they go to Clevinger, as he has been the much better of the two.

Gilbert gave up 20 runs in 26 2/3rd’s IP in August. It was at that point that Kirby passed him in the pecking order. None of those are playoff teams other than a very inconsistent Padres’ offense. Whereas the Kirby outing against the hottest team in the majors in ATL stands apart…and his last time out the team had already clinched and he was basically just getting work in.

Except Kirby has been much better down the stretch after hitting a wall in the middle of the season.

The only way to make that play...great defense from Josh Naylor, not exactly his forte. His brother looks to be an even better player (catcher) coming up quickly in their system. Ramirez made up for the bases loaded situation the Guardians didn't score. Gimenez really struggling today.

Rays have had over 50 interview requests of Eric Neander for different front office personnel the last year. Last "youngest team in baseball" to make the postseason was the 1986 NY Mets.

Bold call to go against Scherzer at home. Doubling down against deGrom, too? Goes to Game 3, Chris Bassitt once again reprises his playoff role from 2020.

Have harped on Point 3 for ages. Was given Theo Epstein as a counter. And it makes sense Ivy types just don’t mesh well with baseball lifers who earned their stripes the hard way in the trenches/scouting circuit, etc. Hahn is the quintessential anti-Adam Sandler from “Hustle.” Except he’s not even Ben Foster’s character.

Tatis’ fall from grace. NY Times feature.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/sports/baseball/fernando-tatis-padres.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqYhlSFUbBSbORd89sgbBj_HUzbY1gnu5IiWPTz9Ew-NQH4Gc-lyIfaNvfdYomTSHQdsLeJkeeMtP9M4NdUp8V1vv5ZKehJUOJyhy8d7iUmhu0Z6IBLtkrnq3PzW3bbYkz7D64kPWajLsXqDY2HN3Nx8l9cU-DSyi33QPxqnFGuVniJIpjbp6WMcMFXpXbzKKvvLoFx18JNyCCxrf4QU3UOhTMirByZ_es_lTNVUPVi-VCS938m0-69hDONoIP6-ZLBYofMD2gLR5GXUJbaTE8xJwWiXy5NZIU1T9&referringSource=articleShare

Or without the Ozzie/Freddy Garcia connection. Without Gaffe-anino. Without Clutch Crede. Without Blum. Without Uribe pulling plays out of his ass that eclipsed Jeter were he an overhyped Yankee. Used three closers in one year...starting with Gong Takatsu and the Frisbee. Got crazy good numbers from Cotts and Politte. The only loss was Byrd vs. Contreras when The Count/El Gran Titan de Bronze was the best pitcher on the planet.

This is not unlike the Hahn argument he had executive of the year votes LAST season and the year before...

So then KW gets credit for the 2012 season, too? So just two winning seasons in a decade.

The Detroit Tigers might be in that business, though. They have traded or let go five Cy Young winners now in the last decade plus. Verlander, Scherzer, David Price, Rick Porcello… Robbie Ray was by far the toughest one to remember. (2014) Traded from Tigers to Diamondbacks in 3-team trade involving Didi Gregorius, Shane Greene and Domingo Leyba

Every time you trade or let go of the core 20-something players like Rodon and Madrigal, you’re taking a step in the wrong direction. Many now want to do the same with Vaughn or Jimenez out of sentimentality for Abreu. But you have to stick with Vaughn at his actual designated position, unless you no longer believe in your ability to evaluate talent properly. If that’s the case, by all means, just give Burger and Sheets full time spots and announce you’re in a transition year to rebuilding. Which means Giolito, Lynn and Anderson trades trades aren’t far behind.

Then who’s the closer if you do dump Hendriks, Graveman or Lopez? Pretty clear Vaughn has to play first, and Eloy should DH. And that’s where everything gets stuck in LF with Pollock on the roster and the lack of willingness to spend any more on that position, with Colas coming fast for RF, presumably. That $13-14 million or whatever that Pollock’s soaking up ACTUALLY could have gone to a Conforto or Nimmo, but not with all the money currently allocated to AJ, Kelly and Leury at the bottom of the roster…not to mention Grandal as well. Of course, the obvious problem is you still need a legit 2B, catcher and rotation depth…(assuming they’re not willing to meet Cueto’s new price and they don’t give Andrus 2/$18-20 or something crazy like that.)

Tim Anderson’s up there behind Cease because he’s such a known commodity…and there’s a huge logjam getting ready to form at the back end of those first tier of FA SS’s. Those who get left out of the $200+ million contract guys but want something more of a known quantity than a Trevor Story type. Not sure how much that helps the Sox in 2023, though…assuming AA/AAA prospects back in return. If you want to make a seismic shift in club leadership, TA7 and Abreu both out is the way to go.