Sorry; I missed "swing" - I was speaking to games back: it cost them one game in the standings; but yes, a two-game swing - you're right. But, again: they were swept. It's remarkably silly to pick one loss and just conveniently ignore the other two losses. Come on... Dusty losing 2 expected starters + Javier tanking - we're just going to ignore that part of the equation, and scream about how he's overusing his staff, which is being manned by a bunch of AAAA starters? And what you said was that they were scratching and clawing to make the playoffs. They are not. Frankly, I don't even know that they're scratching and clawing to win the division. It's going to be close - but... they're clearly the best team and I think that'll work itself out here.
Guardians got everyone we would have wanted. I was curious if teams could put in unlimited claims at once, and apparently they can. Can't complain though. Right now I feel so good about our offense, just need the pitching to come up big over the next 2 months.
I do not understand Cleveland's planning or direction. They traded their best starting pitcher Civale to Tampa (who is not a free agent until 2026), but go all in on waiver claims for two rental pitchers who will be free agents in a couple months?
The truth is Julks had some hot streaks but he never hit the ball hard, and his baseball savant measurable have been bottom of the league all season. Dusty started him in game 2, despite Chas not starting until game 3 (inexcusable) He started 7 of the first 11 games despite striking out 28% of the time and his OPS settling below .600 and never getting above .680. He had 1 good gave 4/17 that raised his OPS 123 pts. Outside of that game his OPS in April was below .700. His OPS in May was .597 but he started 17 games. He was good in June - .766 and started 19 games but was so bad before that itvtook until his last game to get his season OPS back over .700 He was terrible in July - .517 but started 20 games. He hasn't hit a HR since mid -June, almost 120 ABs.. Now truth is, all this same stuff could be said about Abreu. The difference Is that Abreu has a history and has proven himself and given reason to think it would turn around. Julks didn't play a single day in MLB before this season. In fact Dusty has always been an "earn your playing time" manager who never plays rookies over veterans. Diaz sat for weeks despite having better numbers than most others when given the chance, but a TERRIBLE Julks was given game after game while Chas, Meyers, and/or Diaz sat the bench. It's really hard to say Dusty was fair in those decisions.
No risk... so why not? Especially since anyone they cut to make room for the 40-man can't really go anywhere at this point...
Yes, if your argument is that they haven't been playing all 7-8 elite bats regularly when, for whatever the % is (90+%?) of the season, they haven't had 7-8 elite bats available to them , then you are not tethered to reality. Up until very recently, this entire season has been defined by them trying patch over injuries and under-performance from expected contributors (namely, Abreu and Pena). This is the puzzle I don't think people seem to comprehend. That wasn't by choice - it was out of necessity. They had a long stretch where Altuve and Alvarez were both out. Put together a line-up that covers up those three weak hitters... If Diaz starts at C/1B, then you have to start Abreu or Maldonado. Dubon was out of the OF mix because he was playing 2B, so your choice in LF/CF is Chas + Julks/Meyers. Meyers is, at best, a marginal upgrade, offensively, over Julks. When I talk about not being tethered to reality, this is what I mean. They were forced to play too many of those guys because of injuries. But no one wants to talk about injuries because then they can't b**** about Dusty Baker. Baseball is a long season. We can go through each game and pretend this one outcome would've been changed everything - but that's not really the way it works. There's a reason people reject small sample sizes; it's not reflective of baseball as a whole. A long season means things will even out. And whatever specifically was going on those days, I feel very confident Dusty Baker is playing the long game - making sure his team is healthy and ready for the postseason. And look at how well they're positioned right now. They seem to be hitting all cylinders at exactly the right time. Why are we not giving Baker credit for that?
Claiming these 3 cost them close to nothing, as opposed to getting something for Civale who they must have thought was pitching over his head or really loved the TB prospect they got in return.
Cleveland is such a strange case. They are only 5 games out but it looked like they were giving up at the deadline by trading away 3 starters - pitcher Civale, 1B Bell, and SS Rosario. At the time I heard the TV crew ( Blum?) say he thought it was because their young pitching was going to hit IP limits due to all bring young and limited IP in the past so they didn't think they could hang. I guess try feel by adding 3 veteran pitchers they can renew their staff and make a run at the Twins. They still have 6 games against them. Also, they play the Rangers 3 times in the middle of September. I had figured that to be a Rangers sweep but maybe now Cleveland squeaks out one of those games.
Given what happened with Osuna, maybe grabbing a guy accused of domestic violence wasn't high on people's list. Based purely on his pitching, he'd help nearly every ball club.
How many times have the Astros released the lineup and then we complain because it is obvious that there are better options on the bench than starting? It's not about players being injured and not available. We know that long before the lineup comes out. It's about Dusty not having any sense of urgency and sacrificing individual games because it's a Long season. But he overplayed his hand because he does not have that luxury this year. It's as simple as that.
My bad I hadn't looked at him since a few days before the trade deadline and it was nearly 5. He has been good in 6 starts since missing a month and a half w/ injury.
He’d arguably be our best option after Framber and JV. I’m assuming the character issue played a large part in no one wanting him.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/pondering-a-possible-pete-alonso-trade/ In that article is a table that shows Jose Abreu is currently projected to be the 8th best 1B in the league next season.
Yeah, but it's not based purely on that. Yet somehow Chapman gets a pass? Nobody will touch him with a taser, at minimum, yet
Interesting they have him at 2.4 WAR for next season when the ROS projections would put him on more like a 1.5-1.8 WAR full season pace and that's without aging him a year.
