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ashbury

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Everything posted by ashbury

  1. ashbury
    And a considerable number of holes to fill, with that budget, if they let some of the higher-priced guys go - or fewer holes but on less of a remaining budget, if they don't. Only if they decide that most of the holes can be filled with cheap rookies, will it be possible to pool the sum into just one or two expensive guys. I'll wait and see, but I don't foresee shiny Christmas presents for the fans. Just, market-rate prices for mid-level guys.
  2. ashbury
    Unless he can do things, knowing he will only pitch one inning, that he can't pace himself to do when going for five or more.
  3. ashbury
    Lots of good food for thought in this article, I'm going to concentrate on Kepler. One reason to keep Kepler in the leadoff spot is a suspicion that his HR numbers would tumble if he weren't in the leadoff spot. Pitchers have the option to vary their approach to a batter based on circumstances, and I think this is especially true of Max. This year, Max has 23 solo HR, and only 9 HR with bases occupied. Even taking into account a somewhat higher ratio of bases-empty PA, this split is very different from the American League as a whole. It's also very different from the rest of the team. If you give him more bases-occupied opportunity, it's very possible that his HR numbers go down. Not to the degree that he's punch-and-judy, but a lot. They say a lead-off batter's job is to get on base. I don't entirely agree with that - his job is like anyone else's to score runs. If he "gets on base", but then does the job implicitly assigned to a later batter to drive him in, by finishing the trot around the bases because he hit it out of the park, that's a good thing, not a bad one. I believed the same way about Dozier. He was contributing, with those leadoff homers. Do you think he would have gotten as many high-inside fastballs that he liked, if men were on base more often? I don't, no. So, I felt, let him continue to succeed, rather than sap his numbers by dropping him to #3 or wherever. Power hitters like Rosario and Garver have HR splits more normal to the league this season, and so they are less compelling as leadoff choices, for me. As for the side comment that Max Kepler has proved to be above average in center field... no. It's not backed up by the numbers I've looked at, and it's not backed up by the eye test either. Center field is a place where supremely talented fielders roam, and the bar is very high to be considered above average. Most teams have someone as good as Kepler on defense. (Few have anyone worth mentioning in the same breath as Buxton.) To play an average CF, or even a little below, where I see Max, is no insult. Max is an above average CFer because of his offense. He's an above average RFer because of his defense (in which he shines). It's a nice combination. He's the opposite of a tweener - an asset wherever you need him.
  4. ashbury
    I had to look up the two references to "Hef": Jeremy Hefner, assistant pitching coach. It would be useful to see an expansion on what his duties are with the team.
  5. ashbury
    So then we're back to kenbuddha's question: "Each league has to buy balls. Why can't it be balls that MLB/AAA use?" Why wouldn't they want it to be the same?
  6. ashbury
    This is due to some law of physics that can't be changed over the course of two or three years?
  7. ashbury
    Patiently. Patiently. Patient. L. Y.
  8. ashbury
  9. ashbury
    Has anyone else watched Sherman's Showcase on IFC? It hearkens back to Soul Train and In Living Color. I found the sendups pretty fun - as with good parody, there is genuine love for the originals behind the skewering going on.
  10. ashbury
    Minors always have lots more errors. I think the groundskeeping has some of the blame, because often a good prospect suddenly becomes a much "better" fielder when moving up a level, even as the batting average goes down. It's possible that minor league Official Scorers are not quite on the same page with their MLB counterparts. It kind of doesn't matter where the errors come from, though. At the moment, the average MLB team has committed 73 errors, while the average Midwest League team has about 130, as an example. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/league.cgi?id=7dc93b9d#all_league_fielding https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2019.shtml#all_teams_standard_fielding
  11. ashbury
    If you are trying to get Arraez out of the pun police...
  12. ashbury
    What in particular did Hosken post? I've had second thoughts too about SwainZag and Jorgenswest, documented elsewhere I think. The former has come across as awfully rigid about misbehavior*, nearly as much so as Craig Arko can be. The latter hit me with an accusatory outburst that would not have played out nearly so benignly when in a moderator's capacity. That said, anyone we get will have a learning curve, just as each of us did. A sense of fairness and a willingness to put yourself out-front probably are the things that can't be taught. Perhaps an ability to laugh at oneself, too. * I recognize there is scope for irony with that
  13. ashbury
    Chattanooga won. Yay! Oh wait. Booo!
  14. ashbury
    Hanger. ARGGGGH. East coast time tells me this is when to head to bed. Try and turn this around for me, so I have good news to wake up to, OK?
  15. ashbury
    SEOCND BASE.
  16. ashbury
    Garver is such a magnet for what-the-what? kinds of moments behind the plate.
  17. ashbury
    PS: jokes are 100% condoned and encouraged in game threads.
  18. ashbury
    And mine wasn't?
  19. ashbury
    Caught the typo on second reading and fixed it, but not before you spotted it.
  20. ashbury
    If Perez had gone up to Hit, Rocco had better have started Running.
  21. ashbury
    Well, great gamble, maybe. A better throw could have had him, I think. That's not a catcher to mess with.
  22. ashbury
    Yes.
  23. ashbury
    Nope, Adrianza going to pitch the bottom of the inning.
  24. ashbury
    Now this inning is fun to watch!
  25. ashbury
    There's an old saying, worry is interest paid on trouble before it is due. You've suffered the pain of crooked numbers tonight that didn't even happen. I'm no more thrilled with Perez than you are; I wouldn't rule out a DFA, which probably is pretty far on the spectrum of opinion. But given he started tonight, the manager can't behave as though it's the 7th game of a playoff series. Got a bunch of games to win this month, not just one. If we have to use the bullpen really aggressively, we're already pretty doomed.
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