IndianaTwin

With 26 roster spots, I don't think any single player offers a litmus test.

Yes, I haven't seen much comment on Dyson, but I've been thinking the same, even going as far as making it a two-year deal. If Pineda was $2M+$8M and MLBTR projects him at $6.6M in arbitration, how about something like $1M + $7M?

Great article as a discussion starter, and you present a compelling argument! A question on the Statcast data -- does it take shifts into account? In other words, are the "expected" results against a normal defensive alignment? Because if the expected stats don't take shifts into account and many of his outs are hit into a shift, then maybe there's not as much difference as it appears. Beyond that: Gonzalez can play first, but I'd rather not lock him in there. Sano can play first, but he's probably not going to be great defensively anywhere. Being at third uses his two biggest defensive assets -- his arm and his ability to come in on the ball. The likelihood of him becoming an average 3B may be greater than the likelihood of being average at 1B in that he has experience there vs. starting mostly from scratch. Think about what it would be like to move him to RF, for example. Though Rooker/Kiriloff could kick the door in, I'd rather not have that as the plan for a contending team. If it happens, cool. That's a good problem to have. I'd rather have good problems than bad problems. As someone noted somewhere, he those guys do kick in the door, Cron could be trade bait. Or, it Cron is playing well, one of the young guys could also be trade bait as a "major league ready player" that young teams seem to covet. The FO does seem to place a premium on having good "clubhouse guys." If Cron checked the box this year, that's an advantage to resigning him over taking your chance on a different one-year fill in.So with all those, I lean toward "yes." On the other hand, what's the plan at C? I'd like a veteran besides Garver and Astudillo. If the choice is between a fairly-priced Cron and a fairly-priced Castro, I might consider Castro.

Vote for Miggy in 2020!

Not to mention that, in looking at the schedule, there are six off days during his suspension. If they chose to keep Berrios, Odo (hint, hint), _____, and Dobnak on a five-day pattern, it appears that they could conceivably get by with just six starts from the No. 5 guy in Pineda's absence. In other words, I agree -- there's flexibility, and I'm not overly worried about the suspension in itself. Realistically, the drop from Pineda to one of those guys over six (or even eight, if they pitch well and you don't skip the spot) starts is probably not worth more than a game or two. Not to mention that some have named a concern that he's never pitched more than 175 innings since 2016. Well, gee, I guess we just found a way to limit his innings. I don't know salaries well enough to know if QO dollars are the right figure (though I tilt toward yes, given the overall amount of budget available), but I do like pursuing him if due diligence addresses the chemical issue and the clubhouse issue.

Ewen21, I should have given a couple of your posts a like, particularly 117 and 121, which I found helpful. I considered quoting some of those in my response. I thought both you and Ashbury had statements that complemented each other well and get to the issue of nuances on how we think of words and how we control our responses. I’m married to a public school teacher, so I resonate with the challenges you face on a regular basis and I can appreciate how you are motivated to act on them. You describe those as frustrations (or perhaps more accurately, you describe a part of your commitment to excellent teaching as acting out of your frustrations at the “system.”). We could turn this into a debate on education, but I don’t want to do that. The language from my wife would probably identify the challenges that come with a lack of resources for education, the socioeconomic challenges kids face, etc. I’m sure you could add to that list and I suspect you and her would have a lot in common. You used the language of “frustration,” and I’m cool with that. My general use of the word “frustration” is at least a bit closer to how Ashbury used it, so I used “challenges.” I don’t know Rocco, obviously, but I sense that he may be using more in the Ashbury manner than in the manner you did. I think either way of using the word is fine, and the key is context. Another way of thinking about is to suggest that Rocco is smart enough to know that anything he says is going to get misinterpreted by some folks. With his measure responses, he seems intent on having his comments err on the side of understatement rather than overstatement. And then, in his elaboration with the other comments I referenced (and others from the nine minutes that I didn’t reference), he tried to highlight his own disappointment in the final result and an acknowledgment of how it happened (all phases, including his own managing), all while putting it in the context of a season that was overall very successful and a huge step forward. And I think his later points did get to the point of saying that they would indeed “cop to it, acknowledge, hitch up their blue jeans and soldier on.” My point in referencing Hinch was just to highlight another “measured” response. In The first version of my post, I’d actually thought of naming Hinch and Dave Roberts as two other guys that I think of being pretty measured with the media. Even Aaron Boone comes across as more measured with the media than he does on the field. I just think we’re moving in the direction of “measured” being the standard because of the regularity in which comments get blown out of proportion.

Semantics. Folks get hung up on the word "frustrated," like it means the same thing to every person. When he says, “I do not sit here frustrated at all," he in no way says that he's not disappointed at all. He just quickly spins (term used intentionally) the question to frame his comments in the context of the entire season. His very next sentence is, "I am extremely happy and extremely proud of everything that we just went through over the course of this season." And I think he should be. But later, he says things like... "We got beat, and there's no way around that.""We were outplayed for three games.""I was figuring things out on the go, and I found it very challenging.""They pitched better, they swung the bats better, and they defended better than us.""The Yankees played well. We got beaten by a team that played better than us."If there's a word that I'd use to consistently describe his responses in interviews it's "measured." Others have commented that he's rarely, if ever, going to throw players under the bus, particularly by name. In contrast, when things go well, he's quick to name people. If you're wanting to see him get agitated, the ones to be frustrated with are the reporters, who really didn't ask him any tough questions. But even if they had, I don't think Rocco would have taken the bait. And my hunch is that we can probably get used to this kind of response from managers. I doubt there are going to be many Billy Martins and Earl Weavers for a while. My sense is that front offices that value analytics are also going to value even-keeled managers. EDIT to add: The Astros just got thumped 7-0 and outhit 13-3. A.J. Hinch’s quote was, “It’s important not to overreact to anything and credit the Yankees for having a good first game.” Should AstrosDaily be concerned that he didn’t express enough frustration?

I’m in Chicago on business, where it’s 11:52 p.m. At 6:52 a.m., the sun is scheduled to arise (or Arraez, as the case may be). I plan to enjoy another day. And begin counting down the approximately 130 days until pitchers and catchers report. I hope next season is even more fun. Thanks, friends, for being part of a great year.

We needed a tallstop.

Cruz lower-case bomba.

He has to be. Got to get that Early Bird Special at Cracker Barrel, after all.

"...Could Gibson be the Game 4 starter, or will they use him out of the bullpen, in a long-relief role...." Yes.

The Twins making the series would provide us with either a rematch of one of their three WS appearances or a matchup against one of their predecessor’s successor.

Welcome, Melissa. That’s a great Henry Aaron story!

Well, I was closer than most of you! Since I was under by about 10 percent, I'll predict 10 post-season wins and hope they get 11.

Thhhh-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e Yankees lose!

Yeah, and obviously he'll finish below that mark. With Ohtani back and his continued decline, it's hard to imagine he'll get another 545 PA each of the next two years like this season, but I do hope he stays healthy enough to continue racking up some stats. Specifically, I hope he gets the 41 HR he needs to pass ARod.

Among current players, Albert Pujols is my favorite non-Twin. A week or so, my son told me that for the first time since he was 4 for 14, his career average had dropped below .300000. I'm glad that today he got a hit and didn't go 0 for 3. Had he done that, he would have fallen to .299494. With the hit, he's at .299616, so his baseball-reference page will spend the offseason still showing .300. It's pretty amazing that a guy can have nearly 3000 plate appearances as a sub .250 hitter and still have a career average that high. Every time I look at his page, something impressive comes to mind.

Ooh, that's scary. MLB Network just showed a large Phillies fan with a tattoo of the Phanatic on his stomach, with his navel serving as the mouth. Not only do I not know how to get a screen shot to post, you are glad that I cannot.

Mad Bum pinch hitting in San Francisco. Edit: Rips a line drive right at the 3B, off Kershaw in relief.

Insurance bombas!

Only Gladden could come up with the idea of someone who "gave himself a big high-five" as he rounded first. Apparently he clapped his hands together?

Let's be optimistic. Extra innings would give more bomba possibilities. Martin is being a team player.

I've got more! I've got more!

Yes, Sano's slam was the big one for me. Although it was also pretty cool to go to my first Opening Day and have Marwin come up with the clutch two-run double that held up as the winner.