Trov

I agree they all had better hitting stretches than Kepler, and I am not a big Kepler fan, but if you look just a slightly better bats over Kepler, you ignore the other half the game, that of defense.  Kepler is a very good defender, and ones you listed are all worse than Kepler and some by far much worse on defense.  I know many like to look at the offense, because you can quantify it easy, compared to defense, but defense should not be overlooked. 

I agree they all had better hitting stretches than Kepler, and I am not a big Kepler fan, but if you look just a slightly better bats over Kepler, you ignore the other half the game, that of defense.  Kepler is a very good defender, and ones you listed are all worse than Kepler and some by far much worse on defense.  I know many like to look at the offense, because you can quantify it easy, compared to defense, but defense should not be overlooked. 

I believe MLB will bring in the challenge system next year, or year after.  They will use it for a few years before going full robo umps.  The league will want to ease in the use of the robo ump, but as they get used to it, the league will get full robo.  I see no reason why not to do it if you have faith in the tech.  
The scorecard for umps has a huge flaw to it as well, as they give the 50/50 calls basically right either way it is call, only the balls well outside or inside the zone being wrong the wrong call.  I get the job is hard, but on boarder line calls it is basically a coin flip, and the up is always considered right when the ball is thrown there.  To make things worse, that is generally where the pitcher is trying to throw, the edge of the zone.  So if they hit their spots the ump will always have the right call in the score card, even if it is technically the wrong call according to an ABS system. 

I bet Larnach gets optioned down when AK ready to come up.  Really they are interchangeable pieces. Since Larnach still has option year left he will get sent down if he does not get on hot streak soon.  He has always been a streaky hitter, but we need at least him or AK to reach what he hoped.  

I bet Larnach gets optioned down when AK ready to come up.  Really they are interchangeable pieces. Since Larnach still has option year left he will get sent down if he does not get on hot streak soon.  He has always been a streaky hitter, but we need at least him or AK to reach what he hoped.  

It is always too early to call any team a clear contender or not.  We started off hot last year, and after having many injured players we faded late.  That being said, if we can maintain decent health with our pitching we should contend.  Really our biggest hole or lack of depth is still bullpen.  If we start losing our top pen arms we could start seeing some troubles, but we have already seen both this year and last that if we start losing starters we have guys that could fill in.  We have a lot of depth in line up, already we are about to face a roster and at bat crunch when AK and Farmer are ready to return. Then we still have Julien, Walner, and Lewis will be back later this year.  We even could call on Lee if needed most likely. 

It is always too early to call any team a clear contender or not.  We started off hot last year, and after having many injured players we faded late.  That being said, if we can maintain decent health with our pitching we should contend.  Really our biggest hole or lack of depth is still bullpen.  If we start losing our top pen arms we could start seeing some troubles, but we have already seen both this year and last that if we start losing starters we have guys that could fill in.  We have a lot of depth in line up, already we are about to face a roster and at bat crunch when AK and Farmer are ready to return. Then we still have Julien, Walner, and Lewis will be back later this year.  We even could call on Lee if needed most likely.