OT: MLB Thread - Part XVIII: Home Stretch for Yanks. Coup de Grâce for Mets.

[MysticLeviathan]

Harper is also close to Bryant. Cubs have money. Dodgers write blank checks. Nats aren't cheap either.

I still think that if Harper has the choice, he chooses the Yanks, especially if they build on this year's run and get the pennant and start building something beyond just a single good year for a team. The question about the Cubs is do they continue to fall or do they bounce back after falling a bit this year? Yankees are rising and just getting started. This is the kind of group you want to be with because you know they're not just going to be highly competitive, but highly competitive for 6 or 7 years at least before faltering a bit. Harper and Machado are both a bit older than our current core 4 of Judge, Sanchez, Bird, and Severino. Add 20 year old Torres some point soon. That's a core that can be really good for another decade. And Severino is a top tier pitcher in the entire game and only 23. That's incredibly attractive for 27 year old Harper and Machado. To be part of a group that can legitimately contend for the World Series for at least a half dozen years.

 

[LeetchisGod]

Castro needs to work on situational hitting in spring training,a few of them do.They have to learn it's ok to give yourself up to move a runner over.

Castro is what he is at this point. He's been in the league a long time. There is no untapped upside there.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

You are talking about Harper and Machado here.

But you are right we need more of Placido Polanco/Marco Scutaro types.

While he doesn't fit into the Polanco mold (I know you were being sarcastic), I'd give up a lot for Matt Carpenter and use him like Zobrist.

There were some rumblings that the Cardinals were listening on him in July. Would revisit that this winter if true.

 

[mrmovies779]

Castro is what he is at this point. He's been in the league a long time. There is no untapped upside there.

Dont really need to tap into anything.He just needs to understand situations better,not pull off every pitch and hit it the other way when he needs to.

 

[darko]

While he doesn't fit into the Polanco mold (I know you were being sarcastic), I'd give up a lot for Matt Carpenter and use him like Zobrist.

There were some rumblings that the Cardinals were listening on him in July. Would revisit that this winter if true.

Would love Carpenter.

 

[LeetchisGod]

While he doesn't fit into the Polanco mold (I know you were being sarcastic), I'd give up a lot for Matt Carpenter and use him like Zobrist.

There were some rumblings that the Cardinals were listening on him in July. Would revisit that this winter if true.

I like the high OBP but the lack of speed and his age are definite downsides.

 

[Rangerfan4life90]

I highly doubt the Yankees sign both Harper and Machado.

One of them? Sure (likely Harper).

 

[MysticLeviathan]

Castro is what he is at this point. He's been in the league a long time. There is no untapped upside there.

It's not even about upside. He's a .300 caliber hitter with some pop. He just makes dumb mental mistakes. It's more about limiting his stupid mistakes and getting him going. He's not a bad player, but he may not be suited for this environment.

 

[Machinehead]

You are talking about Harper and Machado here.

But you are right we need more of Placido Polanco/Marco Scutaro types.

That's all I'm saying. And would I be against adding Harper/Machado? f*** no.

But I don't wanna add them and be like "lol everything's cured," we need to ALSO add things we lack.

Like, if the Rangers somehow got McDavid I'd be like "ok, sure" but he's not going to lower our expected goals against which is the main issue.

 

[TheTakedown]

Damn I don't even care about baseball and I'm pissed AF about this loss.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Houston is not getting swept. I wouldn't be surprised if they won honestly.

I expect them too. I'd even give the edge in the rotation to Houston. Kershaw has not been Kershaw for a while now.

I like the high OBP but the lack of speed and his age are definite downsides.

You can't have a lineup filled with under 28 year old players.

 

[Machinehead]

While he doesn't fit into the Polanco mold (I know you were being sarcastic), I'd give up a lot for Matt Carpenter and use him like Zobrist.

There were some rumblings that the Cardinals were listening on him in July. Would revisit that this winter if true.

Carpenter has to strike out less if we're going to use him like Zobrist.

 

[MysticLeviathan]

That's all I'm saying. And would I be against adding Harper/Machado? **** no.

But I don't wanna add them and be like "lol everything's cured," we need to ALSO add things we lack.

Like, if the Rangers somehow got McDavid I'd be like "ok, sure" but he's not going to lower our expected goals against which is the main issue.

It's different with the Rangers. For one, Machado and Harper are both very good fielders, with Machado being one of the best 3Bs in the entire game. Harper is no slouch himself in the OF. Rangers problems are rooted in shitty defense and mediocre goaltending at times beyond our inability to finish. Rangers problems are far greater than what can be solved with a single player. Yankees' "problems" are honestly more minor inconveniences than the full fledged problems the Rangers have.

Does adding Harper and/or Machado make the lineup better? I think for the most part it's a resounding yes. Does putting Harper and/or Machado in the field make our defense worse? That's also a resounding no imo, especially for Machado. Could they do better things in the batter's box? Sure, but I still think they're both major upgrades both in the box and on the field.

 

[Machinehead]

It's not an "inconvenience" that this team strikes out too much. It's the reason we're not playing on Tuesday.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Carpenter has to strike out less if we're going to use him like Zobrist.

I mean using him all around the infield and get a rotating DH going instead of plugging it up (unless required for Otani.)

You may want to double check Zobrist's numbers at Carpenter's age. He used to strike out a decent amount too though I'd say that being at or around 100 is probably average these days.

Dudes a great hitter, better than Zobrist.

 

[MysticLeviathan]

It's not an "inconvenience" that this team strikes out too much. It's the reason we're not playing on Tuesday.

Disagree completely. Why we're not playing Tuesday is we couldn't string enough hits to score runs. In the case of yesterday and today, a K is just as bad as an out on a ball in play. And I'd rather K than GIDP. We just couldn't get the necessary hits, and we had plays like Springer's and Bregman's. Shit just happens sometimes. And it also didn't help that the ump's strike zone was f***ing awful, making it tough to draw walks.

Now if you want to argue they're not worth the $40 million or whatever the hell they'll be getting, fine, but to act like they wouldn't be major upgrades to our team, both offensively and defensively, is being unfair.

 

[Machinehead]

@darko Would you also consider a managerial change?

The plan against the Yankees is breaking pitches out of the zone and they get themselves out. And I don't know how much of it is the team can't adjust or how much of it is Girardi won't adjust.

Gregorius in particular is a better hitter than he showed the last few games, but he seems to get sucked into this "hit the ball 700 feet" mentality. Gardner seems to get into long stretches also where that's all he wants to do.

I fear that we find our "Placido Polanco" and he starts swinging for the fences.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Disagree completely. Why we're not playing Tuesday is we couldn't string enough hits to score runs. In the case of yesterday and today, a K is just as bad as an out on a ball in play. And I'd rather K than GIDP. We just couldn't get the necessary hits, and we had plays like Springer's and Bregman's. **** just happens sometimes. And it also didn't help that the ump's strike zone was ****ing awful, making it tough to draw walks.

Now if you want to argue they're not worth the $40 million or whatever the hell they'll be getting, fine, but to act like they wouldn't be major upgrades to our team, both offensively and defensively, is being unfair.

This.

The difference in playing on Tuesday and not playing on Tuesday isn't K's vs not K'ing.

Houston missed less bad pitches in the last 2 days than the Yankees did. Thats it. Verlander threw more than a dozen of them last night and I think they only made hard contact on 2 of them,1 of them dying just before it had a chance at pulling the Yankees even.

 

[Machinehead]

This.

The difference in playing on Tuesday and not playing on Tuesday isn't K's vs not K'ing.

Houston missed less bad pitches in the last 2 days than the Yankees did. Thats it. Verlander threw more than a dozen of them last night and I think they only made hard contact on 2 of them,1 of them dying just before it had a chance at pulling the Yankees even.

When you swing at pitches that aren't in the same state as the strikezone, you see less bad pitches and have a lower chance of getting to one.

 

[Cassano]

When you swing at pitches that aren't in the same state as the strikezone, you see less bad pitches and have a lower chance of getting to one.

So you want the team to revamp their hitting similar to the 2015 KC Royals?

 

[Machinehead]

I'm probably alone but I like Todd Frazier. Now, he does strike out. But in certain situations when he needs to, he reigns it in.

McCullers throws him four pitches in the dirt - four pitch walk. He needs a groundball to tie the game, he had it done if Bregman doesn't make a great throw. Had huge hits in this postseason, and got robbed of a couple more. Has a couple of guys on in game 3, and he just slaps a tough pitch the other way, happened to get it out, but it was a good approach.

I don't see third base as the problem. CF and DH stick out if anything.

 

[Machinehead]

So you want the team to revamp their hitting similar to the 2015 KC Royals?

We don't need to go full Royals but if we had a couple of guys in that mold to add versatility to this lineup, that would be nice.

Sometimes you need to "keep the line moving" as the Royals would say.

 

[Cassano]

The team was 2nd in the league in OBP and that's with an injured Greg Bird. I don't really see the issue.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

This lineup will never be the 2015 KC Royals. I think that lineup was incredibly underrated, but this one is just built differently.

You can still win with this type of lineup though, the cubs just did it a year ago.

When you swing at pitches that aren't in the same state as the strikezone, you see less bad pitches and have a lower chance of getting to one.

They got plenty of them, they didn't capitalize.

 

[LeetchisGod]

The team was 2nd in the league in OBP and that's with an injured Greg Bird. I don't really see the issue.

The plate discipline by most of the lineup in this series was abysmal. Hopefully part of that was inexperience but adding a couple of guys to help manufacture runs would help as well.