OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Fire Sale Edition?

[DanielPlainview]

Would rather see what Tucker and Kramer can do. Gonzalez is not good enough to warrant blocking young players especially at this stage of the season

 

[Winger for Hire]

I don't totally disagree, but he is a guy they spent assets on and someone in the org pounded the table for him, so they do have a assess what his role is in the medium term since he is under team control for awhile.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

One factor to consider is the collarbone.

That kind of injury is very uncommon in baseball, so I kinda wonder if players who have suffered the same injury have been able to return to form historically.

I can't imagine suffering a broken collarbone does any favors for your swing and throwing, even after recovery.

 

[lordstanley91]

Has Brault been our best pitcher this year? If so that is sad.

 

[lordstanley91]

Don’t even know why I care but they are the worst team I have ever seen with the bases loaded.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

KB should buy Lester dinner tonight.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Moran sucks.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

You could just feel that Bryant was gonna hit a tater there.

Can the Cubs go 1 game without bitching about everything?

Bunting with the leadoff hitter. Only Clint f***ing Hurdle.

 

[DanielPlainview]

This team should actively avoid loading the bases

 

[cookthebooks]

Hurdle should’ve gotten himself ejected over that strike call on tucker

 

[PensPlz]

6 loaded bases, 0 runs. The tank is so obviously on.

 

[DanielPlainview]

That's just Hurdle-coached teams. It's been a problem the entire time he's been here

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

That's just Hurdle-coached teams. It's been a problem the entire time he's been here

You'd figure they'd finally realize a change is needed after how many diff ways the Pirates manage to lose. Today they just tied a record with 6 batters up with bases loaded while shutout in a game. Pirates(under Hurdle) also have two more of the 6 that had 5+ bases loaded while being shut out. So thats each of the last 3 all under Clint.

Setting records is the norm with Hurdle.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Kebryan Hayes with a 3 run shot in bottom 9 to tie it at 7 for Indy. Nice to see after him struggling at the plate lately. Would still like to see him up in Sept to get a taste of MLB and then ST.

Swaggerty with 2 HRs yesterday...2 for 4 today with a double. Batting .480 in last 10 games. Been on a tear lately.

Cruz still doing well in Altoona

Mason Martin had a grand slam last week for Bradenton along with a HR and double(5 RBIs) the next game putying him at 32 HRs and 119 RBIs on the year.

There's some power on the way in Cruz and Mason Martin(Craig as well). And elite D with Hayes who can still develop more power(28 doubles 3 triples and 9 HRs at age 22) along with good base running. And Swaggerty whos very good in CF, swipes alot of bases and beginning to add more power as well along with bringing up his avg.

We should have a mix of everything by 2021. Power, good avg, solid D and more steals. We basically only had Marte who was a threat on the base path and now Newman has been decent and we have plenty more coming up who can do the same in Hayes, Oliva(32 steals) , Swag(20), etc. Along with finally having a great defensive infield.

Looking forward to it. In the meantime...scoreboard watching. We can get top 5 pick next draft by passing up Seattle and Jays(only half game back from e34ach) and get a bat like Blaze Jordan, Austin Martin who both have great avg to go with a ton of power or the top catching prospect in Patrick Bailey who is a switch hitter and solid behind the plate. Martin and Bailey would move up quick in our system. Blaze Jordan only 17 but may be too good to pass up if hes there. Yeah we need pitching more than bats but picking that high? They cant make that mistake again(Cole and Taillon over Lindor and Machado). Even tho there are good pitching prospects we havent had good luck. Cole turned out fine but Lindor at SS and Machado at 3rd(we had great pitching without Cole those playoff years) would have got us a WS win for sure

 

[ImporterExporter]

All that f***ing batting ability won't mean jack shit if we don't massively improve the pitching staff, mainly the rotation.

Period.

Oh, and ridding ourselves of old crony managers who are living in the 70's.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

The pitching getting better goes without saying. Obviously needs to happen. And that starts with removing Searage. Because we do have options(if they can stay healthy, and the guys who did miss year can come back and have it not impact them).

Nobody expected us to get the results we did from Burnett, Liriano, Happ, Volquez, etc. And before those results was when we drafted Cole and Taillon. So we had great pitching but not enough impact bats to win it all those 3 years. And im guessing if they knew theyd get great results from all those reclamation projects, they would have taken Machado, etc....who would have put us over the top during those playoff years.

So my point is this time we will finally have the bats...solid defense(which helps pitching)...and that will make it easier to get better results from our staff. Whether it looks good on paper or not. And we should finally have depth, with Kuhl/Santana/Burdi/Brubaker coming back along with adding Keller, Marvel, and whoever else. Musgrove, Brault, Williams, Archer isnt a bad 4. No true ace there(yet) but guys who could be good #2s-3s. Theres def alot that needs to go our way to help improve the staff but we arent far removed from having the best staff last year in the second half and to start this season until they all started getting hurt. Along with no depth because of Kuhl/Santana getting hurt last year and them not adding .

But with all of the injuries we saw guys like Brault and Feliz get more action and they made the most of it(after rough starts). So we will see going forward, but imo you need the bats in place first. Just like the Astros had and then went out and got Verlander and Cole, etc. Cubs the same, then adding Lester, Hamels, Quintana, etc.

 

[Winger for Hire]

The fault in looking back at the Taillon pick is assuming that they would have rushed Machado through the system to be apart of those teams. I always look back at that draft and wonder what would have happened if they took Manny instead. I have my doubts we would have seen Machdo anytime before his age 21 season. And if we would have, there is a fair chance Mercer would have still gotten a lot of playing time over him.

The other fault is looking at the baseball draft and drafting for current needs.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I can't wait to see a rotation of Archer, Musgrove, Williams, Keller and Hernandez next year.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Hang on to your hats...

 

[wheelz87]

Javier Baez. Javier Baez. Javier Baez.

Javier Baez!!!!!!

 

[Winger for Hire]

I can't wait to see a rotation of Archer, Musgrove, Williams, Keller and Hernandez next year.

This FO is the guy in college who thought duct tape fixed EVERYTHING.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

I cant wait til we finally have great IF defense opposed to this atrocious D we have now. And with the talent we will have (Hayes, Tucker, Newman) covering so much ground we won't have to do those dumbass shifts.

Our pitchers end up looking way worse because of how bad our D is.

 

[cookthebooks]

hayes looks the real deal but i’m not sold on either of those other two as plus defenders

 

[Winger for Hire]

hayes looks the real deal but i’m not sold on either of those other two as plus defenders

Why is that?

 

[Winger for Hire]

With the FO coming right out and saying they won't be getting a legit arm, or arms, for next season, they HAVE to get Marvel and Brubaker innings in the coming month.