Solaxys

16 pitches, not bad - no walks, thank god and ump derped him once for two pitches. Pitches look a bit flat

wtf is ump looking at lol

Just saw the lineup; Biggio lead off \o/

I will literally take not walking anyone in the first inning at this point.

Its like in Moneyball where Beane signed Hattenberg despite having an arm that can't throw. Same convo. WE'LL HAVE OUR 21 GAME WIN STREAK NOW.

Coaching will be offseason. I think at the minimum baserunning/defense coaching changes will happen. Way too many errors committed on that end. Rest will depend on if we make postseason or not. Mostly pitching coaches are on the line especially with Berrios' contract. I don't think Charlie is going anywhere but I'd be elated if Schneider took over. Don't think catcher trade will happen mid-season unless its Moreno (who might be traded if the return is good, tbh); its looking more like Moreno might be sent back down to AAA. One of the three will be traded this offseason though - Jansen most likely but not sure to whom. Astros/Giants are going to go through some heavy turnover next season but Astros might set up for two more years of contention. We have to get Brown if this is the case. 'cause I can't f***ing get behind spending another 20 AAV for another starting pitcher lol. If you really want to trade Jansen right now, give him to the Rays for some of their elite pitching We'll trade for Relief. I am just not sure what direction they are going to take. Are we looking for people with control like Barlow/Mantiply/Effross (these guys will cost something) or get-me-overs like Bard/Robertson/Chafin (these guys won't cost much)? I hope for the former as I don't think this is an all-in season, so spend some low-end prospects for some upside + control. But relief with control is kind of a crapshoot too - they might never repeat those seasons again. I don't think we are trading for Montas/Castillo or anyone of that caliber. It'll cost too much (I mean we got Berrios for 2 top 100 with no competition; Montas/Castillo are going to set up bidding wars) and we don't need that. We need inning eaters atm. Gausman/Manoah are enough 1/2 and Berrios has to be 3 with that contract. 4/5 don't need to be elite. I liked Mahle but he isn't vaccinated, so maybe Quintana from pirates who won't cost much. But he is a get-me-over and so do we have anyone lined up for next year? Wade Miley could be another target and can package with Effross or Robertson. We ain't touching a LHB - only one worth is Bell and we can't fit him anywhere. Can get Ortega from Cubs in a package but, that'd mean DFA-ing Tapia or Zimmer - not sure that's part of the plan atm. We have two DH possibilities in Vlad/Kirk + aging Springer's body - no spot for a dedicated DH player atm. I also think they want to wait and see what they have in Biggio and if they can turn around Zimmer this offseason.

Wonder what Conforto is doing lately --- Also a lot of possible LH Impact Bat choices will depend on whether Kirk will become a DH with C as his secondary or vice versa. That'll shape up over the next few years. As for contact leftys with plus defense, Kevin Kiermaier might become a FA this year Pirates are definitely looking into contending in a few years so I presume they'll extend Bryan Reynolds but it'd be f***ing swell if we can trade for him. He is expensive though, 6.25M AAV atm and will only go up.

The problem with this line-up, long term (even if its firing on all cylinders), is there is just no room to sneak in a LHB impact bat because of the potential of how good the RHB are. This isn't an issue over a regular season but will be in post-seasons where you can just load up on righty-specialists who have a wipe-out slider down/away for the series. To an extent, I appreciate Charlie setting up Tapia and Biggio, 2 batters apart, even if it means Tapia has to hit 6th sometimes, as this plays well around the 3-batter rule for relievers. It'd be pretty neat to do 2-5-8 as your lefties, 1-3-4-6-7-9 as your righties. To make room for a LH impact bat in the top of the order, someone has to go (again, its a long-term thing; this year, we have other issues and this isn't making the list). Will Springer get traded before his prime wraps up? Who of Bo/Vlad/Kirk get extended? Will Teo/Gurriel get traded before 2024? Getting LH impact (two in the top 6) would help this lineup quite a bit, imo, just to establish more competitive ABs against excellent RHPs. We're kind of thin on OF bats from the minors atm, which is unfortunate, so might also have to start looking into some upside bats there. Does Zimmer have a chance to improve his contact once he goes through the rigamarole of this off-season/training? He has speed, defense, elite hardhit%/barrel% but just cannot make contact. Not sure if you can teach bat-ball skills.

Bo wants to be a superstar, and he has the makings of it if he learns discipline and stops giving up on his two-strike approach. There is no way we'll sign both Vlad and Bo, but we'll definitely keep one - which one will depend on how they do over the years. Bo also had only one 5.1 WAR year; his defense definitely got better this year than the last 3, so he's on track for 3 WAR because his offense dropped. Maybe he's going through the same spell Kirk did while trying to figure out the defense - and next year we'll see the true emergence of Bo.

lol yup. Kirk putting up a casual 1.064 OPS, Lourdes with 0.916, Chapman with 0.699, Bo/Teo with 0.5 OPS against any righty pitcher in the last two years with a wSL of 5.5 or higher Didn't do Vladdy since you didn't mention him in your first list

I can do it, what do you consider Nasty? Like is Taillon nasty?

Are jobs not decided by results? No room to get better? And its ignorant of you to assume that I am assuming said individual is an idiot. If someone strategizing on the other side is better than our strategizing, against one of the worst pitching clubs in the game - against an awful pitcher, then that definitely needs looking into. Obviously baseball is 162 games and its a long summation of statistics, but that doesn't mean what Rivera did last night wasn't abhorrent (as an example), even though he is "highly trained" and understands the "iceberg" more than me.

Maybe I'm just a bit too old school but I feel, doesn't matter your history or what tier prospect you are/were, you need to earn with your play on the field. Bo has had his moments this year (May was looking really good) but he's back to underperforming in June and so far in July. He doesn't look at many pitches (3.5 P/PA v. Biggio's 4.3 P/PA), has an obnoxiously high GB% (more than Vlad over that month lol), just cannot seem to table-set this year. Perhaps the only issue with putting Biggio in spot 2 ahead of Vlad/Kirk is that instead of trying to get him to chase, they might just challenge him with heat and while he has gotten better at it, he still Ks frequently to that. I think they run him out until ASB. He has what 2 starts left? One against Mariners and one against KC. With Gausman as well probably not pitching until ASB is done, you are probably tied up anyway. --- Still got 11 games to go. We can still end on a positive note if we go 8 - 3

I get that but how do you even give the single 'problem' of not being able to square up high heat against all the statistics that he has been outperforming nearly everyone in this ball club since his return from IL? He has 162 wRC+, 0.901 OPS, 0.7 BB/K since May 1st! Two months stretch! Coming from a LHB! Biggio needs more credit from the FO, at least this year based on his current trend. He strikes out just as much as Bo does but has triple his walk rate and just as much SLG. He needs to be spot 2, against every righty we face until either Bo picks it up or Biggio falls off.

July so far (1-5) | SSS but it is what it is: Gurriel: 299 wRC+, 1.420 OPS, 1.00 BB/K (league average is 0.43) Biggio: 183 wRC+, 0.976 OPS, 0.75 BB/K Vladdy: 130 wRC+, 0.833 OPS, 0.00 BB/K (no walks lol) Everyone else below 100 wRC+ with Springer/Chapman/Moreno under 30 wRC+ (this includes last night's 3 for 4 by Chapman). Kirk has been in a bit of a rut but his barrel%/hard-hit% has still been excellent. If we extend back to the last two weeks (50+ PA for starters), top 3: Kirk: 200 wRC+, 1.057 OPS, 1.33 BB/K Gurriel: 199 wRC+, 1.051 OPS, 0.5 BB/K Biggio: 189 wRC+, 1.009 OPS, 0.7 BB/K Teo is at 140, rest are at 100 +/- 5 (Bo/Espinal/Tapia being the below 100 ones) --- So why in the hell would you, as Charlie, PH Biggio for Vladdy instead of Tapia. Like, what the f*** lol. Biggio can go left field if you are so concerned of not burning Gurriel's day off. Come on man. Alongside the send of Kirk, the 6th inning was a coaching masterclass.

Charlie hates Kikuchi man lol - dude's singlehandedly putting Montoyo's job security on the line by being terrible every 5 days.

Then we need a better strategist, cause I am not entirely sure what he has been strategizing during cold streaks for the batters to have better ABs/eking out wins.

f*** it, I am going to bed; another waste of time. Mind-boggling errors on basepaths from coaching staff & another classic Kikuchi outing.

Does... does Rivera know who the f*** is running?

Where? Also. Thanks for showing up Vlad.

You are actually so annoying, holy s*** lol. I wish there was an ignore button on this forum.

Its 5 runs on 2 f***ing hits lol. This s*** is all on the walks/HBPs by Kikuchi. Thornton giving up a solo HR shouldn't break a game.

There's the meatball he leaves up typically once or twice per appearance.

Hm, do I sleep or watch the last 3 innings of this

Why is Moreno trying to swing his soul out of his body?