glory

Wow awful AB for Springer there. Bednar didn't throw a single strike.

JS without the 2025 voodoo is really annoying. No reason to bunt there at all.

My guess is the plan was to (pray) that Yariel got through 1.1 innings and then Hoffman for the 9th (assuming Varland was unavailable). The alternative would have been using Hoffman against Judge-onwards, and then hoping Yariel or Flu could pitch the 9th. Who knows. I think I would have gone with Hoffman against the meat of the Yankees order and took my chances with getting by the 9th if they got there with the lead, but JS does not manage like that so it is what it is.

2025 JS made these illogical decisions all the time and it worked so often that it was comical (in a good way). Baseball Gods might be taking all of that back this year.

Pinango against LHP in the minors: 2026: .951 OPS, 29 PA 2025: .736 OPS, 92 PA 2024: .762 OPS, 117 PA At one point last season JS pinch hit IKF for Barger late in a game, so clearly his idea of analytics are "RHB vs LHP = best way to go", but I really see no reason why Pinango can't start against a LHP when f'n Sosa is the alternative, nevermind how bad DS has been.

Realistically, the biggest issues are Vlad and Springer. Okamoto: .215 ISO, 116 wRC+ Varsho: .170 ISO, 115 wRC+ Gimenez: .159 ISO, 82 wRC+ Clement: .107 ISO, 94 wRC+ Straw: .127 ISO, 119 wRC+ Valenzuela: .188 ISO, 107 wRC+ Sanchez: .148 ISO, 94 wRC+ Aside from Valenzuela who has no previous track record, all of the above performances seem pretty reasonable from an expectation standpoint (Straw is likely just noise based on sample size but his wOBA and xwOBA is almost identical so no luck involved). Gimenez likely stinks offensively and you hope he ends up closer to league average than what he was last season. Clement is hitting pretty much like he always has. Then you get to Vlad and Springer, and it's a mess. A combined 9-10 WAR in 2025 and we might be lucky to get half of that this year. Even if Springer's low years (2023-24), his xwOBA showed that he was significantly underperforming. Not the case this season. He's been legitimately bad and given his age that may not be a shock. The lack of Kirk and too much damn Heineman is another big issue that hopefully resolves itself soon. If Vlad gets hot (he likely will) and Springer at least creeps closer to league average (maybe, he's looked bad so far, age isn;'t on his side), then we might see the numbers start to normalize as a whole.

I don't know if the Jays being a game back of a playoff spot is encouraging or sad given how they've looked all season. Maybe both. But whatever, just find a way to get in. Lots of baseball still left.

I hope the media asks Lauer for his thoughts when the Dodgers use him out of the pen.

Demoting Pinango and then having Barger get hurt the next day is some nonsense.

For Will f’n Wagner. Ross was cooking with that deal. He looks like a legit big league backup catcher.

The AL is all kinds of ass this season. I would assume some other teams are going to start to break away from the pack to follow the Yankees and Rays, but could be one of those years when a WC spot can be had with a low/mid 80's win total.

Three of Pinango's balls in play tonight: 103.1, 107.9, 109.6 EV. He's likely the odd man out when Barger gets back, but there's some potential there. If only he was a good defender.

The Cavs were the best matchup for the Raptors (the Raps would have gotten stomped by the Knicks or Celtics), but even I wasn't expecting 7 games. I thought 5, possibly 6 at best. I expect the Cavs to win at home, but neither side has a true clutch playoff performer (Harden specifically has a history of shrinking in Game 7's) so who knows. As far as Varland, JS has always looked at a 4 run lead as a time to use the closer. Not sure why, but that's how he manages.

I don't think this team has a 2025 type of run in them (those types of "everything goes right" runs don't happen often) but confident in securing a Wild Card spot, yes. A lot will depend on health, obviously. Especially to the rotation. They also need another top of the order bat. Looking at the lineup, and assuming Barger comes back strong at some point, the one obvious need is LF. Lukes is what he is, Sanchez is a platoon bat at best, and DS may or may not be playable depending on which type of hitter he decides to be in any given year. Maybe Pinango becomes that guy but I don't think he'll get the playing time to determine that. The AL looks very mediocre this season so not getting a WC spot at a minimum would be disappointing.

The Cardinals are on the verge of starting the season 18-13. Just noticed that their lineup today has 8 players that they drafted (Wetherholt, Burleson, Walker, Gorman, Winn, Church, Pages, Scott) and one they signed as an international FA (Herrera). Nootbaar is on the IL and he was also drafted by the Cardinals. If they are actually a good team (remains to be seen) then would be pretty cool to see an entire homegrown lineup out there playing competitive ball all season.

Keep your head above water until healthy bodies return. Starting 14-16 is not great but given all the injuries that's not a terrible spot to be in, especially given how mediocre the AL looks this season (so far).

Valenzuela's wRC+ went from 8 to 59 after today.

Glad Eloy is gone and Pinango getting some run against RHP.

Varland will definitely be available today. JS had Hoffman pitching 4 in 5 days on five separate occasions in 2025. I don't think that's going to deter how JS uses the pen. It probably should (overuse might be a reason for Hoffman's issues last season, at least partly), but it won't be.

Yeah seriously, the lineups have been ass with all the injuries. Then you have Lukes with vertigo getting plate appearances for some reason, Heineman/Valenzuela being the catching tandem for the foreseeable future, Okamoto coming over from Japan (so adjusting to the bigs), Sosa/Eloy being depth pieces, etc. Besides that, the actual MLB talent not on the IL (Vlad, Gimenez, Varsho, Clement, Sanchez) are all performing within reasonable levels. Anyone expecting Popkins to turn one of us into big league hitters is going to be disappointed.

Yeah if he's a league average bat in his first month of MLB ball where there's clearly an adjustment period, then that's hopefully a good sign. At least with the bat. Not sure on the defense.

That opening weekend sweep of the A's (where they easily could have lost 2 of 3) was huge. Since that sweep, the Jays have the 3rd worst record in the league (PHI/NYM tied for 1st at 7-16, the Jays at 7-15). It has been pretty bad.

Phillies are 8-18 with a -53 run differential. Currently on a 10 game losing streak. Doubling down on that aging core and then just adding Adolis Garcia to the outfield thinking that would fix everything certainly hasn’t aged well. Losing the World Series in 2022 and then losing in the NLCS to the most mediocre team imaginable looks like their only shot with that group. Not sure how they fix it. There’s still a lot of time to turns things around this season and maybe they do but sure feels like the end of the road for that core group. Lots of money and years left on most of those players as well.

Lauer about to go into a rage (of public complaining).

I think Lauer was very justified in being upset about being pulled from the rotation last season when he was essentially the best SP on the team for about 10-12 straight starts. All the whining after that is obnoxious, though. He's not good enough to be worth that headache. He's hunting for a good contract after this season while having below average stuff and a FB in the high 80's. It's not going to happen, but delusion + ego can be dangerous.