If we want to save some money and still bring in a big bat we could look at signing Steve Pearce. He demolishes lefties and handles RHP fine. You can also move him around 1B, OF, 2B. Versatile player to have whether he's used everyday or not.
At worst he'd be an excellent platoon bat with Upton. He's a better LH bat than Saunders and doesn't K much. He'd probably rake in the AL East as well.
I'm saying they failed to adjust for the last 6 weeks of the season when pitcher's upped their breaking ball usage and pitched them down and away. I'm not referring to 5 games. Really no different than team's figuring out Estrada and waiting on the offspeed that he started overthrowing during the year (kind of like the 3 straight change ups to coco crisp yesterday, Crisp waited back on that and teed it up like batting practice).
I don't have stats to back that up but the result is really what happens when you live and die by the long ball. A cold bat, an injury or two and things can collapse quickly.
We mashed Hamels & Darvish with ease... our lack of offense against Cleveland was no different than it has been all season against the plethora of scrub minor league pitchers we faced all year. So I don't think I'd categorize it based on the pitcher's ability but more the fact that we failed to adjust our approach at the plate.
Well... it's been a good season guys. Thanks for making me smarter and dumber every day. Hopefully a WS sweep so we can get the off season going quicker.
Crisp treated that pitch like batting practice. He didn't even think of starting his swing early he knew what was coming for like the 3rd pitch in a row.