Brownie19

Sale looks awful....

You'll see it when they put up the strike zone box....which they only seem to do on replays. Sale looks to be sitting around 93 MPH. Verlander is a f***ing stud.

I do love watching Verlander though. Watching him get strong late in the game is a thing of beauty.

Do you hate platoon hitting too? For me - it's just so refreshing to see teams think outside the box and use unconventional strategies to win baseball games. I mean thank god managers are no longer these dinosaurs who blindly set their lineups based on "tradition". They no longer bat the Ben Revere type hitter leadoff - or completely ignore LH/RH splits and start the 'vet'. The next step will be to eliminate the closer and to simply use your best reliever in the most critical situation. I don't mind what the Brewers are doing at all. They don't have the 200 inning horses, but they've found a way to maximize their talent. Guys like Woodruff and Burnes are really talented pitchers - potential starters. I don't love guys coming in for a batter or two, but to see those guys (and Hader) who can come in and throw 2, 3 or 4 of the middle innings is fun to watch. As for the kids - there will always be the Verlander, Sale, etc guys that you can dream of becoming. But thank god we can now find meaningful roles for guys who aren't quite good enough to be 200 inning starters...those guys can be 2 - 3 inning studs out of the pen instead of being run out there for too long and lit up - or wasted as a 1 inning reliever. There's no need to run Jake Westbrook out for 200 innings in today's game. You should enjoy Sale/Verlander tonight at least.

Can I ask why you'd want it to fail? You hate progressive thinking?

Machado can't even hustle in a playoff game. It's karma.

Maybe - I just get tired of watching the same teams in the playoffs year after year....and in the Dodgers case...underachieving. The Dodgers are a good organization...but they also spend about a billion dollars a year.

Machado is such a little bitch. f*** him.

meh - I like new fresh teams. Feels like I've been watching the Dodgers suck in the playoffs for like 6 years now. Go Brew Crew. Dodgers deserve to lose for sitting Muncy 2 games in a row.

Can't keep Kershaw in this game.

an utter nightmare. how does that get by him?

I don't know. 94 MPH as a lefty starter (in his prime) was pretty deadly.

Woodruff - holy f***. crushed.

But to be a sustained winner - we're going to either need 2 or 3 other prospects to be star players...or we'll need 4 or 5 of them to be above average guys (like Oakland has in Lowrie, Semien, Olsen, Piscotty, Davis, Canha, etc.)

Muncy was the Dodgers best player this year. His wRC+ vs. LHP was 141. I mean sure you can sub him in once Gio is out of the game, but wouldn't you rather keep Freese on the bench to use in a pinch hitting role vs. a LHP late in the game? This is an insane move.

Dodgers are starting Freese at 1st over Muncy in Game 1 with Gio on the hill... Muncy posted a 141 wRC+ vs. LHP this year. This is insane.

Didi needs Tommy John surgery...

This brings up an interesting point. What kind of ceiling do you guys see from Vlad? Personally, I think there's a strong chance he becomes a great hitter...but let's not kid ourselves - given his size, his BsR and fielding value are going to restrict his value. I don't think we're looking at a guy who's going to give us 8+ WAR per year. I'd imagine at his peak, we're looking at low 7 WAR (Votto & Goldy - 2015) or like JD Martinez this year (5.9 WAR). Boston had Betts (10.4), Bogarts (4.9) and Benny (4.3), combined with Martinez to give them a great team/offense. We're going to need a few more out of the Bo, Alford, Biggio, Jansen, Groshans, Smith group to join Vlad as star players if we're going to create that young core that can sustain winning over multiple years....

I like how you refer to him as an author.

the box score listed him at 3rd.

leave it to Grant to miss the obvious point.

Stanton's career walk rate is 11.5%. Edwin's is 11.1%

What skills do age well again? I assume you'll say plate discipline...any others?

His BABIP over his last 70 ML innings is like .387. If he can sustain his K/BB ratio and GB% - and combine it with a league average BABIP, he'll be a solid back of the pen guy.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/elegy-for-18-toronto-blue-jays/