forphase1

I was skeptical that last year was for real, given that he fell back to earth quite a bit in the 2nd half. And while it's a bit too early to crown him yet, he's looking very good so far. I hope he can keep it up and we can either start considering him a long term piece and can trade some of the youth that may end up playing first or can trade him for a nice haul if Elias thinks that's better.

I have no faith in Mullins to do anything here unfortunately.

I love this lineup. While there may be some incremental improvements we could make down the road depending on continued performance, for what we currently have on the roster, this is about as good as it can get. I love that there are absolutely ZERO black holes in the lineup.

True, but Hays is the only one we have an easy replacement for already on the roster. Even with Mullins and Santander struggling, I don't want to see them replaced by Mateo and O'Hearn. Mateo isn't good and O'Hearn shouldn't ever see the outfield again.

Best lineup of the year so far. No Kemp, Mateo, Urias or Hays. I like it!!!!

I agree, this whole 'get MLB.TV and get ALL out of market games' and then there are quite a few that you don't get because of some exclusive streaming crap.

Happy to be wrong. This crow is tasting wonderful!

Glad to have been proven wrong. But honestly this makes me question the decision to not have him on the roster for opening day. Did he REALLY get that much better at 2nd base or against LHP in the past 2 weeks to justify this now? Again, VERY glad he is coming up, but it's also a bit head scratching when looking at it overall.

Sure, IF you actually hold them down to work on defense or see lefties, two weeks isn't nearly enough. And, to be honest, whether that was REALLY the reason or not, they are going to ACT like it's the real reason. But we've all been down this road a bunch. But I WILL disagree with you on the ROY stuff. I think they DO think Holliday would be likely to challenge for the ROY, and for that reason he isn't coming up until they are comfortable that the extra year has been gained. If there is much of a chance of him catching whomever is theoretically in the lead (and 2nd place) then Holliday will stay down, IMO. Service time is the real reason he is down, I believe, and they aren't going to risk losing that.

MAYBE if you are talking about Stowers or Kjerstad. But if you are talking about Mayo or Holliday, it's not happening until well past just the service time clock. Think more Super 2 and enough time to not challenge for ROY. Would LOVE to be wrong, but that's what I'm expecting.

No. Don't expect Holliday up until Super 2 time (and likelihood of finishing top 2 in ROY) has passed.

Problem: we are not hitting the ball well or scoring many runs. Solution: start both Kemp and Urias.

Early still obviously, but currently too many holes in the lineup, too many defensive miscues and not enough depth and quality in the bullpen. Management did not do everything they could and should have done to have us ready to hit the ground running. That said it's a marathon, not a sprint and there is plenty of time to start playing better.

She's terrible. I live out of the area but I'm blacked out when playing the Reds, Pirates or Indians by MLB.tv. So when my VPN doesn't work I'm stuck listening to her or the other broadcast. It's sad but I regularly pick the other teams broadcast because even though I don't care for the other teams homerism at least then I usually know what's going on for the game action. With Melanie I'm often clueless and when I later watch the replay of the game or highlights I'm surprised by the difference between what really happened and what Melanie described.

I think there are a few reasons. 1 is service time issues. Both Mayo and Holliday are ready IMO, but are largely not here due to not waiting to start their mlb clock. I disagree with that, but it's not up to me. Kemp and either Urias or Mateo would be gone to make room in my world. As to Hays, right or wrong Hays was an Allstar last year and is going have plenty of rope. It didn't help that the other OF kid, Kjerstad, didn't look great in spring, though of course he's mashing now. And Stowers just is never going to get a chance around here. We may not like it, I sure don't, but the kids are going to stay in AAA until whatever timetable for Elias passes and the vets either underperform enough to lose playing time, are traded or become free agents.