Malike

He looks at every lineup like that. He's been amazing.

The issue is you don't know how the series is going to play out until it's over. I was happy with the ATL series winning the first two, we lost the last one but I didn't feel like it was a crushing loss and nobody knew we were going to lose that game, I don't think the point is to look at this in hindsight, I want to win the first two games of every series if I have the choice.

It's really not. Going into any series if you lose the first game, you have no shot at a sweep, so if you win the last two that's cool. If you win the first and lose the 2nd there is pressure of a rubber match game, if you win the first two, you always had a chance at a sweep, it's better to have that chance than not to, in my opinion.

Correct but you don't know that at the time. If you win the first two you had a shot at a sweep, it just didn't happen.

To win the first two, sweeping any team is hard, but you are guaranteed a chance at it if you win the first two.

Tell that to Seinfeld.

If you pitch Bradish on 5 days rest you'd pitch Rodriguez on 3 days rest?

1-2 with a 2B, BB, and a K. PH for at some point.

Bradish goes Friday so if they don't want him on extra rest after what happened the last time, he'd pitch on Wednesday, Rodriguez on 4 days rest on Thursday so no Burnes, and GRod scares me being a flyball pitcher, pitching in that bandbox of a stadium. We'll see, I guess, but it's not lining up for us to have all of our studs pitching with more than 4 days rest and Bradish concerns me with little rest. Who pitches on Tuesday?

Yes, we definitely need someone who can strike people out. The bullpen is full of guys with FIP's that are a run or more than their current ERAs, there will be a correction on some of them. Cano has a 2.37 ERA and a 4.27 FIP, he is not a late-inning arm despite the "success" he's had. They give up loud contact and while you can skate in a lot of games during the regular season, you need guys in the pen who can get outs without players putting the ball in play. Webb 1.76 (3.18), Tate 2.45 (3.74) and on and on. When Akin is your 3rd best strikeout pitcher and actually pitching to a FIP lower than Cano and Tate, etc, yeah, you probably should find a 10K/9 guy if you really intend to make a push in the playoffs.

The Orioles, of course. Maybe a meteor hitting the earth, I dunno.

Smoke and mirrors.

Not very impressive. Luzardo and Anderson have been pretty bad and it's not bad luck, their data is just bad. Scott walking 16.5% of his batters is troubling.

The team would really benefit from a guy with a high K rate at the back of the pen, that's one thing for sure that needs fixing. Kimbrel is the only one we have who is a real strikeout pitcher but we need another without a doubt.

Can confirm, he's a real attention wh***.

So just so I'm reading this right, that dude has elite level talent in multiple sports, played them all in college and decided to settle on pro bowling to make 100 grand a year, maybe? Solid choice.

Bowlers are elite athletes. They walk 2 feet and throw a ball then go sit down until it's their turn again. They know what an elite athlete looks like.

Good Lord, there are some embarrassingly bad takes in this thread, it's hilarious.

Eh, we'll likely be throwing Suarez, Povich and Irvin against the Yankees so not exactly our best.

I don't think there is a shortage of 30-34 year old players that are playing at the highest level of the sport. Most of the 30 year old players that are still around are a lot better major leaguers than they were at 26. I agree that getting into the late 30's the dropoff is pretty big without "help", but people suggesting that you need to trade guys who are 27/28 because they are too old is just ridiculous to me. During the Cease nonsense threads, people were saying Ortiz was too old at 25 to be of value.

Clay Holmes got walked off by the worst part of the KC batting order, maybe he's available as he's probably not good enough for the NYY.

I know this, it was a hyperbolic post because people act like 28-29-year-olds are ancient and past their prime.

More bad luck for Cowser.

Westburg, Out, then Mullins. Do something.

Yeah but what was his xERA?