ChosenOne21

I guess so, but anything he does is a bonus at this point. I don't have any expectations

Command struggles, apparently

Cadyn Greiner's home run was a no-doubter off the bat. He crushed it to right-center, probably went at least 400 feet. He had an error in the first where a bouncer he ranged to his right for went off his glove. Not the easiest play, but one a good shortstop needs to make. After that he put on a defensive clinic. He had about three highlight reel plays, two of which were tough ground balls he fielded and flipped to second to try and start a double play. Runners were barely safe at first both times. Cullen's throws from second weren't the greatest, but it might not have mattered. The Akron fans near me were very impressed with Greiner's D and one turned to me and asked if he always played like that. If the newfound ability to hit is real, he could be something special.

I have no idea if Akron's gun is fast or slow, but Grayson was mostly 97-98 for the first three innings, touching 99 once. Fourth inning he started to hit 96 a couple of times and in the fifth he was 95-96. He threw a ton of strikes--probably too many. Only time they flashed the pitch breakdown for Grayson, he was at 75% strikes thrown. Akron's plan was clearly to swing early and often and they put a lot of balls in play. Grayson might have benefited from being around the zone more and burning a few more pitches to see if he could get chases. Other notes from the game: Cadyn Greiner's home run was a no-doubter off the bat. He crushed it to right-center, probably went at least 400 feet. He had an error in the first where a bouncer he ranged to his right for went off his glove. Not the easiest play, but one a good shortstop needs to make. After that he put on a defensive clinic. He had about three highlight reel plays, two of which were tough ground balls he fielded and flipped to second to try and start a double play. Runners were barely safe at first both times. Cullen's throws from second weren't the greatest, but it might not have mattered. The Akron fans near me were very impressed with Greiner's D and one turned to me and asked if he always played like that. If the newfound ability to hit is real, he could be something special. Tyler Joyner was throwing 90, but it looked like about 80 after watching Grayson. It was some kid's tenth birthday party and the guy running the between inning "entertainment" had the whole stadium sing him happy birthday. After he realized all eyes and the camera were on him, the kid started doing the worm. Everybody got a real kick out of that. Tons of laughter

Need for warm bodies at AAA if they start the carousel of 2B/3B at Baltimore?

Assuming Franco needs the IL, that's who I'd like to see

He could be better than he is this year. I doubt he'll be so much better that it's going to be hard to replace the production

First pitch to Santander, also clearly a strike

And wow, Astros pitching coach ejected. I'd be pretty pissed too if my pitcher didn't get those calls

According to gameday, every pitch thrown to Mancini was a strike. Umpire seems to have a tiny zone today

Gosh, what ever are we going to do without Pop's 5.46 ERA in 28 low-leverage innings in our pen? I was higher on Pop than most, and I'm not even upset about this. It seems he isn't as good as we thought he was. There are about a million relievers who can put up mid-5's ERA or better. I'm sure Elias can find some.

If we're DFA Wilkerson, optioning Wells and moving Lakins to the DL, that's three open roster spots, right? We only called up Mattson and Watkins. Is there a third player coming?

I'd be pretty shocked if at least Adley Rutschman and Grayson Rodriguez didn't debut next year and make an impact. Quite possibly D.L. Hall, too. Kyle Bradish, Terrin Vavra, Kevin Smith, Yusniel Diaz and Jahmai Jones will also probably debut this year or next. Who knows if any of them will be any good though. We certainly have something better than utility before 2023

Yeah, but he's missing by a lot

Where's the Alex Wells with plus-plus command we were promised?

He hasn't shown he can hit, but he hasn't shown he can't either, IMO. He gets an "incomplete"

How to be the Shortstop you Never Were by Pat Valaika

Lopez is lucky his line isn't a lot worse. The defense turned three double plays behind him and got an outfield assist at home. Then Wells came on and stranded a runner.

I think gameday should be required to put quotes around "shortstop" when referring to Pat Valaika

Based on that article, I don't see anything to suggest it's more than him being unhappy with Kremer's results

I don't want to trade Means just yet. Obviously, if someone blows us away... If we're looking this bad this time next year, I think we probably need to trade him

When they jumped Jeff Fiorentino from A+ to MLB

Maybe he and Mountcastle can split 1B/DH if we trade Mancini

This guy gets it

So if you have so much information about the whole situation, why didn't you lead with that?