Sessh

Hard to believe Boston is likely going to miss the playoffs as the defending champions.

.. but we all know what will happen to those papers. They will go to where many other papers have gone to die; Peter Angelos' desk. They'll sit there for decades long after he's gone because that desk will never die even if all the papers on it do. Somehow, the Davis contract made it through all the rubble. Very unreliable, that desk.

Then there's no point in claiming guys at all if we're not going to do our own analysis and our coaches do their own tinkering. It is unreasonable to not allow our system and our coaches ample time to work with these players and come to our own conclusions as opposed to relying on the conclusions of others after four innings of work. No point in making claims at all, then. We could just skip the waiver process entirely and take their word for it immediately. Yacabonis came up in our system and was given multiple chances, but only got worse and worse. Completely different than the stuff you advocate for like using the same strategy with guys in Bowie who were not waiver claims or giving up on guys after four innings of work. Other teams do have good analysts and coaches, but they're wrong all the time just like any others. Armstrong's success is neither rare nor that unexpected since it happens all the time either through waivers, the rule 5 or even trades. Waiver claims are made in part because we think that team made a mistake. If we don't think they made a mistake, no point in making the acquisition at all. Four innings is pretty immediate, no hyperbole needed nor have you refuted that. On a rebuilding club like this one, this is the kind of stuff you do. You stick with guys as long as possible, you work with them, you exhaust all avenues of possibility before releasing guys because we don't have the luxury of just leaning on better players and won't have it for many years. So, don't be surprised if guys like Phillips, Scott and Shepherd are here a lot longer than you think they should be. I'm not saying either of those three are or will be any good, but no reason not to allow ample time.

No, your standards are unreasonable. It's either instant success or goodbye and you seem perfectly willing to burn through the entire minor leagues in one season which is about as impatient and reckless as it gets. Your approach seems to be more suited to food or wine tasting. Also, Shepherd was more lucky than good; eight baserunners in four innings. Maybe he'll do better next time. Yup, in Norfolk.

Nice play by Urshella there. I could see Alberto going on an impressive hitting streak at some point if in fact what we're seeing from him this season is who he really is.

Ok Hyde, Bundy is done. Now's the time to get him.

Bundy four run first, but seems to have pulled it together. Severino 1-1 with a walk and an RBI. Nunez looks like he's finished with his slump. Villar a hit, walk and RBI. Nice... except the score.

Totally forgot there was a day game today.

It's possible, but at the same time, there's no reason not to give those pitchers a full year of development at Norfolk before bringing them up. I think 2021 is when the pitching will really get interesting. Now, Akin is a guy we could see next year if he can get himself together. This is the last year of 40 man rosters in September, so he may get a look then as well as Hays and Mountcastle who I expect to be competing for a spot on the roster in ST next season.

By "need', I don't think that is anything less than a cascade of injuries on the major league club that forces the promotion. I get that people are excited about some guys on the farm, but they will not be rushed to the majors because there is absolutely no point. These pitchers will get more than enough time to develop their pitches and command before coming up. Early promotions are likely an absolute last resort for Elias. I honestly would not expect them to get to the majors until 2021 and that's only for the ones that make it that far. Hopefully, they all do. It does seem like Elias is willing to promote guys who are wild cards (no pun intended) or unlikelies (not a word, I know) to see which players, if any, can become major league ballplayers when thrown into the fire. I do like Doug Brocail so far. I like how he seems to be very engaged with our pitchers even if the results aren't there right now. He is trying to find diamonds, even some nice quartz crystals or some agate, amongst the fringey guys we have. I think he will uncover a few surprises. This rebuild is all about patience. I personally find this to be an adventure of sorts because there will almost certainly be several surprises ahead. One surprise I do NOT want is trying to find reasons to promote pitchers early who have a very good chance to be parts of a contending major league team. I do NOT want that. They will join whatever is left of what we have now that have proven themselves and we can go from there. A lot of damage has been done to this organization prior to this season. We know what mistakes we made in the past. We should not be so eager to make them again.

Shepherd scraping by, but seven baserunners in three innings is not good.

So, basically from the first inning on?

Unfortunately, that direction takes it into the gap or over the fence. His fastball moves, it just moves right into the middle of the plate too often.

7-1 Yankees and we're not even through the fourth yet.

Castro coming in.

Means not looking at all like the guy that made the AS game that he never got to pitch in.

Means seems to have lost confidence in his stuff to some degree. Santander hits one out to dead center field.

Up to 70 pitches and still in the third.

Of course, no one is immune from suspicion and I wouldn't care, but we wouldn't even be able to celebrate something like that in today's game.

Nolan Ryan threw his sixth no-hitter at the age of 43 and his seventh at 44. Could you imagine someone doing that today without relentless accusations?

Means is by no means a lock for any rotation spot. He has not been good in three of his last four outings, so let's see if he can regain his previous form before we start naming him as a 2020 starter. Bundy may not be here. Cobb? Yeah... Also, the Bowie crowd will not be ready mid season next year; 2021 is the year for those guys. They will, under no circumstances, be rushed and we are not actively trying to win games. Not this year, not next year and probably not 2021 either. That's a long way off still.

You wanted "anyone" called up. Shepherd has never thrown a pitch in the majors. What are you complaining about exactly? Deck chair replacing deck chair? How would that be different in this case if it was anyone else? We're calling up a guy who has never thrown a pitch and that's your response? You don't really know what you want, do you?

Kim was another obvious example. The guy played so well in his rookie season and then had his playing time cut the following year. We don't make the wild card without him. I still say he could have been a decent major leaguer if he wasn't unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire between Buck and Dan. He earned a starting role and got a bench role. FWIW, he's been better than ever back in the KBO and is putting up his best back-to-back seasons since his early 20's.

If you want to be the best one day, you have to learn to beat the best now. Take your lumps, but don't run from it all the time. That's no good at all and they learn nothing. Let guys like Torres punish them for throwing bad pitches and maybe they'll learn to be better. I don't agree with these kinds of strategies at all. This team is trying to learn how to win and that means a lot of losing first. Losing is learning at this point.