The battles I want to see in ST

[Just Regular]

2 hours ago, MurphDogg said:

Nah, corner outfield defense is not important enough for Mullins to get starts over Stewart, considering how much better Stewart's bat is.

Bring Mullins in as a defensive upgrade in the late innings (probably Mullins to center with Hays to the corner), but Mullins's bat doesn't play as a starting corner outfielder (nor is it good enough to push Hays to the corner).

Brian Kenny did an essay the other day on well-rounded players vs. run producing sluggers, and had a point about sluggers better for the 162, and multi-faceted players better tools for single game play.   Obviously on some level the whole thing was MOOKIE....but I'm not sure I'd seen the single game point highlighted as much before.

Anyway, if prioritizing LF Hays and bench Stewart over DH Stewart and bench Mullins is a small sacrifice, its one I can accept for giving Mullins some extra reps while they are abundant - I think he has more long term utility potential.   Are you Glass Half Full on Stewart's bat?   It was 6 great days, but his Zone contact rates pretty low (Sisco too).

[Philip]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

That is yet to be seen.   Stewart lost 10-12 lbs.  Seems to be moving a little better this spring.  We will have to wait and see more.

Even if he’s improved that doesn’t necessarily mean much. As Harry Mudd said,” twice nothing is still nothing.” 

[Just Regular]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

I didn't say a batter.  I said  lead off batters.  If you add up the # of at bats lead off hitters gets during the season.

30 Clubs in 30 Days last night did guess a lineup with Hays, Mullins up top, but I really hope Hays, Santander, Mountcastle, Mancini are Top 4 as often as humanly possible.

Mancini in his interview did give a nice, practical "I like being DH" quote after saying he was working almost exclusively at 1B in the field.

[Sports Guy]

Mullins doesn’t need to play a lot to have a OF UTI spot for the long term.

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

I believe that Mullins has developed as a hitter and will hit like he did as a left-handed hitter last year.

300/350/450/800

Holy sh**!!
 

800 OPs over 600 at bats?

[ScGO's]

Anyone else thing Urias is going to earn 3B and 2B starts?  He might be forcing Ruiz or Valaika off the team.

[Thats Baseball]

These opinions. LMAO

[Frobby]

On 2/22/2021 at 10:12 PM, wildcard said:

Which is huge if.   This off season Hays said in an interview that he intends to continue diving and climbing walls.  He says that is just the way he plays.    But its also part of the reason he goes on the IL.  His body gets beat up the way he does it IMO.   I project him plays less than 100 games because he has trouble staying on the field.

Both Hyde and Hays were asked about this on Inside the Yard this week.   Hyde said he wouldn’t have Hays do anything differently, except probably not running (which I took to mean stealing bases) in spring training games.   Hays said that of his injuries, only one related to being aggressive, when he injured his thumb sliding into 2B in a MiL spring training game, which could have been avoided by wearing a sliding glove.   His other injuries related to a congenital structural problem with his ankle that was corrected by surgery, and a fastball to the ribs.   So he doesn’t plan to change the way he plays.    

I do think people are too quick to interpret a sequence of unrelated injuries as indicating that a player is injury prone, rather than just having been unlucky for a couple of years.     But we’ll see.  

Podcast of the interview here: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9yc3MuYXJ0MTkuY29tL2JhbHRpbW9yZS1vcmlvbGVzLWluc2lkZS10aGUteWFyZC1wb2RjYXN0/episode/Z2lkOi8vYXJ0MTktZXBpc29kZS1sb2NhdG9yL1YwL09IY29wYVZvYjl4OGx0TTZyX1dHeXhmOTFiVWlJVG9nME5MOUxfMWFKaUU?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwjhof25z5vvAhUHbs0KHTMZA2AQieUEegQIDhAH&ep=6