Rutschman 2nd half OPS .585 - McCann’s 2nd half OPS .785

[yark14]

Everything just seems off the last few months.  Lack of pop in the bat and struggles defensively would make sense if he was injured, but a drastic drop in swing decisions doesn't make sense.

Has to be his girlfriend.

[ledzepp8]

1 hour ago, Malike said:

He's obviously a better hitter than that, I suspect something is bothering him and we'll find out after the season. Lobbing the SB on Rutschman is a bit disingenuous, our pitchers are basically letting the runner get halfway to 2B before they even start the windup. 

I'll be happy when the ABS system goes in, because an umpire who is supposed to be watching the ball and not the catcher's glove, framing shouldn't even be a thing.

Yep. Nothing annoys me more than watching a pitch go over the plate but called a ball because it missed the target. 

[TomDominick]

How's Bobby Witt Jr. doing? My buyer's remorse is pretty high right now. Scale of 1 to 5, it's about a 4.7.

Edited September 30 by TomDominick

[TomDominick]

Hoping we were getting Ted Simmons redux. Also hoping the last 3.5 months were an aberration. 

[Can_of_corn]

11 minutes ago, TomDominick said:

How's Bobby Witt Jr. doing? My buyer's remorse is pretty high right now. Scale of 1 to 5, it's about a 4.7.

Look it up for yourself.

 

 

[LookitsPuck]

Don't underrate/undercut a player by a poor 2nd half, and don't overrate a player because of a great year. 

Adley had an 800+ OPS in 2022, 2023, and all the way up until July 10th. Yeah, since then he's been terrible. But I wouldn't be shocked one bit if after the season it comes out that he was dealing with lingering back injuries. 

But he's still only 26. He's a hard worker. Don't doubt one bit he comes back stronger next season.

[Just Regular]

Adley's teams have beaten Witt's teams by about 25 games/season the last 2 years and hopefully can maintain a lead the next 2-3 days.

If McCann bats 9th, and Ragans is gone before Batter Faced #27, would the risk of forfeiting the DH be considered if a righty reliever is attacking McCann in a key spot?    Hyde has at least Kjerstad and Holliday on the bench, and maybe one of Mullins or Cowser if Slater starts.

I am guessing the roster tomorrow will be 14 bats and 12 arms, so you might have one extra somebody for the team's 36th or 45th plate appearance.

One factor against taking the chance...zombie runner is gone so the two teams could have long extra innings for the first time all year.

[ChuckS]

11 hours ago, TomDominick said:

How's Bobby Witt Jr. doing? My buyer's remorse is pretty high right now. Scale of 1 to 5, it's about a 4.7.

Well, they likely would not have drafted an overslot SS with the second round pick if they had taken another HS SS first overall, so would you rather have Henderson and Rutschman or just Witt? 

[e16bball]

I’ve been rending my garments over Adley and his struggles for months now. But I will say that it seems like a bit of an odd time to come together as a group on the notion of benching him — just as he’s been starting to show some signs of being Adley again. 

Over the last week of the season, Adley had a 50% hard hit rate and an average EV of 89.9 MPH. Those numbers absolutely dwarf what he was doing for months, when he was sitting at more like a 26% HH rate and an 85 MPH EV. Anecdotally, I can’t even remember the last time we saw Adley drive a ball into the left-center gap like he did multiple times against MIN. That’s Adley at his very best, and it was a sight for sore eyes. 

I’m not sold that he’s 100% back, and I would still stick with McCann catching Burnes tomorrow (especially since using Adley as the DH is viable with a LHP starter in Ragans). But I sincerely doubt we can run the table without at least a few stretches of Adley being Adley — so I think this recent spurt is probably enough to warrant sending him out there every day still, in hopes that he really is getting it locked back in.

[Jagwar]

2 hours ago, ChuckS said:

Well, they likely would not have drafted an overslot SS with the second round pick if they had taken another HS SS first overall, so would you rather have Henderson and Rutschman or just Witt? 

Hey now, don't use logic here. You'll only confuse us. 

[sportsfan8703]

18 hours ago, Frobby said:

It’s also worth noting that the team had a better record when McCann caught (37-26, .587) than when Adley did (54-45, .545).   That’s partly because Adley hit much better as a DH (.854 OPS) than as a catcher (.650, compared to McCann’s .667).   The team also had a slightly better ERA with McCann (3.89) than Adley (3.98).   Of course, of his 63 starts he caught Burnes 15 times, and Eflin 7 times, so he caught those two in 35% of his starts, while Adley caught them in only 19 of his 99 starts, or 19% of the time.   That skews things in McCann’s favor.  

In any event, we’ll certainly see a good bit of McCann in the playoffs, I expect.   
 

The other argument is O’Hearn any better than Adley at DH. So why not just roll with McCann at C and Adley at DH. Of course Heston is in the mix, but he missed alot of time. Maybe just a PH this series. 

Let’s get this W today.