Transmogrified Tiger

Ross was 60-63 in one-run games entering this season.

Guessing we'll see all the RHH, so it's a matter of if Bellinger or Mervis sits to start. Mervis hasn't looked super comfortable at the plate, so a day off and an off day to exhale after this past week might be the preference. That'd give you Madrigal at 2B, Morel at 3B, and Wisdom/Mancini 1B/DH. Otherwise Bellinger sits and you have Wisdom at 3B and Morel in CF.

The reason is that Flaherty has been horrific against LHH this year(.450+ wOBA) and very hard on RHH(.270ish wOBA), so maximizing the at bats for LHH or split neutrals like Madrigal was preferred over people with natural platoon splits or prone to his pitch mix. And sure enough, Madrigal went 2 for 2 with a 2B off him and Hosmer went 1 for 2 while Morel and Mervis each went 0 for 2 with a K. Hitting Hosmer and Mervis back to back is intentional as it either continues to give Hosmer the platoon advantage against relievers, or it baits the Cardinals into using a lefty reliever and Ross can go to Mancini for Hosmer like he has many times already. The same thing with Madrigal and Wisdom if the matchup prefers it. I don't want to come across like these are immutable truths of the universe, you can have logical reasons to prefer a number of different permutations when it comes to the lineup. It just bugs me when people apply their dislike of their least favorite players to it being an obviously dumb decision every time they get playing time. I wish we'd have more curiosity about what the actual reasonings are instead of stopping at 'Ross loves this bad player so he makes dumb decisions to give them opportunities'.

Assad's most recent outings regardless of level were 50 pitches, 72, 59, and 62. He was on 4 days rest. He was fine to start that inning against the bottom of the order when he had no signs of trouble when he was less than 60 pitches(I think it was 59). Those 3 are (in theory, who knows if one of them is sore or sick or w/e) the remainder of the pen that you have for a potential extra inning game that is not a very hypothetical construct when you're tied in the 9th. Could he have gone to Keegan and tried to get 2 out of him if needed? Yeah I think so, and I wouldn't have been upset with it. Is letting Assad try to get you one more when he's been on autopilot against 3 bad hitters a disqualifying failure? Absolutely not. Managers make like thirty 52/48 decisions in a game and then we fans try to pretend they're 90/10 with the benefit of hindsight(and sometimes, incomplete information).

Could not disagree more. If anything 2023 has convinced me that Ross is a good manager, and while I don't watch every team regularly to get a good sense of other managers, I'd be shocked if there were 10 better than him. I'll grant that you need to have a reliever warming in the 9th, though the 3 hits taking all of 6 pitches is a bit aberrant. Heading into that inning Assad had given up one hit in those 5 innings, has been starting so he wasn't pushing his luck endurance wise, and most importantly was eating valuable innings from a pen that was gassed. Fulmer and Boxberger were almost certainly down, and Alzolay probably should be given his newness to relief and injury history. For a game that very easily could have gone to extra innings, trying for one more from cruising Assad against 7-8-9 is extremely logical. More generally, Ross does a very good job of balancing SP workload, the game remained close partially because he took the uncommon step of yanking Taillon before the end of the 3rd, and he'll also ride strong starters(especially Stroman) to ensure he doesn't lean too hard on the pen. He's fine moving relievers in and out of leverage situations as their form waxes and wanes. He's aggressive in pinch hitting even before the late innings when the moment presents itself(this also makes a chunk of the batting order complaints unfounded), and most of the gripes about position player selection round to 'there aren't any good LHH platoon/bench options and our RHH platoon/bench options have exploitable flaws'. Ross is fine, better than fine I would wager.

One trip to visit Hottovy in Chicago and Hendricks looks a ton better: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4/0 K/BB. Heuer with 2 Ks and a walk in 3 hitters succeeding him. Disappointing lack of K's(though no one was on either side tonight) but still low-hit stuff from Birdsell: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1/1 K/BB

Having seen one up close I'm not afraid to say it, I'm for them.

just mocking us now

Boy the discourse around today's lineup was one of my least favorite things in a while, just ignoring or not being one bit curious what the actual motivations were and reflexively getting worked up about bad process, Ross being dumb, etc. Flaherty has insane R/L splits this year, so it seems clear that the motivations are maximize lefties and split neutrals(hence Madrigal and Hosmer), minimize pressure on the new promotions(hence Mervis/Morel/Amaya 7/8/9), and maximize stability for the regulars as they prefer(Madrigal leading off instead of scooting everyone up). I wouldn't necessarily do all of those things this way, but the 9 chosen are the right ones, and the freakouts about order are largely irrelevant considering Wisdom/Mancini can seamlessly PH for Madrigal/Hosmer the moment it is advantageous.

0% for both, upgrade Ballesteros to 0.1% if he drops a ton of weight this offseason.

1 PCA 2 Brown 3 Horton 4 Mervis 5 Amaya 6 Wicks 7 Hernandez 8 Alcantara 9 Caissie 10 Canario 11 Ferris 12 Ballesteros 13 Davis 14 Birdsell 15 Hodge 16 Palencia 17 Made 18 Herz 19 Kilian 20 McGeary

I haven't messed with that, but in this case unfortunately it's not an option, since I'm in-market for STL and also don't have access to Bally Midwest

It's bizarre to me that Gameday can't get the radio broadcast to be synced with the play graphic. I'd understand if it was a pitch off or so, but it's 7-8 pitches (and therefore at least one hitter) behind at all times.

I think you're making the wrong inference here. It isn't a coincidence that a bunch of the most successful teams played with a hand behind their back offensively at one position, in particular Cleveland and Tampa weren't even above average at scoring runs. They all had a chance to upgrade at the deadline and chose not to(the Astros and Mets famously so!), it's not something they feel like they got away with, it was a conscious decision. They're doing so because they gain back more than a handful of hits and walks from having the right person calling pitches and managing the game. Everyone wants the best of both worlds, and there is a point where an offensive black hole is a concern. My overall point is I think you're not calibrated right if you're saying the backup C having a .550 OPS after 50 PA is an unacceptable drain on the team when a bunch of really good and smart teams were intentionally fine with that production from the position as a whole.

Velazquez has 16 PA in 11 games since Bellinger got back from paternity leave. They can't possibly be shuffling just for that purpose.

As with the Mervis call up, the 'for who' answer is almost more fascinating. Even temporarily it doesn't make sense to be for a pitcher given how much the pen was used this weekend, also the only RP who pitched both Sat/Sun is Alzolay who isn't going down. A minor injury or "injury" to Wisdom or even Seiya would make some sense, but both pinch ran yesterday Velazquez would seem like a strange lateral move that isn't accomplishing much besides saying 'good job' to Morel's AAA performance Which means, did Mervis do enough quickly enough to make them comfortable cutting Hosmer? If not then someone else has to have an unknown injury, and it's probably a DL'able injury as opposed to having the flu or paternity/bereavement leave, since for a 48-72 hour turnaround my guess is they'd bring back Mastrobuoni first.

This is the key point, Amaya has 0 AAA at bats to his name, he's only up now instead of throwing Dom Nunez or Jake Washer on the 40 man because Gomes' injury is very short term. If anything, I think it's promising how much they've let him catch, they very easily could've caught Barnhart every day except for night/day combos, but they clearly think Amaya is up for it and hopefully the early feedback on game management is good too. But there's no reason to make that one way change at this point in the season, if you want to be aggressive, send Amaya down to Iowa instead of Tennessee, and revisit come the trade deadline.

The Astros won the world series last year and their catching position as a whole hit .186/.244/.313. The Cardinals won 93 games with a .554 OPS from the position, the Guardians won 92 with a .530 OPS from catchers, and the Mets won 101 games with a collective .572 OPS from backstops. The Rays, Brewers, and White Sox all were .500 or better with a sub .625 OPS from the catching position.

sir that is Birdsell erasure and I won't stand for it

Barnhart's option is about the same LT hit as Bote's, and they outrighted him with multiple years left on his deal. It's not a real barrier to roster construction. As for his performance, I think what is abundantly clear is that offense comes second at best at the catching position right now, doubly so for backup catcher where the offensive bar is through the floor. And defense is largely a thing happening outside measurement as well, like we've seen with the hysteria surrounding Contreras's game calling and how smart teams have foregone offense at C. Yes Amaya hasn't looked overwhelmed at the plate, but he's also 2 for 7 with those 2 hits being an infield dribbler and a bloop behind 1st(I know he has some loud outs too). Barnhart started the year 4 for 10 with several loud outs, and while I'm not going to hold a candle that he's a league average bat, I think a slump the equivalent of a week's worth of at bats is maybe not the locked on expectation we'll have for the rest of the year.

I hadn't seen the balk until that most recent replay and I'm surprised that the bench wasn't more upset about it. Miniscule glove movement before he's even set, what?

Caissie is 2 for 4 with a HR and 2 Ks, he's determined to just hit lasers and strike out every day until they get him away from the pre-tacked ball

The Marlins thing with their whole roster build seems to be 'zag where everyone else zigs, even if there's no logical reason for it'

If you keep the infield back you risk not actually throwing the runner out when you field it. The 'advantage' is limiting that downside, but until the ball is in somebody's glove it is much more likely a groundball gets through and ends the game.

Mervis showing at a minimum he is no worse than Mancini at 1B, nice pick