squally1313

Their bullpen has actually been pretty shaky this year, so still in good shape. Even Kenley has been pretty dong happy.

41 doubles on the year (probably before today)...I am just above the level of boredom required to take on this task, but you're probably only looking for like 10 instances.

8th in wRC with runners in scoring position 3rd in high leverage situations 8th out of 8 and 3rd out of 3 probably He meant since an hour ago.

I don’t know about this specific scenario (or if you can even find it) but as of like 3 days ago we were top 5-10 in the league in batting average and other factors with RISP. YOU KNOW I'M RIGHT. 8th in wRC with runners in scoring position 3rd in high leverage situations

KB turned into Zobrist before our eyes.

Thanks guys, and hey, there you go Schwarbs

Can someone describe the Baez error? Bad throw to home?

It's like Lester knows he's on a pitch count and just daring them to hit his cutter over the plate.

Unless they want him to hit a reset button and work on stuff I’d assume Zagunis is going down for Russell, if/when he comes up. Though Schwarbs should be in consideration and Almora just needs to go away for anything. Yeah kinda forgot about him, good point. At this point all three could probably use a send down (Schwarber for a quick reset/consistent ABs and Almora and Zagunis because they belong there)...will be interesting to see which direction they go.

Schwarber is definitely getting sent down for Russell next week, which is infuriating for a couple reasons (1. Russell in general and 2. Almora still exists)...but man, he is making that decision pretty easy right now.

Watching my bleacher seats on Stubhub at $19 when the lowest price is $17 and going up, but also it's pretty nice out and my boss is gone for the day...real emotional roller coaster.

Purely baseball discussion: I'm not going to get too worried about it. We know Russell is a very good shortstop, we know Javy is a very good second baseman (and probably shortstop too). I get the concerns about the relative arm strength, but Russell has always gotten the job done, and, while it comes up less, it's been annoying watching Murphy/Zobrist/Descalso noodle arm the back half of a double play ball whenever that comes up. And does anyone really think this current version of Javier Baez (or any version, really) is going to let where he plays have any impact on his performance at the plate? Bigger picture discussion: Hopefully Russell gets his first payday in a sack of nickels, drops it on his foot and loses 4 toes and we never see him again. Well my thought is that Russell probably is not going to play every day. Maybe he will but if he doesn't, you'll see Javy constantly moving from 2B to SS and back because there's really no one else on the roster that can play adequate SS (unless I'm forgetting someone). I'd rather have Javy making every start at SS and let Russell/Zobrist/Descalso switch off at 2B. I know what you're saying, and I agree that no one besides Russell and Javy should be playing short. But last year Javy started 75 games at second, 18 games at third, and 52 games at short. I think for someone like him the talks of how it may impact his offense just don't really apply. If you want to make the argument it will throw off his defense with making different throws, footwork, etc...that makes sense. But the offense won't be impacted.

He has had 2 off days in the past week, and one more after this weekend. But yes, they definitely need to dial it back as we enter May. Good point. Looking through the Dbacks series, all of their starters have shown some evidence of success. Maybe give Contreras the Tuesday night game off against the shell of King Felix. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday off would be a nice little reset going into the Cardinals series.

I was thinking the same. Anyone who's good defensively at SS should be even better at 2B, even more so if his only real defensive weakness is the arm. Russell should be at 2B if they're going to make us watch him at all. Purely baseball discussion: I'm not going to get too worried about it. We know Russell is a very good shortstop, we know Javy is a very good second baseman (and probably shortstop too). I get the concerns about the relative arm strength, but Russell has always gotten the job done, and, while it comes up less, it's been annoying watching Murphy/Zobrist/Descalso noodle arm the back half of a double play ball whenever that comes up. And does anyone really think this current version of Javier Baez (or any version, really) is going to let where he plays have any impact on his performance at the plate? Bigger picture discussion: Hopefully Russell gets his first payday in a sack of nickels, drops it on his foot and loses 4 toes and we never see him again.

Given that our only other option at catcher right now is a cut rate backwoods version of Ian Happ, I'm fine pushing Willson a little, especially during this hot streak he's on. But let's please remember to learn our lesson from last year and give him some time off around the ASB/down the stretch. Hopefully it's Caratini when he comes back, but if it's not, can't hesitate on picking someone up.

Some positive trends on the pitching side. 10th in K/9 6th worst BABIP allowed 1st in GB% (which, yes, I know leads to a higher BABIP. But I like our infield defense, and we're unfortunately a couple weeks away from getting Russell back) Worst HR/FB% 6th in xFIP

Also I'm no math expert, but I have a hard time believing that changing one double into a pop out would lower an OPS from a weeks worth of PAs 262 points.

I'll take Kris Bryant over Jason Heyward in any reasonable offensive output statistic for the next week, next month, next whatever, and so would all of you.

Why is a bat flip considered disrespectful? The dong is what's important? After giving up a dong does a pitcher feel any better if the guy politely rounds the bases? I think we're on the same page, as I don't find them disrespectful. I was responding to Old Style talking about how hitters need to be ok with pitchers showing emotion too, which I don't consider much of a problem.

One of our guys (I think it actually was Javy) got pissed at Amir Garret last season, if I remember correctly. Obviously biased, but just rewatched that clip on youtube...Garrett gave out a big yell/flex after getting Javy to swing through a curveball, and Baez looked like he just responded by looking back at him while taking off the elbow pad, shin guard, etc. Then Garret kept staring on his walk to the dugout and looks like he was the one who started talking first (all you can see is him, but when they flash back to Javy he's doing the talking motion with his hand, like that's what the problem was). It essentially looked like Baez was like 'if you're going to talk, say it to my face'. Here's the link to the Baez interview afterwards, in which he remains the best: [bbvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZcxQkZostM[/bbvideo]

Do we have a lot of evidence of batters not being ok with pitchers showing emotion, especially in a hypocritical sense? I totally get where jersey's coming from in terms of not wanting to be embarrassed, but I think at this level it only adds to the intrigue/drama of the game. These guys are the best in the world. Let them pimp it, and if they get it back later on, all the better.

File this (actually really good) article under our file for Cervelli Hate https://blogs.fangraphs.com/who-framed-victor-caratini/

But...no one actually thinks that?

Are the celebrations not part of the sport?