bwillly

I mean I would say a 3 start sample size seems pretty ****ing harsh especially when most of that is one bad start.

he had 2 bad starts in July and still has a 2.40 era at target field as a starter. It seems odd to send him to the saints for 2 bad starts imo and he would def be a valuable bullpen arm over pagan or Duffey imo. tbh I like that he criticized Rocco for pulling starters early, but I’m guessing that’s maybe the biggest reason he got sent down lol. Didn’t know that bit. would be kind of funny irony too if he got called back up and Rocco says you don’t like me pulling starters well here now you’re a reliever and you can pitch the 6th and 7th ;)))

Looking at Quality Starts, before picking up Mahle Smeltzer actually had the most QS at 6, Gray has 5. Smeltzer had a couple bad starts and got sent to the Saints. Why? Even with those couple of poor starts he has a 4.0 era this year and a 2.0 era at target field. With our bullpen still lacking depth why is he not on the roster? Seems like he would be a great option to pick up 6-7 inning work with Rocco’s penchant for not letting SPs pitch into the 6th. Does he maybe have no personal interest in that kind of role?

I don’t understand giving Pagan the ball for the Toronto 4-6 hitters. Let Gray try to get 1-2 more outs in the 6th or get lucky and get through the 6th on 10 pitches or so. Then use Pagan if you must for the 7-9. If you are going to take the ball away from Gray with 90 pitches put in Jax who wasn’t used Wednesday for the 4-6 hitters, keep Jax in for the 7th if he gets out of the 6th quickly. Then use some combination of Fulmer/Duran/Lopez to close out the last 2 innings. What happened to squeezing a couple more outs out of a starter or reliever? there’s no rule that says Gray couldn’t have gotten 2 outs in the 6th, Jax 4-5 outs in the 6th and seventh. Fulmer or Duran 3-4 outs in the 7/8th depending on who you want to rest more. Lopez for the save. Rocco is managing to lose instead of managing to win in a 1-0 ballgame going into the 6th with a 1 game division lead. It’s dumb and the local sports media needs to start calling him out on it. sure if it’s a blow out loss or we’re up by 6 runs give it to Pagan and Duffey, or maybe give it to Pagan for the bottom of the order, but to the 4-6 hitters of this Toronto team to start the sixth with a 1 run lead? Hell no.

He is definitely an interesting dude and definitely seems big into the analytics of his pitching and figuring out new stuff to make him better. Like yeah he can’t throw 98mph but I don’t think he needs to. If he can lock in a nasty slider I think he has the potential for a #1b type guy. Up in the zone high arm angle 92mph, nasty slider plus his curve he has enough stuff to get there if he can do it consistently. I think it’s possible he could develop into sort of a Maddox type if he can keep developing his other pitches as he seems very motivated to do and keep missing bats. gotta stay healthy of course but I could def see him having a long, productive mlb career as a crafty guy who misses bats. #2 or #3 I think pretty likely with crafty #1 upside. Will probably never be considered a true ace who can just blow off the doors or just has a completely filthy pitch, but he can maybe be crafty enough to get roughly the same results.

Sox definitely have a better staff and an actual ace in Cease, but Lynn is not good and you’re completely wrong on the bats comparison. adding Mahle dramatically improves our staff, like other than Cease I’d actually say it’s pretty close, our BP is now actually better than the Sox BP, and our lineup is definitely better than theirs. so yeah. I don’t think it will be easy to win the division necessarily but before these moves it was pretty much a given the twins would fall behind and probably place third place and maybe squeak into a WC spot, now I’d say yeah they still potentially might not win the division but a WC seems pretty likely and I’d say at least a coin flip on winning the division.

Correa knowing Lopez is awesome too. It certainly seems like Correa has a hell of a lot of sway for a 1 year rental. I think he’s staying.

Damn hell of a game showcasing nearly all of our new pieces. Leon career battling average in Target field over .400? What the heck, super smart pick up. Fulmer pitching well and Jorge lights out. Went from one of the worst BPs to arguably one of the best overnight. Can’t wait to see Mahle! I feel like we didn’t really even give up much at all to acquire 4 legit Mlbers under team control. We gave up 9 prospects right? And none of them even our blue chips. Peanuts.

Got Mahle. I’m honestly good with this. Ryan I think will get back on track, I would maybe just rest him for like 2 Wks though. Covid ain’t no joke. He’ll bounce back, dude is a beast and just needs a minute. We now have a solid 123 and a solid 123 BP. I wouldn’t mind an offensive CA/DH or an OF/DH but I think we can run with this. Rocco needs to tell Buxton I don’t really care about your aches and pains you need to play.

Get Mahle now and im a happy camper. Gray, Mahle, Ryan is a decent postseason 1, 2, 3. Mahle actually is underrated and would be a great postseason starter in target field which isn’t like cinci’s bandbox