tmwiese55

I'd just go with Hader and see what happens. Of course you can't plan on more than 3 innings right away. Make sure to have Espino/Lopez ready that day as well. If he does ok you can stretch him out as you go by getting a little more each time. If he does well you can just let him keep starting until his innings limit and pull Garza out. If he fails then go back to the pen to finish the year. Espino has no chance so if they don't go this route I'd prefer trying Lopez for a couple and Woodruff whenever he's back.

Yea could easily turn this to a platoon with Aguilar. thames lefty splits aren't great, puts us back on track for the title.

Uhh, if you could point out my political commentary, that'd be great. Oh I assumed something got posted and deleted about the immigration wisecrack. He must've just meant any discussion of his possible age deception...oh well, it is what it is.

Yup, just a wisecrack. I don't what was responded to it and don't care to be in any argument therefore the sarcasm on it, all I meant is that chances are the guy is on a fraudulent Visa and obviously that's a hot button issue these days. Just was trying to make a joke about that, not start any argument. But yea these days it's probably best to just not bring it up as everyone gets combative about it rather than just chuckle and move on.

Like you said, overall it's not a huge deal and he's still young in basketball years regardless. But no doubt in my mind multiple yearbooks is a lot more reliable than just guessing based off what someone looks like. Let's just say that if a media outlet had any incentive to look info this I doubt it would take them very long to figure out that there is some deception and shadiness here. [sarcasm]And if Donny T had his way he probably wouldn't be let back in the country.[/sarcasm]

Well said. Regardless of his real age, he's very young in terms of basketball experience/training so still lots of room to grow there.

Looking at faces is in no way a reliable method. Though your point does back up what I'm guessing, eyeball test it's tough guess he's 4-5 yrs older than claimed. But like 2 years is certainly with the standard deviation of guessing ages. And yes it's all about likelihood of improvement and potential to fill out his body. A few years like that doesn't change his chances of becoming a good player. But i'd say lowers his ceiling a bit and decreases his chances a bit overall. Seems to be a good dude working his tail off though and I liked what I saw in flashes, hope it keeps going. I would note that I've pretty much been guessed 4-6 years younger than I am since like age 20ish. Just a few days ago I was guessed 6 years younger.

Injuries happen, so if the team is winning there's no reason to sell low on someone. The team is winning more than expected and the depth has been a big reason. Also, Sogard has been great but we're still at a pretty small sample. he's only signed for this year and is old. I'd put my money on us rolling with Villar again next year at 2B to start the year.

Exactly! Transferring schools & countries still comes with transcripts & checks. You don't just walk into school, tell them age & grade & just are given classes....they have to transfer all the classes over, cross check them, and then sometimes call previous school for additional information. Once again, how many high schoolers do you know who are willing to graduate high school & then go back & relive it all over again. Being 19 & having to make friends with all 14 year old boys.... hang out (which is creepy) all you kid girls, and be legal adult living like a child all over again. Am I one of the only ones who sees any of these & the improbability of it? So many people just act like it is some simple thing to do. If he went through all of that, that is just messed up. Loss a lot of respect for someone who should graduate from high school & then go back & repeat whole thing over again... not just lie to get extra season but 4 extra seasons.....As a junior in high school then he could have been going out to bar & drinking legally, now he needs to still just head back to hotel when all his teammates are out.... commitment You guys are acting like multiple people haven't been caught doing this already and it's unheard of. Many latino baseball players have done, Serge Ibaka, Ersan Ilyasova. My best guess scenario is that when he went to Aus he was probably estimated to be a year or two older than he really was due to being so tall. Then, it sure looks like he repeated HS, which would be tacking on 4 years to his age. But considering he probably wasn't that old to begin with, I'd probably tack on 2 and call it close enough. We'll never know, heck, he'll probably never know. Chances are he's not what is claimed but he's also not 4-5 years older, it's probably something in between. Also, you're calling other people fake news conspiracy theorists for believing this stuff. I'd think it's just as conspiracy theory crazy to think that some 20 yr old kids have gone out of their way to doctor their yearbooks and slander a former classmate of theirs. What's their motivation for that? My guess is the yearbooks are all legit as the evidence seems pretty overwhelming.

Overall Bandy has been really bad for a while now after the hot start. This is a good move to try, what do you have to lose? Makes perfect sense/fit since he's lefty to counter Pina and Miller PArk is lefty friendly. These are the little things they should be doing this year to try and hold onto the division while still maintaining the long term outlook. I think we all don't want to be selling youthful pieces for win now moves, but stuff like this is a no brainer.

Or we can just win it all this year. Wait, shoot, wrong thread...

No we just went through and at least 5, and I think 6 of 7 were steals of 3rd. so only leaves one time going to second. I guess the box scores along don't show if a guy was on 3rd or not, but at most it would be one.

My count had it 6 of 7 looking at boxscores, maybe I mixed up though, who knows. Remember Carlos Lee's stealing game? Fully took advantage of being ignored. And of course he'd be laughing and giggling afterwards.

Yea that's what I thought. Perez has hit 3rd a lot too, but yea probably just one or two at most in that situation, if any. I guess I thought of it because off the top of my head I just don't remember him straight up stealing 2nd, and I watch a lot of the games. Of course not all and am not always paying full attention when I do, but I'd expect to have it pop in my head a bit. ETA: being only 7 it was easy to find them. Looks like he's a 3rd base specialist. 6 of his 7 have been of 3rd base. One of 2nd and it appears to be a normal by himself steal. My best guess is that 2 of the 6 steals of 3rd also had someone stealing 2nd with him. So, no he hasn't benefited from this rule, just that he gets ignored on 2B and takes advantage of it.

Quick stat question that popped into my head after reading that about Shaw, if it's a double steal does the guy going from 1 to 2nd also get credit for it? I'm pretty sure he does but though someone would know for sure. And if so, I'd be curious if a few of Shaw's were that fashion.

Braun starting his rehab, hopefully back next week to give a boost to the offense that's still been good, but not great like it was earlier. If he can stay healthy the rest of the year it really helps the chances of hanging in this all season.

I had to rewind to see what they were talking about. Last night the Mets walked the batter in front of him and he got upset so when he homered he took his time around the bases and the Mets got angry. He didn't even look like he was going that slow to me. Seems like your typical "everyone's upset about something stupid" baseball situation. I saw it being discussed on the talking heads stuff earlier, didn't have volume on. But they were then running clips of Cespedes bat flipping and walking to first. It's so so stupid these guys get offended by dumb stuff. Just like the Cards getting mad at Braun or Prince even though they didn't even come close to Pujols in watching homers. Also, Tigers mad about bunting vs a no hitter with only 1 out in the 6th and game only at 4-0. It sparked a rally and led to his team winning the game, but he shouldn't have done it because Verlander still needed 11 outs for a no no apparently.

Best guess for Villar and Braun would be Franklin and Brinson, correct? if we call Sogard the starter, it leaves a bench of C, Perez, Villar, and Jesus.

Well even the best teams in baseball lose 65-70 games per year, have to be prepared to take some losses. Like I said, if the team is just squat and showing no effort then I get it,I won't do it, but I get it. This team has been a huge positive this year, get behind them. It's not like that pitcher doesn't feel crappy and embarrassed enough already or that management doesn't know what just happened.

Also, during that Saturday game the team got booed coming off the field when they gave up the 2 runs to go down 5-3. And again to go down 7-5. This team is way overachieving and has such good energy, effort, karma, and chemistry vibes going among the team. Has to annoy them to get booed like that. I know the bullpen has been frustrating lately, but no way should we be booing them right now. If a team is showing no effort, energy, or just generally playing terribly (take the last month or so of 2014 when we blew that big lead) I can understand it. But right now we gotta support the team, as David Puddy would say.

I don't think the scenario will come up as we'd get so little back that we'd just keep. But if we fell out of contention and traded him to a contender they would probably just be looking at him as a backup/utility guy rather than a starting 2B to finish the year. So just an upgrade to their bench and insurance in case an IF gets hurt. Think the Hill trade to Boston last year, something like that.

For the first time in however many dozens of games I've been to at MP, my section won the sausage race for the first time on Saturday. Since I'd never won before I had no idea what the 'prize' was so decided to actually go get it. It was lip gloss. I mean, why even bother with a prize at all if it's going to be that lame. Just tie a section to every sausage, and say you're the winner, yay. I wasn't expecting much but was surprised it was that bad, I thought something like a $5 or $10 food voucher eligible to be used another day was in the ballpark of reasonable for such a promotion. A lot of people aren't even going to claim it, others will forget to bring it back, it might create a reason for some to come back again, and when they do come back they'll by other stuff concessions or their friend will buy something. Obviously this wasn't a big deal or anything. I was just very surprised it was so bad.

Rockies have also been doing this with CarGo doing nothing. Story doing nothing as well, but who knows if last year was a fluke with him. Gonzales turning it on could make up for the refression a guy like Reynolds has to have coming

Problem is we have no normal backend other than Knebel. If he keeps performing he might end up being that guy before long

I was shocked there was no drama in the bottom of the 9th last night. Great W. Now just keep it going vs the mediocre teams coming up and see what happens.