beekay414

Or you could just use FanGraphs and use their splits for August. Hint: I've already done it and they haven't been good. The only positives are hard hit rate, HR, BB% and being unlucky (very low BABIP).

Look at that, they didn't squander a 2 on, nobody out scenario!

If this were the Packers, I couldn't even begin to imagine how much the sky would be falling. The Brewers have played at a 72 win pace since Memorial Day. If the Packers played a full season at that pace (7.5 win pace in a 17 game season), nobody would be saying "it's entertaining" or "we're in the race." Can't believe the leniency the Brewers get.

Yes, vs the best team in baseball. Now do the offense's numbers for all of August.

aRe We SuRe ThE oFfEnSe Is ThE pRoBlem B2B nights the starter goes 6 scoreless and b2b nights the starter is rewarded with a ND. Yes, the offense is the problem. The fact that Stearns had the audacity to say, at the deadline, that this lineup had "no holes" or whatever variant of that is just comedy. My man has one foot out the door.

Yes, understanding the state of the franchise is pissing in our Cheerios and you're not being a homer whatsoever. You're right, we and the record over the last 74 games are wrong.

With how bad the CF, 2B/3B has been this month, there's really no reason not to give Turang and one of Ruiz, Mitchell, Frelick or Wiemer a shot. Taylor isn't an every day player and Urias hasn't proven he's an everyday guy either. Wong probably isn't back next year either so there should be plenty of ABs for Turang if we want to move him up.

There is nothing enjoyable about watching this team hit the baseball. Sure, chicks love dingers but I'd prefer the occasional ability to situationally hit. Far too many wasted opportunities from this offense due to their inability to do the little things.

Balanced baseball wins games. We're not balanced. We had amazing pitching last year and we lost our series 3-1 because our offense was embarrassingly putrid (6 runs in 4 games is comedy). Good pitching and teams that can situationally hit win in the playoffs. All or nothing teams don't.

FTFY

Now do their batting lineup...

They're about as much "in the race" as the Herb Kohl Bucks were when it came to the playoffs. Watching this team is like pulling teeth. They've got 83 runs in August with 33 HRs. That's pathetic. They are the definition of an all-or-nothing team. They are allergic to consistent, situational hitting. Anyone that watched the last Dodgers series knows the true state of this franchise. The best window in franchise history to make a play has slammed shut and we need to focus on getting as much back as we can for Burnes, Woody and Peralta, amongst others.

I'm just underwhelmed by the return. Gasser is a 23 year old who has never pitched above A ball, isn't tooled up at all since his FB grades out poorly. He did enough to be able to tick it up to 95 but velo isn't the only part of having a good fastball. We don't know what he is yet since AA and above is where you start finding out your worth as a pitcher. Ruiz, I hate buying on these type of prospects. The Padres 100% sold high on someone that could crater in a moment's notice. He changed his approach but it's the type of approach that may not work in the bigs since quality of contact matters. He's a low-impact bat that thrived in hitter friendly environments this season. He's going to need to be able to get to the gaps in order to be even an average hitter at the MLB level. I just don't get drafting guys with good hit tools but not much else and then deciding that the main piece in the return for Josh Hader is someone that has a questionable one with a short track record of success. Really hope I'm wrong on this kid. Well, both kids actually. This entire process, from the return, to the hit in the clubhouse, just baffles me. Since Rogers is a rental, this trade is essentially Gasser and Ruiz for Hader. That's a trade you 100% can revisit in December. Just no reason for it now. If you're worried about CF going forward, then friggin' trade for one, don't sell your best asset in hopes that one of the 4 guys you have in AAA that can play the position figure it out. Just a total backasswards approach to this and it's mindboggling. Mind you, I'm someone that puts a ton of time in evaluating baseball prospects and looks at how the tools match the stats to get the entire story. I know I get reactionary but I don't think anyone can fight my train of thought here after making my analysis.

In no way am I overvaluing the best reliever of the last half decade. I've said this before but gauging a relievers value based on WAR isn't really all that wise since it equates how lucky or unlucky someone has been getting into their formula (FIP, xFIP, BABIP, Strand rate) but the one of the biggest part of being a high leverage reliever is stranding runners (we're seeing this issue present itself with Boxberger this year) and Rogers is has not been good in that department over the last 3 seasons. Plus, WAR for a reliever, who appear less than any other players on the field, that 0.31/season is a pretty large gap, if you choose to use it. Rogers is also a rental, so that should drop his value significantly when talking a piece in a return for someone that still has team control, albeit another season. So just getting Rogers to "replace" Hader isn't a good enough reason to be content with receiving him as part of the package. He was also removed from their closer role prior to the deal so...Also, I don't care about him being "free" or not since we did nothing other than acquire Trevor Rosenthal using that "freed up" money. Quality work. Gasser is a 23 year old pitcher who has never pitched above A ball and profiles as a BOR starter due to his average, if not below, fastball. If anyone calls a 23 year old pitcher with little pedigree, in A+, untouchable, then they probably don't know how prospect development works. He's in AA now. This is where we'll find out what he is. Ruiz is fine but he shouldn't be the headlining piece in a Hader deal. He's a speed first player who has 80 games, in hitter friendly environments, of legitimate production at the plate. He's raised his average and cut down on K's by sacrificing quality contact to be a more low-impact bat and take advantage of his speed. That's fine assuming he can get to the gaps but I have my doubts since you absolutely need to make quality contact vs MLB level pitching. You can get away with it in the minors but that **** doesn't fly in the bigs. From a few weeks ago... And in Ruiz's 27 PA, 22 events, he produced an average exit velocity of 70. That's...uh...not great, bob.

Forget about the evening out the money excuse, we had all the leverage since we're the one trading the asset. If they demand we take a guy back to fill the salary, you just walk away and revisit this offseason. They bungled this deal, in a multitude of ways, and there's no getting around that. We took money back but didn't even get an organizational top 5 prospect from them. Oh and the "prize" of the deal is a OF...the position we're strong at in the minors. Just an absolutely crap show this TDL.

There's a reason there's a star next to his name...just like the guy you mentioned.

WAR isn't really a great stat to gauge relievers by. Takes into account luck and what not but strand rate matters as a reliever and Josh was elite at stranding them. Rogers, well, not so much.

Brad Boxberger Matt Bush Jake Cousins* Trevor Gott Dinelson Lamet Jake McGee JC Mejia Hoby Milner Taylor Rogers Trevor Rosenthal* Peter Stzelecki Brent Suter Justin Topa* Devin Williams 14 guys for 8 spots. Williams, Rogers, Boxberger and Bush are locks. That's 10 guys for the other 4 spots.

I don't think price had anything to do with it. I think this is the philosophy we've been building towards the last few seasons. We've been drafting high quality fielders, contact bats and tooled up arms. I'm sure, if the MLB shift ban does indeed come, we're going to be playing a less long ball oriented game going forward and we're going to be built on contact, defense and pitching.

Reynolds, I'd understand, but I likely don't pull that trigger unless the other prospects going back are fliers. I would've tried to overwhelm them with a depth package but that would go against what our organizational philosophy seems to be now. We're basically going to be Tampa Bay north and we'll only make moves when they are cost efficient.

Honestly, I would've given up anything sans Chourio to go out and get some type of impact bat.

These are the thoughts I posted on my social media that pretty much sums up where I'm at... "FWIW, the offense has been good. I'm not saying it hasn't been. The point is we needed to do something to put us over the top and take advantage of this rotation. Instead, we're content just getting to the dance and lining Mark's pockets with the playoff revenue." - said out of frustration but I think there are elements of truth to it. "I just do not like the idea of using our best asset and not getting any immediate offensive help out of it. Plus, Ruiz is a CF. We just spent the last few drafts drafting nothing but CF and SS and just promoted Frelick, Mitchell AND Wiemer to AAA, all OF." - Not being literal with the "nothing but CF and SS" part mind you. "Then proceeded to not use any of them to go get an impact bat. Instead, we trade viable prospects for aging bullpen arms with spotty histories and injury concerns. Bush is a live arm but he's 36 with a half season of production. Rosenthal has 38 innings pitched since 2017." "So we decided to overpay for BP arms rather than go in and try to put the offense over the top, to help out the strong pitching. I know there's no such thing as "too much pitching" but it's gonna be brutal if the bats no-show the playoffs again." "That and you messed with the locker room dynamic to not improve the big league club. You make that Hader trade in the offseason, not during a pennant run. That package wasn't going away this winter, I can guarantee you that." "All in all, just a baffling, baffling deadline. Stearns likely has one foot out the door as well." "The goal, with this rotation that we're going to have to break up in less than 2 seasons, should be going all out for a World Series ring." "They (the team) simply just don't have any type of pulse on this fanbase. Attendance is down over 10% this season and Mark's response is 'just make the playoffs so I can get that revenue to make up for it.'"

I mixed them. Braves collapsed allowing the Cardinals to make the playoffs in 2011. Braves went 9-18 in September (were 80-55 going into the month) while the Cardinals went 18-8 after coming into the month with a 72-64 record.

Those Cardinals were also 83-79 and like 10 games out of the playoffs going into September lol