RollieTime

Cardinals bullpen implodes in the 6th! Diamondbacks with a 7 spot!

Cardinals bullpen implodes in the 6th! Diamondbacks with a 7 spot!

2-0 early lead for the Diamondbacks over the Cards in the 1st!

2-0 early lead for the Diamondbacks over the Cards in the 1st!

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Arcia moves to the backup role and gets one more year to show some type of improvement without needing to be “the guy”. If he shows nothing in 2020, he is gone. If he shows some improvement, you now have two good options at short and increased depth on your bench. And you have two guys on your roster that have only played SS in their careers. Arcia can play 2nd in a pinch. There’s just been no need to since we had Villar in the past, Shaw hitting well there last year, and Moose playing there this season with Hiura taking it over full time for the foreseeable future. Arcia plays way out in right in the shift a lot anyway. Arcia can be the backup at SS and 2nd, filling in for injuries and on off days. I think the Brewers have shown that they are open minded about putting guys in a position they haven’t played before. Giving Arcia a few reps at 2nd makes a lot more sense than Shaw or Moose and they’ve done that. He will have all off-season to put in work over there as well.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Arcia moves to the backup role and gets one more year to show some type of improvement without needing to be “the guy”. If he shows nothing in 2020, he is gone. If he shows some improvement, you now have two good options at short and increased depth on your bench. And you have two guys on your roster that have only played SS in their careers. Arcia can play 2nd in a pinch. There’s just been no need to since we had Villar in the past, Shaw hitting well there last year, and Moose playing there this season with Hiura taking it over full time for the foreseeable future. Arcia plays way out in right in the shift a lot anyway. Arcia can be the backup at SS and 2nd, filling in for injuries and on off days. I think the Brewers have shown that they are open minded about putting guys in a position they haven’t played before. Giving Arcia a few reps at 2nd makes a lot more sense than Shaw or Moose and they’ve done that. He will have all off-season to put in work over there as well.

I always love reading your posts here, but are you actually saying that signing Iglesias to something like a 2/$6-8 million contract is a fireable offense for a GM? Especially at a position that we have been trotting out the worst hitter in MLB at? I actually think signing a guy like him is a no-brainer. If you think Iglesias is the solid contact hitter who doesn't strike out much and is putting up a .720 OPS this year, fine, yeah, that's an upgrade. But we're talking about a guy with a career OPS of .685. He brings next to no power, doesn't do a lot on the basepaths, and is a solid but unspectacular defender. His range isn't great, and he will be entering his age 30 season, an age when range factors typically start to decrease for middle infielders. And because he is having a decent season offensively, it is likely he's looking at a solid multi-year deal. All I'm trying to say is that if you throw money at Iglesias expecting him to be a massive upgrade from Arcia, you're more than likely going to be disappointed with a player who is probably going to be fine, but certainly isn't going to get any better. And say you have to sign him to a 2 or 3 year deal at $4-$5 million per year ... that is probably what a guy like Pomeranz is looking at. I just want to get the best bang for what are going to be limited bucks, and I just don't see the Iglesias/Arcia upgrade as enough of a bang. That’s a fair point. To be fair though, Arcia is a career .650 OPS hitter, who barely hits above the Mendoza line, has limited power (maybe a slight edge to Arcia), who also doesn’t do much on the basepaths, strikes out more, and is still only a good, not great defender. I think it would be fair to say that if we had a .284 hitter instead of a .218 hitter for 150 games, we would have 2 more wins this year. That would place us only a half game back of the Cardinals. And I know you can’t look at it and automatically give yourself more wins, but it’s the same as having a .260 hitter or a .320 hitter in your lineup all season and saying it wouldn’t make much of a difference. That’s a pretty substantial upgrade for only a few million and would definitely lead to an extra couple wins over a 162 game season.

I always love reading your posts here, but are you actually saying that signing Iglesias to something like a 2/$6-8 million contract is a fireable offense for a GM? Especially at a position that we have been trotting out the worst hitter in MLB at? I actually think signing a guy like him is a no-brainer. If you think Iglesias is the solid contact hitter who doesn't strike out much and is putting up a .720 OPS this year, fine, yeah, that's an upgrade. But we're talking about a guy with a career OPS of .685. He brings next to no power, doesn't do a lot on the basepaths, and is a solid but unspectacular defender. His range isn't great, and he will be entering his age 30 season, an age when range factors typically start to decrease for middle infielders. And because he is having a decent season offensively, it is likely he's looking at a solid multi-year deal. All I'm trying to say is that if you throw money at Iglesias expecting him to be a massive upgrade from Arcia, you're more than likely going to be disappointed with a player who is probably going to be fine, but certainly isn't going to get any better. And say you have to sign him to a 2 or 3 year deal at $4-$5 million per year ... that is probably what a guy like Pomeranz is looking at. I just want to get the best bang for what are going to be limited bucks, and I just don't see the Iglesias/Arcia upgrade as enough of a bang. That’s a fair point. To be fair though, Arcia is a career .650 OPS hitter, who barely hits above the Mendoza line, has limited power (maybe a slight edge to Arcia), who also doesn’t do much on the basepaths, strikes out more, and is still only a good, not great defender. I think it would be fair to say that if we had a .284 hitter instead of a .218 hitter for 150 games, we would have 2 more wins this year. That would place us only a half game back of the Cardinals. And I know you can’t look at it and automatically give yourself more wins, but it’s the same as having a .260 hitter or a .320 hitter in your lineup all season and saying it wouldn’t make much of a difference. That’s a pretty substantial upgrade for only a few million and would definitely lead to an extra couple wins over a 162 game season.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Arcia moves to the backup role and gets one more year to show some type of improvement without needing to be “the guy”. If he shows nothing in 2020, he is gone. If he shows some improvement, you now have two good options at short and increased depth on your bench.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Arcia moves to the backup role and gets one more year to show some type of improvement without needing to be “the guy”. If he shows nothing in 2020, he is gone. If he shows some improvement, you now have two good options at short and increased depth on your bench.

Yeah, guys are making it sound like we are tossing $20 million at this guy. Arcia has been the worst hitter in the game for the last couple years. We are talking about giving a guy like $3 million to greatly increase the floor of the production at SS to something like a .250-.260 hitter instead of having a black hole. I would consider an upgrade from a black hole to a competent hitter as a very wise investment. Especially when it’s only a few million. I always love reading your posts here, but are you actually saying that signing Iglesias to something like a 2/$6-8 million contract is a fireable offense for a GM? Especially at a position that we have been trotting out the worst hitter in MLB at? I actually think signing a guy like him is a no-brainer.

Packers play on Thursday this week and then will get 10 days off before they play the Lions on Monday night football. Kind of like a mini bye week quarter of the way through the season. Then they have their official bye week during week 11. Definitely like how those two breaks are spaced out for this season.

Choi has also put together a solid season for the Rays. .258/.361/.804 with 17 homers and 61 RBI through roughly 400 at bats. Not world beating, but definitely a productive season.

I think a stooge could have easily managed that KC bullpen to a World Series. Wade Davis might have had one of the greatest seasons a reliever has ever had. I’m obviously not a Counsell fan, but I think the same could be said about the 2018 bullpen honestly. I don’t think anybody could push a wrong button with Hader, Jeffress, Woodruff, Burnes, and Knebel when he was absolutely lights out down the stretch. But then I also think it’s fair to point out that Jeffress was obviously worn out down the stretch and into the postseason and Counsell still continued to trot him out there, directly leading to a Game 2 NLCS loss as well as giving up a ton of baserunners in almost all of his appearances. His numbers could be much worse from last postseason than what they were. Even big Counsell supporters should be scratching their heads and questioning how Jeffress was used in October when all of us could see that something wasn’t right with him.

Disagree. This guy just tapping into his potential and just entering his prime, agree with Nate82, in that it won’t be prohibitive, prospects wise to get a deal done. But also think a deal doesn’t necessarily have to include Turang. Bell > Ray & Lutz & Rasmussen & Henry & lottery. Sure that all may be true in a vacuum, but what's the opportunity cost? Roster construction and asset management isn't just about trading player(s) x for player(s) y. Trading your best prospect chips for a readily available skillset is horrible strategy. I'm also not even in love with the player. I know he's young, but the only two season he showed palatable power numbers for a first baseman just so happen to coincide with the juiced ball years of 2017 and 2019. Just a pass all around on the player and on the strategy behind it. Exactly this. Why give up a bunch of prospects for a guy now entering arbitration at a position where we already have a guy who can hit .250/.350/.850 and hit 30+ home runs if given 550 at bats, who we can just bring back for $7.5 million? Bell is a good player, but emptying the rest of our farm system for someone like him doesn’t make much sense. If we were talking about a premier SS who we would control for 3+ years and fill a huge void we have had for years, sure. But this wouldn’t make much sense in my opinion.

Antonio Brown just doesn’t get it does he? I have no idea how a man can’t shut his mouth and continues to dig himself a deeper and deeper hole by the day. He has completely lost it.

Very sad how far football has fallen these days. Absolutely no reason to eject him there. He starts to go for the guys legs and then the quarterback slides, lowering his own body into the guy’s helmet. And the defensive player is punished for it. Frustrating.

I love this Badgers team!

Hopefully Taylor can get back into this game and isn’t hurt too badly. That would be a big loss for us the rest of the game if he’s unable to get back on the field.

What a terrible spot on that third down run by Coan. No chance he was short of the first down marker on that play.

Big statement game today for Wisconsin and I feel like they are going to really lay it on Michigan. 38-17 Wisconsin. It’s going to be a fun game to watch!

Does he though? It feels like he's this scrappy underdog and that's more of a factor than him actually being this enormous steal. Similar kinda to if Joe Callahan would have started a few games and played well in them. He is an easy guy to root for though...and it's tough to argue with the numbers though. I watched that game and two other things stood out to me. What the hell is going on with the Titan's OL. You saw Conklin and Safford getting dominated like they were the 89th and 90th guys on a pre-season roster. Those two are pretty solid players. And the second part, building off the first a bit, Josh Allen looks like he's gonna be a stud. He looks like a CB coming off the edge with that thin frame, but he walked Conklin back last night into Marriota's lap and then threw him off for a sack. I know the Michigan kid is suspended, but that is supposed to be a pretty good OL anyway and they gave up I think 10 sacks. Baffling to me why the Jags wouldn't have just paid Ramsey this past off-season with how good that defensive front is and will continue to be. I gotta say that I’ve been very impressed with Minshew and think that he is the real deal. He recognizes when the pocket is collapsing, uses his legs effectively to escape the pocket, and has great touch on his throws down field. He just has it. It’s only been a couple games, but he looks like the real deal.

Thought that it was kind of funny how after the Rays and Dodgers game on Wednesday, Bellinger stated that he never wanted to play the Rays again in September since they change pitchers so much. “Hopefully we never have to play them in September. No flow to the game, but we did a great job of grinding“. The best part of the 11 inning, 4:40 affair was that for Bellinger to be so upset with how the Rays used 9 pitchers in the game, the Dodgers countered and used 9 as well. Tough to blame one team when yours is slowing down the game just as much as they are.

ummmmm...What? Woodruff wont even be top 5 in the NL by the end of 2021 Guys under 27 - Flaherty / Castillo / Paddock / Soroka / Buehler Guys in 30's that will still be better - deGrom / Corbin And thats just the NL And and and and > that’s your opinion. I’ll stand by mine. People here are seriously underrating Woody. You can have Flaherty, I’ll take Woodruff. I don’t think anybody here is overlooking Woodruff and what he brings to the table. I think there would be some people who would slot him in the 10-15 range of all of the starters in MLB, which is extremely valuable. But saying he is better than guys like Scherzer, Cole, Kershaw, Greinke, Verlander, DeGrom, and Strasburg is going to be met with some resistance. I do think he could be a good front of the rotation starter for us for a few years. He has only put together a good stretch of 16 starts after he struggled his first 5 starts of the year. I think he has the makeup to be very good, but there have been tons of pitchers in history who have pitched well over a 15 start span or so. I do think he will continue to be very good for us. But producing a top 3 pitcher in the game doesn’t happen very often. If he continues to pitch how he has for half a season though, he could be a backend top 10 starting pitcher.

How about a Cardinals sweep right now to bury the Cubs, and then a Cubs sweep the next time they face the Cardinals? Keep the Cardinals close enough to us right now by winning our next couple games, while pretty much eliminating the Cubs, only to have the Cubs play spoiler in the end while they are too far behind to catch us. Gives us the confidence of the Cubs being out of it by the end of the weekend and almost assuring us of a playoff spot.