Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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This would make an awesome 'Caption Contest'. My entry: "Let's see. Our starter for 5, then Palen........no. Thielbar? Uh-uh. Zefferj........no. Ferguson? Civale? Ah, screw it. Guys? Guys? Score eleven, OK?"
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I understand🙂.
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After losing Zerpa, Koenig getting IL'ed & never getting back to his previous form & Fitzpatrick looking OK & then getting hurt, it's fortunate to have the pen lined up from the left side the way they do. Of course Drohan & Gasser will figure there, too.
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Score one for the Little Engine that Could. This felt like a bigger win than maybe it should've felt like, like a demon was exorcised or something. Maybe due to the score yesterday. Some bad batted-ball luck for Gasser in the 4th but not a lot of sympathy. leadoff walk, ball hitting the heel of his glove on the throw. Very nice through 3 though. Some of the defense this series has been ugly. But I'll consider it a blip when you see how well they've performed all year. I'm ready for Ortiz to get the lion's share at 3B. Non-pressure play in the 9th & a slow runner, but that was a really impressive grab & throw. Also non-pressure but damn, DL Hall has been eye-opening lately As long as he can force swings.......... I'll throw a crumb to Armstrong, which is of course easier to do after a win. That ball he played off the wall on the Contreras double, whirling & throwing in one motion & right on the bag to 2nd-----that was a serious talent display.
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The thing about this team they're playing---when they get on a roll they refuse to swing outside the zone, which can put a lot of pressure on a pitcher. I had other stuff going on last night & didn't turn the game on until it was 6-0, and maybe the most impressive thing I saw was how they were taking pitches that were off the plate (both close & otherwise) even when they had runners on base & were up by 7 or 8 runs. To me that's at least as impressive as the early HRs, and certainly more impressive than the beer league HRs in the 7th & 8th innings. Gasser needs to mix & command, just as he needs to do vs anyone else, and find himself in more 0-2 & 1-2 counts than the opposite. Otherwise he could have issues. Holmes was pretty good (I thought Murphy maybe gave him a little TOO much credit though), but this 'trust each other, move the line' thing is way too intermittent with our hitters. I thought they might've had a chance to make things a little interesting in the 4th with 2 on & 1 out, but then Yelich put up an AB that did nothing to make me believe he trusts the next guy (Mitchell). Couple of chases, two out. "Trusting each other" makes for good copy in postgame after scoring 6 or 8 runs. It needs to be more of a game-in, game-out mantra.
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I think he's worth a 40-man spot, too. But he has had throwing issues (I believe mostly related to footwork) that need to be cleaned up. Don't underestimate the importance of details like that on a run-prevention heavy outfit like this one. Yes, as a 3B he's certainly ahead of Wilkin & Vaughn. And strictly at 3B, probably Fischer as well.
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They really were. At LB Catalano, Cheeks & Posa are no joke, Aaron Witt is pretty dependable & I believe they are still pretty high on Thomas Heiberger. If the secondary can be pulled together the way @RedStickBrew thinks can happen, the D will certainly be the strong side of the ball.
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Don't forget to dismiss Chicago's offense in one-sided games. And vs teams that don't have strong staffs.........
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IMO Adams needs to be more reliable at 3B to be a reg or semi-reg there. Yes, I would say he's better there than Vaughn----I think the team has been extremely fortunate in the innings he's been at third & it finally bit them a little on Sunday. I agree that Vaughn could be more of a power bat next year further removed from the hamate. But if he stays, is productive & the team is once again contending I don't see them moving him at the deadline, whether there's a replacement in the wings or not.
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Good piece. But I think it's still up in the air as to whether Adams is a competent 3B. It's certainly possible but there are some throwing issues that need to be worked out. But AFA that particular position is concerned I think he & Bitonti look more cromulent than Fischer these days.
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Yeah, I heard about Haywood & Mandell having issues. They're two pretty good bookend tackles to build on IF you can get them on the field. Thx about the Sama mention. I read weeks ago about him joining & completely forgot.
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Certainly not a lot of optimism for 2026, and understandably so. I was a many-years season ticket holder, could recognize any name on the two-deep (and quite a few below that) and had a nephew who usually attended the games with me & had a friend on the team. Fun times. Now.......I'll grudgingly accept the portal & what it's done to college basketball, mainly because it's much easier to keep track of the effects of half a roster being turned over & how it fits the program when you're talking about 14-15 total players. 35, 40, 50 new players a year? Forget it. I'll watch this years' Badger team & hope for the best. If you're taking on Notre Dame, the first week is as good a time as any, I guess. AFA personnel, from what I understand the overall depth at QB is decent & more attuned to what they'll try to do offensively. The O-line can actually be competitive provided everyone is & stays healthy; not much depth. TB Darrion Dupree had a few moments last year & MIGHT have a little more growth in him. And in both quality & depth, LB appears to be easily the most attractive unit on the team. 'Sides that I got nuthin'.
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Other than going a hitter or two too long with May IMO he used the BP the same he would've in any other game where they fell behind by 2-3 runs in the middle innings, regardless of who the next opponent was. I suppose you could've gone with Hall in the 5th, but the only LHH coming up in the next few was Nimmo & he has reverse splits.
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Might come down to, if you need a 4th starter in a series do you want to go L or RHP. Since 2021 he's only come out of the BP twice so who even knows if he can get ready on shorter notice as opposed to someone like Wilson or one of the lefties. So he could be in danger of being left off, or if he does a better job of working from ahead then sumpin else.
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I was curious as to why Vaughn would PH leading off an inning, until I realized he was going to get a 2nd AB by staying in to play 3B & contribute to Texas expanding their lead (although I agree that while it was a bad feed, it certainly was Turang's error). I too would've left May in to start the 5th inning, but thought he should've been pulled for Anderson immediately after the leadoff walk. He wasn't good, but didn't exactly have a shamrock jammed in his back pocket either. Duran turning on the pitch he hit out & still keeping it fair was sort of ridiculous. And on the double in the 2nd inning, Mitchell clearly appeared to be deferring to Chourio. Can't do that on a gapper if you're the CF. But yeah, mostly a case of May not being good. Coulda been a bigger number vs Rocker, but when facing someone who was as reluctant (or unable) to throw strikes as he was, there was too much over-aggressiveness. Then guys like Alexander & later Junis can really use that against you.
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I think those questioning May's contributions in the post-season are missing a rather large point---his presence can keep the other starters on a lighter sked in the regular season (and save innings for a very young rotation) for pretty much as long as they want/need to, And THAT can indirectly benefit you greatly in the post-season regardless of what May might or might not do in October. Now they aren't as reliant on a BP day or having to tap someone like Crow who doesn't have the vet pedigree. You'd love to have kept both young OFs but that's what it took to get both pitchers; I'm sure we didn't overpay on purpose. On paper Romero is more of the 'post-season' pickup than May. I think folks need to remind themselves that the appendectomy wasn't some huge surprise the Cardinals foisted on us. It looks like he won't be added until September & I suspect the FO realized that could be the case. If that's enough reason to think it was a bad pickup that's fine, but it also flies in the face of the May complaints of him not making us 'better' in October. Personally I'd have loved to have made the deal by including either Frias OR Ragsdale, along with someone like Jose Anderson or Handelfry Encarnacion. But I imagine that would've been a no-go.
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Fair enough. I'm putting a little more stock on the takes than you are given the moment, the fact he's still not 22 & that Junis probably isn't the easiest AB for a youngster--he's not what you'd call conventional. IMO those were easier takes if he's, say, leading off the inning. He's shown he's capable of more so I suppose I'd back off 'good' but still go somewhere north of 'meh'.
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I focused more on the fact that he took it full after going 0-2. He didn't quite recognize ball four on the 3-2 check swing & went too far. All things considered I'd lean more toward 'good' than 'bad' when categorizing the AB. I'll grade it tougher when he's 24.
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Quite a nice situation with him right now. He hasn't been used much lately, and when he has he's had some outings like tonite----first two outs on four pitches. 'Pen is lined up nicely with Uribe & Romero both on the cusp of returning.
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I got a pretty big kick out of Luis Lara tonite. He's shown once again how the athleticism & instincts allow him to make plays, despite him needing mucho polish. Really looking forward to seeing him lock down his OF responsibilities after hundreds & hundreds of reps cuz he mostly gets the job done now w/o them. Then there's the two hits w/RISP, and for my money if you can ever credit someone with a 'good AB' while striking out with the bases loaded, the one in the bottom of the 8th just might qualify. Drohan battled on a night where he wasn't very good. And if trying to get a 3rd inning out of Patrick was a mistake, then it's one I would've made too. I was hoping for three from him when he entered the game. The leadoff walk probably ticked me off more than the HR.
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He certainly does. I've always felt that a hitter, to effectively ambush early, needs to 'earn' good pitches to hit early in a count. And the way you do that is by showing that you're willing to be disciplined & lay off stuff not in the zone. That'll increase the chances you get an early cookie. It's sort of a chicken-egg thing. You're right, he definitely does a lot of damage on 1st pitches. He also needlessly puts himself behind in the count at times. I guess the bottom line is he's still 22 & has much room for growth.
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He was noticeably slipping after planting. The grounds crew was out there at least once. They did what they could but after the first couple innings you could see he was never comfortable & I believe it got into his head a little. Fell behind hitters too, for the first time in a long while.
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Murphy pushes managerial buttons, and sometimes gets criticized. Over six months, that occurs with any manager. But the emotional buttons, that's more subtle & it seems to be a real strength of his. Even something like the feel for giving Chourio yesterday off. His style & this roster is such a good fit.
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Among all the positives, there were two things I especially loved tonite. First, the final inning from Miziorowski. It reminded me of his Ks vs Ohtani & Freeman w/ the bases loaded in LA. Different hitters, different situations, even the pitch selection was different. What was the same was that in both instances he looked an awful lot like an ace--a longtime, veteran ace. Getting two tough hitters in LA, and tonite dealing with the footing, with falling behind hitters, yet he gives them one more inning & does it efficiently. So impressive. The other thing was the Pratt sac fly. After the Mets scored two runs, that was a real 'restore order' AB for the team. After the Frelick K & falling behind in the count himself, huge moment & he came through. D L is on some kind of a roll. And a great job by Senzatela having to get four outs.
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Always interesting vs a LH starter. Bauers has looked good vs them; at times great. Will he get back in the lineup? Can Sanchez step up vs the side he's pretty much here to face? Will Chourio bounce back after a horrible day at the plate followed by a day off? Turang seemed to be seeing the ball better yesterday; much better swing/take decisions. We know Chourio is usually going to be in the lineup, so it'll be interesting to me how the Mitchell/Frelick/Lara dynamic plays out, especially after Frelick reached four times last nite.
