adambr2

Thames does have a .393 OBP, but he is whiffing at a 45% rate. I don't see him bringing anything more than a low level prospect. 39 K's / 112 PA's, 34.8% K rate.

I didn't expect Hiura to rake immediately at this level, but I thought there was a possibility that he might. So that's been disappointing. Still, it's a ridiculously small 20 AB sample size. Long-term, he's going to be fine. Short-term, he hasn't done enough to stay up with the MLB club when Shaw returns unless he really gets it going in the next week or so.

Thames AB’s have been sporadic, I think with consistent playing time he’ll do better than a powerless, sloth like Aguilar.[/quot Thames isn't going to get anything close to consistent playing time unless Aguilar get hurt. Thames is a strikeout waiting to happen. Last year 40% or the time and so far this year 45% of his ABs have been Ks. I think the Crew is looking to move him in a salary dump. You keep using his AB's rather than his PA's to determine his K rate which is really misleading. He's actually striking out 34.8% of the time which is still a lot but it's certainly not 45%. He's also got a 124 OPS+ which is well above average and gets on base nearly 40% of the time. As long as his OBP stays up over. 350 he is far from a liability in the lineup.

To be fair. I think Acuna would have scored anyway, but I agree. https://www.mlb.com/braves/video/markakis-sacrifice-fly?t=t144-default-vtp Didn't look like Acuna was even planning on trying. He was a dead duck with any good throw with Braun's momentum already taking him toward home.

He's having a nice season but yesterday's game was not one of his best moments. To make a boneheaded throw that costs a run and then go into complete chase mode with the bases loaded in the 9th when we had them on the ropes were both things you would expect from Hiura, not Braun. He's been around way too long to be looking like a rookie mentally as he did last night.

Scary thing for the Raptors is that we're way overdue for a game that we're just lights out from 3. We've actually been shooting pretty poorly from 3 since Game 3 of the Celtics' series.

Agreed. Not Counsell's finest managerial moment. I think he immediately knew it too. He keeps on trying to shoehorn Claudio into a late-inning stopper role, and he may be nothing more than a solid, but soon-to-be-extint LOOGY. I mean he should know this already. Righties vs. Claudio for his career: .797 OPS. Lefties, .489. This season, .797 for righties, .422 for lefties. Literally nothing has changed, regardless of much they might insist on how they view Claudio. The evidence has always been there for him that he shouldn't put Claudio in those situations and Counsell has got no one to blame but himself for the result.

What a winnable game blown. Braun with an absolute rookie AB in the 9th and Counsell another inexplicable Claudio vs. RHB decision were the biggest game changing moments in this one.

I think Hiura scores easy even if Donaldson would have gloved Cain's chopper. The one time Sedar throws up the stop sign.

Damn it Ryan. You had him, then you tried to do too much.

Nice!!

I totally agree with you on Claudio today, but I don't know why you keep beating that Corbin Burnes horse to death when there was nothing wrong with the moves yesterday. It's pretty evident that we should probably cool it on the high leverage reliever talk with him for awhile. Corbin stunk yesterday. Let's not pretend he just would have been magically nailing the corners if the score was 0-0 instead of 3-0.

When you continue to foolishly throw a soft tossing LOOGY out against a power righty in a late and close situation, despite mounds of evidence showing you that it's a terrible matchup, you completely deserve the results of that move. Not sure what else to say about that. Hope they can rally in spite of it.

Yes, there were but I don't think anyone was on board with giving up Hiura and as Homer said it was generally agreed the Pirates gave up way too much. The flip side of this is that many people thought we gave up way too much for Yelich. I think there were a lot more red flags with Archer but it still can be worthwhile at times to use your farm for proven cost controlled talent.

Also, I'm just curious as to what exactly you think Counsell accomplishes by pulling Burnes there if he pulls him after HR #1. What is the objective to pull him there that makes Counsell so wrong? Keep him from being overworked? Goodness, he was at 12 pitches, a very light load for a multi inning guy. It's not like he was at 50 pitches and CC just let it ride. Preserve his confidence? He's got numerous 3 HR outings this year, I think he's well aware of where he's at right now. If anything I'd argue it was a solid strategy to try to give him the opportunity to work out of it in a likely meaningless game at 7-0 and leave the game feeling good about something. Or are you arguing it was a meaningful, not lost game? If so, why are you going to Barnes, who you say is trash? What is one thing that Craig accomplishes differently by pulling Burnes at 12 pitches? Just one, single thing. There is just absolutely zero logic in your argument whatsoever and it's based solely on your love for Burnes, who we all love, but come on.

First of all, haven't you been beating the drum for awhile that Stearns and Counsell are simply above reproach, and any attempt to question them is foolhardy? Secondly, if you think Counsell owes Burnes some kind of apology, I don't know what to say other than that I think it's an absurd take. Burnes got into trouble, and by the time he gave up the first HR, the game seemed to be in hand. So he was given a chance to try to work out of it, and he couldn't. That's not on Counsell, and I'm flabbergasted that anyone would think it is. It is not Craig Counsell's job to protect Corbin Burnes from any additional trouble any time he gets himself in trouble. This was not a 1 run game after Burnes gave up the first tator. And finally, I love Corbin Burnes and his upside, and he's been a fantastic reliever for us already last season. And he's even had some good important moments this season. But come on, there's clearly some major issues right now, because the dude has been absolutely tattooed this year and his current numbers are off the charts bad. He's not in the "high leverage reliever" conversation right now. He's far closer to the "AAA" conversation. And that's absolutely okay, he'll get back to the high leverage conversation at some point. But it seems like you're implying that his tattooing tonight was simply a matter of being put in an inappropriate role and being left in it too long. That's just grasping at straws. He got shelled tonight because he got shelled, and at this point they just need to decide what the next step is from here. But he doesn't need excuses, and I'm sure he doesn't want the excuses.

Perfectly normal. Please share links. https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1838838

Would like to see them start holding a little later on these last shots. 4 seconds is a world of time in the NBA. Holding for last shot isn't useful if it isn't the last shot. Have given up buzzer 3's to end the 3rd in both games this series because we left too much time.

Is it normal to enjoy browsing through pages of dismayed Raptor board game threads as much as I do, or should I seek help?

In general? I'm sure a lot. Today? Not at all.

Might as well let Barnes/Perez finish this one and get Barnes right back on a plane to San Antonio after the game.

The 'indisputable' requirement seems to be in place just fine anytime we challenge a call.

Losing interest in this one quickly.

That was just an awful baserunning decision by Hiura.

Not going well, but score wise, could be much worse right now.