Let's say, for shats and giggles, that they do fire Cora and make Tek (for instance) the interim. How does that improve the product on the field?
It doesn't. But it's time to complete some player evaluations and act accordingly.
Hamilton simply can't be penciled in at short again, period. My guess is that had Romy been healthy, we would have already have seen the last of it, and last night really forces the issue. The kid is not ready for prime time and will never be a shortstop. I don't even think Cora is making the final decision unilaterally when it comes to where to play Rafaela, but he better be at short today, assuming Romy is still out. David Hamilton is not the answer. I'd rather see Cora out there himself.
There is no excuse at all for the quality of defense we've seen this week. It's beyond pathetic and has deserved every ounce of criticism it's gotten. Absolutely fucking unacceptable. I knocked off 5 wins off my expectations when Story went down, but the residual effects have been so beyond ridiculous that I have to think the current level of suck is unsustainable. We all better fucking hope so. Just be meh and not fucking historically fucking terrible for Christ's sake....
At this point I just pray Raffy gets healthy, that they move move Rafaela to short today, get Grissom into the mix in a couple of weeks, and hope that what we have been seeing otherwise gets turned around quick. As bad as it's been, they are much more capable than they've shown in the last few games, particularly the outfielders. I'm not really worried there. And the infield we have now is 3/4 back-ups, two of whom have now proven to be virtually useless. It sucks, but it's fixable.
And building on that, Dalbec is cooked. He is simply not ever going to be a viable major league player. It's the one non-upgrade that really fucking bothered me this off-season, and of course that weakness in roster construction got exposed right quick with Raffy's troubles. It's time to fix that shit. Get Story off the 40 and Meidroth up here stat if nothing else.
This current team and its prospects are extremely discouraging.
They're 7-7 after a 7-3 start on the west coast. Not great, but they just lost Story for the year, Raffy for several games, Baltimore is a Wagon, and last night was as putrid a defensive display as you'll ever see, but they couldn't score anyway. So yeah, some very discouraging games, but overall I have seen more to be encouraged about than not. Cleaning up short alone will be huge, these pitchers need to be rewarded for inducing weak contact.
I didn't let myself get too high from the hot start, and as frustrating as this week has been, I'm not going to freak out and throw in the towel after a shitty 4-game stretch, especially considering the totality of the circumstances. But moves need to be made.
Tighten it up, Craig. And fast.