Unfortunately Lerner is probably a bigger anchor than Rizzo, Martinez, or anyone else.
August 2018 MLB Game Thread
- Thread starter Sad Sam Jones
- Start date
They were essentially missing their 4 through 6 guys for half the season and it doesn't look like Murphy can play 2b anymore which hurts because Zimmerman can only play 1b. Sprinkle in 20 games of lost Rendon time and Strasburg only making 14 starts and you have your main reason for their stinker of a season.
They could be losing Harper and Gonzalez so I'm not sure if they'll punt or not. Really tough call unless they buy their way out of it this off season.
They could be losing Harper and Gonzalez so I'm not sure if they'll punt or not. Really tough call unless they buy their way out of it this off season.
They should be in good shape. Gio will be no big loss. Go with Soto and Robles in the outfield and spend the Harper money on other needs. That will be a lot of money.
Indeed. I still believe long-term, despite last night's apparently season-ending nutkick.
Only 6th time an "ultimate grand slam" has been hit by a PH--walk-off, bases loaded, down by 3. Only 3rd time it happened with 2 outs.
I did see a tweet somewhere else calling a "golden HR", so essentially all of the above, with the team also down to the final strike.
They could really make the defense interesting and move Murphy to 1B, Zimmerman back to 3B and Rendon to 2B.
They really aren't in that bad of a shape. The only high dollar long term deals right now are Scherzer and Stras. Zimmerman is signed for 2019, then will likely get a buyout. Eaton's signed for 2019, then has two option years, which will likely be bought out unless he can stay healthy. They have options on Doolittle, and they have Kendrick for 2019. That's it, everyone else is a FA or arb/pre-arb. Rendon and Roark are in their last year of arb in 2019; Rendon is likely a priority to get extended, Roark not so much. OF will likely be Robles, Eaton, Soto. They need a 2B, a C, and a re-tooled bullpen. The rotation is decent (Max, Stras, Roark, Fedde, maybe Joe Ross is back in time) so they likely would just need a back-end innings eater. And they'll have money to spend.
To be clear I don't think they are bad at all - 85-90'ish wins. I just think they'll be more of a wild card contender since the Phillies and especially the Braves are just taking off and have better farm systems. It's a tough spot to be in with a lot of holes to fill through free agency.
It’s a very manageable spot, and they have a terrific GM.
But the biggest organizational weakness — and it’s not close — is ownership and its meddling. Rizzo cannot get the manager he wants, so it’s Dusty over Bud Black and now Davey over Dusty. And say what you want about post-season Dusty deficiencies, but it’s not a far leap to think that the current 5.5 deficit is attributable in large part to breaking in a new manager.
But that’s not all. So two off seasons ago, Rizzo is told the money is not there for the bullpen. But it suddenly appears for Matt Wieters and his two-year $21 MM contract following a statistically dreadful season, which was repeated last season. Who happens to be a client of the Lerners’ apparent silent partner, Scott Boras.
This throws a wild card into every calculation. The one team in mlb, along with the RS and NYY, that can afford a hard pass on Bryce Harper is Washington. It can afford to do so, it is well positioned to do so, and the money can be spent elsewhere to great effect. But do not be surprised if they are all in on Bryce, cuz he’s the “foundational player”, cuz jersey sales, and/or cuz they want to do Boras a solid by at least establishing a respectable floor.
It’s effectively dealing with bullshit like this that made Brian Cashman worth every penny of equity he has in the NYYs— and then some. It’s why every RS fan should be forever thankful for every day John Henry owns the club. Dealing with that nonsense is a real tough job.
Homer Bailey survived on the ropes for several innings tonight, but eventually left having allowed 5 runs on 10 hits in 5.1 innings. His ERA creeps up to 6.33. It's amazing how much of a career he's had for being a complete bust. He's now pitched in parts of 12 MLB seasons, though he's only managed to avoid demotion or the DL in 2 of those years.
From 2012-13 he posted a 3.58 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 110 ERA+ over 65 starts. In those two years he accumulated a WAR of 4.9. His career WAR stands at 4.4. In his other 10 partial seasons he's never achieved an ERA+ of 100 or more. Over the past 4 years, he's 9-22, 6.31 ERA, 5.10 FIP, ERA+ of 68 over 41 starts. He recently got upset that the Reds made him pitch out of the bullpen during a rehab stint.
Somehow he's leveraged all this to "earn" over $86 million in his career, with another $23 million due to him next year, plus a $5 million buy out in 2020 (assuming the Reds don't want to agree to the $25 million mutual option he has).
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From 2012-13 he posted a 3.58 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 110 ERA+ over 65 starts. In those two years he accumulated a WAR of 4.9. His career WAR stands at 4.4. In his other 10 partial seasons he's never achieved an ERA+ of 100 or more. Over the past 4 years, he's 9-22, 6.31 ERA, 5.10 FIP, ERA+ of 68 over 41 starts. He recently got upset that the Reds made him pitch out of the bullpen during a rehab stint.
Somehow he's leveraged all this to "earn" over $86 million in his career, with another $23 million due to him next year, plus a $5 million buy out in 2020 (assuming the Reds don't want to agree to the $25 million mutual option he has).
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Familia making things interesting in Oakland. Walks the bases loaded in the 9th. Nobody out. Good reminder that pretty much every reliever traded at the deadline has a game or two where they wield the gas can.
That wasn’t a hit. Difo muffed an easy groundball. Probably 70% of the time that’s an out.
And the Nats get walked off again on Monday night in St.Louis. Their bullpen has imploded since Doolittle went out.
Amazing that, after staying afloat all year through a raft of injuries to the lineup and the rotation, it's the bullpen that puts the nail into the coffin.
Bauer stress fracture in leg. That’s a big blow for Cleveland if he doesn’t get back for the postseason.
The X-ray was negative, but they found the stress fracture in a follow up MRI, so it's at least minor. Chris Antonetti is on the Tribe radio broadcast right now and says they obviously don't know at this point, but they believe Bauer will be healthy before the playoffs. Of course, there's still the issue that there will be no opportunity for a rehab stint.
They aren't making any predictions on Leonys Martin, but considering he experienced organ failure and remains hospitalized, it seems a stretch to think he'll be at full strength to return this season. Antonetti said they've been very busy on the waiver wire, but so far it hasn't resulted in anything.
This is what sucks about being a Tribe fan this year (and very likely next year)… the regular season is just a 162 game hurdle to hope everyone is healthy and playing well in October… and when you're a Tribe fan, you already know that won't happen.
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They aren't making any predictions on Leonys Martin, but considering he experienced organ failure and remains hospitalized, it seems a stretch to think he'll be at full strength to return this season. Antonetti said they've been very busy on the waiver wire, but so far it hasn't resulted in anything.
This is what sucks about being a Tribe fan this year (and very likely next year)… the regular season is just a 162 game hurdle to hope everyone is healthy and playing well in October… and when you're a Tribe fan, you already know that won't happen.
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Ronald Acuña Jr. is making a serious run at Juan Soto's NL Rookie of the Year award, Acuña has homered in five straight games including two tonight, and he has homered to lead off the game the last three nights. Soto is still ahead in OPS (.970 to .922) but Acuña is closing the gap rapidly.
James Paxton took a liner off his pitching arm and left in the first (after giving up a bomb). XRays negative and he’s day-to-day. Felix Hernandez has come on and kept Seattle in the game.
Houston on track to be only a single game up on Oakland heading into tomorrow’s games. If they drop to 5 back, maybe ESPN will drop them in the power rankings.
Dodgers and Giants brawl. Pretty much a yearly occurrence. Surprised Madbum and Puig didn't throw down last night when Madison eyeballed Puig slamming his bat down on a fly ball.
The A's are going to be a really tough out. the WC game at the moment would be a bloodbath for the Yanks (with the slight potential it's the Astros, but that should turn around soon)
They did it again today, tied it at 1 in the bottom of the 8th on a clutch Machado single and gave it up in the 9th for the fourth game in a row:
First 8 innings: LAD 8-5
9th inning: Opponents 9-0
Acuna just got hit on the first pitch in his first at-bat by Urena and looks hurt badly. Got him square on the elbow. But he is staying in.
Fuck Miami. That’s bush league.
Fuck Miami. That’s bush league.
As a guy that has Acuna on my fantasy team, I am very upset about this. And what a cowardly, bush league act.
Thoughts and prayers to your team.
Tough to get too worked up about it because if McCann was still with the Braves maybe he would have already punched out Acuna for his home run trots.
I don't find his home runs trots all that bad. He's 20 years old and he plays with a sense of joy. There should be more guys like him
Olbermann has called for Urena to be suspended for the rest of the season and Mattingly for a week.
Apparently it was the hardest fastball Urena has thrown on the first pitch of a game in his entire career. There is no way it wasn't intentional. Fuck Jeter, Mattingly and that entire organization.
I agree. Maybe Manfred should look at legislating this shit out of the game instead of trying to shave 3 minutes of the average game time. I'm sick of bean balls. Way down the road in baseball history we'll look back at the time in baseball where it was generally ok to huck a deadly object at another player as a ridiculous time. If you start handing out 40 game suspension this shit will come to a stop real quick.
No it won’t. The union would file a grievance and win because a 40, or even 20 game suspension would far exceed anything given out for this. It would need to be part of the next CBA to make harsher penalties for this nonsense.