OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Congrats to the Houston Cheaters on their win

[ImporterExporter]

That's the Reynolds we want.

Suwinski, yuck.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Solid work from the bullpen to keep us in the game, but I worry these next few innings will be crucial. We need to get Skubal into the stretch and see if he can make a mistake, but a lot of these batters have had bad ABs all night. Not expecting anything out of Chavis or Chang.

 

[ImporterExporter]

We're just way to aggressive tonight. Not working counts is killing us.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Top of the order needs to come through against the pen

 

[ImporterExporter]

Top of the order needs to come through against the pen

We need to get through top half first.

Wow, Tigers really trying to give us this game. Castillo impresses me at short. His offense is wearing thin, but he's been really good on D.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Damnit Mitchell. Awful, awful decision in right.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Tough break, but I think the main problem tonight was getting nothing of value out of Chavis, Castillo, and Chang. Castillo obviously made some great defensive plays, but those righties couldn't do much of anything to Skubal.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Has Mitchell always had a noodle arm?

And wtf was that throw by Chang. How is he a big leaguer

 

[ImporterExporter]

Has Mitchell always had a noodle arm?

And wtf was that throw by Chang. How is he a big leaguer

Chang is a bum. No business in this league.

Hayes leadoff walk. Let's do something actual mlb talent.

Un f***ing believable.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Abysmal inning. Absolutely have to make them pay for a lead off walk

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Just not our night in a lot of ways, hopefully we can get the split tomorrow because this would be a bit of a punch momentum-wise heading into the long road trip.

Chang really has no business being on this team. I'm fine with not adding Martin to the 40-man yet, but he's been atrocious. In fact, we're lucky that Skubal started tonight (he was going to get pushed until tomorrow and then they changed their mind) so that Shelton didn't get any ideas about starting him in multiple games. Marcano should be playing. Chang can ride the bench until the next roster move happens.

 

[ImporterExporter]

DL Santos has a wicked slider.

 

[ChaosAgent]

And wtf was that throw by Chang. How is he a big leaguer

He isn't. And after the most disastrous debut week I've seen here in ages, he should be gone tomorrow or Thursday at the latest.

Dreadful luck with Reynolds hitting into that DP with the shift. We gave a good fight considering how awesome Skubal is and no contribution offensively from Chavis/Castillo (our best chance today).

 

[ImporterExporter]

Just get someone on base so Mitchell can send us to extras.

 

[ChaosAgent]

This Soto reminds me of Somebody Who Shall Not Be Named.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Put that one in the rear view. Find a way to win tomorrow. Goodnight.

 

[DanielPlainview]

As nice as Mitchell’s swing is, his arm seems like it could be a problem in the OF…does he play 1B?

Chang has to go. There’s no reason to play him over Marcano. Shelton needs to scrap whatever experiment he’s running there

The pen looked good again. Beede, Underwood, and DLS in particular. Hopefully Quintana doesn’t have too many more off nights

 

[ChaosAgent]

Chang has to go. There’s no reason to play him over Marcano. Shelton needs to scrap whatever experiment he’s running there

It's basically a platoon and we've faced a lot of lefties.

Chang was a flyer and did not have the wiggle room to fail so spectacularly in the 6 games he was here. If he would have even like, went 3/17 with a 2B and didn't screw up defensively, he'd have gotten a second week. But his time here was mind-boggling incompetence.

 

[DanielPlainview]

I can’t recall a player here who was so clearly not a major leaguer. We’ve had pitchers with better hitting ability

Sucks they couldn’t get the win tonight with Gump’s Box of Chocolates on the mound tomorrow

 

[Gallatin]

It's basically a platoon and we've faced a lot of lefties.

Chang was a flyer and did not have the wiggle room to fail so spectacularly in the 6 games he was here. If he would have even like, went 3/17 with a 2B and didn't screw up defensively, he'd have gotten a second week. But his time here was mind-boggling incompetence.

I feel like playing this guy recently had to have cost us a win...

 

[DJ Spinoza]

I think Chang was worth a flier with the 1B depth when Vogey was out, but the problem with all the fetishizing over positional flexibility is that it encouraged Shelton to get creative. He hit well last year, is/was a decent prospect who is still reasonably young, and no disrespect to Martin, but out 1B depth and long-term outlook still isn't clear at all.

But it's time to churn and burn, and at the very least, I don't see how you throw him back in there. We'll face Fried tomorrow in Atlanta, so I'd bet Shelton gets him in there for that.

Chavis was the biggest problem with the sombrero last night. I'm not sure you bench Mitchell today after his mistake in the field. It was a weird hop and he just made the wrong snap decision, it happens. Keep that swing in the lineup, IMO -- I'd like to see him DH today, Swaggerty in LF, Vogey at 1B, and Marcano back at 2B.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Swaggerty sitting, Chang getting the start. Not even gonna feign surprise or anger. Shelton gonna Shelton, I'm sure they want Chang getting consistent ABs to find footing or something, so he'll start again tomorrow. Bleh.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

I'm as big of a Reynolds backer as anybody, but giving him a day off and running the Indy OF for the day against a righty would be a nice move assuming Swaggerty didn't get banged up or something last night.

Swaggerty was a fraction of an inch from demolishing that 3-1 pitch he got in his first ab. I really like his swing and approach.

I like Castillo, but he can't be in the 5 slot against a righty and Marcano is too low in the order at 7.

Oh, yeah, and Chang is without a doubt the worst hitting 1B and perhaps the worst "major league" hitter I have ever seen. He makes Jeff Reboulet look like ARod by comparison.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Yeah, the Swaggerty thing is really what's annoying here. The entire logic of the promotion was that he's been on a tear in Indianapolis, and now with the promotion and scheduled off day, he's had one game vs. a very tough LHP and managed to hold his own. Tomorrow we face another good LHP -- that means you get him into the lineup today vs. a RHP.

The reason Shelton isn't is that he likely wants Chang to get a chance to get into some groove instead of being terrible, but Chang #1 hasn't earned that chance and #2 is depth fodder anyways, as opposed to being a top prospect who could be a very helpful immediate contributor.

Chang on the roster only makes sense because Vogey can't really play the field. He's effectively in a platoon with Chavis solely because Chavis is a platoon player. I guess the eventual thinking is that Gamel could slot into that 1B platoon, but in the meantime it makes the Swaggerty promotion look pretty dumb. He's either going to be forced back into action vs. a tough LHP tomorrow, or he won't play until Friday, meaning that he was called up Sunday morning and got in one game vs. one of the better performing LHPs in the league this year.

Best hope today is that a pinch hit opportunity comes up for him, but bleh.

 

[dogthateats]