OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Dull days of July

[VaCaps Fan]

great stadium

 

[MrBrightside]

Ortiz might honestly be too good to not have in the starting rotation as well. This team is just absolutely blessed with their MLB starters.

I'm really curious how their rotation looks next year. They'll have Oviedo healthy again, so they'll have Skenes, Keller, Jones, Oviedo, Falter, Ortiz and Priester as guys viable for a rotation spot. I'd probably go with Oviedo and Priester in the bullpen and Ortiz and Falter in the rotation, but a lot can change between now and next year.

A lot can change and with injuries you need 8-10 viable options. They are suddenly very well positioned, however.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Yeah, that's the argument for just clinging onto Harrington, Ashcraft, and Chandler no matter what (not that you are making it necessarily).

I do think we can basically pencil in some "fine" depth via a free agent project or two on the super cheap. That's something that I and others were very critical of in the offseason, though now it looks like a much more viable plan for the ledger going forward. Still, guys like Lugo, Wacha, and Flaherty are all turning in really great seasons, so the pitching could be that much better if we had spent beyond what we spent on Perez.

In any case, this is still why I am focused on Jazz above everybody. Miami might want to pluck from that close to the majors group, but assuming it's a full-blown blowup there, they are incentivized to shoot for players who are further away from the majors and have higher ceilings in a deal.

It's not necessarily a perfect comparison, but I am reminded of the Pirates going for Peguero and Malone in the Marte trade. We currently have some guys who would fit that kind of mold in a deal to the Marlins: Plaz, De Los Santos, Polanco, Blanco, Meuth, Brazoban, Suero, Kennedy, Delgado, and Matoma are all names that come to mind and/or I plucked off the Fangraphs recent list. Age 18-20 guys who will need multiple more years of development, but presuming that the Marlins are in tank and long-term rebuild mode, that works perfectly well for them. I actually don't know that they'd have much interest in a Harrington command-over-stuff #4 type pitcher.

 

[metalan2]

Any update on Jones?

 

[BusinessGoose]

INSANE CATCH BY PALACIOS

Any update on Jones?

Saw him draped all over the dugout railing yesterday, don't seem to babying the arm much

But i haven't looked into it he's been moving it yet, think there might be a few more days before he gets to the two week start working out again, they said he was gonna be shutdown for like a month at least

 

[DJ Spinoza]

I fully grant that this is a wild overreaction to one play, but Josh Palacios moving to CF randomly and having a linsanity run while we all say we need a CF is exactly the kind of weird thing you need to happen for a miracle run.

 

[metalan2]

I fully grant that this is a wild overreaction to one play, but Josh Palacios moving to CF randomly and having a linsanity run while we all say we need a CF is exactly the kind of weird thing you need to happen for a miracle run.

I wouldn't call it linsanity. He was our best hitter the last two months of the season last year. Clearly one of our best outfielders going into the season too.

Bad misplay by him though cost us two runs.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Tough one there. Stubbs is trash, really would have been nice to keep it to 1 run.

Time to get the bats out. It would be a bummer to drop this, but the necessary work is already done in this series.

 

[metalan2]

Tough one there. Stubbs is trash, really would have been nice to keep it to 1 run.

Time to get the bats out. It would be a bummer to drop this, but the necessary work is already done in this series.

I've already penciled this in as a loss before the game. It's already vastly more successful series we could have hoped for. I was hoping to get 1 win and thought it would be on Ortiz's start.

However, today would be nice to get a guy like Hayes going.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Perez has done solid so far. Next inning will be tricky with the top of the order for the third time, but maybe take care of business vs Pache and you can somehow navigate through Schwarber and Turner. Turner looks really frustrated right now.

You can even dream on 6 IP, 2 R, which would be an amazing start. Still hanging around.

 

[wheelz87]

Ke 3-0 swinging and its an inning ending DP.
Earlier, he threw to second on a routine grounder with two outs. (not the first time hes done that).
Is he with it? Low IQ? I don't get the hype. He can't hit. He's slow. And personally the defense is overrated.

 

[metalan2]

Hayes is getting into some pretty dire territory.

Swinging 3-0, with a man on and 1 out, on a probable ball is insane. Hes also as slow as mccutchen.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Hit to Pache ends up spoiling a decent start from Gonzales. It's the right move to go with the fresh arm/look for Bohm here, though I am not sure I have a lot of confidence in Santana. Big spot to keep this one within striking distance.

 

[BusinessGoose]

The game isn't out of hand, but digging into thy bullpen at 4.2 innings is tough

Hit to Pache ends up spoiling a decent start from Gonzales. It's the right move to go with the fresh arm/look for Bohm here, though I am not sure I have a lot of confidence in Santana. Big spot to keep this one within striking distance.

Wish the ump didn't call that ball a strike, we would have been better off with PHI on 1st and 2nd lol

Santana finds a way to end inning nicely though

 

[DJ Spinoza]

I hate to just sound like a broken record but that is a brutal walk from Nicolas. Stubbs cannot hit. You can throw the ball right over the heart of the plate and he will make an out.

Margin is so thin to stay within a bloop and a blast, so wasting opportunities for outs and creating traffic for Schwarber+ is not a good recipe.

 

[ChaosAgent]

If I praise Ortiz for his performance last night, I gotta say Phillips was similarly effective today.

Cruz and Reynolds have been amazing but haven't delivered today. It's not over yet but headed that way. Take 2/3 against St. Louis.

Edit: and Cruz pulls a Cruz

 

[BusinessGoose]

Cruz has been a disaster today lol must have stayed up too late

Inning ending double play f***ed up to another run against, two on, one out still

4-0 not over, but this team today, it is. They've had zero chemistry today.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Cruz has been a disaster today lol must have stayed up too late

Inning ending double play f***ed up to another run against, two on, one out still

Take the anger and disappointment of today into a huge series against St. Louis.

 

[metalan2]

I can honestly say I can't think of a time when a shortstop or second baseman just dropped a routine throw in a routine double play.

Two terrible defensive plays are responsible for every Phillie run this game.

It's nice to win the first two, but this game was easily winnable if two routine fielding plays were made.

 

[BusinessGoose]

The hole gets deeper

 

[ChaosAgent]

I can honestly say I can't think of a time when a shortstop or second baseman just dropped a routine throw in a routine double play.

Two terrible defensive plays are responsible for every Phillie run this game.

It's nice to win the first two, but this game was easily winnable if two routine fielding plays were made.

The offense still has to score a single run which they have not.

 

[BusinessGoose]

The offense still has to score a single run which they have not.

We've had ONE dude get to 2nd...and it was off a single and a walk

That's it

That's terrible

 

[metalan2]

The offense still has to score a single run which they have not.

Lol yea, that part too. But we're accustomed to that and winning games late. I didn't say we'd win, but winnable.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

The big comeback win on Friday now feels huge. Even if this gets uglier, we pocket 2/3 from the best team in the league without either of our best pitchers, and we also go into the big series tomorrow with a well-rested pen.

Basically had everything go poorly today. The Cruz error was a major catalyst to the game getting out of reach, but Phillips also totally shut down the offense, and our pitchers wasted easy outs vs the bottom of the order multiple times and finally got burned with the big inning.

Just have to shake it off and be ready for tomorrow. Ideally Fleming can mop the rest of this up.

 

[BusinessGoose]

On our way to a sweep of the phillies: