Tucker's also a very good baserunner, neither is in Straw's class of course. I would be very surprised if they don't add an extra bullpen arm. They've done it for the last 2 postseasons.
A left bat that looked totally overmatched. Gimme Straw. Elite defender at any outfield position and can make contact if need be or steal a base at will. Drop Tucker and add Abreu. Can afford to drop Miley due to all the right handed hitters on the yanks and add Peacock if he's healthy.
Just looking at matchups vs the likely top 3 starters: Josh has hit Severino and Tanaka well, Jake has done the same against Paxton.
Looks like Reddick is really struggling catching up with good fastballs recently. Might go with someone else against Severino.
If we don't keep Straw, that's a decision we could walk away regretting against their bullpen. He prevents us from needing to string together hits for a run. And he's not totally useless at the plate. If we don't keep Tucker, there's really little chance we walk away regretting not having him there, although he's probably more valuable than Reddick even now. He's better than Straw, but Straw fills a hole we have at an elite level. Jake is just not fast enough.
No. If you want speed and defense you have Jake for that and least least Jake and Tucker can clear a little league fence.
Since we don’t have an ALCS thread yet I will drop this here. Here are our TOR 3 pitchers vs. NYY this season: 1. Greinke - 2 GS, 1-0, 12.2 IP, 2.13 ERA, 14 K, 9.9 K/9, 0.868 WHIP, .163/.234/.302 slash line. Last start 7/31/19 @ NYY. 2. Verlander - 2 GS, 1-0, 13 IP, 4.15 ERA, 15 K, 10.4 K/9, 1.154 WHIP, .224/.283/.367 slash line. Last start 6/23/19 @ NYY. 3. Cole - 1 GS, 0-0, 7 IP, 3.86 ERA, 6 K, 7.7 K/9, 1.000 WHIP, .167/.259/.333. Last start 4/9/19 vs. NYY. Greinke performed very well against the Yankees this season and Cole hasn’t faced them since April.
Jake has stolen only one playoff base in his entire career. That equals Straw who did that in his rookie year. You know why, Jake to slow to even get the green light in a pressure situation. He's thrown out 30% of the time on top of it. Straw will steal the base. Jake may or may not make it.
Brantley in RF seems like a terrible idea. I’d prefer to see Marisnick start in CF and move Springer to right if we are just going to assume that we cannot get a professional quality AB out of our 3rd OF. Let’s just load up on defense instead.
There's almost no chance they try a 3 man rotation. I don't see any argument for it up 3-0, 2-1, 1-2, or 0-3. They'd decrease their chances of winning each of the last 3 games.
I really like their chances tomorrow night if they don't chase out of the zone. Tanaka's stuff just isn't nearly at the same level as anyone on TBR and he has had massive road struggles. Just have to jump on him early, don't let him get in a rhythm with the split/slider combo.
