I forgot to thank Conger for not knowing how to make a routine throw to first. If Castro plays today, we win the game. Send Conger away to AAA Luhnow, ya made a mistake. Promote Jake Nottingham! Nah I'm just kidding. But what about Tyler Heineman? Seems like he could put bat to ball better than Hank, and maybe he can handle routine throws to first too!
Trade everybody!! But seriously...we just dont wanna fall back to Earth. Winning baseball is too much fun, I don't wanna go back to whatever this franchise was for the majority of the past decade.
Made no sense to trade assets for him, and I don't see how you could possibly disagree, given your philosophy of how unimportant backup catchers are/should be. It was a bad trade, and there was no rush to make a move like that before this season started.
2 losses in his previous 2 appearances and arguably the reason we lost tonight. How long of a leash do you have for lefty specialists?
I don't know, Tony Sipp bought himself a pretty good leash with his 2014 performance. But it's whatever, I suppose.
Maybe they know a little bit more about the so-called "assets" ceilings... I agree that Conger hasn't done much of note in the box score (other than the GW HR against the Rangers), but I'm also not losing sleep over losing Tropeano or Perez. Not losing sleep over losing Folty. Cosart trade came out of nowhere and most people's reasoning was to look for Moran to be the 3B of the future (which isn't a sure thing), but Marisnick is most definitely a nice get. People get too attached to the prospects... when most of them will either ultimately fail or be utilized for trades. Some trades will work, some won't. The key is that this team currently has an ex-catcher as their manager... who apparently thinks highly enough of Conger that he's willing to let him catch a fresh 21 year old who can use all the pitch-framing help he can get. Conger has also taken turns catching the potential Cy Young candidate in Keuchel. Ultimately, if Hinch feels he's not helping the ball club, he'd know before anybody given his personal experience.
You guys should lower your expectations, there is little chance they win more than 86 games this year.
Who's the next best lefty they have? Thatcher? Chapman? Serious question. He's been nails for quite a while, but the last couple of weeks have not been bueno. Barring a trade, I don't see any other options.
Well the difference between an 80 and 90 win season (or a 90 and 100 win season) is about 2 wins/month. We could count this game, and that last Orioles game, as potentially those 2 games. I'm a little more concerned about the rotation than I was a month ago... I wouldn't be surprised if they make a trade before the all star break.
Don't know if I can provide a coherent enough answer, or one that you'll be at least somewhat satisfied with, but I'll see what I can do. As insane as it sounds, probably Thatcher. It appears that his problem is that he can't seem to keep the runners that he inherits from other pitchers from scoring. It's not like he's been bombed every time; 5 of the 8 singles he's allowed have been groundballs that found their way out of the infield, and the only extra-base hit he's allowed was an Adrian Beltre triple. He's been unlucky. He'll probably get a few more looks with Sipp's recent struggles. Speaking of Sipp's struggles, I think it's something he can withstand.
Exactly. Just talking baseball. Do love an old fashioned. I like an Arnold Palmer too, personally, especially when summer kicks in, that's a quality porch/shade tree drink.
I don't know anything about Thatcher, just haven't seen him much. Seems like he comes in, throws 5-6 pitches, and is gone. Unremarkable, I guess, and I don't watch every game. He could throw a knucklesplitscrewball and I wouldn't know.
