abad 7.50 era, 1.92 whip. keep trotting him out there millsy, you brainless, stubborn idiot. you're bound to be right at least once in a while!
but he's on the active roster and has already played in gams? no use arguing with you, you're just going to agree with every decision a manager makes. he made the wrong one. sorry, deal with it. abad shouldn't be on the mound. ever.
I guess I need to come to grips with the fact that 1/2 the team is AAAA and not MLB material. And that it will take a couple years of filling holes to fix that.
THIS. You guys are acting like Lopez and Melancon are bonafied stoppers. Truth is, they're just as unproven as most of the other people on this team. Mills strengths are working with young players, keeping a cohesive clubhouse, and getting players to give max effort. His in-game strategy/bullpen managing has yet to be determined since they haven't played a meaningful set of games yet, and he's working with a bunch of unprovens.
it is PROVEN that brandon lyon and fernando abad are terrible, and have failed in several important situations this year. wilton and melancon haven't, and it's obvious to most fans that they have a better chance of getting outs than the other 2. in other words, let's let melancon and wilton blow our leads in the 8th inning onward for a little while. it's easier to stomach. and quit thinking that mills is absolved from any and all blame for losses and is immune from criticism for 2 or more seasons just because the personnel is weak. he isn't. it IS possible for his decisions to be poor and cost us games.
First of all, this is the start of his 2nd season as manager (he hasn't managed 2+ years). Second of all, you're using the same logic that enabled Abad and Lyon to get the jobs this year in the first place... they were better last year in crucial situations than other pitchers, thus they were favored over those who hadn't done it as much. I didn't say it was the "right" decision, and we can already guess that as guys don't perform, they'll be relegated to lesser roles... but to act as if everybody "knew" that these guys weren't the righ ones for the job based on a month of a season is just utter back-seat/hindsight managing. If Lopez and Melancon go on to blow chunks, what then? Is that Mills fault too? I'm a huge Melancon fan, but I know that he's just as unproven as any closer in baseball.
I think its funny that an Ed Wade team has such a ****ty bullpen. This is supposed to be the guy who is obsessed with acquiring relievers.
I haven't agreed with everything he's done, I just think you're wrong. You have 2-3 pitchers in the bullpen who aren't going to blow games for you, and you can't pitch them every game. You're under this delusion these pitchers don't have some type of pitch limit in place (especially ones coming off an injury, you know since he just pitched the other night). Abad is the ONLY left hander in our bullpen and 2 out of the 3 batters that were coming up were left handed (the 3rd being a switch hitter who had been historically statistically horrible batting from the right side). He made the right choice with what he had, Abad just didn't perform. This has nothing to do with Mills and everything to do with our lack of relief pitching and choices. Like I said, stop hating, if anything hate on Wade for providing terrible relief pitching this year.
This is the latest the Pirates have been above .500 in 6 years. Back to the topic at hand..... F you bullpen!!! It's funny how the cycle goes.... we've had a crappy offense for about 5 years and competent pitching for approximately the same time period. Now the tables seem to be turning.
NO and NO. This is a mediocre team that doesn't need to be overpaying for luxury spots in the setup man and closer positions. Build the offense up (which is progressing nicely), get some more anchors for the rotation, THEN... when bullpen is the only thing holding you back, you pick up some luxury items. Even though there have been a ton of blown saves to start this season, there are still holes throughout this team to declare that the bullpen is the biggest problem. Its one of many. When its the only one left, that's when you invest in it.
Across town in Basketball land, The Rockets have seen their version of this also. A once top 3 defensive team now near the bottom. And a resurgent offense (compared to recent years). Might be worth a look to compare trends.
Most runs allowed and the 3rd worst run differential in the league. Every team that is above .500 is positive in that category except for the Giants, and they're -1.
Brandon Lyon with the domino effect.... we had a win streak going, he comes in, we lose to the Reds, now we're a half-game ahead of the White Sox for the worst record in the league.
