I really questioned not bringing back Pressly after striking out the side and showing his sharpest slider/cutter I've seen this year.
I expect Brantley to hit the 60 day IL when McCullers gets activated. Brantley would be eligible to come off the 60 day IL August 27th so it doesn't mean anything in terms of being able to come back this season.
Maybe our 8th inning guy? You can't be serious. Pecking order: Pressly Montero Stanek That's 7-8-9, point blank, end of story. Then the depth in this order: Neris Smith Abreu Martinez and then Maton Maton should be 8th on the depth chart. Unfortunately we treat him as 4a/4b interchangable with Neris. But that's due to DNS, Dusty Nephew Syndrome.
I mean- I am? Said I wasn’t going to sweat 1 shitty bat at the 9 hole and he hasn’t even been shitty the last 6 weeks. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe all the intangibles they talk about aren’t overstated. If it mattered it should show up somewhere in the numbers. There’s nothing to indicate that it does. Ultimately, at the end of the day the pitcher calls the game, makes the decision and has to execute. The catcher is the caddy. The pitcher beats the ultimate responsibility for game management, and he’s not the only catcher they knows how to work with the front office nerds and plan a game. I can’t imagine that’s something Vasquez isn’t capable of. I know that’s a minority opinion around here and in Astorodom. also- we have the absolute worst metrics of pitches vs strikes called in the entire majors. It’s either a conspiracy against us, incredibly bad luck (this is the 2nd year in a row) or Maldy does a bad job framing and/or pisses off the umps back there in some way.
That was game was disturbing on so many levels. Yuli and now, sadly Pena are total black holes. Dusty must have been pissed that Click traded for Mancini. Maton just sucks. Diaz hits a grand salami and is rewarded with another off day. God damn.
McCormick is a spectacular platoon starter, he kills lefties. Unfortunately we have a manager that seemingly intentionally chooses to ignore such things. Dubon is a bench utility player, he's fine in that role, he's not quite as bad a hitter as his OPS this season suggests. He won't be starting any playoff games. Meyers, I dunno. I'm not sure if he's hurt, slumping, or just sucks. He's the highest ceiling 2 way option we have, and the team clearly wants to give him every opportunity to get going. He certainly didn't suck last season, nor did he suck when he first came back this season, then the bottom fell out and he started striking out at a crazy clip for some reason.
Maybe if we didn't roll out a goofy ass lineup we would've had more runs going into the 9th inning. I have officially swerved on this position, I am on record defending Dusty but these lineups are just effing stupid. I understand rest days and what not, but at this point Chas should platoon in CF depending on lefty/righty starters, with Meyers and Dubon taking the righties. Mancini needs to start playing every day between 1B/DH/LF. Yuli needs to play less. Pena is gassed from the long season, give him more off days, we have plenty of depth to roll out a strong lineup each and every night. This is simple stuff.
