Our primary disagreement is that you seem to be implying that Martin is "non-dominant".
I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s parade. My 2015 reference was not about record, but because it was clear that the 3 guys I mentioned were all special players who were going to be the cornerstones of the future.
I actually thought this team was going to be able to play defense, so I thought they'd be a few games better than this. I expected Bello to produce, hands down, because his stuff is so good.
If he stays healthy and productive, Paxton (a FA after this season) may well be your most valuable asset to trade. Add to that the fact that he'll be owed roughly 1.35M at the deadline which may make him even more attractive. .
How many times has he said that lately? Yet nothing ever changes.
The team is an image of the manager. There's no fire, no energy anymore. I'm not saying flip over tables or toss the gatorade bucket but when was the last time he got upset about anything? Whenever they show him he's just sitting/kneeling there, no chatter, just looking back to see if they should challenge a play.
Here's a relevant Twitter exchange from today
Roughly 1/3 of this year's $4M salary. That's likely easy to fit under the tax threshold for more than a few contenders.
The 2019 team started poorly (6-13), had a recovering surge to 22-19 by May 12, but stumbled along to a .500 record (34-34) as late as June 11. Cora promised things would get going any time now. Eventually they did, but it wasn't enough to overcome the overall "no-urgency" start, and they failed to make the post season.
Thanks for the info. I'd be disappointed to see him go (unless we go after him in free agency, of course).
Think they're trading him before the break? Not sure what lining them up now does otherwise.
If you think the field manager is the problem with this team, then I don’t know what to tell you. They don’t have enough good players.
Of course. But he’s not really an exciting part, he’s a new dude, playing worse for 10x more money.
Pedro is excited about Lamet, though.
Big return may not be the way to look at this, but rather the opportunity for your best return among the current roster. Big ifs are placed on continued health and success these next four weeks, but if that happens then consider multiple suitors. Also consider that the playoff structure and the pushed back trade deadline tends to see more teams in the playoff hunt at the deadline. Nearly each one of those is looking for an upgrade in the rotation if they can find it. Paxton currently represents what many teams would like to have at a minimal addition to the teams' payroll and no future commitment. A team in serious contention with a healthy farm system (Ideally more than one) would likely offer a bit more for this sort of player. You're not likely to get a "haul" here, but I think there is definitely a better market for Paxton than some other pitchers...IF
And man that is another reason to find something better to do with your evenings. Dave with Wake and Millar took away a good chunk of the pleasure of watching a near no hitter last night.
Yeah, I mean that's why he's available for free. Pedro is a much more excited about this guy than I am, but in its own way, it's kind of cool Pedro is excited - even if he may be wrong.
Not my point at all. My point was that in the past he seemed much more energetic (for lack of a better word) and the team seems to resemble the lack of energy the manager has shown. I was in no way trying to say Cora was the only problem.
This is mostly fair, but Refsnyder doesn't belong on this list. The reason he's still on the team and got his extension is that they made adjustments that got him playing above career norms; he has a 116 OPS+ with Boston and has been a real weapon vs LHP.
Yeah, I think RFsnyder's been a great addition to the club. He has a defined role that suits the club's needs, his defense has been mostly good and his bat has been decent since arriving. IMO he's exactly the type of guy you want at the bottom of the order, because he's good enough that he can help you avoid that "black hole" 7/8/9 spots that can be problematic. I don't think that he belongs anywhere near the top five slots in the BA, he just doesn't carry the sort of bat that you want to plug in there. But, the roster being what is, he seems to be popping up there and it's really hard to get down on him for that.
He benched Verdugo and then gave Casas some time away from1B when his defense really cratered.
Casas definitely seems to be figuring some things out. I'm still a bit frustrated with the lack of power/run production (and I really think that might be where some of the Casas bashing stems from) that we hoped to see. That said, with the way that the offense as a whole has been playing lately there hasn't been a ton of run producing opportunities. I think eventually he's going to show us more and we also have to remember that he has a grand total of 301 MLB ABs and even fewer in AAA.
I think you can quibble about that "way," but they are both underperforming expectations about somewhere around 10-15%. Devers is at wrc+ of 113, expected around 130, Casas at 102, expected of 110 or so. That's about 10-15% below expectations for each of them. Again, I think the offense is about as good as we could have expected it to be, but just to say those two are underperforming.
I'm not sure why people were so sure Casas was gonna hit a bunch of dingers this year. The guy can put some distance on the ball, but he's only put out 17 home runs last year between AAA and the majors. His high-water mark is 19 in A ball. He's on pace for about that many this year.
The bolded is all I was getting at, he seems less fiery than he used to be and to me it looks like the team has looked the same.
