Special thanks to Eppler & Ausmus, we're now at .500 as a franchise

[tdawg87]

Scott34 is literally Hitler

[Stradling]

Just now, Scott34 said:

That guy sucks

You should probably be shaking hands and hi-fiving the Astros, get to work pal.  By the way where the hell did you go, you disappeared for a few years.  Were you in Iowa?  

[tdawg87]

He was in Guatemala

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, tdawg87 said:

He was in Guatemala

I see what you did there.  

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, azmancini said:

Ok, Son then.

 

...sorry Chuck

Chuck is my son.  dude you are not good at this.  Just quit while you are way behind.  

[Justin]

13 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Eppler gets kudos for restoring a weak farm system

He also gets kudos for convincing Ohtani to come here and Trout to stay here for the rest of his career. I don't disagree with anything you say, just want to add those two things because I feel they don't get appreciated enough. 

We all hate this season, but there is a fair amount of optimism that things might get better quickly. Can you imagine the despair around here if Trout wasn't locked up for the next dozen years? We can argue about Eppler's plan; what we can't argue about is that both Ohtani and Trout bought into it. 

[beatlesrule]

2 minutes ago, SoPas Angel said:

He also gets kudos for convincing Ohtani to come here and Trout to stay here for the rest of his career. I don't disagree with anything you say, just want to add those two things because I feel they don't get appreciated enough.

I'm pretty sure it was Arte giving him $430 million.

[Inside Pitch]

14 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

But Eppler's FA signings have been downright awful. 

Eppler gets kudos for restoring a weak farm system, but if that farm system and the parent club don't produce at the major league level in year 5 of his tenure here, Eppler needs to go! 

This sort of thinking has to be built on the idea that whatever ability it takes to spot amateur talent doesn't translate into FAs -- and if that's the case how do we explain LaStella, Goodwin, Simmons?  Or his success with discard pile RPs...

Pretty much every projection system out there missed the boat on Harvey and Cahill -- not even the worst case projections had either guy being as bad as they ended up being.   Eppler has to wear it but, I'm not ready to write off his ability to gauge FA talent on the poor performances of guys who were never his first choice to begin with.

 

                                                                                                                                      

[Docwaukee]

Just now, Chuckster70 said:

But Eppler's FA signings have been downright awful. 

Eppler gets kudos for restoring a weak farm system, but if that farm system and the parent club don't produce at the major league club in year 5 of his tenure here, Eppler needs to go! 

since Eppler got here: 

Skaggs returning from TJ surg and other injuries. Then he literally died.  
Heaney TJ surg in Eppler's first year
CJ Wilson didn't pitch in the last year of his contract due to 'injury'
Matt Shoemaker pitched about 100 innings in his last two years with the halos due to injury.  One of those injuries was getting pegged in the head and having brain surgery. 
JC Ramirez - TJ surg
Nick Tropeano - TJ surg and then a shoulder injury
Garrett Richards - tried to get around TJ surg and then had TJ surg
Keynan Middleton - TJ surg
Shohei Ohtani - TJ surg
Felix Pena tore his quad

Whatever FA's he added to supplement the 2019 team weren't going to get us to the playoffs unless maybe (a big maybe), he chose them perfectly and tell me a GM that done that?  

The only thing that concerns me about Billy's FA choices from this last year were that he thought they were going to at least help the team and they failed so epically.  He also completely whiffed on Cozart.  But to think that any sort of combo of FA's with his budget would have been in vain anyway.  The only opportunity missed was what those players would have brought in trade.  

And let's be honest.  The need for last year's FAs were a consequence of all those injuries.  Again, our only concern should be Eppler's ability to pick the right FA's going forward.  Not that the team isn't in the best position it possibly could be to actually take advantage of the FA market.  

 

[mulwin444]

Man, if only Eppler signed Eovaldi and Happ instead those two losers Harvey and Cshill.

[stormngt]

10 hours ago, mulwin444 said:

Really?  So a rotation of, now, Suarez, Sandoval, Heaney, Peters, and Barria should be competing amongst the best in the league?  We likely would be better if Skaggs hadn't, you know, died, and Heaney didn't miss half the season due to shoulder inflammation...and Pena hadnt torn his knee ligament...Ohtani didn't miss this season due to elbow surgery...and Canning didn't have to he shut down due to Elbow inflammation...and Cahill and Harvey met the bare standard of what they did last season.

Players should execute and not get injured...ever

2018 pitch staff suffered devastating injuries as well or have you forgotten?

Shoemaker, Richard's, JC Ramirez, Tropeano and Middleton. 

They had Heaney and Barria last year and both pitched better.  Cole was on last year for two starts.  The reason why Suarez and Sandaval were trusted into the lineup before they were ready was because Cahill, Heaney and Stratten sucked!  Better acquisitions at start if season and those two stay in AAA and the team would have a better record. 

We have suffered debilitating injuries the last four years!

[stormngt]

2 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

Anyone else see the comedy in Storm saying this the one time he typed all the words correctly?

"We should have been better than the 2018 team".  Focus on the topic of the debate instead of distracting the issue with insults.

[mulwin444]

1 minute ago, stormngt said:

2018 pitch staff suffered devastating injuries as well or have you forgotten?

Shoemaker, Richard's, JC Ramirez, Tropeano and Middleton. 

They had Heaney and Barria last year and both pitched better.  Cole was on last year for two starts.  The reason why Suarez and Dandaval were trusted into the lineup before they were ready was because Cahill, Heaney and Stratten sucked!  Better acquisitions at start if season and those two stay in AAA and the team would have a better record. 

We have suffered debilitating injuries the last four years!

We suffered pitching injuries?! No way?!

[stormngt]

I am happy Eppler got an extra year.  He did inherit a mess of a farm system, an owner who cut off the purse strings, and a pitching staff that can't avoid the knife.  

Granted it's understandable why we havent made the playoffs.  However let's not sugar coat his errors this year.  By this year, the team should have seen considerable improvement over his previous seasons.  Instead it's going to be the worst.

[Stradling]

11 minutes ago, stormngt said:

I am happy Eppler got an extra year.  He did inherit a mess of a farm system, an owner who cut off the purse strings, and a pitching staff that can't avoid the knife.  

Granted it's understandable why we havent made the playoffs.  However let's not sugar coat his errors this year.  By this year, the team should have seen considerable improvement over his previous seasons.  Instead it's going to be the worst.

The record will be the worst, but I don’t believe this team is the worst.  I believe we went from a team with four weaknesses to one weakness.  This team used to have a horrible everyday line up, a horrible bench, a bad rotation and a bad bullpen.  Oh and a REALLY bad farm.   Now it has a really bad rotation.  

[stormngt]

6 minutes ago, Baghdad Strad said:

The record will be the worst, but I don’t believe this team is the worst.  I believe we went from a team with four weaknesses to one weakness.  This team used to have a horrible everyday line up, a horrible bench, a bad rotation and a bad bullpen.  Oh and a REALLY bad farm.   Now it has a really bad rotation.  

I agree with your argument.  Which is why I believe the team under performed.

[Slegnaac]

3 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Bronies for Life, am I right?

[mmc]

People need to stop using injuries as an excuse.  The Yankees lead the league in injuries and have the best record in the league.  Winning organizations don’t use stuff like that as an excuse.  

[Slegnaac]

5 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

People need to stop using injuries as an excuse.  The Yankees lead the league in injuries and have the best record in the league.  Winning organizations don’t use stuff like that as an excuse.  

So the question is, if the NYY had Ausmus and Eppler, would they still have the best record in the league?

Edited September 1, 2019 by Slegnaac

[mmc]

1 minute ago, Slegnaac said:

So the question is, if the NYY had Ausmus and Eppler, would they still have the best record in the league?

Boone is 10x the manager Ausmus is, so no.  

[Stradling]

4 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

Boone is 10x the manager Ausmus is, so no.  

So what is that, two extra wins?  

[beatlesrule]

16 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

People need to stop using injuries as an excuse.  The Yankees lead the league in injuries and have the best record in the league.  Winning organizations don’t use stuff like that as an excuse.  

The Yankees have smarter people in charge and are better run organization.

[mmc]

6 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

The Yankees have smarter people in charge and are better run organization.

That’s my point.  We can’t use injuries as an excuse to why Eppler has failed to produce results at the major league level.  

[Stradling]

18 minutes ago, REDneck said:

 

Both of these posts are fair points, but at opposite ends of the spectrum.

So what's the answer?

Continue to build depth in the minors while making improvements with the free agent signings.  Now that the Trout situation has been settled I believe that Arte will ok a signing of a front line starter and increased payroll.  

[ten ocho recon scout]

8 hours ago, mymerlincat said:

People need to stop using injuries as an excuse.  The Yankees lead the league in injuries and have the best record in the league.  Winning organizations don’t use stuff like that as an excuse.  

This is literally the one example.

What other teams come to mind you can use as other examples?

The whole "injuries are an excuse" take is made by armchair fans. Injuries are no different than adding better players....

Why would teams sign new guys, or trade for new guys, if changing personnel didnt matter?