Reveille1984

If he's complaining about one of their biggest power threats bunting with 2 outs, especially when he has a history of owing Jered, then he does need to STFU. There's a reason shifts are becoming more popular - they work. Until the negatives of having players get freebie bunt singles outweigh the positives, it will continue to happen.

Rotation is set up pretty well for a while now. I'd like to get a higher-tier starter this offseason, but with the way pitching costs are looking I'm not sure I wanna cough up $160M for someone like Scherzer or Lester. Definitely need to start building up some more depth though.

Wow, that clip lol. "Trout is really good at everything but, even if Cabrera sucks he's better! Playoffs!"

Pretty much this. All too often on these forums you'll see "F'ing Dipoto! He did nothing to upgrade the bullpen!" Well, when pretty much none of your relievers from your own system pan out mixed with increasingly shitty luck in the ones that were signed, you're going to have a problem. You can't expect a successful bullpen to consist of 4-5+ top tier relievers signed in free agency; it just doesn't work that way. And that's not just for relievers. Free agency is supposed to be used to patch a few holes here and there on a mainly home-grown team, and that is becoming more and more apparent looking at recent trends and how pretty much zero great players are reaching the open market anymore. Our regular lineup has been good because of a core we have developed (Trout, Kendrick, Morales, Aybar, Calhoun) mixed with a few signings to fill organizational holes. Same with starting pitching (Weaver, Skaggs, Richards developed internally with Wilson as a good signed addition). What relievers have we developed that are currenty contributing in a meaningful way? Kohn has a career 1.4 WHIP, Jepsen 1.45 WHIP, Salas is acquired trash, Frieri acquired in a trade, Herrera a 34 year old reclamation project, Maronde has a 1.81 WHIP in about 15 major league innings... etc. etc. etc. We have developed literally ZERO above average bullpen arms going on years now. Hopefully Alvarez, Morin, Bedrosian and some other guys can start turning our organization around in the pen, because things have been absolutely bleak.

What a ****ing nightmare this bullpen continues to be... my god

Facepalm

Obligatory bullpen walk

Hmm, not sure I agree with taking Weaver out with 82 pitches with this bullpen... especially for Ian Stewart.

Leading the league in WAR already, and that's with his crazy high K%. GO TROUT

We haven't been over .500 since the first game of the 2013 season. The more you know!

Yep... Richards has a 5.04 BB/9 right now with a .155 BAA and 2.52 ERA. Doesn't take a rocket scientist so see that his current line isn't very sustainable unless he cuts down massively on the walks. His xFIP is around 3.90.

Its cool, Trumbo will slug them to victory!

I honestly can't believe how horrendous Freese has been over these first 20 games. I wasn't expecting he'd do much here, but this is getting insane.

As long as Shuck, Boesch, Stewart and MacDonald can all be shoved into the same lineup somehow we will have a chance.

With as many nice plays that they made, they were actually pretty mediocre defensively in the series. It's called actually having a bullpen and great pitching.

Pretty much. As terrible as we've been the first 13 games, we were 10th in the league with RISP last year and 11th in 2012. Things will even out.

This plus another glimmering 1-7 with RISP. I need to start turning off the game in the 6th inning and maybe I'll keep some of my hair.

Ten games worth of "un-clutch" sample sizes. Yeah... your logic in assessing a player's value to a team is pretty unclucth.

Seems teams have had all star defensive games against us lately, pretty annoying

Calhoun has looked fine at the plate the last few games anyways (.900 OPS, 4BB, 3K last 4 games). Using BA to judge a player 10 games into the season is essentially worthless.

And is Gubi drunk, wtf was that lol

Howie,my least favorite Angel to watch at the plate since.... forever.

And put up his usual 2 WAR with shitty defense and a one-dimensional skillset. If Skaggs even remotely gets near his potential, this deal will be highway robbery for us. Trading young, high upside pitching for a glorified DH is no bueno.

Usually at first runners try and just touch the bag and kind of slide past/over it, which has a huge potential for injury when you're running full speed. They start the slide much later. As opposed to other bases, you don't have to slide under a tag; you're just trying to beat the ball. Sliding into 2nd and 3rd you slide much earlier, so your momentum is slowed as you approach the base and try to get under the tag. It isn't even necessarily even the injury risk that makes it dumb, it's the fact that the runner isn't getting to the base any faster by sliding rather than just running through it.

Sliding headfirst into first base does not equate to "making an effort" any moreso than just running through the bag. It's like commending someone for picking up dogshit with their hands instead of a shovel because it requires more effort and grit. There's no reason for any player to ever slide while running to first. The risk vs. reward is pretty much nonexistent; all risk zero reward.