DLev

I guess the answer to the question “How can a major university like Stanford not have working lights at its baseball field” is Stanford is, in fact, not a major university. Fuck them.

This three on three basketball is unwatchable. If these guys were playing at the local gym I wouldn’t stick around to watch.

Baseball Savant had like a .900 xBA for the one he fucked up last game, but they said on the TV broadcast that another MLB research tool at it at a 95% catch probability because it hung up so long. So who knows, but your point is well taken. That said, I could see with my own eyes that he had no clue which direction to go off the bat and that’s why he didn’t get there.

Jake sat out there as a free agent for half the offseason before Cubs signed him. It was such an obvious move. Straw is awful. he has no instincts as an outfielder.

Novel plan from Baker tonight of putting better hitters earlier in the lineup. I support it.

That’s the kind of hard contact you have to call for someone’s fifth foul. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

“Bevo unmoved by the action” Same, Bevo, same.

Are you stupid? There were obviously many routes run further downfield that weren’t open. It’s called a check down. That’s how football works.

My god this broadcast is worse than the play on the field. And that’s saying something.

We’ve gone from advanced analytics on defensive placement to a fucking ESPN announcer saying were lined up wrong before play. Not that where he was standing excuses that garbage from Reddick.

Correa putting less pressure on that leg than that masseuse did on his back.

I agree with most of this. I don’t think Lunhow thought he was selling out the future by getting rid of the current role players for legitimate roster management reasons. But it turns out in retrospect he was selling out the NEAR future because this year’s role players are not up to the challenge. Given this year was also supposed to be part of the team’s window, those moves have to be questioned. Signing someone else’s cheap veterans in the offseason was also an option that wasn’t done and is another failure. Basically, very little of the back end hole plugging has worked over the past few years other than Machete x3. Diaz has not been Marwin (maybe he could have if not for injuries), but that wasn’t a bad gamble. Not signing some veterans to at least compete was a bad gamble.

I’m pretty sure Maldonado was a free agent this offseason. We could have signed him just the same. And I’m not denying the value of Maldonado last year. The issue is Kemp was DFAed before he was traded. This was a pure decision of preferring to lose Kemp outright rather than send Straw to minors. That we got Machete in exchange is a plus, but the two weren’t perfectly linked. Keep in mind Kemp is on the A’s because the Cubs didn’t have a spot for him on their 26 man roster, so it’s not like he’s universally valued. But I’d sure like to have him.

Why? What long term does Straw bring? There’s no indication he can develop into an average hitter. And we’ve got three outfield spots open next year. And, yes, I do think we’d be rolling into a pennant race with Mayfield, Straw, and Toro. 2019 was just as injury-riddled for the position players as this year.