sabretooth

Yeah, what surprised me was to see people defending AA up to this year.

In all seriousness, this needs to be explored. I watched Max Fried take care of a very good ATL lineup throwing a ton of 70s Curveballs (the pitch largely displaced by the hard slider) and 80s changeups. I also see more top-20 SP throwing effective low 90s sinkers and cutters, which are at least easier on the arm than a low 90s slider or a splitter.

Because after 20+ years of Avila our systems are a complete mess

I could be wrong but I dont think Ive heard anyone suggest firing Fetters while keeping AJ.

could be

Trammell was injured a fair amount and that hurt them a lot. They did a good job replacing starting pitchers like Wilcox, Rozema, and Juan B with Terrell and Tanana. But nothing could ever repeat the incredible bullpen from 1984. Willie and Lopez alone combined for 250 lights out innings.

I very reluctantly agree, but I would prefer to see AJ and Fetters stay and see what they could do with a good GM.

IIRC it was the best in baseball that year.

Yep. IIRC he said that he had a say in Zooms transition to the BP.

I dont know about others...I have been an AJ supporter, but I have been open minded to his potential culpability WRT to keeping Coolbaugh and his possible contributions to the hitting malaise, and possibly the mishandling of pitcher health by AJ and Fetters, as much as I admire the pitching outcomes despite the utter injury depletion of the ranks.

Other than 2006, Leylands bullpens werent great but they werent bad either. They were middle of the pack. The Manager cannot win with crap but he can make a major difference with how he uses what is on the roster and in the system and how he works with the FO to align pieces. 2006 and 2021 are examples of this. 2022 is also an example of the limits of this when every pitcher gets injured and every hitter falls into a hole performance wise. I realize you and I arent going to agree on this.

I agree 100% that we cannot know one way or another unless we are on the inside. However with such extreme circumstances as these, even given the known external factors like the baseball, and the NL to AL switch for Baez and Tucker, its still reasonable to speculate, I'm guessing you agree.

This is where I am. I will add that he has overachieved dramatically in the bullpen area, which is I think the area of roster management and on field play most influenced by the manager. I think a number of us agree that while firing Coolbaugh would not solve the bad hitting, nevertheless its the only remotely plausible link between all of the wildly underperforming hitters, so its frustrating that Coolbaugh remains.

...and we'll get it there, no matter what it taaaakkes

Hope the rental car company doesnt monitor average speed 😀

We left New Orleans at 1pm EST and made it here by 7:15pm for the game

Dude, it is so awesome to watch two really good teams. 👍 The crowd is really into it too...a fair amount of Mets fans too. Great atmosphere!

...and this guy

In ATL watching DeGrom v Fried tonite...recognize this hot hitting LFer?

I am not convinced that Baltimore's surge in wins this year is any sign that BAL has figured out development. Maybe thet have figured out development, but if they have, this year's Major League team performance doesnt seem like an indication of it. Other than AR, who was a consensus pick, I am not aware of any starters this year who were drafted/developed by the current FO/org who has helped launched the Orioles to success this year relative to last year.

if ever I wanted a great inning its now.

In a season of epic badness and bad luck, this inning might be the worst.

I was just going to say that

gotta be kidding me with this crap

Baddoo....what the.....