AZOldDawg wrote: ↑Sun Aug 13, 2023 11:45 pm
We are not a good enough offensive club to simply rely on “Dr Longball”. We need to play more small ball with our pitching
We still get ourselves out too often with poor plate discipline
We are short a big league reliever to replace Seawald
We have to do a better job dealing with base runners
I agree with you regarding small ball. Problem is, JD built a roster predicated on the long ball. His philosophy is for someone to get on base any way possible and then for someone behind them to hit a HR. Never mind that we play in one of the biggest parks in MLB. Just a moronic way to build a roster, particularly given our home park.
We have very little speed to manufacture runs. Raliegh, France, JP, Saurez, Teo, Murphy, Ford, Pollock (when he was here), and others are all slow runners. The only speed we have is Julio, JK, Moore, Haggerty, and Cabby. I may be forgetting someone but you get my point. Extremely poor roster construction on JD's part. No high OBP or guys that hit for average. Makes it very difficult to manufacture runs that way.
I think JD is one of the worst GM's in the league but I also think he's relatively secure given that he's built a somewhat competitive team on the cheap which is just exactly what the owners want. They want to be just competitive enough to give fans hope so they show up at the park and fill their pockets with cash.
All that said, I do think SS could be more aggressive and do more to manufacture runs. And they absolutely need to do something to address the issues with getting runners in from 3rd with less than 2 outs. They could start by telling guys like Julio to start swinging under control, particularly in those situations. Right now he's the absolute last one on the entire team I want to see at the plate with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs, particularly with the game on the line.
And yes, I wholeheartedly agree on the plate discipline issue as well. For a team that preaches control the zone, guys like Julio and Teo swinging at pitches a foot off the plate is just insane and has gone on far too long.
Losing Sewald was huge. I don't have an issue with them trading high on him. The issue I have is the return, which in my mind was very underwhelming. We kept hearing how it was a huge seller's market and that's the best JD could do for one of the top closers? Damn, what am I thinking. We did get Rojas who JD had to have at all costs.
Dealing with base runners. YES! It's embarassing. Many times we're not even making an attempt to throw a runner out. WTF is up with that? I understand the pitchers need to do a better job of holding the runners. But good lord, don't just give them a free base at will by not even making an attempt. C'mon man!
AZOldDawg, I'm in agreement with everything you said.