POLL: Who is to blame?

[bpj]

Too many misses in the trade category. Particularly, in the hitters column.

It's been his biggest problem since 2016. Dipoto cannot judge offensive talent at all.

[bpj]

Fix the batters eye. FFS they say it is black but it looks like a card board box that has been out in the weather for a. Year or two. It was har not to stair at it this week.

You’re right. I finally got a shot of the batter’s eye from the batter’s perspective, and I think I figured out the problem:

[Captain 97]

And Rooker our number one trade target, that's all he does is swing for the fences

He does a whole lot more than swing for the fences.

Rooker has a .370 OBP. Our team leader for qualified hitters is .315 by Julio. He would be leading the M's in Runs, doubles, home runs, RBI, Batting Average, OBP, Slugging Percentage, OPS and OPS+. He would be second in Hits, singles and triples, and 3rd in BB and SB.

[Donn Beach]

His results might be different but it's what he does, he swings for the fences

Spare some thought for the players who succeed by doing exactly what you think they’re doing, though. They might not garner as many headlines, but that doesn’t make what they’re doing any less real. I have a specific example of this today, someone I was hoping to write about in the former style. I went looking for the one weird trick that made him tick, but I couldn’t find one. Brent Rooker is succeeding with one extremely normal trick: Every time he comes to the plate, he tries to hit a home run.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/brent-rooke ... ht-he-was/

[Big_Maple]

I’m not sure why we are still taking about acquisitions. This team needs to be sellers at the trade deadline, not buyers.

Simple facts, folks.

1. We were at the top of the AL West more due to crappy performances by the Rangers and Astros than by our offensive production.

2. The fact that we were at the top of the AL West is is offset by the fact that we have lost a 10 game lead, and the Astros are hitting their stride, and the Rangers have decided to buy and not sell because they can taste blood.

3. I’ve lost count, but we have dropped something like 4 or 5 series in a row, including a sweep by the cellar dweller Halos. We are trending down and not up.

4. We have lost our 2 “best” players to injuries. We are fielding a team of ostensibly AAA players and hoping for the best.

5. Our bullpen is a shambles. By himself, Mason Miller couldn’t right that ship.

6. We didn’t send a single position player to the all star game this year. We only have one player batting above .250 this year, and he just went in the 10 game IL. Brent Rooker is not going to magically turn this team around.

This list goes on. It doesn’t matter whose fault it is, really - we need to get what we can for the players we have, play out the season like the Oakland A’s by testing out some minor league players to see who has potential and turn our eyes to 2025. That’s me being realistic and not overly histrionic.

So yeah - let’s get rid of pieces that have value (like Castillo), demote guys we can demote and promote some guys from the minors to give them playing experience, cut costs and then get splashy in the off season.

[Donn Beach]

I don't see why they need to be sellers even if you write off this season. They have plenty of pieces in place to continue to compete

[Big_Maple]

I don't see why they need to be sellers even if you write off this season. They have plenty of pieces in place to continue to compete

Agree to disagree, Donn. We don’t have the pieces, and getting a few through trades ain’t going to fix this team. It would be pissing away capital.

We scored 3 runs in the last 3 games. Three!!!! We are not an offensive juggernaut. We only have one player batting above 250. One!!!

We are dead last in the majors in strikeouts - 30th!! We average 10.25 strikeouts per game. We are 28th in runs per game. 28th in OBP. 28th in slugging and 30th in batting average. I ask you - which of the statistics says that we should be buyers? Which of these statistics can be fixed by simply adding a couple of impact bats enough to bring us into contention????

The answer is none. All of these statistics point to a team that should be selling, not buying. By virtually any offensive metric, we are one of the worst teams in baseball.

Like I said, we have been fooled by our standing at the all star break. We are going to get gassed by the Astros, and the Rangers are likely going to overtake us in a few weeks.

[Big_Maple]

And by the way, if you go to teamrankings.com and look at team batting statistics, you can see dreadful we really are.

As a team, we strike out 28% of the time. One out of every three at bats results in a strike out.

Fugging ugly.