I like where we are. This team is constructed to compete every day rather than blow hot and cold.
Don't get me wrong: it was an absolute blast when Pete would go on a tear and the rest of the lineup would suddenly hit. And I personally think he's going to crush it in Baltimore. It's a good fit for him.
But full disclosure: I like the idea of winning a crap ton of one-run games over the course of the year rather than winning by five or losing by five and counting on winning streaks to overcome the losing streaks. It's my brand of baseball.
Hmm. If I wasn't lazy I'd look up team rankings for winning margins to see if Alonso's presence was linked to higher than average winning margins. An Alonso-hating commenter on MLBTR said a couple of months ago that a lot of his homers only padded leads.
I've heard that said about quite a few sluggers through the years. I think it's more a perception, but then again, if a team is already up big it might mean feasting on second-tier relievers when the opponent has thrown in the towel.
In any event, I always admired those San Francisco teams under Bruce Bochy. It seemed like they were in a close game every day. By the time they got to the postseason, they were fully stress tested and just playing ball.
In the Baty discussion, there's some problems. If he's mostly going to get at bats at DH, you're wasting his above-average defense. If you say he'll get some more at bats when Semien or Bichette take a day off, that's fine except I'd think they wouldn't want to sit Bichette very often. Speaking of days off, can someone tell me who the backup first baseman is going to be? Has Stearns had anything more to say about Baty in the outfield? Last time he spoke on it, it was left field. Now that Soto's moving over, does Baty have the arm for right? Is Baty going to work out at both right field and first base? So...kind've messy.
I like where we are. This team is constructed to compete every day rather than blow hot and cold.
Don't get me wrong: it was an absolute blast when Pete would go on a tear and the rest of the lineup would suddenly hit. And I personally think he's going to crush it in Baltimore. It's a good fit for him.
But full disclosure: I like the idea of winning a crap ton of one-run games over the course of the year rather than winning by five or losing by five and counting on winning streaks to overcome the losing streaks. It's my brand of baseball.
Hmm. If I wasn't lazy I'd look up team rankings for winning margins to see if Alonso's presence was linked to higher than average winning margins. An Alonso-hating commenter on MLBTR said a couple of months ago that a lot of his homers only padded leads.
I've heard that said about quite a few sluggers through the years. I think it's more a perception, but then again, if a team is already up big it might mean feasting on second-tier relievers when the opponent has thrown in the towel.
In any event, I always admired those San Francisco teams under Bruce Bochy. It seemed like they were in a close game every day. By the time they got to the postseason, they were fully stress tested and just playing ball.
In the Baty discussion, there's some problems. If he's mostly going to get at bats at DH, you're wasting his above-average defense. If you say he'll get some more at bats when Semien or Bichette take a day off, that's fine except I'd think they wouldn't want to sit Bichette very often. Speaking of days off, can someone tell me who the backup first baseman is going to be? Has Stearns had anything more to say about Baty in the outfield? Last time he spoke on it, it was left field. Now that Soto's moving over, does Baty have the arm for right? Is Baty going to work out at both right field and first base? So...kind've messy.
That was quite a start to this mornings read:
Mehndoza thinks that Melendez is a secret offensive weapon!
Ronny Mauricio is still bidding for a roster slot??
The billionaire chased Pete away - I'm thinking maybe last year's negotiations didn't go so well verbally speaking.
The billionaire was "perplexed" why Diaz left.
Kind of like me this offseason.
The Melendez thing was a bit of a head shaker, agreed.