Pretty bummed out about this one. I think we made a lot of poor decisions with this one. Carrying Rivera is not smart imo. Adams over Duvall is not smart. Flaherty over Ruiz... meh. A 5 man bench was a bad idea.
Not happy.
Edit: I will say I'm glad that we brought on Touki, Fried, and Sobotka. That was a good decision. But we definitely should have dropped Rivera and gone with a 4 man bench.
jpx7 (10-04-2018)
They bit the bullet on guys who did not play well in September (Biddle, Winkler, Duvall). I think that's generally the way to go. Fried and Touki were in better form than Biddle and Winkler.
Adams/Rivera will give them a chance to use the pinch runner even for the catcher. And also opens up a chance to double switch using the catcher. There is a certain amount of logic to it.
Fried and Venters versus Pederson/Muncy/Bellinger/Grandal could be the pivotal matchup in this series.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
How in the heck did we not choose to carry Sam Freeman? I just saw that. He has been great since coming back. I just don't get it. I understand the argument that Rivera opens up options for Suzuki and Flowers, but I would bet on Sam Freeman having more value than Rivera every day of the week. I would also have carried Duvall over Adams. Better defensively and we are facing a lefty heavy lineup. I know most fans bailed out on Duvall after 50 at bats, but I thought the front office would have been a little more patient with him.
jpx7 (10-04-2018)
The other thought I have is they have some guys in the pen who can go multiple innings including a couple who have been starting. This gives them the option to change starters very early in a game if the situation calls for it.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
"Well, you’ll learn soon enough that this was a massive red wave landslide." - thethe on the 2020 election that trump lost bigly
“I can’t fix my life, but I can fix the world.” - sturg
"Well, you’ll learn soon enough that this was a massive red wave landslide." - thethe on the 2020 election that trump lost bigly
“I can’t fix my life, but I can fix the world.” - sturg
jpx7 (10-04-2018)
I actually really like this 25 man. I like the flexibility it gives us. Can't argue with any of it...
If I had to guess, Lane Adams is the 3rd PH option here and probably a preference to PR instead of hit.
1st two options are the half of Flowzuzki that is on the bench and Lucas Duda.
The problem here though is, Duda is a lefty and the Dodgers aren't dumb, they're going to counter him PH'ing with a lefty. And that's going to leave us...with who on the bench if the catcher has already hit?
That's the reason why I go along with the "You can never have too much depth" idea.
Last edited by GeorgiaGirl; 10-04-2018 at 01:24 PM.
Aggression with prospects is fine, but being stupid is not. There should be a way to find a happy medium between a Pirates like idea of being overly cautious with prospects and going stupidly fast with prospects.
Carrying Rivera seems like a super conservative call. You can still pinch hit with the catcher and take the gamble that the other guy doesn't get hurt in the 1-2 innings that you have remaining to play. The only value Rivera really brings is pinch run value for the catcher late in the game and you are basically burning 2 roster spots to get that value (Adams and Rivera). I think that risking that is more than worth it to get another arm that has been as good as Freeman has recently into the bullpen. Or even to get Duvall's bat on the bench if you are dead set on carrying 5. Don't like the decisions that were made. I hope it doesn't end up costing us the series when we have Ryan Flaherty or Rene Rivera in a crucial pinch hit spot late in the game.
Let's keep in mind that Duvall is a better defensive player than Adams too. So there is also that value that you miss out on by carrying Adams.
jpx7 (10-04-2018)
I'm not buying the flexibility argument. It gives us less bullpen flexibility than a 9 man for sure. And in terms of positional flexibility imagine this likely scenario. We pinch hit for the pitcher in the 6th or 7th inning with Lucas Duda. Dodgers immediately bring in a lefty. What do we do? Do we pull Duda and hit Suzuki/Flowers or do we just let Duda basically waste that at bat? If we hit our catcher the options we have remaining are Ryan Flaherty, Lane Adams, and Rene Rivera. Not exactly ideal for the 9th inning. I think our strength this postseason was our bullpen depth and our ability to exploit platoon matchups. We sacrificed some of that flexibility in order to gain a 5th bench spot for Rene Rivera whose only basic role is to buy insurance if we want to pinch run for our catcher or if we pinch hit our backup and the other guy gets hurt. That is the only value he brings.
jpx7 (10-04-2018)
"Well, you’ll learn soon enough that this was a massive red wave landslide." - thethe on the 2020 election that trump lost bigly
“I can’t fix my life, but I can fix the world.” - sturg
I'm guessing Duda might not get an at bat except if he comes up in the 9th inning against their closer. Otherwise the Dodgers bring in a lefty. It really makes Flowers or Suzuki our key pinch hitter.
Suzuki has minimal splits. Flowers more so.
Last edited by nsacpi; 10-04-2018 at 01:12 PM.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
Adam's bat appeared to be coming around, at least a little bit, by the end of the season. He was 3 for 8 in his last 3 games with a double. We are talking about extremely small samples for both players. Adams has exactly 29 plate appearances this year with 6 hits. At least with Duvall we can look back on some of his career and see some production that we might get. The only big advantage that Adams has over Duvall is the speed. If you think that having that speed is more important than having a 3rd pinch hit option with more upside, fine. But I don't think we should pretend like Adams is likely to produce much with the bat and we should realize that we are essentially burning two roster spots to get that speed advantage with Rivera and Adams. As it stands right now, we have 2 guys on our roster who are unlikely to do much of anything in this series with Flaherty and Rivera. We have a 3rd guy in Adams who will provide pinch run value, but will likely not do much at the plate. I don't think this is close to our optimal post-season lineup. I was really nervous about this series before... now I'm petrified.
jpx7 (10-04-2018)
I just think you have to overlook Winkler's weak September when weighed against the rest of his season, during which he was one of the Braves' top three relievers. For me, retaining Winkler to pitch in the role he's had all year is an easy decision when the alternative option they went with was carrying Newcomb—who's had as bad of a September, and a craptastic second half overall—to presumably employ him in a role (long relief) he hasn't been tasked with all year.
Last edited by jpx7; 10-04-2018 at 01:24 PM.
"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."
I get most of it. Suzuki as a PH is a valuable option, Adams is able to do anything, just glad that Duda checked out OK as lefty bat on bench. Thought Ruiz might get nod over Flaherty, but there's a payback for April. Tucker not eligible, of course. Got to say Biddle pitched himself off this roster.
"Well, you’ll learn soon enough that this was a massive red wave landslide." - thethe on the 2020 election that trump lost bigly
“I can’t fix my life, but I can fix the world.” - sturg
jpx7 (10-04-2018)