yeezus
It's OVER 5,000!
I feel like a lot of people think they are. There were some definite flaws but there's some definite positives as well.
If you look at some players year-to-year, baseball players tend to have up and down years. For example, if Simmons had even hit like Alcides Escobar (albeit a bit of different hitters), the overall team would be in better shape. Simmons is capable of hitting to that level. He doesn't have to be a great hitter, or even above .750 OPS guy to be a much more valuable player than he was this year.
I'm not denying some changes need to be made. And they may not necessarily be easy to make. But there are good reasons to be optimistic for the next few years. Say what you want but a lot of teams would like to have some of young players we have right now. CJ and BJ are killers for reasons outside even their game, and that's the biggest concern. It's hard to quantify how far away this team actually is. I don't think it's a stretch to say they underachieved this year. With some tweaks they could be overachievers like last year, but certain teams overachieve every year. I think our young talent could do that any season if there are some changes to certain places.
Good players take steps back and forth all the time in this league. We need one of our guys to be a true star. I think JUp is a very good player but is too wildly inconsistent. Every hitter is, but when he's bad, he's bad. And I know you can look at months this year and say he's been consistent, but be real. When he's bad, whether it's two weeks or a month at a time, he's remarkably unproductive. No part of me wants to see Heyward walk. But he didn't hit at the level we had hoped he would by now. He's still really young though, and I believe he could do it at any time. An .800 OPS would be a huge step up, and there's no way someone can say he's not capable of that.
Certain guys producing at levels their easily capable of doing could make a big difference. We have players that have talent to take some steps up, and I think more than most other teams.
If you look at some players year-to-year, baseball players tend to have up and down years. For example, if Simmons had even hit like Alcides Escobar (albeit a bit of different hitters), the overall team would be in better shape. Simmons is capable of hitting to that level. He doesn't have to be a great hitter, or even above .750 OPS guy to be a much more valuable player than he was this year.
I'm not denying some changes need to be made. And they may not necessarily be easy to make. But there are good reasons to be optimistic for the next few years. Say what you want but a lot of teams would like to have some of young players we have right now. CJ and BJ are killers for reasons outside even their game, and that's the biggest concern. It's hard to quantify how far away this team actually is. I don't think it's a stretch to say they underachieved this year. With some tweaks they could be overachievers like last year, but certain teams overachieve every year. I think our young talent could do that any season if there are some changes to certain places.
Good players take steps back and forth all the time in this league. We need one of our guys to be a true star. I think JUp is a very good player but is too wildly inconsistent. Every hitter is, but when he's bad, he's bad. And I know you can look at months this year and say he's been consistent, but be real. When he's bad, whether it's two weeks or a month at a time, he's remarkably unproductive. No part of me wants to see Heyward walk. But he didn't hit at the level we had hoped he would by now. He's still really young though, and I believe he could do it at any time. An .800 OPS would be a huge step up, and there's no way someone can say he's not capable of that.
Certain guys producing at levels their easily capable of doing could make a big difference. We have players that have talent to take some steps up, and I think more than most other teams.
