ST: Also A Very Good Team @ A Not-Very-Good Team | August 8-10

[Schad]

Yeah, let's use Osuna for the fourth time in six nights, with his velocity down and a four run lead in a lost season. I mean, why the **** not.

Here is his player page. He's been down 1 mph on his four-seamer all of this season, and lost another mph over the past few weeks. We really, really need to be careful with him. Or move him this winter. Or both, hopefully.

Clearly Schad is in tank mode.

Schad's in "don't **** up assets for no reason" mode. Even a contending team would be awfully careful about using Osuna given his drop in velocity. For a team with nothing to play for to run him out as often as we have of late (he's tied for third in appearances since the ASB) despite clearly being hampered by something is nuts.

[So_Fresh]

Team is playing better without 2Lo. Who would of thunk it!

[So_Fresh]

Yeah, let's use Osuna for the fourth time in six nights, with his velocity down and a four run lead in a lost season. I mean, why the **** not.

Here is his player page. He's been down 1 mph on his four-seamer all of this season, and lost another mph over the past few weeks. We really, really need to be careful with him. Or move him this winter. Or both, hopefully.

Clearly Schad is in tank mode.

Schad's in "don't **** up assets for no reason" mode. Even a contending team would be awfully careful about using Osuna given his drop in velocity. For a team with nothing to play for to run him out as often as we have of late (he's tied for third in appearances since the ASB) despite clearly being hampered by something is nuts.

Nothing to play for??? Last time I checked this team was still in the the hunt for a playoff spot. How do you think the fans will react if they don't bring him in to close out close games? It's not like we have anyone else better in the pen that can do better. That's what closers are there for Schad. He's your best pitcher. He's the one you bring in to close out games. I think he looked fine last night. He has other pitches to compliment his fastball. He doesn't need to throw it all the time.

[Natural11]

Team is playing better without 2Lo. Who would of thunk it!

We had our best run of the season earlier in the year when he was on the DL. He kills any momentum we might have going when he's hitting 5-6 in the order.

I also think giving Carerra a regular spot would improve this team. It's crazy that one of our best bats this season collects dust on the bench. They won't bench Bautista, but Carerra would be an upgrade over Pillar at this point, imo. His circus catches are becoming more infrequent and his bat continues to decline. RBI last night aside, he's back to deciding his swing before the pitcher releases the ball. Also hitting about .120 w/RISP.

[Schad]

Nothing to play for??? Last time I checked this team was still in the the hunt for a playoff spot. How do you think the fans will react if they don't bring him in to close out close games? It's not like we have anyone else better in the pen that can do better. That's what closers are there for Schad. He's your best pitcher. He's the one you bring in to close out games. I think he looked fine last night. He has other pitches to compliment his fastball. He doesn't need to throw it all the time.

We are absolutely not "in the hunt for a playoff spot" in any realistic sense. It would take an absolute miracle for us to reach the Wild Card; Fangraphs, whose model has been bullish on our chances all season, rates us as the 11th-most likely playoff team in the American League. Leapfrogging seven teams, five of which have more than a three-game lead on us, with less than 50 games to play is simply not anything we ought to be planning around. It's a nice fantasy to dream on that will almost assuredly not happen.

And no, he's not fine. Pitchers who are fine don't lose 2 mph on all of their pitches in ten months.

[dagger]

Nothing to play for??? Last time I checked this team was still in the the hunt for a playoff spot. How do you think the fans will react if they don't bring him in to close out close games? It's not like we have anyone else better in the pen that can do better. That's what closers are there for Schad. He's your best pitcher. He's the one you bring in to close out games. I think he looked fine last night. He has other pitches to compliment his fastball. He doesn't need to throw it all the time.

We are absolutely not "in the hunt for a playoff spot" in any realistic sense. It would take an absolute miracle for us to reach the Wild Card; Fangraphs, whose model has been bullish on our chances all season, rates us as the 11th-most likely playoff team in the American League. Leapfrogging seven teams, five of which have more than a three-game lead on us, with less than 50 games to play is simply not anything we ought to be planning around. It's a nice fantasy to dream on that will almost assuredly not happen.

And no, he's not fine. Pitchers who are fine don't lose 2 mph on all of their pitches in ten months.

Also, we are not going to make up much if any ground on the teams ahead of us if we are starting two AAA pitchers as part of a five man rotation. Whether it's been Bolsinger or Valdez or Tepisch, it's guaranteed loss night. And I don't think Biagini's starts have been much better. Having Estrada and Happ produce closer to expectations is a plus, but Estrada's revival should make him excellent trade bait and we might as well get that done while the going is good.

[Schad]

Also, we are not going to make up much if any ground on the teams ahead of us if we are starting two AAA pitchers as part of a five man rotation. Whether it's been Bolsinger or Valdez or Tepisch, it's guaranteed loss night. And I don't think Biagini's starts have been much better. Having Estrada and Happ produce closer to expectations is a plus, but Estrada's revival should make him excellent trade bait and we might as well get that done while the going is good.

In any event, to merely win 85 games (which stands a good chance of not being sufficient), we would need to go 31-17 the rest of the way. That is, to have a fighting chance, we just have to be a fair bit better than the Astros have been this season. We are not the Astros.

[phillipmike]

Gotta be heart-breaking for a guy like Cole to finally get a chance and then get injured. Feel for the guy. I wonder if he was injured before his appearance last night.

They said he took a come backer off the toe... i didnt see the game but it seems he was injured during the game.