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I don't like any of those pitching matchups. Don't worry, though, we have Happ coming up right after them.

Blue Jays apparently set to promote catcher Kratz:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/bl ... her-kratz/

No word yet on who is going down.

Chad Jenkins has been optioned. I do not know what that means.

Good Lord, they are putting Lawrie at 2B and he's not overly happy about it.

hahaha because we need juan francisco's bat in the line-up! i thought we were done with this stupid experiment

s e n s i wrote:hahaha because we need juan francisco's bat in the line-up! i thought we were done with this stupid experiment

I really think the inmates are running the asylum. It's all about options, shuffling bodies, square pegs into round holes. If they don't want to do things like sign Stephen Drew to play 2B, just figure out the 25 best guys for the MLB roster and stick with them, in the best roles, and just let the holes in that roster go unfilled.

I'm surprised they don't dole out pitching assignments in Pittsburgh based on the hitting prowess of our pitchers

Lawrie has absolutely no value at 2B. They're better of with Francisco's bat on the bench and Lawrie playing 3B. Bring in Francisco later in the game when you need a pinch hit so you don't have to play him defensively. What a mess this roster is.

jenkins is replaced with kratz...... apparently, offence matters so much that they are willing to keep wagner down in AAA. and backup offence for that matter? A 3rd catcher along with 4 situational relievers is better than 5 situational relievers when all 4 have struggled?

i agree with jenkins being unnecessary but why for another hitter?

Especially when two of your three starters are Morrow and McGowan? Meaning they could be out early putting an emphasis on the need for established pen arms.

PowerPlant1 wrote:jenkins is replaced with kratz...... apparently, offence matters so much that they are willing to keep wagner down in AAA. and backup offence for that matter? A 3rd catcher along with 4 situational relievers is better than 5 situational relievers when all 4 have struggled?

i agree with jenkins being unnecessary but why for another hitter?

Interleague play. if we don't have extra hitters our pitchers will be stuck hitting in high leverage situations.

Can't believe they are putting Lawrie at 2nd again just for Francisco. We have gone from wanting a better infield during the offseason to fielding a bad one in a month.

PowerPlant1 wrote:jenkins is replaced with kratz...... apparently, offence matters so much that they are willing to keep wagner down in AAA. and backup offence for that matter? A 3rd catcher along with 4 situational relievers is better than 5 situational relievers when all 4 have struggled?

i agree with jenkins being unnecessary but why for another hitter?

Especially when two of your three starters are Morrow and McGowan? Meaning they could be out early putting an emphasis on the need for established pen arms.

NL park, NL rules.

It shouldn't be that hard to figure out. An eight man pen is a ridiculous use of a 25 man roster even in the AL. When you are playing under NL rules, it would be **** madness.

This demigod status thrust upon Neil Wagner is humorous.

He is neither established ( he has 52 innings at the major league level ) , nor is he particularly all that good. His K/BB rates are nothing particularly special for a bullpen arm and he doesn't miss a significant number of bats, no matter how hard he throws. A decent arm to have in the pen? Sure. Worth carrying a three man bench into NL parks? **** no.

There There wrote:

PowerPlant1 wrote:jenkins is replaced with kratz...... apparently, offence matters so much that they are willing to keep wagner down in AAA. and backup offence for that matter? A 3rd catcher along with 4 situational relievers is better than 5 situational relievers when all 4 have struggled?

i agree with jenkins being unnecessary but why for another hitter?

Especially when two of your three starters are Morrow and McGowan? Meaning they could be out early putting an emphasis on the need for established pen arms.

NL park, NL rules.

It shouldn't be that hard to figure out. An eight man pen is a ridiculous use of a 25 man roster even in the AL. When you are playing under NL rules, it would be **** madness.

This demigod status thrust upon Neil Wagner is humorous.

He is neither established ( he has 52 innings at the major league level ) , nor is he particularly all that good. His K/BB rates are nothing particularly special for a bullpen arm and he doesn't miss a significant number of bats, no matter how hard he throws. A decent arm to have in the pen? Sure. Worth carrying a three man bench into NL parks? **** no.

It's not really about demigod status. Wagner isn't elite but he is a situational reliever who throws hard. It's more about the difficulties of the pen recently so it would be nice to have someone else with a proven MLB relief experience. Send down Happ, Rogers or Redmond if you have to. Oh whoops, forgot about the precious options. I was never for the bloated bullpen until they started struggling. And in reality, one of those 3 should go. For me it is more about addressing a hole that could cost the team games.

Off to a good start!

Man morrow only has a 91-93 fb these days...sometimes touch mid 90 but rarely

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Wtf happened to morrows 94-97mph fastball?

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You wouldn't have to do silly things like play Lawrie at 2B and Francisco at 3B if you had a real starting 2B.

Morrow looks awful tonight, but in a very different way than last week. He seems to be getting worse as a pitcher, which is not a good sign for this team's chances.

Okay, maybe Morrow should be the guy to move to the pen rather than McGowan.