True. I also noticed our IF has been shifting Brantley now too. I dont remember a lot of teams doing that last year

So reading McTaggert's thread it seems Whitley has reverted to some poor mechanic the they were trying to coach out of him?

Where do you see that?

Farmer1906 said:

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Where do you see that?

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Further down the thread, he says he has a story coming out about it. Guess they are talking about the backslap at the end of the pitch

Frick me man. Can't our top prospects figure this ish out

Jv
Greinke
McC
James?
???

Framber in the 5th spot

cpsencik04 said:

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Jv
Greinke
McC
James?
???

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Urquidy once off the IL right? Piece it together will Framber + Fullstaff until then

Urquidy hasn't been prepping may not start before the season even begins....no way he's able to get good enough work in to even be ready by September?

Sadly I think Yordan May be in the same boat but atleast only preparing to play DH is much different than a starting pitcher.

cpsencik04 said:

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Jv
Greinke
McC
James?
???

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Click said on 790 the other day that they're going to have to get creative regarding the last two spots in the rotation.

Given his experience in TB I take that as we're going see the opener being implemented for the 5 and maybe even the 4 spot.

lunchbox said:

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Damnit. I wish he could just play games against the Yankees. It's hilarious watching their righty sluggers try to hit him.

I was a bit concerned about our BP with Joe Smith...Now I'm REALLY concerned.

790 might have jumped the gun

Would be great if he came back late in the year. We can find other guys to get outs against the Mariners, Rangers, etc. We pay Joe to get important outs in the playoffs.

Deluxe said:

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Would be great if he came back late in the year. We can find other guys to get outs against the Mariners, Rangers, etc. We pay Joe to get important outs in the playoffs.

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What's the deal there... if they opt out, can they opt back in? Does the team have to pay full price? Not sure how that would work.

This guy has been on a tirade about the history of sign stealing in baseball. His twitter feed is filled with information about it. I won't be able to listen at 10am due to a conference call but I'll try to pull it up afterward.

Here is the radio interview. Its the beginning of Hour 4

http://www.podcastarena.com/thebench/

When exactly does the season start?

MLB Ranked the top Rotations & Bullpens.

Here is the list of the best pitching if you combine them (equal weights)

1 Rays
2 Yankees
3 Nationals
4 Padres
5 Brewers
5 Reds
7 Mets
7 Dodgers
7 Indians
10 Twins
11 Braves
12 Astros
12 Rangers
14 As
15 Cardinals

AL
AL West
NL West

The takeaway I have is that our world-class offense only sees 2 teams with good pitching during the regular season, the Dodgers & Rangers. But also we're ranked 4th in the AL in pitching for the teams who made the ALDS last year. I think we may be underrated because the back end of our rotation is such a question mark. If we're comparing top 3/4 for the postseason I would take JV, Grinke, LMJ over several ranked higher than us.

mazag08 said:

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When exactly does the season start?

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a week from this Friday - (7/24) @ 8:10pm

Collin McHugh 2.0

I hope JV goes Tom Brady and is productive past 40. And we sign him to a deal through then.

Imagine how insanely good the next 5 years could be if we extended JV, LMJ, Correa and Springer

tjholley16 said:

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I hope JV goes Tom Brady and is productive past 40. And we sign him to a deal through then.

Imagine how insanely good the next 5 years could be if we extended JV, LMJ, Correa and Springer

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I think this is a lofty goal, especially given Correa's injury rate the past 2 years. If he can make it the next 2 years without injury, try to keep him. I don't know that the Astros can outbid the RedSox for Springer. I think this season, we're gonna learn the importance of saving some budget for bullpen arms.

Lol at describing him as a slugger

EastCoastAgNc said:

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tjholley16 said:

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I hope JV goes Tom Brady and is productive past 40. And we sign him to a deal through then.

Imagine how insanely good the next 5 years could be if we extended JV, LMJ, Correa and Springer

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I think this is a lofty goal, especially given Correa's injury rate the past 2 years. If he can make it the next 2 years without injury, try to keep him. I don't know that the Astros can outbid the RedSox for Springer. I think this season, we're gonna learn the importance of saving some budget for bullpen arms.

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yes, if nothing happens between Springer and the Astros in the next 8 days...he's probably gone.

and from the Red Sox standpoint, George is a great replacement for Mookie. Springer will cost...let's say around $150 MM. Betts would have cost $300 MM and then some

Certainly couldn't call him a speedster.

Interesting to think about what our initial pitching staff might look like this year. We could be carrying 16 pitchers and assume that the following guys won't be ready:

Urquidy - has not yet reported to camp for undisclosed reasons
Peacock - shoulder issues (could be ready for opening day but uncertain)
Pruitt - elbow issues (likely to start year on IL)
Smith - restricted list for personal reasons, maybe back later in the season

Locks: Verlander, Greinke, McCullers, James, Valdez, Pressly, Osuna, Devenski

Likely: Biagini, Sneed, Abreu

That's 11, meaning five of these guys could be on our opening day 30 man roster:

Javier (pretty likely at this point)
Armenteros
Deetz
Perez
Paredes
B Taylor
Emanuel
Deetz

Gonna be some baptism by fire! Need a few of those guys to step up, not just for this year but for the future. Click might need to work the phones a bit if they don't.

Tucker or Reddick? How bout Tucker AND Reddick!!! Everyone wins!

Deluxe said:

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Interesting to think about what our initial pitching staff might look like this year. We could be carrying 16 pitchers and assume that the following guys won't be ready:

Urquidy - has not yet reported to camp for undisclosed reasons
Peacock - shoulder issues (could be ready for opening day but uncertain)
Pruitt - elbow issues (likely to start year on IL)
Smith - restricted list for personal reasons, maybe back later in the season

Locks: Verlander, Greinke, McCullers, James, Valdez, Pressly, Osuna, Devenski

Likely: Biagini, Sneed, Abreu

That's 11, meaning five of these guys could be on our opening day 30 man roster:

Javier (pretty likely at this point)
Armenteros
Deetz
Perez
Paredes
B Taylor
Emanuel

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I'm sorry but it's just asinine to say those guy should be on the team before Forrest