One less reliever on the market, for now anyway. On the IL with elbow inflammation

Semien 2B

Seager DH

Lowe 1B

Garcia RF

Jung 3B

Heim C

Duran SS

Grossman LF

Taveras CF

Not sure I understand starting Grossman over Garver. Garver crushes lefties, while Grossman is pretty mediocre.

Garver doesn't play LF

Mr Gigem said:

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Garver doesn't play LF

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You think I don't know that? Duran goes to left, Seager plays short and Garver is your DH.

Guess Bochy just wants to keep Seager off his legs today.

gigem1223 said:

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Mr Gigem said:

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Garver doesn't play LF

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You think I don't know that? Duran goes to left, Seager plays short and Garver is your DH.

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That have been easing both Garver and Seagar back to full strength. That's why Seager is DH today.

I get that. Garver had yesterday off and given we're likely to face McClanahan if we get to where we want to get, thought it'd be a good game for those likely to start in the postseason to see his stuff.

Nevertheless, I suppose there could be worse situations to be in.

I'm personally not convinced Garver will still be on the team by playoff time. Guess we'll see.

rbtexan said:

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I'm personally not convinced Garver will still be on the team by playoff time. Guess we'll see.

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Only way he's not would be due to his health. Small sample size but he's been one of our more productive hitters, especially against lefties.

Speaking of keeping guys fresh, has Semien or Lowe had a day off yet?

No, but neither of them have an injury history like Seager does. That plays a big part in those decisions I would imagine.

I'm going to start the anti-Robbie Grossman fan club. He's a negative WAR player, who has just been bad this year but he keeps getting opportunities for some unknown reason. He's striking out in 30% of his at bats, and against lefties... well closer to 40% of his at bats.

The only thing going for him is that he is hitting over .300 with RISP, but still striking out 30% of the time in those situations as well.

Run Jankowski out there in left if you give Duran a day off or have Duran play short to spell Seager, but Grossman's got to be the last man on this team, and hopefully we're in the market for an upgrade in the bench hitter department. I don't want a playoff at bat to go to Grossman under any circumstance.

Keep in mind that while Toronto is widely agreed to have the worst turf... I think the Trop is pretty dated, as well. With the huge foul lines, the last thing you want it for Seager to aggravate anything.

In fact while I'm on the outfield subject, I'm still peeved that the Rangers didn't find a way to sign Bellinger this off season. He was such a clear change of scenery opportunity, and the Rangers could really use a gold glove center fielder in the lineup, especially one with MVP upside on offense when he's right. the other upside would've been that if we signed him in the off season and he's never been offered the QO before, even if he walked at the end of the year we could've gotten draft compensation.

In any case, I'd still kick the tires with the Cubs even now and see what it'd take to get him, at the cost of a couple young lottery tickets, I'd do it.

Perez needs to throw strikes or it's going to be a short outing

Some bad luck early. Weak contact finding holes due to defensive alignments.

Bases juiced no outs that didn't take long

What is interesting on Perez: career WHIP 1.446. 2023 WHIP 1.441. So returned to the mean but he's gutting out ways to win

Three weak hits

Watching Garcia throw home is really something

Could have been way worse

PatriotAg02 said:

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Could have been way worse

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Yep. Need to answer next inning. Rays hitters seem to be onto Perez early

I'm glad Duran not going to 3rd on that ground ball didn't bite the rangers. The DP was always going to be impossible from there.

Those were almost all weakly hit. I wouldn't say they are on him at this point

Other than the first one which was ripped to left.

That's one way to try to get mclanahan out of a game

How do you not beat that out???

PatriotAg02 said:

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How do you not beat that out???

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Jung isn't very fast

If that ball is a half inch to the right, that pitcher is on his way to the hospital. Yikes.

Gonna be a long afternoon

Gotta be more patient at the plate. Swinging at too many pitches out of the zone.

I'm beginning to get a little worried about Martin. Not only because he hasn't been as good as last season, but because I'm starting to not trust him from outing to outing.

Agreed. I was already concerned before this game.

Tksymm7 said:

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I'm beginning to get a little worried about Martin. Not only because he hasn't been as good as last season, but because I'm starting to not trust him from outing to outing.

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He's on the edge at all times. I can't remember the last time he was "in control" of a game. Lots of traffic.

Well at least we got 1. Very hard to get 2/3 vs the best team at their place and them shifting their rotation to get the best matchups.