cc10106 said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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Few notes:

- I don't expect Alex to re-sign here (not saying it won't happen, but I would be surprised)

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Jose seemed pretty adamant about Alex needing to stay. Surprised how outspoken he has been about it.

(And no I don't expect it to happen either. Just found it interesting.)

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I don't think Jose was trying to make some bold statement telling management what to do. He was just asked about bringing Bregman back, and the easy answer is yes, I want him back and he would be a big positive in the clubhouse. He has played with the guy for years and they seem to have a good friendship, so why wouldn't he want him back?

Farmer1906 said:

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tjack16 said:

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cc10106 said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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Few notes:

- I don't expect Alex to re-sign here (not saying it won't happen, but I would be surprised)

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Jose seemed pretty adamant about Alex needing to stay. Surprised how outspoken he has been about it.

(And no I don't expect it to happen either. Just found it interesting.)

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I'd imagine Jose is frustrating with watching the core get torn apart and Bregman is kind of the final one from that 2017 team. At least on the offensive side he's the last one.

Although we can all agree letting Correa and springer go was best, I'm sure personally he wants to keep as much of that core together as possible

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Go back and look at every team from 2017. Count how many are there still in 2025. It's not a lot.

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I know that. I'm just saying for him as a person I'm sure he'd like to keep the guy he's probably been closest with since 2017 on the team

All I do is Nguyen said:

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Let me ask yall something since the general consensus is that Crane wont overhaul most of the lineup. If we bring in a damn good hitting coach, would that be enough to salvage the likes of Pena and Meyers, hell even playoff Tucker?

Maybe they try to address the issues through coaching personnel rather than players

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I have no insider info to back this up, but I have long thought that the first pitch swinging approach has to be rooted in analytics. While we are no longer the "smartest team in baseball" relative to analytics, I still believe we utilize them heavily (see, for instance, the changes we made to Kikuchi's pitch selection and location). My guess is our hitting approach is less about Snitker and Cintron (sorry Marvin) than our analytics team. If true, changing hitting coaches won't change the approach.

Dekker_Lentz said:

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For what it is worth, the Astroball book made a pretty good case for Bregman being the glue of the team and the clubhouse leader.

The stuff in Astroball about chemistry being the missing variable in the moneyball strategy was interesting.

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I just bought the audiobook a few weeks back, it's good so far! I recommend it for the $12 or so I paid for it.

Apologies for the sidebar and also for apparently living under a rock, but I literally just found out about the HR Derby tomorrow at Constellation Field?
Johnny Manziel, Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro, Andruw Jones, Riff Raff among others

Any of y'all going?

I don't care who has to go for it to change, just that it changes. Evidence has borne out that it didn't work like our approaches from 17-22 did. Feel like we used to work the **** out of pitchers.

Some context. Pitches seen per AB:

2024: 3.65 (worst in MLB)
2023: 3.82 (28/30)
2022: 3.78 (worst in MLB)
2021: 3.90 (18/30)
2020: 3.83 (worst in MLB)
2019: 3.86 (24/30)
2018: 3.84 (23/30)
2017: 3.78 (27/30)

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2024-pitches-batting.shtml

More context. Plate appearances per season:

2024: 6120 (12/30)
2023: 6262 (3rd in MLB)
2022: 6065 (16/30
2021: 6300 (best in MLB)
2020: 2235* (13/30... covid shortened)
2019: 6405 (2nd in MLB)
2018: 6164 (18/30)
2017: 6290 (4/30)

Not sure I see alot of super obvious trends between how we used to do things and how we do them today.

Seems like some of our perceived productivity decline can be attributed to gradually replacing Springer, Correa, Brantley and Yuli with a hodgepodge of average guys. But even that's tricky because our wRC+ has generally held steady in the top third of MLB over the past few years.

I have no problem with a disciplined first pitch hitting approach. That is, one pitch, one location with the go box about the size of a shoe box. You have to hunt the pitch you can handle. If it happens on the first pitch, then rock it. Altuve was the least disciplined hitter I've ever seen this year.
BTW, Brantley was the player most missed of all those who have left.

Chef Elko said:

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Dekker_Lentz said:

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For what it is worth, the Astroball book made a pretty good case for Bregman being the glue of the team and the clubhouse leader.

The stuff in Astroball about chemistry being the missing variable in the moneyball strategy was interesting.

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I just bought the audiobook a few weeks back, it's good so far! I recommend it for the $12 or so I paid for it.

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Agreed. I really enjoyed the book. It provides some interesting perspectives on the 2017 team.

I really wish that regime had a chance to run through their entire plan.

Ag4life80 said:

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I have no problem with a disciplined first pitch hitting approach. That is, one pitch, one location with the go box about the size of a shoe box. You have to hunt the pitch you can handle. If it happens on the first pitch, then rock it. Altuve was the least disciplined hitter I've ever seen this year.
BTW, Brantley was the player most missed of all those who have left.

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This! A disciplined approach that says "If the first pitch is the one I want, where I want it, fine swing away" is very different than one that says "this pitcher usually tries to throw a strike on the first pitch, so I am swinging". I also wish they would do batting practice with our hitters with obstacles in the way that forced them to take outside pitches the opposite way. I got so sick of seeing Pena, Diaz, Meyer, Altuve, Bregman, etc. flailing away at pitches in the opposite batters box and trying to pull them down the line against infielders shaded that way. The ones they did actually manage to reach out and hit rarely left the infield.

Joe Musgrove has a UCL injury, A.J. Preller says. He will undergo Tommy John surgery.

— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) October 4, 2024

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Joe Musgrove has a UCL injury, A.J. Preller says. He will undergo Tommy John surgery.

— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) October 4, 2024

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I don't know if you could possibly have worse timing than that. In the middle of a playoff run and you will miss the entire season next year.