April 2021 game thread

[fish16]

im just waiting for the lee stone post saying we are a tyler heineman away from being contenders.

Yermin Mercedes is interesting. His track record in the minors suggests he can definitely hit if he is a passable defender. Either him or collins from the sox would be a welcomed addition. Buster Posey is in the last year of his deal and the giants are going to stink and need to rebuild their farm so a rental for him would intrigue me a lot even though he is clearly not the same player. Literally anyone other than alfaro and wallach. I cant think of a positive aspect of either of their games and their AB's are so consistently overmatched they might as well save us all some time and just start the AB down 0-2.

On a side note when the hell does the minors seasons start? I thought AAA was supposed to start not long after opening day and the rest of the leagues in May but now it appears that changed.

[Nick]

im just waiting for the lee stone post saying we are a tyler heineman away from being contenders.

Yermin Mercedes is interesting. His track record in the minors suggests he can definitely hit if he is a passable defender. Either him or collins from the sox would be a welcomed addition. Buster Posey is in the last year of his deal and the giants are going to stink and need to rebuild their farm so a rental for him would intrigue me a lot even though he is clearly not the same player. Literally anyone other than alfaro and wallach. I cant think of a positive aspect of either of their games and their AB's are so consistently overmatched they might as well save us all some time and just start the AB down 0-2.

On a side note when the hell does the minors seasons start? I thought AAA was supposed to start not long after opening day and the rest of the leagues in May but now it appears that changed.

May 5th I believe, I'm jonesing for it as well. Been so long since we've been able to track the minors.

My top Minor League Storylines:

1. JJ Bleday, where does he start, how aggressive are the Marlins with him? Can he be the offensive player everyone thinks he'll be, looked good in Spring Training.
2. How close are Max Meyer and Edward Cabera? Last Year it was Sixto and Rogers, could this year be Meyer and Cabrera coming up and making an impact? The Rotation would be absurd.
3. Peyton Burdick and Griffin Conine, two guys I see poised for breakout years, similar corner outfielders with power, one right-handed, one left-handed I look for these guys to really push each other.
4. Can a Center Fielder emerge? Harrison, Misner, Connor Scott? A big year from any of these guys and they could cement themselves as the CF of the future. If Harrison doesn't show improvement this year, I think he just becomes an organizational player.
5. Can guys like Isan Diaz and Jesus Sanchez turn themselves around?
6. Can Lewin Diaz remind everyone why we were so excited about him in 2019? Hasn't really gotten a chance to build on that year.
7. Who breaks out at the lower levels of the minors? AA and AAA are stacked with talent, can we feel good about the next crop of talent that comes after them? Guys to watch: Nasim Nunez, Victor Mesa Jr., Dax Fulton

Lesser stories that maybe only I care about.
1. I'm excited to see what Josh Roberson does this year. Saw him pitch a game at Low-A in 2019 and was really impressed with this stuff. The problem is, due to injuries he was way old for Low-A, now he's so old that any day now he could become a Lee Stone favorite. Some sites like FanGraphs had shown some love for him since 2019, I look for the Marlins to be very aggressive with him, could he be an addition to the Marlins already stacked crop of Starting Pitching talent?
2. Luis Palacios, statistical anomaly at Rookie Ball, put up ridiculous video game numbers, but scouts aren't that high on him, really just curious what he does at higher competition.

[Madman81]

no jazz tonight. guess we'll just assume he can't hit lefties.

[fish16]

no jazz tonight. guess we'll just assume he can't hit lefties.

I’d rather see jazz strike out 5 times and get experience against lefties than see berti starting ahead of him just for a matchup advantage.

[fish16]

the braves are our daddy. this lineup just annihilates us and their pitchers always have career nights against us.

[fish16]

safe to say the bats have awoken. and the exact ones I mentioned this morning needed to get going. Rojas, Cooper, Andy, Duvall. Surprised we're crushing Fried, he has owned us.

Hopefully pablo can settle down and give us 6 solid innings.

[Todd]

Yermin Mercedes is interesting. His track record in the minors suggests he can definitely hit if he is a passable defender. Either him or collins from the sox would be a welcomed addition.

Yemen Mercedes is older than Alfaro and has a BABIP close to .550. Zach Collins is not good, like I get wanting to move on from Alfaro but Collins is worse both offensively and defensively.

[fish16]

alfaro is so incredibly bad. they have to make some sort of move soon. he's the clear weak link on the team by a mile.

[Namaste]

I hate Alfaro

[el nino]

That's pretty much the last I need to see of Alfaro. Bring up anybody to back up Wallach.

[fish16]

That's pretty much the last I need to see of Alfaro. Bring up anybody to back up Wallach.

it would be one thing if he showed any hint of improvement at any facet of the game but its like he's gotten progressively worse since he got here. especially defensively. I just cant see a single aspect of his game that helps the team. His only strength is power but he cant use it because he has such awful plate discipline and has no strike zone awareness to ever get himself in hitters counts. They need to find some sort of upgrade really fast because wallach is just as bad.

[fish16]

marte is such a solid piece in this lineup. not a star but him in the 2 spot is perfect setting up the bigger bats like cooper Anderson, jazz, and aguilar.

Aguilar has also been really great to start the year. No real power yet but it will come. Love what he brings to the team.

[fish16]

fried just doesnt have it tonight (or thus far this season for that matter). Desperately need Anderson to make him pay here with a big hit before this comes down to bullpens.

[fish16]

meant duvall on the above post. Huge hit. 1 more and we can break this game semi open.

[fish16]

let's fucking go. the bats have finally come alive. i thought this game was over at 3-0.