2022 Game Thread

[AdamRavs]

also im not sure how much of de la cruz is real, but he has been nothing but productive when given an opportunity and he seems to give the lineup a spark every time he plays. He shouldn't be playing everyday but if Soler or Garcia continue to struggle, de la Cruz has certainly earned more playing time.

Which also makes signing both Garcia and Soler dumb. It was like spending money to spend it. Also I HATE Soler leading off. Put Jazz up there and let Soler bat 5th.

[fish16]

Which also makes signing both Garcia and Soler dumb. It was like spending money to spend it. Also I HATE Soler leading off. Put Jazz up there and let Soler bat 5th.

Soler I'm fine with. Like I said, by the end of the year his numbers will likely be his normal numbers which deserve more than the 2 years, 24 million or whatever is remaining after this year. He will likely opt out so its really a 1 year deal, which I'm fine with. the biggest issue is not the money, as they clearly have it to spend to this level, its the years on Garcia. it just made no sense to go 4 years on his contract. He doesn't have the track record that deserved that kind of long term investment.

Definitely agree with you on Soler though. Move him to the middle of the order where his power can drive in more runs, and put jazz and sachez close to the top of the order and play them everyday instead of a platoon.

Id have the lineup line this: Wendle/maybe even BA, Jazz, Sanchez, Soler, Cooper, Aguilar, Garcia, Stallings, Rojas.

It gets your best hitters the most ab's and stretches the more pure power guys towards the middle/back end of the lineup. The issue is vs a lefty you would have the first 3 guys as lefties so if you want to throw in a rojas at 1 or 2 for some quality ab's I'm fine with that too despite his early struggles. Bottom line is jazz and Sanchez need to be playing every day and at the top of the lineup, regardless of whether a lefty or righty is on the mound.

[AdamRavs]

Soler I'm fine with. Like I said, by the end of the year his numbers will likely be his normal numbers which deserve more than the 2 years, 24 million or whatever is remaining after this year. He will likely opt out so its really a 1 year deal, which I'm fine with. the biggest issue is not the money, as they clearly have it to spend to this level, its the years on Garcia. it just made no sense to go 4 years on his contract. He doesn't have the track record that deserved that kind of long term investment.

Definitely agree with you on Soler though. Move him to the middle of the order where his power can drive in more runs, and put jazz and sachez close to the top of the order and play them everyday instead of a platoon.

Id have the lineup line this: Wendle/maybe even BA, Jazz, Sanchez, Soler, Cooper, Aguilar, Garcia, Stallings, Rojas.

It gets your best hitters the most ab's and stretches the more pure power guys towards the middle/back end of the lineup. The issue is vs a lefty you would have the first 3 guys as lefties so if you want to throw in a rojas at 1 or 2 for some quality ab's I'm fine with that too despite his early struggles. Bottom line is jazz and Sanchez need to be playing every day and at the top of the lineup, regardless of whether a lefty or righty is on the mound.

Jazz should be batting vs lefties too. So Jazz, BA/Wendle, Aguilar, Sanchez and Soler. Keeps the lefties split. Plus Sanchez and Soler to drive in the runs.

[Todd]

You can't complain about Garcias track record and then ignore Solers. Both are mediocre players.

[Nick]

It's still possible we get 2018-2019 or Atlanta version of Soler this season, and then he would clearly opt out of the last two years and move on to a bigger contract, but that's really the only way I see that contract working out for us. The only consistent thing about his career is he's been inconsistent.

[fish16]

Soler hasnt been the epitome of consistency but he's not nearly as inconsistent as he's being made out to be. He's a career .792 OPS. He had a terrible start to last year with the royals and was great for the braves, 2020 he was decent in the super small sample size year, and the rest of his career aside from an injury filled year in 2017 he has been .750 OPS or better. He's an above average hitter with 8 years of MLB experience that includes 1 down year last year, a small sample in 2020, and an injury filled 2017. He can easily be counted on to be around .800 OPS before the year is over. He is not what he was in 2019 when they were juicing the balls, but he will be around 30 HR's and an .800 OPS by the end of the year. He shouldn't be leading off, but counting him out based off a week of sample is short sighted.

[Nick]

His 2020-2021 with the Royals is about a full season of ABs with a .700 OPS.

[fish16]

His 2020-2021 with the Royals is about a full season of ABs with a .700 OPS.

He already had a full season last year and was bad to start with the royals and was phenomenal for the braves. He had a .750 OPS total after 300 ab's to start the year with the royals where he was garbage. his 2020 was obviously down from 2019 but he was by no means bad. He put up a .769 OPS in 43 games. Really, he was just terrible to start last year before he was traded.

[Nick]

He already had a full season last year and was bad to start with the royals and was phenomenal for the braves. He had a .750 OPS total after 300 ab's to start the year with the royals where he was garbage. his 2020 was obviously down from 2019 but he was by no means bad. He put up a .769 OPS in 43 games. Really, he was just terrible to start last year before he was traded.

Ok, ignoring the ups and downs within 2020 and 2021, fact of the matter is he had around a .750 OPS between 2020 and 2021. If we're paying him $36 million over 3 years to him to have a .750 OPS and play bad defense in the outfield or DH, that's a bad deal.

[fish16]

Ok, ignoring the ups and downs within 2020 and 2021, fact of the matter is he had around a .750 OPS between 2020 and 2021. If we're paying him $36 million over 3 years to him to have a .750 OPS and play bad defense in the outfield or DH, that's a bad deal.

and if they get anywhere near the .882 OPS over the last 2.5 months of last year and a .948 OPS in the playoffs its a massive steal. that's the going rate on the open market for what he provides. If we're not going to spend on the open market for the star level talent, that's what the tier of free agency we will reside in will bring. that's why I think they should exclusively use free agency money on stars and low cost fliers and leave the rest of the team to internal development. The middle tier of free agency is often the least efficient in terms of production per dollar. It's why I didn't want to sign didi gregorious. I'm fine with Soler because, and its fine to disagree on this, I think he will do well enough to opt out after the year. But if he doesn't, the signing of him and Garcia are just horrendous uses of money.

[AdamRavs]

and if they get anywhere near the .882 OPS over the last 2.5 months of last year and a .948 OPS in the playoffs its a massive steal. that's the going rate on the open market for what he provides. If we're not going to spend on the open market for the star level talent, that's what the tier of free agency we will reside in will bring. that's why I think they should exclusively use free agency money on stars and low cost fliers and leave the rest of the team to internal development. The middle tier of free agency is often the least efficient in terms of production per dollar. It's why I didn't want to sign didi gregorious. I'm fine with Soler because, and its fine to disagree on this, I think he will do well enough to opt out after the year. But if he doesn't, the signing of him and Garcia are just horrendous uses of money.

Its too many if's. I don't expect Soler to do anything. But regardless he needs to not be leading off. Jazz should be getting the most ABs instead of where Mattingly seems to be stashing him and platooning him cause Berti HAS to play. Wendle i get but fucking Berti?

[rmc523]

and if they get anywhere near the .882 OPS over the last 2.5 months of last year and a .948 OPS in the playoffs its a massive steal. that's the going rate on the open market for what he provides. If we're not going to spend on the open market for the star level talent, that's what the tier of free agency we will reside in will bring. that's why I think they should exclusively use free agency money on stars and low cost fliers and leave the rest of the team to internal development. The middle tier of free agency is often the least efficient in terms of production per dollar. It's why I didn't want to sign didi gregorious. I'm fine with Soler because, and its fine to disagree on this, I think he will do well enough to opt out after the year. But if he doesn't, the signing of him and Garcia are just horrendous uses of money.

Agreed about the spending should be on stars and fliers, and maybe on a specific position target if that’s your “put you over the top” signing. I’d have rather had Correa.

[fish16]

Its too many if's. I don't expect Soler to do anything. But regardless he needs to not be leading off. Jazz should be getting the most ABs instead of where Mattingly seems to be stashing him and platooning him cause Berti HAS to play. Wendle i get but fucking Berti?

completely agree. I actually like wendle leading off and getting jazz or sanchez in the 2-5 spots in the order to drive in runs, but soler absolutely should not be leading off and Berti needs to not be playing unless there is an injury or the occasional offday. Those off days should not be happening anywhere near more than 1 time a week. He should be a late inning defensive replacement if needed or a pinch hitter/runner. Taking away ab's for Jazz against lefties in favor of berti is complete mismanagement. Unfortunately we have gotten used to that mismanagement from Mattingly.

[fish16]

Agreed about the spending should be on stars and fliers, and maybe on a specific position target if that’s your “put you over the top” signing. I’d have rather had Correa.

agreed. IF you're a piece away and you have to overpay for a guy you think is going to fill a final need and put you over the top, that's one thing. But otherwise the middle tier of free agency is where you go if you're looking for an albatross contract that will look horrible in a few years. the worst deals in baseball in terms of spending money efficiently are those 3-5 year deals for 10-20 million per year.

[fish16]

i missed that cooper got hurt on saturday with an elbow contusion. the guy just cannot stay healthy. id like to see the numbers he could put up if he plays every day all year but he is just so injury prone