Official Game Thread - 4/12 - Bucs vs Astros

[Bobster21]

032524332535460 wrote: 2 hits Sunday (at least that was a 1-0 win), 3 hits Monday and 3 hits today. Maybe if there was some consistency in the lineup, it would help the players. No one seems to know if they're playing or where they're playing or where they're batting.



Are Bae, Castro and Mathias now a 3-headed 2B/SS combo? Is Suwinski the CFer? He's only started 1 more game there than Reynolds. But Reynolds seems to be the primary LFer. RF is a revolving door with Cutch 4 games, Joe 3, CSN 3 and Suwinski 2. A week ago, Choi DH'd 3 straight games going 1 for 11. But after DHing 2 straight games going 3 for 8 with 2 HRs, he was benched. Joe was benched for 2 days immediately after getting 4 hits in a game. After the Bucs had last Thursday off, Cutch had 2 hits on Friday and 3 hits with a HR on Saturday. He was benched on Sunday. I wonder if the players are as bewildered as the fans with how the team is run. It's obvious BC/DS see no value in consistency. But too often the group of guys they throw together for a particular game just go down meekly for 9 innings. Consistency couldn't hurt.


I guess those spring training battles for positions meant nothing.  Shelton (and I guess everyone else in the organization) wants to take all year to decide who should play.  IMO, you can't be a decent team until you have a number of players who play all the time.  Maybe platoon at a couple but anymore than that means you don't have a decent lineup.
I used to believe they were playing everyone to sort things out and determine who should be playing going forward. But this randomness of lineups has been going on for several years now with no results other than more random lineups. So I have come to the conclusion that BC/DS actually believe the best way to manage the team is to constantly shuffle lineups and positions. It's not a means to an end. It is the end. This seems to be how they believe the team should operate. They probably have computer geeks in the backroom telling them that the metrics of this guy not playing despite having a great game the day before is actually better than that guy playing while he's hot. It does seem like they operate the team like a computer game. They plug in names with no consideration of how they have been performing. You can sit when you're red hot or play when you're ice cold. The human elements of confidence and consistency seem to have been deemed inconsequential. So I don't believe things are going to be sorted out. I don't think it matters who is on the team or how they are playing. This random shuffling is likely the plan for the season and the future.

[Ecbucs]

6D404D5C5B4A5D1D1E2F0 wrote: 2 hits Sunday (at least that was a 1-0 win), 3 hits Monday and 3 hits today. Maybe if there was some consistency in the lineup, it would help the players. No one seems to know if they're playing or where they're playing or where they're batting.



Are Bae, Castro and Mathias now a 3-headed 2B/SS combo? Is Suwinski the CFer? He's only started 1 more game there than Reynolds. But Reynolds seems to be the primary LFer. RF is a revolving door with Cutch 4 games, Joe 3, CSN 3 and Suwinski 2. A week ago, Choi DH'd 3 straight games going 1 for 11. But after DHing 2 straight games going 3 for 8 with 2 HRs, he was benched. Joe was benched for 2 days immediately after getting 4 hits in a game. After the Bucs had last Thursday off, Cutch had 2 hits on Friday and 3 hits with a HR on Saturday. He was benched on Sunday. I wonder if the players are as bewildered as the fans with how the team is run. It's obvious BC/DS see no value in consistency. But too often the group of guys they throw together for a particular game just go down meekly for 9 innings. Consistency couldn't hurt.


I guess those spring training battles for positions meant nothing.  Shelton (and I guess everyone else in the organization) wants to take all year to decide who should play.  IMO, you can't be a decent team until you have a number of players who play all the time.  Maybe platoon at a couple but anymore than that means you don't have a decent lineup.
I used to believe they were playing everyone to sort things out and determine who should be playing going forward. But this randomness of lineups has been going on for several years now with no results other than more random lineups. So I have come to the conclusion that BC/DS actually believe the best way to manage the team is to constantly shuffle lineups and positions. It's not a means to an end. It is the end. This seems to be how they believe the team should operate. They probably have computer geeks in the backroom telling them that the metrics of this guy not playing despite having a great game the day before is actually better than that guy playing while he's hot. It does seem like they operate the team like a computer game. They plug in names with no consideration of how they have been performing. You can sit when you're red hot or play when you're ice cold. The human elements of confidence and consistency seem to have been deemed inconsequential. So I don't believe things are going to be sorted out. I don't think it matters who is on the team or how they are playing. This random shuffling is likely the plan for the season and the future. 


I guess so no other team does this it again shows who is smartest man in the room.

[WildwoodDave2]

64424550595542545C370 wrote: Just back from PNC Park. At some point, these guys who are very platoonish, need to be platooned. I'm hoping that just because this was the first two home series, that Shelton felt he should give everyone not named Reynolds, Cruz, or Hayes equal playing time.



Cutch has done the hat tip thing, now it's time to construct a lineup that makes sense. Choi should have been DH, CSN should have been in RF over Joe, and Castro should have been in over Mathias.



But Mathias is the only one I have an axe to grind, because we already know with the others, there will be no logic. We've had three years of it. But Mathias I'm assuming was brought up because he isn't going to be a part of anything, he isn't part of the plan going forward, so he should be the sacrificial lamb to sit day after day after day on the bench, only to see the batter's box in a blowout situation, winning or losing. This is so as not to take away AB's from guys who I thought were part of the plan going forward.



Castro isn't my favorite player, but I'd take him over Mathias any day. And they need to sort out SS. Either Bae or Castro, and stick with it, or bring someone else up. Bae blew an easy double play today. Castro had the error yesterday. So I'd much rather go with Bae at second and Castro at short, simply because I think Castro is the lesser evil of the two.



Suwinski proved a stopped clock is right twice a day. He finally hit a HR to help in a win on Tuesday. But he's completely clueless still at the plate. Time to move on, send him down, and go with Swaggerty for a while. He can't do any worse.



Anyhow, it was good to see Rich Hill go 6IP and giving up only 2 runs, though it seemed he whistled through the grave yard quite a bit. I'm still not sold on him, but if he can do this most outings, I'll back him, and the Pirates will win quite a few games.



Like I said right after ST, this team does not make enough contact if they want to be the type of team to take long AB's and wear down pitchers, take walks, put the ball in play, use their speed, etc. It isn't happening enough.



We'll see. Need to go to The Loo and get at least a split. The Bucs just got a quick taste of what a real contender can do.
That's why they are World Champs.

[WildwoodDave2]

6A5451594A525259795C4B580F3D0 wrote: Just back from PNC Park. At some point, these guys who are very platoonish, need to be platooned. I'm hoping that just because this was the first two home series, that Shelton felt he should give everyone not named Reynolds, Cruz, or Hayes equal playing time.



Cutch has done the hat tip thing, now it's time to construct a lineup that makes sense. Choi should have been DH, CSN should have been in RF over Joe, and Castro should have been in over Mathias.



But Mathias is the only one I have an axe to grind, because we already know with the others, there will be no logic. We've had three years of it. But Mathias I'm assuming was brought up because he isn't going to be a part of anything, he isn't part of the plan going forward, so he should be the sacrificial lamb to sit day after day after day on the bench, only to see the batter's box in a blowout situation, winning or losing. This is so as not to take away AB's from guys who I thought were part of the plan going forward.



Castro isn't my favorite player, but I'd take him over Mathias any day. And they need to sort out SS. Either Bae or Castro, and stick with it, or bring someone else up. Bae blew an easy double play today. Castro had the error yesterday. So I'd much rather go with Bae at second and Castro at short, simply because I think Castro is the lesser evil of the two.



Suwinski proved a stopped clock is right twice a day. He finally hit a HR to help in a win on Tuesday. But he's completely clueless still at the plate. Time to move on, send him down, and go with Swaggerty for a while. He can't do any worse.



Anyhow, it was good to see Rich Hill go 6IP and giving up only 2 runs, though it seemed he whistled through the grave yard quite a bit. I'm still not sold on him, but if he can do this most outings, I'll back him, and the Pirates will win quite a few games.



Like I said right after ST, this team does not make enough contact if they want to be the type of team to take long AB's and wear down pitchers, take walks, put the ball in play, use their speed, etc. It isn't happening enough.



We'll see. Need to go to The Loo and get at least a split. The Bucs just got a quick taste of what a real contender can do.
That's why they are World Champs.
And also a pretty smart manager!!