Thoughts After First Third of the Season

[JollyRoger]

My thoughts on the season so far:

1) i was looking at 2024 as to when the Bucs would be competitive. They are a year early just like the Orioles were last year. However I did think the Bucs would be somewhere in the mid seventies in wins this year and that is why I plucked down a decent sized bet on the over 67 wins that Vegas projected. Keeping my fingers crossed they continue to play at this pace or better.

2) The bullpen as it is constructed now, might be the best in baseball. Moreta, Hernandez, Ramirez, Holderman, and Bednar have been lights out.

3) As someone stated earlier on this board: you can’t teach speed.

Bae and Marcano make McCutchen look slow and Cutch still has his wheels. The addition of speed, stolen bases, taking the extra base is an exciting element that was lacking in the past. I know Bae, Castro, Marcano have made some baserunning blunders but I’ll take a few of those in order to be in a position to score more runs. Not to mention the defensive highlights that Bae and Marcano have provided using their speed

4) I am optimistic that the additions later this year of Rodriguez, Priester, and maybe Davis and Nunez, will help solidify our lineup for the stretch run.

5) As mentioned in this post, the NL Central is weak this year. Why not us? The Pirates can win this division. Who cares if they win it being barely over .500! The Panthers were the last seed in the NHL and got into the playoffs only because the Penguins choked against 2 of the worst teams (Chicago & Columbus) in the last 2 games of the season. The Panthers knocked off the Bruins who had the best regular season in NHL history and then they rolled over the Leafs and swept the powerful Carolina Hurricanes. They are in the Finals.

Just get it the playoffs, you never know.

5) On the negative side, although I like Hayes as a person, unless he can improve his hitting to the tune of at least a .260 Avg and 15+ HR’s, I think the Bucs will need to move on from him.



In summary; right now I’m just enjoying the ride!

[JollyRoger]

I forgot to mention the draft. Please draft Crews, don’t overthink this draft or try to save money on the first pick. That was a good strategy in 2021, but this year you have a Brian Harper type talent.

Take the hitter, not a pitcher that could blow his arm out. You can stock the system with pitchers in the lower rounds. That’s what the Dodgers do and they have been very successful. Looking forward to having a couple of Cruz/Crews missiles in the lineup!