The Yankees collected a 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays last night, though New York’s 34-32 record is still well below the team’s expectations. General manager Brian Cashman was blunt in speaking to reporters (including Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News) prior to yesterday’s game, saying that “Talk is cheap. No one really cares about all the hard work, all the good intentions. All they care about, and understandably so, is the results and the results just have failed so far.” In terms of addressing these problems, Cashman said the team is prepared to make additions prior to the July 30 trade deadline, with pitching and center field looking like obvious areas of improvement. It remains to be seen whether or not the front office will be allowed any additions that would put the Yankees over the $210MM luxury tax threshold, but Cashman said he would present ownership with “all recommendations that include that we’re going to have opportunities that present themselves that are money related.”
The GM also gave something of a vote of confidence to manager Aaron Boone and his coaches, saying that “I believe in the same coaching staff and same manager that’s had a lot of success here.” Cashman also made note of his track record in sticking with his personnel, as Cashman hasn’t made an in-season managerial or coaching change since becoming the Yankees’ general manager in 1998.
More from the AL East…
- The Red Sox probably aren’t likely to acquire “a big flashy name” at this year’s trade deadline, though The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey thinks the team will look for upgrades like “a mid-level pitcher to bolster the rotation and another outfielder or leadoff type,” with that position player preferably being a left-handed hitter. Of course, top prospect Jarren Duran is a left-handed hitting outfielder, but since Duran is currently slated to play on Team USA at the Olympics, the Red Sox might opt to wait until the Games are over to promote him to the big leagues. It wasn’t long ago that Michael Chavis was himself a well-regarded prospect in Boston’s farm system, but McCaffrey thinks that Chavis could be a trade candidate. Chavis has hit only .243/.302/.428 in the majors (albeit in 573 plate appearances, roughly the equal of just one full season) and was a first-round pick in 2014 back when Ben Cherington was the Red Sox GM, so current chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom could be more willing to move on from Chavis.
- After being outrighted off the Orioles’ 40-man roster, Shawn Armstrong had the option of rejecting the outright assignment and becoming a free agent. As Armstrong told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko, he received interest from “quite a few teams” about a possible spot in a new organization, but he chose to remain in Baltimore. “I love being an Oriole….They have a very good understanding of what I need to be successful in my career,” Armstrong said. “The comfort of working with these guys that I’ve been with for the past three years is a huge plus for me.” The right-hander has struggled to an 8.55 ERA over 20 innings out of Baltimore’s pen this season, though Armstrong is optimistic about a turn-around after identifying several issues with both his biomechanics and “not being too predictable” with his pitch selection and location.
Too bad Chavis can’t get a long look but frankly I was wrong on Arroyo and where would he play now that Dalbec seems to be hitting? The team could keep him as injury insurance but he likely will continue to lose value so if he could be used in part to get a decent starter, I say go for it and hope it’s a win-win situation.
Could dump marwin and his sub .200 batting average and let chavis take his spot on the roster.
Chavis’s value for 2021 & 2022 is that he has options left. This allows the Sox to call him up for any IL need or as an extra hitter for games in NL sites. He may turn into a Brock Holt/Marwin type by 2023 or learn strike zone discipline and become a regular.
The Sox have only two FA hitters for 2022 — Marwin & Danny Santana. If Duran takes over in CF, Kiki drops down to Marwin’s role So it makes no sense to trade Chavis or make him a regular. They also have high hopes for Triston Casas.
They can always drop Marwin if they make the playoffs for any other player on the 40 man roster.
What about Renfroe who I love. No loss from Betts in the field. That arm reminds of Evans and he looks comfy in Fenway.
Problem is MG will never be dumped mid season unless Cora consents which is not happening.
Every team overrates some and undervalues others. The team doesn’t need both Chavis and Dalbec with others waiting in the wing so why not flip Chavis if something the team needs is available. it’s always a risk but while he can develop, he could also be another Sweihart who ends up with zero value.
Pump the breaks on Renfroe – he has been a negative value baserunner (-1.9 bsr), an average hitter (104 wRC) while being slightly above average on defense for only the second time in his career (-14.4 overall).
Betts sprint speed and athleticism is many grades above Renfroe and has added multiple wins in defensive value every year of his gold glove laden career. What a prisoner of the moment homerism to say there has been no defensive drop off from Betts. Sometimes, listening to your local color commentator can really skew reality.
Betts was great but he had JBJ in center. As good as Fred Lynn was, JBJ was the greatest CFer I ever saw in Boston. I loved Betts but so far Renfroe has impressed me even with four errors. use your eyes to judge. some stats are just no sense. Garbage in, garbage out from computers.
Renfroe has a nice arm, but if you sincerely believe he has the first step and range of Betts then the eyes you mentioned may need recalibration.
A few timely hits is more relevant than a hideous K% and OPS south of .700? Dalbec is AAAA power with no hit tool.
The Red Sox have been carried by JD, Devers and Bogaerts with Verdugo hot and cold but solid. They have gotten nothing from the lead off or bottom three slots in the order. So yes, they could use Duran. They haven’t promoted him because SP wins in the playoffs and their middle of the order has covered up a lot of warts, so the front office probably does not realistically like their October chances and prefer to further develop Jarren in Worcester for a more sincere 2022 WS effort.
Dewey – errors a computer issue? What? Errors are facts. I can’t believe you can think about comparing Renfroe to Betts! That’s a joke. It’s not even close. I like when Renfroe throws like Dewey but Betts is two levels above the guy defensively. Faster, better routes to the ball, better understanding of the wind and sun in Fenway and a far more accurate arm.
If you forget how good Mookie is just watch the MLB channel. He gets highlights nearly every week. I can’t remember Renfroe on there more than once. There is a reason for that, he’s good not spectacular.
Renfroe started horribly and has been solid recently. Notice how he’s protecting Fevers most games.
I’m not saying he’s everything Betts was. What I do believe though is Betts was helped by having JBJ in center perhaps like Evans was having Lynn there for many years.
The bottom line to me is the cost. if we had re-signed Betts, the team would not be nearly as good. His salary for 2021 has been spread out. Sad to say but who would be the starters after ERod and Eovaldi?
Get over Mookie. He was never going to sign with the BoSox. They took the best offer. The second best offer was SD and required them to take back Meyers bad contract.
Agreed. if LA wins in a normal season and Betts is key, given props. Given the Sox then tax situation and their decision to reset, there is no way outside of an injury to Verdugo that anyone can legitimately say Boston lost the trade. He’s that good and right now cheap.
Jml950 – You have no clue what you are talking about. NOBODY that is a Sox fan should get over Mookie. That’s just ignorant to say. Mookie was and is an icon and deserved better treatment by the organization. Don’t speak up when you don’t have a clue what you are talking about. I’m not going to waste time explaining once again to a big mouthed Mookie hater that the ENTIRE deal sucked for the Red Sox and will hurt them for the next decade.
Dewey – If we had signed Betts the team would be far better and the owners would have less profits. Please notice I didn’t say just money I said profits. So their current level of higher profits ties directly to the huge loss the fans took by losing Mookie. It’s just money and they made so much during Mookie’s reign in Boston that paying him was the right thing to do for the fans and to continue the championship runs this century.
When Sale returns the team gets back it’s legitimate ACE. In the old days Price was an excellent #2 and he still needs to be replace. Porcello was a decent #3 for years and I think both Houck and Pivetta can become that reliable #3 starter in the next year or two. The Red Sox under DD proved that the #4 and #5 SP wasn’t terribly critical to post season success but was needed to get to the post season. So, going forward Boston needs to get that #2 and hang on to the crap Bloom has gathered as a virtual #5 SP, whether it’s Richards, Perez or some other Schmuck. Hopefully, after 2022 Mata will be ready to grow from the #5 SP to the #1 SP.
Again, if the Red Sox were not financially sound from all the winning, maybe I could understand a more frugal approach but they’ve made money like a printing press and it’s going towards profits not being re-invested in winning. If in 2021 the 2020 Betts deal wasn’t made then we still have Benny who is light-years ahead of what we got for him. We could have paid JBJ a fair salary rather than over-paying him OR we could have booked Pillar or another quality cheap outfielder to fill center until Duran was ready. This team with Mookie, Bogey, JD, Devers, Benny, Vazquez, Dalbec, Pillar and any 2B would be better than what we have and they would have reduced the owners profits temporarily until they won again. With winning, comes bigger profits. With losing comes smaller profits. So in the end, it was very shortsighted of ownership to save a few bucks in 2020 to lose lots of profits in 2021 – 2025 or beyond when they win again. Very shortsighted. Penny wise and pound foolish describes ownership’s behavior..
Dalbec hitting? You’re confusing going 5-35 with a couple of majestic home runs sprinkled in as hitting. Arroyo’s splits are no better than Chavez who certainly has fallen out of favor.
Duran is the answer to the lead-off spot, exhibition games be damned. The Olypmics are an honor in some eyes, but pragmatically thinking, only a fraction of the world plays or cares about baseball and when you have Jon Jay and Todd Frazier as captains, it’s a laughable representation of the US’s “talent”.
Dalbec has had some key hits lately. Arroyo has been big in spots. As for Duran, if Boston thought he was needed now, he’s be on the team. That said, I love what I’ve seen.
Dewey – I agree on Dalbec. He’s a second year player getting his feet wet with the whole process of MLB adjustments throughout a season. If nothing else, he’s shown that in spurts he can really crank out the home runs. As he improves and learns how to adjust like Devers did, he will be a quality 1B in Boston (if not 3B when Casas is ready) for the next decade..
At this point in the season with two brutal months of tough scheduling there is no reason to bring up Duran. During the dog days of August if he comes up he will NOT be a Super 2 candidate so Boston keeps control the extra year. If the Red Sox are still above .500 and competing for playoff spot he’ll gain valuable experience and can be slowly worked into the line-up and can pinch hit and pinch run in key situation. This could end up being a tremendous year for Duran with both the Olympics and a late season call-up if the Red Sox can stay competitive. If the Red Sox drop out of contention for the 2nd wild card in July then bring up Duran in August after the Olympics and play him every day to get him experience.
At some point, I have to believe the Red Sox road record will come back to reality. Slightly above average teams don’t usually win 50% of their home games and 70% of their road games!! If everything levels out to be normal numbers, they may not get too many road wins during the second half. Maybe, the perfect storm will continue but expecting a slump is something all fans should be braced for. The key will be how bad the slump is and do any of the big 3 hitters get hurt and lose significant time.
Like you, I’m excited to see Duran and I’m excited to see Houck get the promotion back to the MLB once he’s completely healthy. Add Sale and the team is getting a talent boost that normally happens through deadline trades. That allows the owners to keep even more profits in their bank accounts!! After writing that, you can see why I have Mookie flashbacks. Every time I think of the obscene profits being made and Mookie not being here, I get fired up to complain.
Mookie is not here because he didn’t want to be here.
Dewey, save your breath. KD17 is one of those people that is not interested in the facts.
Chavis last week at AAA: 5 G, 19 AB, 9 H, 3 HR, 5 R, 10 RBI, 3 BB, 4 K, .474/.522/1.000
I’d take Chavis over Marwin any day.
Don`t you think Marwin`s ability to play ANY position well and his intangibles:sac.bunting,switch hitter,ML experience playoff ready,gives him an edge over Chavis?
Not really. Marwin’s once sac adds almost no value. He can play multiple positions, but since Arroyo can play SS, Dalbec can play 3rd, and Chavis can play 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and LF, Marwin’s flexibility doesn’t add much value. If I thought Marwin was going to be the .730+ OPS type that he was in 2018-19, I’d prefer him. Bur right now, he pretty much stinks.
What we really need is a CF to push Verdugo back to LF, and Kike to a jack-of-all-trades.
Agreed on that last part Joe.
JB – You want Verdugo in LF not RF? I thought he was such a superstar that he needed to play the tough corner outfield position at Fenway. Renfroe, while having a decent year so far, isn’t exactly starting material. He’s more of an ideal 4th OF on an excellent team than a starting OFer on team that wants to make the playoffs. Think about the future payroll.
LF – Excellent money available for a BIG BAT
CF – Dirt cheap player in Duran
RF – Cheap outfielder in Verdugo
3B – Expensive Devers in not too distant future
SS – Expensive Bogaerts
2B – Dirt cheap 2B
1B – Dirt cheap Dalbec
C – Moderately priced Vazquez – good return on investment
DH – Expensive JD
SP1 – Expensive Sale
SP2 – Hopefully, Expensive SP2
SP3 – Dirt cheap Houck
SP4 – Dirt cheap Pivetta
SP5 – Expensive #5 SP in Richards, Perez, E-Rod etc.
CL – Moderately priced new closer (Barnes will eventually fail in 2020)
Set-up 1 – Moderately price Ottavino who can double when needed at CL
Set-up 2 – Hernandez dirt cheap
Set-up 3 – Taylor dirt cheap
Set-up 4 – Andriese low priced
Set-up 5 – Sawamura low priced
Set-up 6 = Whitlock low priced
Thanks to all the inexpensive players that DD accumulated and have graduated to the MLB team the Red Sox could have afforded Mookie easily after Price’s money rolled off and frankly with all the profits earned thanks to Mookie the ownership should have been willing to eat those costs in the short term to keep the icon Boston and to keep the franchise competitive without a rebuild/retool.
He is a AAAA player
But Marwin is a no-A player
career MLB numbers are stellar for a AAAA player so far
Cashman said he would present ownership with “all recommendations that include that we’re going to have opportunities that present themselves that are money related.”
“Would you like dressing with your word salad, Mr. Cashman?”
The recommendation should be that he will step down.
People were pressuring the Cash man to sign LeMahieu. I thought he was a little old to hand a five year deal to. What happened? He signed a six year deal. He has not been all that good in the first year of the deal. Is he supposed to get better? I don’t think so. This contract will be another huge mistake. You could probably get the same level of production for five million. But what’s another ten million? It’s the Yankees. What do they do when Judge becomes a free agent. Give him a six year deal but it will cost more than 30 for six years or more.
It was really a $90M/5 deal, spread out over 6 years, to reduce the cap hit by $3M.
JB – That’s the part you want to comment on? LeMahieu was an outstanding signing. The guy can play nearly any position in the infield. He can bat 1st or clean-up and he’s seldom hurt. With all that is wrong with the contracts of guys like Stanton to pick on the LeMahieu contract is ridiculous.
Also, somebody tell me who the people were pressuring Cashman. Cashman is NEVER pressured by anyone not named Steinbrenner. The guy hasn’t won in over a decade and he’s made terrible signings for over 10 years and he still has a job. Nobody can pressure the guy to do anything except the owners. Public opinion means nothing to him. Fan support means nothing to him. He’s one guy in baseball with job security.
I think Duran and Sale can be the boost we need while allowing us to keep building this farm. Only acquisition I’d like is a bullpen arm but then again Brasier is on his way back too.
Ort is in Worcester and his ERA is 0.56 He may be a possibility.
Houck is getting healthy and is better than $$$ retread.
I’m generally not one for reactionary takes.
But something has to be done with this offense. Most of out lineup is performing below or – indeed – well below the back of their baseball cards/preseason projections. Even our handful of guys who are contributing (Judge. Stanton, Phat Sancho, & Gio) are not hitting as well as they have in the past.
Meaning: not one hitter in our lineup is showing that they are benefiting from the coaching of Thames & Pilittere. Zero. In fact, this group which paced all of MLB in runs from 17-20 is collectively 25th(!) in runs/game.
With the same players, bro.
The exact same guys!
There are NL teams scoring more runs than us.
I understand not wanting to make a change in-season. But Thames deserves a lot of blame here. How can an entire lineup all take steps back? Seems like something entirely impossible.
If batting coaches are important in any way, the Yanks need a new one.
The Yankees lost the best #4 hitter they have had in awhile when they let Didi walk. Getting his production from the SS position was what gave the Yankees their magic a few years ago. Torres hasn’t come close to matching his production. The Yankees need someone like Baez from the Cubs to round out their lineup. They need to cut Sanchez loose as well and bring in a decent hitting catcher who isn’t such a selfish player. Gary doesn’t even seem to enjoy playing. The Yankees can never seem to put a complete team together anymore. When they hit well their starters are a mess and when they get good pitching their hitters only seem to be able to hit the IL.
@thecoffinnail
This is Gary’s line over the last 30 days: .284/.342/.567/.910
That’s by far the highest OPS on the team in that time span. Andujar is second with an OPS that’s 98 points lower.
So you want to trade the best hitter on the team for the past month.
I tire of hearing fans, who don’t know any of the Yankee personnel personally, contradicting the unanimous testimony of Sanchez’s teammates and coaches who say he’s a hard worker and cares a lot about his performance on the field. They know him. We don’t.
Yankees need to blow up that roster. They going now where fast.
You want the same GM who created that roster to make the deals to configure a new one?
Yankees should seriously consider selling at the trade deadline instead of the opposite. They have serious injury issues this year that are not going to go away, some questionable roster decisions, some real underperformance, and they don’t look like anything near a competitive-in-playoffs team, even if they got there. Sell, keep your payroll under the CBT, add some prospects if you can get them, and remember that the core of the younger players on the team are getting more expensive, so it may be harder in the future to get under
Yeah they have a lot of wasted dollars on bad contracts right now. It’s going to be a challenge to balance those and give big pay raises to that core. And that core isn’t even so young anymore. Cashman should try to unload as much as he can and start it over.
Only problem with that is, who do you sell? Chapman and Britton are the only ones that’ll get you anything that are realistic sells IMO. Even then they likely won’t get you something franchise altering like Chapman for Torres a few years ago. Then next year you’re in the same spot assuming they still try to remain under the tax.
I don’t disagree with that approach at all. However, Brian Cashman has too much of himself invested in the current roster, over the past 4-5 years. I think he’s a smart baseball executive, but I wonder if the Yankees wouldn’t be better off, long-term, with a change in GM. IOW, to someone who can take a step back and assess the roster without clinging to the baggage.. I think Theo Epstein is available. Wouldn’t that be ironic.
100% …Cashman needs to go
I like Cashman — he gave the Sox Whitlock, Ottavino & F German for nothing except salary relief.
None of those guys are huge losses honestly
Wrong big time. AO is again pitching well, for a Rule 5, Whitlock looks great even with hiscrecentb
Wrong big time. AO is again pitching well, for a Rule 5, Whitlock looks great even with his recent blips and German is an interesting youngster.
As an Orioles fan I think its cute when the Yankees (and Sox) panic when they’re sitting at .500 when in year # whatever of an endless rebuild the Orioles are on pace for 108 losses AGAIN.
IMO Yankees are long in the tooth. If they don’t go on a roll prior to ASG its time to sell and rebuy younger. Unlike the Orioles in a year or two you’ll be right back at the top.
The Orioles have one thing that no one can take away from them:
Camden Yards is a great ballpark.
It is beautiful. Went to a bunch of games from 1992 to about 1998. It was kind of a stuffy atmosphere for me as a fan; Memorial Stadium was a dump but had a great atmosphere for fans.
I’ve been to 10-12 baseball stadiums and Camden Yards is still #1 in baseball ambiance. The only one that felt more “baseball” to me was old Yankee Stadium, though that was way, way outdated.
The city is crumbling around the ballpark though. If I lived there now I would stick to afternoon games, take no valuables, and be out of the city by dark.
How does it come to this? The South Bronx went thru its ups and downs, but the area around the old Yankee Stadium was the safest part of NY on game nights.
Does no one in Baltimore ever question the direction of the city?
Nope. Like all democratically run cities keep electing the same politicians to run them. Glad I live in Florida.
Not in Baltimore. All the way up through at least 2014, the Inner Harbor, the restaurants on Pratt Street downtown, and the stadiums were safe. Day or night. I was 17 when Camden Yards opened and had zero worries driving downtown, parking offsite, walking to and from the stadium. City neighborhoods such as Fells Point, Federal Hill, and Canton were safe. If you wandered a few blocks west of downtown or a few blocks out of Fells Point the wrong way at night, yeah, you were asking for it. But now? People are getting mugged during the day at the Harbor, they’re getting hassled in Fells and Canton and many of the shops and restaurants closed due to dropping business combined with crime even before covid. Cars are getting broken into offsite all the time, and a lot of fans I know that still live there have stopped going to night games or go in bigger groups than they used to in order to not be a target. Baltimore’s leadership the past couple decades hasn’t done anything to help the city, the high taxes continue to discourage economic development, and the city crumbles more by the day.
I first went to NYC (Bronx) in 1990 and thought it worse than Baltimore. But everything I’ve heard about says that isn’t the case any more. I only went to old Yankee stadium once (1997) for a game and had no worries. Of course, I did not wear any Orioles gear to the stadium either, which helped.
I’m from The Bronx, and imho, it is a lot better. Like most urban areas, you’d want to avoid getting too far off the main streets in the 1-5 AM timeframe, but you’d probably still be safe. Just not as safe as you would be at other times. During the daylight hours, I don’t think I’d hesitate to go anywhere.
in part because the courthouse was a block away. I’d park there to avoid the lot charges but just a block away, Walton Avenue? No way. This was in the last 80s.
It depends where on Walton. And it depends on when you were leaving. Right after the game, Walton was probably pretty good north to 167th, and south to maybe 159th.
That said, if one were going to park on Walton, then there is no reason to not park on the Grand Concourse instead. That’s almost always safe, and that was always my preference.
Of course, it’s not like you can find a space on either.
The Orioles are going to be quite good in two years.
We hear that a lot, the problem is, no matter how good these guys are in the minors do against other minor leaguers I won’t believe it until they perform at the major league level.
Exhibit A: Brian Matusz – supposed to be the next ace in training. I think he was 1-10 one season and turned into a LOOGY for a season or two.
Exhibit B: Ken Gerhart – supposed 30/30 threat. Didn’t even come close to being 30/30 FOR HIS CAREER.
Exhibit C: Daniel Cabrera – sold as the Dominican equivalent of Randy Johnson (very tall, threw hard). Led the league in several categories…but they were losses, earned runs allowed, hit batsmen, wild pitches, and walks.
3 examples while I’ll be happy to “wait and see”
Mellon – Are any of your exhibits at the level of Adley Rutschman. Sure Matusz was the fourth pick and he did well the 5 minutes he played in the minors but his failure is on Baltimore’s GM for promoting him too quickly. He’s the same story that happened to Pivetta in both Washington and Philly.. They were bad picks they were mismanaged.
Rutschman’s future might work out differently depending on what Baltimore does next. in 2019 he played at 3 levels for a total of 37 games. If he had hit .400 at each stop like he did the last two years in college the quick movement would make sense but he didn’t. So ROK, Low A and High A got 37 whole games in 2019 and a pandemic removed 2020 so now in 2021 he’s at AA and he’s played one less game than all of 2019. He’s hitting .295 with an OBP of .431 and OPS of .992 so things are going well. He needs time at AAA facing a higher level of pitchers before he goes to the majors and that’s not a luxury that Matusz was given.
I’m sorry but when you put Rutschman, G Rodriguez, Hall, Kjerstad and Mountcastle with other home grown guys like Santander, Mancini, P Severino, Mullins, Hays and others you have the talent to win. If your saying the front office is totally inept and it won’t happen, that’s a strong argument but if you are saying these guys won’t develop into excellent MLB players, I completely disagree. Many are already on their way in Mancini, Mountcastle and Mullins.
Mishandling players or poor coaching at the lower levels can impact any organization. There are great reasons why Boston didn’t develop pitchers but they developed hitters during the last decade or two, it’s not because they didn’t draft quality pitchers, it’s because the pitching development program sucked compared to the hitter development program. Baltimore needs to make sure they have an upgraded development program for both pitchers and hitters with all the early picks they have made recently. It will be critical to their future success.
Cash man said “ I believe in the same coaching staff that has had a lot of success here”. WTF coaching staff are you looking at. And what success. Aaron Boone and his staff has had zero success for a yankee team maybe if they were coaching the pirates or orioles where a record of 500 or above is a success. In the yankee world no less then a trip to the World Series is the bar
Unless he’s going to immediately fire someone, what’s he supposed to say? It would be the most stupid thing ever to say he has no faith in them and still keep them on.
Regarding the Yankees, I’m not sure what success with boone that Cashman is talking about. Sure he’s made the playoffs and then gets exposed with terrible in game management decisions.
As for the Sox, Duran is going to be a stud for years to come. Can’t wait to see him
Boone shouldn’t get the blame for Cashman’s roster. Can’t coach players who are constantly injured. Cashman’s job should be on the line before anyone else.
Boone is Cashman’s sword to fall on so he will definitely get the blame before Cashman accepts it. If George were still alive and running the team i don’t think either one would still be with the team after failing to appear in a single World Series in a decade in 100 years
@Black ace Let’s think about this for a second. Boone shouldn’t get the blame for cashmans roster. Boone is the coach that is his primary job function to manage the roster you are given. And you got 4 likes on that
The issues can either be the manager, the roster, or just dumb luck.
I would like to see Cora leave Verdugo in the leadoff spot. He hit .304 there last season and would probably be miles better than Kike.
Cora has trouble with leadoff hitters. He tried Benintendi even though he had Betts, the best leadoff hitter in baseball. Now he uses someone other than Verdugo who proved he is good in that spot. Put Verdugo there and move Boeggarts to 2nd.
True. I sometimes believe if Cora had Ricky Henderson in his prime he would probably hit him 6th or 7th in the order. Lineup construction has never been Cora’s strong suit
Rsox – Cora has no strong suit!! OK, maybe cheating.
Verdugo, Bogaerts, JD, Devers is a strong top 4
Bogaerts, Devers, JD, Verdugo is what I’d like to see.
Bogaerts could replace Mookie with his similar power and ability to hit for average and Devers batting more often in games is good along with JD. These are the three stars of the hitting and get on base over 250 times a year. Verdugo is good for fourth because he has power and the ability to go to left field with the ball reducing the double plays that might happen after JD gets a single. His spray approach would benefit the team when JD is on first base.
The rest of the team probably should be constructed daily based on match-ups since nobody else is a worthy hitter. They are streak hitters and match-up hitters but not legitimate quality MLB hitters. Make sure the 9 hitter has speed just in case they get on so Bogaerts gets more fastballs and RBI opportunities if they can steal second.
Henderson batting 6th or 7th, TOTALLY AGREE!!! Cora has no clue but he is multi-lingual and an excellent cheater.
Looie, Dalbec hitting? Once or twice a week does not work. More consistency and swinging at bad pitches would help. Maybe sit him down for a few games and work with coaches would help
I stopped reading after “Chavis”