2024 Season | Series #7 | A's @ Guardians | April 19-21, 2024

[MirORich]

You just never get a clean inning from Clase

11 pitch inning is pretty clean.

You’ll take a walk from a guy who can so easily K or induce ground ball double plays imo

 

[Meatwad]

 

[MirORich]

This team isn’t even letting us melt and get into epic arguments the way they’re winning.

It’ll come eventually but nice to rush out to this type of start

Also nice to sit Jose and still score 6 runs

And really while Jose has by no means been bad so far, he’s not even close to being in one of those zones that he often settles in and stays in for weeks on end that can carry the team. So while other guys may level off, we also should feel pretty confident that near MVP level Jose will show himself sooner than later

 

[CATS44]

KC down 0-5 in the eighth.

Tigers 5 Twins 0 in the eighth.

 

[Pierre Pan]

11 pitch inning is pretty clean.

You’ll take a walk from a guy who can so easily K or induce ground ball double plays imo

Well, it wound up working out nicely, but starting out with a 4 pitch walk is far from ideal. Hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[MirORich]

Well, it wound up working out nicely, but starting out with a 4 pitch walk is far from ideal. Hindsight is always 20/20.

In general, yeah, never a good idea to put a batter on base for free and never good to open an inning that way, but given Claase’s resume and pitching style, I don’t get too worked up when that happens as he’s so often able ti still cruise through the inning

 

[Meatwad]

Josh Naylor is so locked in. I would be throwing bags of money at this dude.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

The Guardians bid a sad goodbye to the Oakland A's, who they beat 6 games to 1 with a cumulative score of 51-16. See you next year, fellas.

Tanner Bibee looked a little better than last time, striking out 8 batters and giving up two runs in 5.2 innings. He got two quicks outs to start the 6th before giving up a walk and an infield single. Vogt elected to leave him in to face Lawrence Butler, hitting under .200. Butler singled to make it a 3-2 game but Herrin got out of it.

Every game has a different hero. Today it was Will Brennan with a home run, a double (later scored), and a diving catch. And of course Josh Naylor, down 0-2 with two out and the bases loaded in the 7th, ripped a 3-run double into the right field corner. I was flabbergasted that McFarland, who just got Josh to chase a slider a foot outside the zone, threw him a slider in the middle of the zone on an 0-2 count. This was after A's pitchers hit three batters earlier in the inning.

McFarland also hit Gimenez with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases for Naylor. Two batters in a row he gets ahead 0-2 and then does something inexcusable. Like I said, sorry to see the A's go. They are so helpful.

The Guardians bullpen was bulletproof, as usual, although I can't stand to see pitchers walk the leadoff hitter with a four-run lead like Cade Smith and Clase did in the 8th and 9th. I suspect Clase thought that if he put the first runner on base it would make it a save situation. But it didn't. Anyway, both Smith and Clase pulled it together and did not allow a run.

Jose gets two days off and Boston comes in for more punishment on Tuesday.

 

[Kevalier]

The question is why they couldn’t get a reasonable deal done this spring w 2 yrs left?

And, why wouldn’t he think about a 2-yr extension and then sign w Vegas w hopes to play w his other brother if he is getting close? Maybe a wink to Bo to join us in 2+ years after that… Know the theory is way out there but those guys are close. If he enjoys playing w one, keep options open to do all 3….

The television rights situation is likely the main factor as to why there wasn’t any extension reached with Naylor this past offseason. If that is resolved by this offseason, I would think the chances of him staying here long term increase quite a bit.

Also, the A’s will still be in Sacramento when Josh Naylor reached free agency and the idea that John Fisher is going to spend legitimate money in free agency is awfully far fetched.

 

[Gson]

 

[rmacd]

You are correct. My bad. It was Calloway.

You so right that Cookie was disliked by many until Cash worked with him and he dominated out of the pen.

 

[CDAV45]

This team isn’t even letting us melt and get into epic arguments the way they’re winning.

It’ll come eventually but nice to rush out to this type of start

Also nice to sit Jose and still score 6 runs

And really while Jose has by no means been bad so far, he’s not even close to being in one of those zones that he often settles in and stays in for weeks on end that can carry the team. So while other guys may level off, we also should feel pretty confident that near MVP level Jose will show himself sooner than later

Obviously a MLB season is full of ups and downs, and while we can look forward to better play form our star player there are also others that will almost certainly perform better as well. Bo, Freeman, Brennan and Rocchio are all better hitters than their current numbers suggest. Arias is making more contact, but hasn't even tapped into his power yet. Gimenez doesn't have a HR and you know he's going to hit some.

The youngest team in baseball is one of the best and it hasn't even tapped into its full potential. That's why I ask what the hell are they going to do when Manzardo, Rodriguez and DeLauter get hot and are ready? I ask because it's gonna happen.

For me, the focus has shifted to acquiring a couple of really good, ready starting pitchers. We have position players and BP arms coming out of every orifice.

Edited to add that we also have the #1 pick which will surely land us one of Bazzana, Condon or Montgomery I would guess. Too bad there isn't a Paul Skenes in this years draft.

 

[petes999]

The television rights situation is likely the main factor as to why there wasn’t any extension reached with Naylor this past offseason. If that is resolved by this offseason, I would think the chances of him staying here long term increase quite a bit.

Also, the A’s will still be in Sacramento when Josh Naylor reached free agency and the idea that John Fisher is going to spend legitimate money in free agency is awfully far fetched.

Just thinking yesterday that TV issue is not going to be settled for a while. Diamond isn't doing a long-term deal with us. And, if this year-by-year issue TV contract is what will stop us from signing guys long-term, it will just continue. For the $5-$8 million that we lost from supposedly going to $60 million to maybe settling for low $50 millions ... that $5-$8 million only hits us via the 52/48 split in revenue sharing (so $2.5 to $4 million -- maybe $5-6 million). Heck, the MLB Draft lottery affected us just as much (with $$$ to sign 1-1 guy).

The only possible saving grace would be an Amazon scooping in and buying our future streaming rights which isn't a short-term issue anyways as MLB wants to steer that growth potential like it did with Padres (won't let us do that and sabotage their long-term plans). Thus, as FO has no idea what MLB will offer or what the market will give (if MLB gives % of revenue gained from their platform), it will not be settled anytime soon (may have to go a year or two into MLB game plan to see what it provides - what we consumers are willing to pay). It is not like Diamond is giving us a long-term deal anytime soon when it was about to drop us (and people continue to drop cable even without streaming service to go to).

 

[ChiefWahoo1948]

UGH!!!

 

[Meatwad]

UGH!!!

Not A's, Chief. We played The A. Wrong thread