Grant Holmes, aka Lettuce, probably wants to know why he had to spend 10 years in the minors, because dadgummit, the dude looks legit. Last night, Holmes recorded 7 strikeouts through 2.1 innings and held the Brewers to 1 run through 5 innings. Unfortunately Snitker was asleep at the wheel and allowed Jesse Chavez to cover the 6th and it proved to be the deciding factor of the game. Let it be known that I really enjoy Jesse Chavez on this team, but there’s no way that putting him in was the right decision in a 2-1 game: single, stolen base, walk, force out, 3 run homer and game. With a pretty well rested bullpen, the call should’ve been A.J. Minter, Pierce Johnson, Joe Jimenez, and Raisel Iglesias. And yes, there’s a chance that the Brewers still win, but at least Snitker would’ve been going with a proven formula. Ho hum, life goes on.
*This thread will be used tonight as I’ll be updating it all day should moves occur*
Night Moves
I was a little too tall, could’ve used a few pounds
Tight pants, points hardly renowned
She was a black haired beauty with big dark eyes
And points all her own, sitting way up high
Way up firm and high
Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy
Out in the back seat of my ’60 Chevy
Workin’ on mysteries without any clues
Bob Segar didn’t have Alex Anthopoulos in the back of his Chevy, but AA was working on some night moves of his own:
It’s a family reunion as a lot of the 2021 team is back together (Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, Luke Jackson, Jorge Soler), and like 2021, the team has some serious work just to make it to the playoffs. Unfortunately, a huge part of the 2021 season, Tyler Matzek, was unfortunately the return along with minor leaguer Sabin Ceballos. To make room on the 40-man roster, Darius Vines was designated for assignment.
I don’t know how much this moves the needle for this team, but I will say that both Luke and Soler have been really good lately and could provide a spark that puts smiles back on faces. I’m guessing that the Braves will use the Ronald Acuña Jr. approach with Soler and have him lead off to try and spark the team. That’s a good thing, because Kelenic is a nothing burger right now. If the Braves chose to do so, they could very well platoon both CF and one of the corner OF spots utilizing Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall and Ramon Lauereano in the other. However, I’m not sure we get to that point as I’d bet good $ that AA isn’t done with his trades. Buckle up. It should be a fun few hours. As stated above, I’ll continue to monitor the moves and add them ASAP today.
I don’t have any problem with trading Ceballos, who seems like a guy with the upside of Rio Ruiz, so I have no problem trading him for two guys who could help us this year. But I would very much like for us to restock our organization with a lot more guys like him. AND I’d like us to make more moves in the next few hours!
I got a Jorge Soler World Series MVP bobblehead because that homer was just an all-time great memory. He rises to the occasion, and I think he helps us more than his Giants numbers say. You can’t get enough selective hitters in your lineup. It has a spillover effect.
Game 1, inning 1 against the Brewers that year, Soler and Freeman worked walks on extended ABs. Albies and Riley killed the rally by being overly aggressive, but they set the tone that we were going to be grinding at-bats. As much as Joc was the loud clubhouse leader, Soler’s patience seemed to make our whole lineup better.
The needle should move from unbelievably bad offensively to above average offensively in RF. We’ve been playing guys out there with a sub .200 BA and sub .600 OPS. And it’s not like any of them were defensive wizards.
AA Done. Boo
It’s just so hard to believe that’s it. I have been wondering if AA would get skonked and he pretty much did. Soler is a good add but it’s not enough and costs too much. I’m really disappointed. I guess especially the Angels, A’s, and White Sox don’t want to trade with him. And the Marlins even traded with the Mets. I’m kinda shocked that AA couldn’t do more.
I betcha everyone was asking for Waldrep, Schwellenbach and/or Smith-Shawver
A lot of lesser prospects were traded. Everyone is tired of losing to AA,
Working on mysteries without any clues… yep.
A throughly underwhelming deadline for a team that is 38-43 over the past half-season worth of games. Lightning isn’t gonna strike twice.
Who do you all think is going to get sent out for Soler and Jackson?
I suspect Elder will get optioned after this game to make room for Jackson on the pitching staff.
For Soler, they could IL Merrifield, option Nacho if Merrifield is healthy enough to take over at second, option Luke Williams, or DFA Lauereano or Rosario.
Snit, for all that is holy, do not let Elder go through the order more than twice.
It’s not AA’s fault the A’s wanted Esteury Ruiz, essentially another Pache, and not Contreras, an All-Star and player we were willing to just give away. We squarely lost the Murphy trade and the A’s lost it too but that is on them.
This is an honest-to-God rally. What a sight for sore eyes!
Third-inning oppo attack & Eddie with the 2-out clutchness.
Hometown homer! Have a night, Jarred!
In less than 3 full games for the Yanks, Jazz Chisolm has 4 HR, 8 RBI & has scored 5 runs. Sometimes you just put on a new uniform…
Let’s hope our “new guy” can follow suit.
Murphy looks utterly lost at the plate.
Murphy certainly isn’t the hitter he was the first 4 months of last year. He hit mid August a year ago and has been pretty bad ever since
Snit can leave Elder out there in the 6th but someone NEEDS to be warming in the pen just in case
Orlando Arcia is quietly having a really nice stretch, and I’m almost afraid to call attention to it. But good on him!
Oh, man, the ESPN headline is brutal: “MLB trade deadline winners and losers: The Dodgers scored big and the Braves … did not”
I’m not sure why everyone is rating the trade so poorly. In a market where Lane Thomas gets you real prospects (Keith Law had Tena ranked 5th and Clemmey 8th before the season) the Braves gave up almost nothing and took on a pretty reasonable contract.
So here we go…two on and no out and now we get Minter up. It might work out, but most of the time it doesn’t
So far so good, anyway. Depending on what happens with the ducks on the pond, it will either be his best or his third-best start of the year. We needed a stopper after last night. Good for him.
Why bring in Minter to face RHB?
They brought Minter in to face the CF, Mitchell, who bats left / throws right. Sanchez came in as a pinch-hitter. The next batter, Turang, was also a lefty, and they brought in another pinch-hitter, Monasterio. So they had to burn up a lot of their bench.
Gotcha.
And that’s Austin’s fourth hit of the night, his first four-hit game since June 8, 2023, and only the fourth of his career. It is so good to see him when he’s right.
Phils go down again — this time in 12 innings.
Recapped