2019 Series #25 | Tigers @ Indians | June 21-23

[N7RobBob]

Sorry man, i wrote my post before i read yours. Didnt mean to steal your comment.

it happens on messaged boards. I have two guys who are from NY originally and I see YES Network shit all the time on Facebook even though I blocked the page. shitty fucking algorithms. Makes me so upset.

 

[N7RobBob]

Naquin's play so far this year fool's gold or do you think he can sit around .280/.320/.450 this year?

That would be very Lonnie like which for a platoon isnt horrible. ‍
Hopefully he can just stay healthy

 

[Joe Charboneau]

Naquin's play so far this year fool's gold or do you think he can sit around .280/.320/.450 this year?

I hope he keeps playing defense like he did tonight. He put on a show out in RF tonight!

 

[Joe Charboneau]

it happens on messaged boards. I have two guys who are from NY originally and I see YES Network shit all the time on Facebook even though I blocked the page. shitty fucking algorithms. Makes me so upset.

Oh i know man. Hard to get away from the Yankee madness. Its everywhere. Just keep reminding those Yankee people about the Jets, Giants and Knicks. That always takes em off their high for a while. Edit...and Rangers. Or Islanders..

 

[Derek]

Naquin's play so far this year fool's gold or do you think he can sit around .280/.320/.450 this year?

Mostly fool’s gold. He has needed a .365 BABIP just to be a league average hitter.

You won’t ever be able to rely on him to be a consistent contributor until he cuts down on his K’s and increases his BB.

I hope he keeps playing defense like he did tonight. He put on a show out in RF tonight!

That route he took on the game deciding double play was laughably bad.

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

Daniel Johnson is a lefty and like with Bradley I think it'd be better for him to get every day playing time until he proves a little more. The development process is important with our youngsters. When Johnson is ready, we could DFA Martin but at the moment it just doesn't seem like the best transaction for the long-term.

Barnes is expendable and fit for the weak end of a platoon.

Thank you though Naquin, for making me eat crow with that HR.

Daniel Johnson's OPS against lefties is .833. Barnes's OPS against lefties is .842. Saying that Johnson can't hit lefties, or that Barnes can do it significantly better, just isn't true.

Daniel Johnson is also older than Jake Bauers. He's about to turn 24. He's not exactly some super young dude who's going to be damaged by being called up to the bigs.

Why are you saying Johnson couldn't play everyday? Put Mercado in CF everyday, Johnson in LF (or RF) everyday, and leave the Luplow/Naquin/Bauers platoon to handle the other corner OF spot along with DH.

Finally, Daniel Johnson and Bobby Bradley's situations are nothing alike. Johnson looks ready to contribute at the major league level, with stats that are incredibly comparable to what Mercado did at AAA. Meanwhile, Bobby Bradley's K% is astronomical, at 32%, and only walks 8.2% of the time. Johnson's K% is only 18%, with a BB% of 8.9%.

Johnson is ready. Martin should be DFA'd. It's the right move to make yesterday.

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

Mostly fool’s gold. He has needed a .365 BABIP just to be a league average hitter.

You won’t ever be able to rely on him to be a consistent contributor until he cuts down on his K’s and increases his BB.

That route he took on the game deciding double play was laughably bad.

So... is there something to his high BABIP? I mean, he was never going to replicate the .411 of his rookie campaign, but his overall career BABIP is .368, so the .357 of this year might not be as unsustainable as it sounds. The guy seems to have a knack for squaring up the ball and hitting line drives when he connects with the ball.

I want Mercado in CF and Johnson in one corner spot everyday. I'm fine letting the Naquin/Luplow/Bauers triumvirate handle the other OF spot and DH. I'm a huge Naquin non-believer, but he seems to have at least learned to hit a fastball up in the zone. Keep trotting him out there until his lucky rabbit's foot runs out.

 

[Ohio]

Nice to see the team continue to fight

 

[Derek]

So... is there something to his high BABIP? I mean, he was never going to replicate the .411 of his rookie campaign, but his overall career BABIP is .368, so the .357 of this year might not be as unsustainable as it sounds. The guy seems to have a knack for squaring up the ball and hitting line drives when he connects with the ball.

I want Mercado in CF and Johnson in one corner spot everyday. I'm fine letting the Naquin/Luplow/Bauers triumvirate handle the other OF spot and DH. I'm a huge Naquin non-believer, but he seems to have at least learned to hit a fastball up in the zone. Keep trotting him out there until his lucky rabbit's foot runs out.

Might be something to it, but not enough to it to remain THAT high. His career plate appearances really aren’t even a large enough sample size for things to normalize yet.

Neither his line drive rate nor his hard hit rate are anything that stands out.

 

[Kevalier]

Granted, I just finished a few glasses of wine with my wife at a bar, but I appreciate all of you guys on here. It’s great to talk Tribe with fellow fans who know their shit, even if we don’t always agree. One of these days, we’ll win the whole fucking thing.

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

Might be something to it, but not enough to it to remain THAT high. His career plate appearances really aren’t even a large enough sample size for things to normalize yet.

Neither his line drive rate nor his hard hit rate are anything that stands out.

I'm with you. The only OF on this roster currently that I want as an everyday piece of our core is Mercado.

Luplow is probably going to be that lefty-specialist platoon guy. He's our new and improved Brandon Guyer, and I love it.

The rest are replaceable, but I'm down to keep riding Naquin this year (as opposed to Greg Allen or Leonys Martin) until the wheels fall off.

I still want Daniel Johnson up here.

 

[sportscoach]

Well Civale is the starter tomorrow!

MLB.com 2019 Prospect Watch

Check out MLBPipeline.com's 2019 Prospect Watch to get rankings, scouting reports, video and more for MLB's future stars.

m.mlb.com

Scouting grades: Fastball: 50 | Cutter: 60 | Curveball: 45 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 60 | Overall: 40​

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Civale was unhittable as a Cape Cod League reliever in 2015, then starred as a Northeastern starter the next spring and pitched his way into the third round, making him the second-highest-drafted hurler in Huskies history behind only 2006 first-rounder Adam Ottavino. In his first full pro season, he ranked third in the Minors in K/BB ratio (10.1) and walk rate (0.8 per nine innings). He continued to throw four pitches for strikes in 2018, overcoming a lat strain to hold his own in Double-A.​

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Civale's lone plus pitch is a cutter/slider that he throws at 85-88 mph. His four-seam fastball has fringy low-90s velocity but is effective because it has a high spin rate and he commands it exceptionally well. While neither his curveball nor changeup stands out for its quality, he does a nice job of sequencing them with his cutter and fastball.​

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Though he's following Shane Bieber's path and has the best command in the system, it's uncertain whether Civale can start in the Majors. His strikeout rate has declined as he has risen through the Minors, leading to questions as to whether he'll miss enough bats as a big league starter. He could find more success as a multi-inning reliever who focuses on cutters and well-placed fastballs.​

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That is his MLB.com scouting report

@Derek @EdMonix11 and whoever else knows, anything you want to add about Civale so these ladies know about him? lol

 

[BMAN]

I've been voting Frankie for like the past month. Embarrassing

 

[Jordan]

I'm with you. The only OF on this roster currently that I want as an everyday piece of our core is Mercado.

Luplow is probably going to be that lefty-specialist platoon guy. He's our new and improved Brandon Guyer, and I love it.

The rest are replaceable, but I'm down to keep riding Naquin this year (as opposed to Greg Allen or Leonys Martin) until the wheels fall off.

I still want Daniel Johnson up here.

Is there a reason why they keep Martin? Johnson seems like a no-brainer call-up.

 

[sportscoach]

Is there a reason why they keep Martin? Johnson seems like a no-brainer call-up.

My guess is because Martin is one of the few veterans on the roster and Francona is known to prefer the veterans over the rookies especially when trying to win ball games. To me its not that Francona doesn't like the young guys, he just wants guy to be fully developed before calling them up in a sense and this is Johnson's first crack at AAA, so he does lack the experience Francona likes.

Johnson also has been hyped up because the fans in general want some changes and since we have a good farm system and Johnson, Bradley, Mercado etc have been the better players down there overall, we want them up cause we want those changes. So far the call up of Mercado has been a good move and we are hoping Johnson, Bradley etc can do the same thing. Also the young arms we have called up also have been solid for us, so we are looking and hoping for a change and for those young guys doing well at AAA to bring the change. It doesn't help both Bradley and Johnson bat from the left side either since the MLB club is left handed/switch heavy so that also is delaying their call up. Bradley though is on the 40 man roster with around 100 games at AAA, so he is close to ready, but Johnson I think is still some time away overall if going by the amount of time they normally like people at AAA.