People keep talking about how every team is throwing nothing but lefties at us and our team is completely inept at hitting lefties--we need to stop what we're doing and address this NOW!!!
Yet, on the year, exactly 29.47% of our plate appearances have come against lefties. Our OPS+ against them is 85, which is 26th in baseball. Our OPS+ against righties is 95, which is 20th.
I think the real problem is that our team needs to hit better--not that we need to abandon what we're doing and focus on improving against pitchers we see less than 30% of the time.
Well, Texas did exactly that. They threw lefties at us. 2 out of 3 starters, and both late inning relievers. But that was Texas and is mostly a consequence of who they had on their team. But it did seem weird to me that we didn't even try to make a move before that series or before Saturday to add anyone to the roster who might have a chance of hitting lefties. I'm just thinking of an in house guy like OGonz who might not be great but it was definitely puzzling to see these lineups with both Gallagher and Fry at the same time, etc.
Overall though yeah I think you're very right about that. There just aren't THAT many lefties out there to throw at us. Some bullpens don't even have one decent lefty.
As to improving the offense, sure it can be improved, but we have so many young players that I just feel like adding a temporary patch this year isn't a great idea when we could be giving some of them some PT and hopefully being more built for years to come. We can mix and match OFs depending on situations if we have a halfway decent bat-first RH guy (not sure it's OGonz but anyone similar, I don't think Call really fits the bill though as he is closer to glove-first) and all of him, Straw, and Brennan would STILL be able to play 2/3 of the time, and all 3 players would be very synergetic and cover for each other's weaknesses.
I'm not saying throw in the towel this year but I don't see a problem with Straw having a significant role on this team as long as we have ways to get him out of the game when it really matters. I don't have a problem with Brennan having being an almost-starter as long as he isn't playing every day against lefties. If OGonz is on the roster just make sure he's out of the field when we care more about defense.
Straw is still an asset. Brennan is more than just an asset. Kwan is probably more than that. When navigating the OF situation I think good management of what we have plus a minor addition (either from AAA or outside) can alleviate the problems. Management can at least patch some of the talent deficiencies there.
Regarding the CATCHING situation...
The mid minors are pretty brutal. Nobody is standing out even in the lower minors but we drafted strong in C. Let's see where that goes but I do think Lavastida is important and I agree with the idea that we shouldn't be overly concerned with adding a second strong catcher. At least for now we can ride or die with Naylor and hope that Lavastida or Fry are passable enough as backups in the long term. If we don't think that's the case we can always add someone but the time isn't really now for that.
I'm still more concerned about the pitching situation. We've got a bunch of question-marks and 3 young guys who have potential who are the future (along with hopefully Espino and maybe someone like Cantillo) but AAA is pretty much depleted of arms. Next season we might see some fringier arms get called up but it's hard to see anyone as really leading the charge.
