Quote:
Originally Posted by flamingred89
Funny how they go on a win streak, the offense is surging by their standards, and the two biggest offseason additions haven't been in the lineup. Looking at you Santander and Gimenez 
I probably shouldn't hate on those guys as much as I do. But they're 45 million in dead money so far. And probably more to do with my disdain for Atkins and how this team went from one of the funnest to watch to the most painful(at times) to watch.
And get ####ed that they're finally on a win streak and the Rays are up next. |
I think their bigger issue is a few of the other guys. If you said you were building a championship team you could have a couple excellent defenders at important defensive positions as long as they can still hit decently. I'd put Varsho in this bucket - I think he could be the starting CF/batting 8th on a WS championship team. I think Gimenez is probably not good enough with the bat to justify that same treatment, even though his defense is excellent.
On a hypothetical championship team I think Vladdy is good enough to be the 1B, Santander in a corner (assuming he hasn't turned into a pumpkin...) and Bo at SS.
You could maybe even justify Springer in a corner (this year but not last year) and Kirk behind the plate.
But Clement at 3B and the platoon with Lukes leading in the OF are not realistically championship caliber, and if you have Santander in the OF then you still need a DH. I think they need 2-3 more bats to be a contender. Ideally you'd develop them internally (if this series' Barger is the real Barger then he could be one, although if he keeps this pace of xBH the league will adjust to him).
And of course they're 1 starter short. I sort of think at this point if Max can only throw 40 pitches maybe you make him an opener. Still call him a starter if necessary for ego reasons and just plan on him only going 3 innings.
