War Machine Dawg
10-13-2023, 03:56 PM
Man, what a tough loss. No one chokes in the postseason like the Braves. That said, here's what I feel went wrong/was the problem.
1. Snit. He's a below average manager. The team peaked way too early. And don't get me started on him deciding to shuffle the lineup for Game 1. You've had one of the best offenses in MLB history with a consistent, settled lineup. So naturally Snit has to move it around. It threw the offense out of rhythm and they never really recovered.
2. Starting Elder in Game 3. I get why he did it. But it was dumb. The job of the manager is to put the team in the best position possible to win and sometimes that means being ruthless. Elder has been bad in the second half and a borderline dumpster fire the last month. Worse, he just got shelled by the Phillies only like two weeks ago. Start Smith-Shawver instead. If the kid gets hit hard, so be it. But it beats running a guy out there who had just been shelled by the same team and was clearly struggling in general.
3. Let me be really clear about this: I love AA. I think he's one of the elite GMs in the game. He's done a fantastic job building this team on the foundation he inherited from Coppy. I want him to be our GM for a long time. That said, he had a bad year, imo. It happens. But why do I say he had a bad year? Well, let me point you towards...
4. Not trading for a SP at the deadline was indefensible. I've got a little sympathy because of both Morton & Wright going down injured right before the playoffs. But other injuries had already turned the staff, which started off as an undisputed strength, into a weakness. Anderson was already done with TJ surgery at the deadline. Fried & Wright had missed extended time. Elder was bad post-ASG. I was screaming for us to go get Verlander. But AA decided to trade for a utility infielder we barely used and a relief pitcher. I'd put our season opening rotation of Fried, Strider, Morton, Anderson & Wright up against any in baseball. But that's not the rotation we had at the deadline and it was obvious we needed another arm.
5. The Murphy trade didn't really work out. As hot as Murph was the first half, he was that bad the second half. An absolute black hole in the lineup whenever he played. I don't know why we felt like we had to get rid of both Contreras and Langeliers over the last couple of years. Either of them platooning with D'Arnaud would have been just fine. Now to be fair, it's only one year and it might work out. But it wasn't good enough this year.
6. As much as I hate it, the Phillies just have our number in the postseason. It sucks, but it is what it is. There's a reason I wanted to play the Marlins. We gotta figure out whatever mental issue there is that prevents us from beating the Phillies in the playoffs, because we're going to be going up against them a lot over the next few years, unfortunately.
Going forward, what do I want to see? Well, I have a few thoughts:
1. Need to look at the offense for next year. I'd like to see us upgrade in LF. I'm still pissed at the way the Angels just dumped all their players after the trade deadline, giving us zero chance to trade for someone like Renfroe. Put him in the middle of the lineup instead of the Rosario-Pillar platoon and the offense is even scarier. Now we gotta face him playing for a good young Reds team.
2. Upgrade Murphy as the platoon C with D'Arnaud. Don't really expect this one to happen, but we should at least look at it.
3. Make a decision at SS. Arcia was fantastic this season. His defense is superb. But I'm not sure he can repeat what he did offensively. He never has. We either need to commit to Grissom next season or trade Grissom for a SP and upgrade Arcia. Everything else is outstanding.
4. Fix the rotation. Fried, Strider, Morton are all locked in and should be. I don't want to see Elder anywhere near the rotation again next year. He should've been our 5th starter at best, but injuries forced him into being the odds on favorite to start a crucial Game 3. My problem is I don't trust sinker ball pitchers in the modern game. Too much margin for error when you pitch to contact. Trade him and go get a power arm. Win-win for everyone. I wouldn't mind seeing Smith-Shawver compete for the 5th spot in spring training. He's got the tools and looked good every time he got a shot this season.
5. Improve the bullpen. Bring in a real power closer to replace Iglesias. Move Iggy back to the 8th inning and Minter back to the 7th. I'd be tempted to shop Minter for a bat and roll with Hand in the 7th if we can find another bullpen arm.
6. Pipe dream that'll never happen, but get rid of Snit and hire Wash or someone else. Flaming out in the NLDS two season in a row when we're this loaded should get a manager fired. Surely there's someone else out there that's better. Why not go young like several other clubs have recently?
Anyway, that's how I saw the season and what I'd like to see moving forwards. What did y'all think?
1. Snit. He's a below average manager. The team peaked way too early. And don't get me started on him deciding to shuffle the lineup for Game 1. You've had one of the best offenses in MLB history with a consistent, settled lineup. So naturally Snit has to move it around. It threw the offense out of rhythm and they never really recovered.
2. Starting Elder in Game 3. I get why he did it. But it was dumb. The job of the manager is to put the team in the best position possible to win and sometimes that means being ruthless. Elder has been bad in the second half and a borderline dumpster fire the last month. Worse, he just got shelled by the Phillies only like two weeks ago. Start Smith-Shawver instead. If the kid gets hit hard, so be it. But it beats running a guy out there who had just been shelled by the same team and was clearly struggling in general.
3. Let me be really clear about this: I love AA. I think he's one of the elite GMs in the game. He's done a fantastic job building this team on the foundation he inherited from Coppy. I want him to be our GM for a long time. That said, he had a bad year, imo. It happens. But why do I say he had a bad year? Well, let me point you towards...
4. Not trading for a SP at the deadline was indefensible. I've got a little sympathy because of both Morton & Wright going down injured right before the playoffs. But other injuries had already turned the staff, which started off as an undisputed strength, into a weakness. Anderson was already done with TJ surgery at the deadline. Fried & Wright had missed extended time. Elder was bad post-ASG. I was screaming for us to go get Verlander. But AA decided to trade for a utility infielder we barely used and a relief pitcher. I'd put our season opening rotation of Fried, Strider, Morton, Anderson & Wright up against any in baseball. But that's not the rotation we had at the deadline and it was obvious we needed another arm.
5. The Murphy trade didn't really work out. As hot as Murph was the first half, he was that bad the second half. An absolute black hole in the lineup whenever he played. I don't know why we felt like we had to get rid of both Contreras and Langeliers over the last couple of years. Either of them platooning with D'Arnaud would have been just fine. Now to be fair, it's only one year and it might work out. But it wasn't good enough this year.
6. As much as I hate it, the Phillies just have our number in the postseason. It sucks, but it is what it is. There's a reason I wanted to play the Marlins. We gotta figure out whatever mental issue there is that prevents us from beating the Phillies in the playoffs, because we're going to be going up against them a lot over the next few years, unfortunately.
Going forward, what do I want to see? Well, I have a few thoughts:
1. Need to look at the offense for next year. I'd like to see us upgrade in LF. I'm still pissed at the way the Angels just dumped all their players after the trade deadline, giving us zero chance to trade for someone like Renfroe. Put him in the middle of the lineup instead of the Rosario-Pillar platoon and the offense is even scarier. Now we gotta face him playing for a good young Reds team.
2. Upgrade Murphy as the platoon C with D'Arnaud. Don't really expect this one to happen, but we should at least look at it.
3. Make a decision at SS. Arcia was fantastic this season. His defense is superb. But I'm not sure he can repeat what he did offensively. He never has. We either need to commit to Grissom next season or trade Grissom for a SP and upgrade Arcia. Everything else is outstanding.
4. Fix the rotation. Fried, Strider, Morton are all locked in and should be. I don't want to see Elder anywhere near the rotation again next year. He should've been our 5th starter at best, but injuries forced him into being the odds on favorite to start a crucial Game 3. My problem is I don't trust sinker ball pitchers in the modern game. Too much margin for error when you pitch to contact. Trade him and go get a power arm. Win-win for everyone. I wouldn't mind seeing Smith-Shawver compete for the 5th spot in spring training. He's got the tools and looked good every time he got a shot this season.
5. Improve the bullpen. Bring in a real power closer to replace Iglesias. Move Iggy back to the 8th inning and Minter back to the 7th. I'd be tempted to shop Minter for a bat and roll with Hand in the 7th if we can find another bullpen arm.
6. Pipe dream that'll never happen, but get rid of Snit and hire Wash or someone else. Flaming out in the NLDS two season in a row when we're this loaded should get a manager fired. Surely there's someone else out there that's better. Why not go young like several other clubs have recently?
Anyway, that's how I saw the season and what I'd like to see moving forwards. What did y'all think?