When your pitching staff continues to get crushed by the likes of Miami and San Francisco you have a major problem. The post surgery Jimmy Nelson looks terrible so far and Claudio can't even get lefties out at this point.
Cain is just not moving well in the outfield. It's time to give him a two week vacation so he can come back 100%. If his defense isn't stellar he isn't worth much to us.
I would be surprised if he is on the roster more than a few more days. Either he will come up with a phantom injury or be DFA'd. Keeping Hiura in AAA while Aguilar and Shaw continue to suck is one of the worst decisions this franchise has ever made. The bigger long term issue is this pitching. I really have no confidence in any other pitchers besides Hader and Woodruff. Davies has been very good but with his below average stuff it's hard to trust him and most of the others are legitimately terrible.
Throw Houser in the mix for me I get it, lefty lefty match up in the ninth, but CC is dumb for not putting Gamel in over a horrible Aggie
I like what I've seen from Houser but need to see him do it a little longer. I feel bad for Aguilar who seems like a great guy but this is a business and he has struggled since the second half of last season and isn't even out hitting a few of our pitchers. I don't know if you saw the game today but Cain was really struggling in the outfield. He is definitely playing hurt and needs a few weeks off to get better. Gamel can play an adequate CF for a few weeks.
Stearns is really upsetting me with his moves and non moves and Encarnacion going to the Yankees with Seattle picking up most of the money for very little is the latest. With a huge hole at first base and lack of right handed power Encarnacion was perfect for us but screw it let's just give Aguilar even longer to show us how much he sucks.
Cincy has the 4th best ERA in MLB and we are 18th. I told you guys how big of a loss Derek Johnson was.
Just as much as Shaw and Aguilar sucking what this team misses is being able to put Hader out there in the 7th and 8th and letting Knebel/Jeffress hold down the ninth.
The reliable bullpen that you could throw at any team last year I concur. Plus, Stearns isn't going to do anything until July where he'll pick up the much needed help for the pen.
We don't have one legitimate right handed threat in this lineup and that's why guys like Lucchesi can shut us down. We could have traded for Encarnacion and we have an elite bat in Hiura in AAA yet we continue to go with Shaw, Aguilar, and Perez. It's time we put our best lineup out there every night and that means not only should Hiura be here but he should be hitting third. There is no bigger fan of Braun than I am but enough with him hitting 3rd every night.
Two more lefties the next two days so I wouldn't expect much. I am pretty much at the point where I would rather sink or swim with Peralta and Burnes instead of watching Chacin and Anderson struggle to get through 5 innings.
Hard to complain about the Yelich deal, but if we were going off of rankings at the time it would have been nice if the last throw in wasn't Yamamoto. Its possible that he was a critical piece. I remember rumblings back then of him being a thing.
I kept saying that this team is too lefthanded and needs not one but two right handed bats and thats proving to be right. We should have made an effort for Encarnacion but Stearns apparently had no interest. Hiura being in AAA while Shaw and Aguilar keep flailing away is inexcusable.
I get not wanting to dedicate big money/resources to the right side of the platoon at first base, but something has to be done. Bringing up Huira now for starters
The fact that we have Grandal playing first base again today instead of giving him the day off tells you that the team realizes that Aguilar is done.
Not looking forward to watching Shaw strike out another 3 or 4 times today with Moustakas out after being hit by a pitch last night.
Houser either needs to be stretched out and put in the rotation or he needs to be a high leverage reliever.
Hernan Perez is a career .285 obp player with 1700+ ab's. His bat does not warrant inclusion on a big league roster. Let Perez and Aguilar go, bring up Dubon & Huira.
Perez is fine as the 25th man on the roster because of his position flexibilty. You seem to like Dubon but I don't even think he will outhit Perez and he can't play the outfield like Perez can. When you are carrying 13 pitchers you need a guy who can play all over the field even if his offense isn't there.
Does Perez as a fifth outfielder really add that much? I feel like Thames (while bad) can be an emergency 5th and in a pinch reach down to the minors.
I blame this roster mismanagement on Stearns. Things like Perez hitting 5th and Shaw and Aguilar being on this roster is his doing. The lack of right handed bats on this roster is ridiculous.
I'm completely fed up with this bullshit. Screw Stearns for letting Derek Johnson go and for letting Hiura sit in AAA when we have 3 or 4 automatic out in the lineup every day.
We are extremely lucky that this whole division has been terrible so far this year but thats not going to last. This team better wake up quickly.