This is the real problem. Along with the general inconsistency from everyone who should be the offensive leaders.

Yep. We only have 4 players currently over .700 OPS, and no one at .800. Meyers is falling like a rock, Cam is a rookie learning how to be a pro on the fly, who knows what's going on with Yordan and Diaz. Dezenzo looks like a JAG...and now I can't help but worry if both Altuve and Walker are hitting that mid-30s wall.

I mean, who would have guessed that Altuve's brightest red would be Outs Above Average in LF

Replying to myself to stem the doom and gloom:

Walker and Yordan both have pretty good batted ball metrics on statcast, so it's probably only a matter of time before they both start to perform a little better. Walker is striking out too much, but his bat speed is good and he hits it hard a lot. Yordan has a 54 point difference in his on base and expected on base.

Mr. Awesome Time said:

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Maybe Brice if he's a realistic option anytime soon. I recall reading here the nerds or others in the organization thinking they could tweak and improve Rodgers' hitting.

I don't get the sense they want to put Altuve back at 2nd full-time.

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I understand not wanting Jose backing up a bunch of groundball pitchers with sub-par defense at 2B. But Rodgers hasn't been significantly better there so far. So if you are going to move Altuve to OF to get better defense at 2B, and Rodgers isn't improving the defense there, why are you paying him? If you are going to get the same level of defense at 2B with him or Altuve, then Rodgers needs to be better offensively than the next best option in LF, and he is not. Whatever tweaks they thought they could make have not worked. So if the goal originally in moving Altuve was to improve defense at 2B, bring up whoever our best IF defensive wizard is in the minors and accept that their offensive production won't be great, but that the defense in the IF will improve. Or put Altuve back at 2B until you acquire a better option.

Through 29 games in 2024: White Sox were 6-23
Through 29 games in 2025: White Sox are 7-22

— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) April 30, 2025

txags92 said:

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iBrad said:

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AggiEE said:

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When do we end the Rodger's experiment with his sub 600 OPS?

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If what was published is true about the Astros having an out clause 45 days into the season, then maybe soon. But Rodgers' $2M is probably worth keeping him around unless we are so close to the tax threshold that we need to save every penny we can for potential deadline moves.

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Seems like a lot of money to pay for somebody who so far hasn't been significantly better defensively than Altuve at 2B and isn't better offensively than the other players who can replace Altuve at LF. So if we are not getting better defensively or offensively putting him in at 2B, why are we spending $2M to trot him out there? Surely there is a cheap defensive whiz IF out there in our farm system that can hit .175+ at the back end of the order if we really want to upgrade the defense at 2B, right?

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According to the defensive metrics for the IF they showed today, we are significantly better defensively on the IF this year compared to last year. I believe is was something like -23 runs saved last year vs +3 runs saved so far this year.

superaggie73 said:

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txags92 said:

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iBrad said:

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AggiEE said:

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When do we end the Rodger's experiment with his sub 600 OPS?

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If what was published is true about the Astros having an out clause 45 days into the season, then maybe soon. But Rodgers' $2M is probably worth keeping him around unless we are so close to the tax threshold that we need to save every penny we can for potential deadline moves.

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Seems like a lot of money to pay for somebody who so far hasn't been significantly better defensively than Altuve at 2B and isn't better offensively than the other players who can replace Altuve at LF. So if we are not getting better defensively or offensively putting him in at 2B, why are we spending $2M to trot him out there? Surely there is a cheap defensive whiz IF out there in our farm system that can hit .175+ at the back end of the order if we really want to upgrade the defense at 2B, right?

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According to the defensive metrics for the IF they showed today, we are significantly better defensively on the IF this year compared to last year. I believe is was something like -23 runs saved last year vs +3 runs saved so far this year.

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How much of that was Rodgers vs Altuve?

txags92 said:

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superaggie73 said:

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txags92 said:

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iBrad said:

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AggiEE said:

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When do we end the Rodger's experiment with his sub 600 OPS?

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If what was published is true about the Astros having an out clause 45 days into the season, then maybe soon. But Rodgers' $2M is probably worth keeping him around unless we are so close to the tax threshold that we need to save every penny we can for potential deadline moves.

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Seems like a lot of money to pay for somebody who so far hasn't been significantly better defensively than Altuve at 2B and isn't better offensively than the other players who can replace Altuve at LF. So if we are not getting better defensively or offensively putting him in at 2B, why are we spending $2M to trot him out there? Surely there is a cheap defensive whiz IF out there in our farm system that can hit .175+ at the back end of the order if we really want to upgrade the defense at 2B, right?

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According to the defensive metrics for the IF they showed today, we are significantly better defensively on the IF this year compared to last year. I believe is was something like -23 runs saved last year vs +3 runs saved so far this year.

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How much of that was Rodgers vs Altuve?

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Seems like it's both positions on the right side. Peña is still Peña and Bregman was supposed to be elite, so I can't imagine it is 3rd base. The range from Altuve was his big downfall. A lot of the seeing eye singles given up last year by Framber were due to lack of range at 2nd. It's the reason why they won't play Altuve at 2nd when Framber or Brown pitch.

it will be interesting to see what happens to Altuve in May

he just finished April with .725 OPS

last year he finished April with 1.010 OPS (and 16 x-base hits) -- his best month of the year

then dipped to .573 for May

Beau Holder said:

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Mariners are winning again (and scoring a lot again). We'd better hope this run of competence has the usual expiration date or we're in trouble.

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Pretty early to be scoreboard watching. They'd be what, 2 games ahead of the Astros?

I'm telling you, once Yordan gets going, the offense is really going to get going. They're already much better from the first two weeks. These last two week should give the entire fanbase confidence about who the Astros are.

If you'll read my post again, I talked about their run continuing, not results at the end of today. Hopefully they're the same old Mariners in the end.

It's more than a month in and we're still waiting for Yordan to "get going" so I think I'll be glad if it happens while ceasing to expect it.

I do agree it looks "better" but the frame of reference prior to that was "bottom three in the league."

First sub .800 April, though he did raise it .50 points the last week to finish the month at .670 after flirting with a sub .600 month...

Polanco is on a heater for Seattle right now, but that won't last.

North Shore. PNC Park. Detail officer said someone fell out of the stands 20+ feet. Three medics are working and they are requesting ALS support.

— Pittsburgh Scanner (@pgh_scanner) May 1, 2025

Very sad, hope this isn't the same kinda thing that happened in Arlington all those years ago

Edit: dude fell directly out of the stands onto the warning track. It does not look good.

So Wesneski skipped start today though would've been on 5 days rest

Got spot start from Blubaugh

Then weekend series v ChiSox is

Framber
Brown
McCullers

Followed by M-W series at Milwaukee

Blanco
Gusto
Wesneski/Blubaugh?

Watched the video even though I wish I didn't. It looked like he jumped intentionally, which is the weird part.

Beau Holder said:

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Watched the video even though I wish I didn't. It looked like he jumped intentionally, which is the weird part.

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yeah I wish I hadn't seen it either. Would recommend folks don't go looking for it.

I guess Gusto's performance to date means six man rotation likely when Spaghetti returns? And/or if McCullers shows he can return to starting?

Later this season you have potential return of Garcia and Javier.

Scrap iron indeed

Beau Holder said:

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Watched the video even though I wish I didn't. It looked like he jumped intentionally, which is the weird part.

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I think he jumped to celebrate, but somehow went more out than up. That's a really low railing, though.

Aaron Judge finishes April with 50 hits

he will keep Bregman from winning player of the month

So you expect Yordan to continue at this pace?

I'll take action on that bet.

I'd love to have a quality 6 man rotation. We would be stout come playoff time