Quote:
Originally Posted by raybec 4
The offense was never the question.
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Yeah, this kind of lineup depth is damn near immune to slumps. You'll still have bad days but you shouldn't have a series where your guys get shut down. There are just too many guys on the roster capable of hitting the ball hard and going 9 deep in the lineup makes life hell on a pitcher.
It'll grind SPs into powder all season and if you can do that early in a series and start taxing/exposing that bullpen on G1, it's going to snowball for teams.
But they're drawing dead in the post-season as this pitching staff presently stands. And frankly, they're not just one arm away. They probably need 3, be it via promotion (on or off the present 26 man) or acquisition.
If they're serious about doing damage in October, they should be stretching Thompson out to see if his stuff will play in a starting role. With a 97 mph fastball from the left side, solid command an a hammer curve, he's a starting pitcher if he has the stamina to throw 90+ pitches.
Maybe Liberatore or Graceffo can force their way onto the roster as well.
But as it stands there are 2 guys who project as plus SPs over 160+ IP on this roster - Mikolas and Mongomery. Matz won't answer the bell that many times, Flaherty/Wainwright are toast, Woodford doesn't have the pitch mix.
And that's before you get into September/October attrition when you figure Mikolas will be wearing down anyway.
It's a real problem.