:LOL:

When you start trying to cherry pick numbers and weed out the bad you lose your argument.

That would be like me saying Ian Happ is one of the best hitters in the game... just filter from after August.

When T.J. McFarland departed after notching two outs and a walk in the bottom of the ninth, the visiting bullpen at Dodger Stadium swung open. Out came Alex Reyes, the team’s sturdy closer who had carded a perfect save opportunity record in the first half of the season en route to his first career All-Star selection. The problem? Reyes had faltered miserably in the second half and lost his job in the process. The last two times he had pitched the ninth in a clutch situation, it had resulted in walk-off home runs for the opposing team.

Wednesday night was no different.

From the Athletic


When T.J. McFarland departed after notching two outs and a walk in the bottom of the ninth, the visiting bullpen at Dodger Stadium swung open. Out came Alex Reyes, the team’s sturdy closer who had carded a perfect save opportunity record in the first half of the season en route to his first career All-Star selection. The problem? Reyes had faltered miserably in the second half and lost his job in the process. The last two times he had pitched the ninth in a clutch situation, it had resulted in walk-off home runs for the opposing team.

Wednesday night was no different.

Why make that move? What did Schilt say?

If I was arbitrarily picking a sample, sure.

But I’m not.

The clear line of demarcation is Flaherty getting placed on the injured list with an injury many expected to cause him to miss the season. That happened after his May 31st start.

He came back in August and clearly wasn’t right and basically got shut down.

You are doing nothing different. You are just using the excuse of an injury, as if having an injury and not playing at all or not recovering from it still makes a guy a top 30 pitcher if you just pretend the injury never happened.

You are projecting a fraction of a sample into a whole, as if you can do that and say it's the only thing that matters. Like guys that dont go through an injury and start off hot dont naturally fade off as the season progresses... Yu Darvish.

It's quite different. You are doing what a lot of people who just want to use stats make the mistake of doing: Ignoring context and looking at the stats in a vacuum.

Before he injured his oblique, Flaherty was pitching like the starter he was in 2018 and 2019 - back on track and putting the weird 2020 season behind him.

Now, if a strained oblique was an injury with a long history of ending or evenly altering careers, I'd throw that out as a concern for the future. But it isn't.

Looking at the season statistically as a whole and calling it a bad year or a sign that he's an underachieving prospect because he didn't pitch well after returning from injury and subsequently being shut down is intellectually dishonest.

But I'll stop there. I didn't mean to invade the Cardinals thread and argue in circles with a Cubs fan, and yet... here I am.

You're right. I'm sure during his arbitration case they will only look at what he was doing through May. It was a banner year for Mr. Flaherty.

Duncan isn’t even a Cardinals fan you ****in nerd lmao

Wtf does him not being a Cardinal fan have to do with the conversation, you idiot? No where did I claim him to be a fan of the Cardinals. I've known the whole time he's a Royals fan. Just stfu with acting like you are smart.

Shildt fired

That was not expected. I literally read today that an extension was probable. This is a shock

Shildt is out apparently.

Kinda shocking, but I guess Mo has to deflect blame on to someone.

Woah this is confirmed? I thought Mo would be happy with his coach doing his bidding?

What happened in the locker room to cause this?:hmmm:

Time to bring back Mike Mathney!!!!!

Bringing in Reyes in that spot was a fireable offense regardless of past history.