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Yes BWJ's catch was spectacular. But we already knew he could make spectacular plays. Whether he can make routine plays at SS with extreme consistency remains very much an open question.

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Sure, but it really is okay to celebrate amazing plays without immediately turning to a potential issue. He had a brain fart on Sunday to throw to third and that was bad, but I've noticed considerably better footwork on routine plays already, which jives with what I'd heard from people in Arizona. For today, he made a ridiculously great play. I think that's pretty cool.

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Apr 5, 2023Liked by David Lesky

You're right, of course. But I can't watch a guy make a play like that without wondering why he struggled so much last year with the routine plays. I give a player that young and that talented every opportunity to improve, especially with better coaching in his corner. But at some point he has to prove it. That point is very likely this season.

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Here’s the struggle I have with Bubic…not sure which way you fall on it. He’s almost in between in both categories. And this can all change with better coaching….so it’s not a done deal by any means but I’ve seen enough that it seem pretty accurate at this point in time anyway. His stuff is in between…..but his stuff is in between because his command is in between if that makes sense. It’s all command with him that give me pause. If his command is better, the stuff is plenty good. If the command stays the same…he needs better stuff. It’s almost like he’s been all about the better stuff with throwing harder and the new slider which is all great. No issues, but it’s the command that I feel like would make the most improvement. I just hope they don’t focus so much on stuff and not the command part. There is no reason he can’t be a Montgomery type guy the Cards run out regularly….decent lefty that will get you innings because they make you beat them more than anything because Bubic has just as good of stuff he just can’t throw it where he needs too.

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I think I generally agree with that. I do wonder if the slider will help him to make his command matter a little less, like you says. I also wonder if the catching changes specifically end up helping him more than anyone. But Bubic is another example along the lines of elevating the bottom of a roster. You can get more wins from adding big to the top or from making the bottom better. I don’t know if I’d actually say he’s at the bottom of the roster necessarily, but improving guys from below average to average adds wins too and he can be one of those improvements. I’m interested at least now.

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Agreed. Hey, this is a better roster I think. The pitching has been generally pretty good to start the season. It is entirely possible we look back and say..pitching improved a lot but the offense didn’t do what we expected. Way way too early for that …but it is at least a seed being planted after this start. Lol.

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Sure, though they're still doing what you want from an offense. Five games (four I guess technically) isn't enough to know if they'll just underperform the metrics or if it's a fluke, but it's something to watch for sure.

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I know I know it’s way too early. It just the Royals….so when you start off in the bottom five or whatever number it is in runs right away. I just have to retrain the brain that they can pull themselves up from that yet. It’s just retraining the fan base with an actual MLB product every now and then. Lol.

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Oh absolutely. Nobody should believe it's different until they prove it's different.

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David - I'd be very much interested to know your opinion on why BWJ struggled so badly on defense last year. Was he bored? Easily distracted? Poorly coached? Overconfident? Something else?

I was certainly glad to hear that his footwork is improved and we can all hope that fixes everything for him. But something tells me that footwork alone doesn't really get to the heart of whatever his problem was last year. And as we've already seen this year, improved footwork doesn't equal improved decision-making.

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I think his problem was about 40 different problems. The speed of the big league game is different. He was playing third and then short and then third and that’s not easy. I think he was probably poorly coached. There’s a reason they brought in Jose Alguacil, who is so highly regarded. I think he wore down and I think he probably played hurt some. I think he had some offensive struggles that he took to the field. You’ll remember, a lot of the issues were routine plays. All of that contributes. I think we see two or three rookies excel so quickly every year that we think *every* rookie should bust out of the gates an MVP candidate and a finished product that we forget how monumentally huge the jump from AAA to the majors is. Baseball is hard.

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Apr 5, 2023Liked by David Lesky

A thoughtful and thought-provoking reply. Thank you!

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I'm not going to get carried away guite yet on lineup construction, but after MJM was one of the stars Monday, I wish they would at least let him DH last night. I didn't like JBJ in there instead of KI. Both are left hand batters. I agree with you, Duffy needs to be playing every day while he is hot. Great read again Mr. Lesky.

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I think there is a point where it gets to be too cute, but I think Q is going to work to protect the guys who matter for the future and not worry about the guys who aren't. Did it go too far yesterday? I honestly don't know. MJ was one of the stars, but also had three strikeouts on Monday. I don't have a huge problem sitting him (and Isbel and Massey) against a lefty who dominates lefties. But I don't want them to *always* sit against lefties, so I'm more in wait and see mode on that.

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Love your Bubic analysis. I watch a lot of baseball but I’m a novice when it comes to sabermetrics and interpreting the statcast data. I feel like I’m learning a ton. Greatly appreciate how you outline everything and all your hard work!

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Thanks so much for reading! There is A LOT of the data out there and it can get super overwhelming, so I hope I'm able to help a little!

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Apr 6, 2023Liked by David Lesky

Bubic was ahead of batters all night last night. I’ll let the statistician prove my point, but he was 0-2 a ton more than he was 2-0. Very encouraging. However, we STRUCK OUT AT LEAST 8 TIMES On Tuesday night.

Wednesday night we had TWO HITS! Zero run support for Zach again!

We haven’t won 10 games in April in at least 4 of the past 5 seasons. It isn’t pitching so far.

As much as I would like to swear at Bobby for not turning the double play tonight, you can’t win with 2 hits.

I’m as mad as I always am about how hopeless & how far behind we get early in the season. So terrible.

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