First, a reponse to Doc's article on Brandon Maurer in relief.

I posted my article before reading his, but I also said the "third pitch" was a cutter, not a slider.

His slider is in the high 80s and has more vertical break.  Pitch f/x either reads them all as sliders or all as cutters.  I think this year they've been cutters.

He had all three going in his first start in Miami, and was effective, but then he "lost it" and couldn't get enough separation between the fastball and the cutter, and was getting hit hard on the third time through.

Here's Miami:

Here's one of his bad starts:

Here's Wednesday:

I got excited about the "triangle whipsaw" after Miami, but he couldn't keep it going.

If he has to be in relief to make those three pitches work in a "triangle whipsaw," then relief it is.  Note that the curveball is ditched as well.

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Working through the upcoming roster issues, I reiterate the argument I've been making that a lineup with solid hitters at 2b-SS-C-3b, but glaring holes at RF-LF-1b-DH ought to be the easiest lineup to upgrade.  The hard work is done.

LoMo looks to be one, Saunders two and presumably they can fish a third out of Hart, Montero or maybe even Smoak.

But upgrading the outfield seems almost mandatory, because they are looking at a situation in which Nick Franklin and either Smoak or Montero will be forced to stay at Tacoma due to 1b/DH logjam, but a couple out of Chavez, Romero, Gillespie and Ackley will be in Seattle in order to have enough outfielders.

That just doesn't add up.   They really need to convert those assets into one or two solid-hitting outfielders.

Full article here.

Home page here.