O'Brien Has Been Compromised

[smilinjoefission]

4th blown save, not close to being the automatic 1 2 3 pitcher he was...time to limit his exposure. I vote for Graceffo

[cardinalsfever44]

Graceffo is not a guy you want closing. Too much contact and not much swing and miss stuff. He is vastly outperforming his peripherals so far this season. He's fine where he is now as a middle innings guy.

[Handsomebachelor]

Jfc

[Othawhitemeat]

Def someone to keep an eye, but if needed Soriano is the alt IMO. Also, bringing up Rajcic to see if any good may also help extend options at bullpen

[BleedingBleu]

(upset) me off the officials didn’t nail the knob review. (upset) me off even more when he drilled the next guy on a cricket throw when he had the guy dead-to-rights.

I minded the O’Neill Cruz walk less, because he was the guy I didn’t want to lose to and his pitches were right about where you want them.

Hated that the tying run came on an outside pitch. Everyone in the ballpark knew a fastball was coming. I was hoping for it to jam him. With the firepower O’Brein processes, simply tossing the bat out sufficed

[12xu]

The AB by Oneil Cruz was critical in the 9th. O'Brien had him 0-2 swinging on two outstanding pitches on the black. It was then obvious they wanted to get Cruz to swing at a pitch he would be sure to swing and miss, which he so often does. The problem was that O'Brien threw four 83 mph sweepers in almost the same low location and Cruz would not chase. Seems to me that some pitches in different locations and/or speeds would have gotten Cruz out.

Yes the HBP on Griffin should have been reversed. O'Brien's control was definitely off last night, but he is still the best closing option on this roster.

[sikeston bulldog2]

The AB by Oneil Cruz was critical in the 9th. O'Brien had him 0-2 swinging on two outstanding pitches on the black. It was then obvious they wanted to get Cruz to swing at a pitch he would be sure to swing and miss, which he so often does. The problem was that O'Brien threw four 83 mph sweepers in almost the same low location and Cruz would not chase. Seems to me that some pitches in different locations and/or speeds would have gotten Cruz out.

Yes the HBP on Griffin should have been reversed. O'Brien's control was definitely off last night, but he is still the best closing option on this roster.

Regardless how they got on, they’re still base runners in the ninth/ and that will get you often. Happened here. Blew two run lead in ninth. No.

[12xu]

The AB by Oneil Cruz was critical in the 9th. O'Brien had him 0-2 swinging on two outstanding pitches on the black. It was then obvious they wanted to get Cruz to swing at a pitch he would be sure to swing and miss, which he so often does. The problem was that O'Brien threw four 83 mph sweepers in almost the same low location and Cruz would not chase. Seems to me that some pitches in different locations and/or speeds would have gotten Cruz out.

Yes the HBP on Griffin should have been reversed. O'Brien's control was definitely off last night, but he is still the best closing option on this roster.

Regardless how they got on, they’re still base runners in the ninth/ and that will get you often. Happened here. Blew two run lead in ninth. No.

So who do you think should now take O'Brien's place as the closer?

[sikeston bulldog2]

The AB by Oneil Cruz was critical in the 9th. O'Brien had him 0-2 swinging on two outstanding pitches on the black. It was then obvious they wanted to get Cruz to swing at a pitch he would be sure to swing and miss, which he so often does. The problem was that O'Brien threw four 83 mph sweepers in almost the same low location and Cruz would not chase. Seems to me that some pitches in different locations and/or speeds would have gotten Cruz out.

Yes the HBP on Griffin should have been reversed. O'Brien's control was definitely off last night, but he is still the best closing option on this roster.

Regardless how they got on, they’re still base runners in the ninth/ and that will get you often. Happened here. Blew two run lead in ninth. No.

So who do you think should now take O'Brien's place as the closer?

I have no clue. Id stuck with O’Brien but clean up the 7, and 8 th innings. We give up a scoring relief inning every game. Half of which are multi run.

[12xu]

The AB by Oneil Cruz was critical in the 9th. O'Brien had him 0-2 swinging on two outstanding pitches on the black. It was then obvious they wanted to get Cruz to swing at a pitch he would be sure to swing and miss, which he so often does. The problem was that O'Brien threw four 83 mph sweepers in almost the same low location and Cruz would not chase. Seems to me that some pitches in different locations and/or speeds would have gotten Cruz out.

Yes the HBP on Griffin should have been reversed. O'Brien's control was definitely off last night, but he is still the best closing option on this roster.

Regardless how they got on, they’re still base runners in the ninth/ and that will get you often. Happened here. Blew two run lead in ninth. No.

So who do you think should now take O'Brien's place as the closer?

I have no clue. Id stuck with O’Brien but clean up the 7, and 8 th innings. We give up a scoring relief inning every game. Half of which are multi run.

Yes many of the other relievers are highly unreliable. I think Soriano has been better than expected, but he also has a tendency to lose his control. Stanek is very inconsistent, although he does have swing and miss stuff. Graceffo and Svanson are young and give up too much hard contact. Bruihl is highly suspect, and Romero is usually good, the best LH reliever on the roster. O'Brien has been effective most of the time, and IMO he should be the closer despite a few rough outings.

[sikeston bulldog2]

The AB by Oneil Cruz was critical in the 9th. O'Brien had him 0-2 swinging on two outstanding pitches on the black. It was then obvious they wanted to get Cruz to swing at a pitch he would be sure to swing and miss, which he so often does. The problem was that O'Brien threw four 83 mph sweepers in almost the same low location and Cruz would not chase. Seems to me that some pitches in different locations and/or speeds would have gotten Cruz out.

Yes the HBP on Griffin should have been reversed. O'Brien's control was definitely off last night, but he is still the best closing option on this roster.

Regardless how they got on, they’re still base runners in the ninth/ and that will get you often. Happened here. Blew two run lead in ninth. No.

So who do you think should now take O'Brien's place as the closer?

I have no clue. Id stuck with O’Brien but clean up the 7, and 8 th innings. We give up a scoring relief inning every game. Half of which are multi run.

Yes many of the other relievers are highly unreliable. I think Soriano has been better than expected, but he also has a tendency to lose his control. Stanek is very inconsistent, although he does have swing and miss stuff. Graceffo and Svanson are young and give up too much hard contact. Bruihl is highly suspect, and Romero is usually good, the best LH reliever on the roster. O'Brien has been effective most of the time, and IMO he should be the closer despite a few rough outings.

The team knows it will give up one scoring inning in relief per game. They also know that, half those scoring innings will be multi run. So all one and two run games remain in jeopardy each time we entertain that scenario.

Clean up the amount of scored upon innings will help.

[rockondlouie]

Def someone to keep an eye, but if needed Soriano is the alt IMO. Also, bringing up Rajcic to see if any good may also help extend options at bullpen

Been on this train for a while too meat'.

[Jatalk]

Oli will figure best use of pen he has. Relax.

[ChiefSTL]

The most frustrating part of last night was that at least 3 times he had the guy at an 0-2 count and couldn't finish it off. He was missing so badly that they didn't have to help him at all.

[AZ_Cardsfan]

That AB where he threw 4 balls in a row down and away well outside the zone annoyed me. The 3rd pitch should have been high and hard. If he lays off two of the same pitch why would you think he'd swing at the next two identical pitches?

[Dicktar2023]

When I saw this thread, I thought Conan was caught working for the KGB.