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Red Machine D
!h1LZxECEVA
I should elaborate.
The trade that sent Valverde to Houston was motivated entirely by the fact that ownership didn't want to pay Valverde what he was worth, having already blown a great deal of money on Eric Byrnes and possibly having to renegotiate contracts with the rest of the talent that were suddenly worth a lot more than the minuscule contracts they were given in previous years. They had to cut somewhere, so they cut at the closer and put in Brandon Lyon (which has worked so far). The problem is, instead of sending Qualls to Tucson for more polishing and refinement, they put him in as a setup/middle reliever, which has brought misery and lots of blown games.
I'm foreseeing Qualls getting sat down or sent down by the next homestand, with Slaten and possibly Yusmeiro Petit taking on more of the load at setup/MR.
Our problem right now isn't even pitching. It's the bats. Byrnesie and Mark Reynolds have completely forgotten how to hit, and the rest of the lineup is cooling off a little too fast for my tastes.
Eh, I'm not really worried yet. We're still going to the World Series.
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