We were talking last week about them just tanking the whole season to get the number one draft pick, and I have to say that I don't know if that's what they are doing, but it sure looks like that's the strategy.
This team has about six guys, maybe seven, who ought to be playing all the time. Especially in a short season. Assuming that your goal is to win as much as possible. Bell, Frazier, Newman, Moran, Reynolds and Polanco, and perhaps, dare I say it, Stallings (as much for his defense as his offense). And yet every day one or two or more of those guys are sitting on the bench while we see Dyson and Evans (who has actually hit the ball pretty well so far) and Murphy and Gonzalez and Heridia out in the field. Why?
Cole Tucker looks over matched at times, but at least he's a young guy that you are trying to find out about and who you hope will get better with time. What does a guy like Jarrod Dyson bring to the table. He's old, so he's not going to get any better. The last few years he's stunk, .230/.313/.320 last year and .189/.282/.257 (good god, a .257 slugging percentage!) two years ago. Why on earth is he anything more than a once a week fill it? Hell, why is he even on the roster?
And then you have the foolish aggressiveness on the bases, which is getting guys thrown out at a ridiculous rate. Why?
I'll tell you why. They aren't trying to win. They are trying to lose so much they get that number one pick.