On to the off-season part 1 - Questions we are left with.

 OK, so the corpse of the 2022 season is not even cold yet and I want to jump feet first into the off-season?

WTF????

But that it is what it is about, right?  How can we get better in the future?  

The first place I want to start is to ask some questions about decisions that were made in the second half of the season and what they mean for the future.

1) Why was Gabriel Arias on this playoff roster? 

He started the year in the majors, got sent down, pouted, got hurt, performed mediocre when he got of the DL in Columbus.

Why was he groomed at 1B for the playoffs and why not someone else?

2) Why was Tyler Freeman not put on the postseason roster instead of Will Benson?

Freeman provided versatility and some hitting ability from the right side.  Francona was loathe to put Benson in as a hitter and, when he did, Benson didn't perform.  That comes on the heels of an expectedly poor opening showing in the majors by Benson who takes a year or two to conquer a level before he moves on to the next level and repeats that cycle.  

3) Why, given the makeup of this team, did Nolan Jones just play the OF when he went back to Columbus?  

Jones is tall, has played the hot corner, is athletic.  He should be being groomed as a firstbasemen.  He should have likely been in the AFL learning and playing first base.  

What does it say that they just stuck him in RF and didn't work to incdrease his worth to this team who needs more hitting at 1B, not another left-handed hitting outfielder. 

4) Why was Zach Plesac not used more in the postseason?

Hey, it was pretty obvious that Francona, in game 5, was going to use Civale to cover the first 3-4 innings with Hentges to clean up if Civale ever faltered.   Then he was going to cover the remaining innings with Stephan, Karinchak and Clase, no matter how many innings that was.  

The question to me is why?  Hammy and Rosenhaus commented how Plesac had an uptick in velocity in his stint in game 4.  Duh!  He is a starter who paces himself to go deep in the game.  Let him loose knowing he is going only 1-2 innings and this is what you get.

I just don't know what it means that they didn't use him more in the postseason.  They could have used him in game 5 instead of stressing out our prime relievers, risking injury to them.  They didn't want Bieber to get hurt but they were willing to risk it with Clase?  Doesn't make sense to me and Plesac could have helped.

5) Was Straw significantly hurt during the season?  

This is one that has been nagging at me for awhile.  He just looked sluggish and as if he was in pain most of the season, starting about mid-May.  

6) Was Ramirez hurt at the end?

Hammy alluded to both of his thumbs being hurt at the end.   If so I hope he doesn't need surgery.  He clearly needs to stop sliding in head first and he needs to be more selective on his pitch selection so he doesn't jam himself all up and hurt his thumb. 

Hopefully we can get answers to these questions in the future from Antonnetti and Chernoff.  It will be very enlightening as to where we are going this off-season.