8/7 vs Texas

[a700hitter]

Greinke in Boston would be absolutely awesome. Imagine, his first bad outing and the Fens boos his ass. He'll be curled up in a ball on his bathroom floor scribbling in blood on the tub "All work and no play makes Zach a dull boy". The sox would need a full time therapist to come out to the mound with McClure, just as DiceK's personal interpreter comes out for him.

 

McClure, "Zach, what the f*** are you doing man, get off your knees, you are blowing the f***ing game!"

Therapist, "Zach, what he means is, you should feel some inner peace if you put forth your best effort. Let go some of the feeling of repressed anger towards your mother and feel the release of the ball toward the plate. Symbolically, it is your anger dissipating, doesn't that feel good"

That's BS. He had a bout with acute anxiety a few years back. There is no indication that he suffers from anxiety chronically.

[jacksonianmarch]

Acute anxiety? Really a700? He missed a whole f***ing season due to it. I am pretty sure he carries the diagnosis of anxiety disorder and is on a regular therapy and medical regimen. And people who are prone to anxiety issues do not do well when put in highly stressful environments. The guy will be trying to find his radial artery in this catastrophe

[jung]

That rotation might just be doomed to fail right from the start...then again a number of us where pretty skeptical about the chance the rotation they trotted out this year would hold up their end.

 

In all honesty I think the best you could hope for with that bunch would be "adequate" for next year.

 

They will have to pry away a real 1 from somebody or they will be left in the same position they were in this year....no staff leadership....no stopper....no 1 and one of the lessons from this year is that not having a true 1 is a big problem.

 

It is about time we take Beckett at his word. He has entered what he appears to view as a next phase of his career. We can see part of the next phase of his career in his lower velo and his transition...half completed, to a control pitcher relying on location and secondary pitches. The part we cannot see but appears even more of an issue is this "thing" of Beckett struggling with where baseball actually fits anymore for him.

 

Lester is a basket case. He simply cannot get out of his own way. Blowing a gasket about ball and strike calls literally every outing is a joke.....unfortunately the Sox are likely forced to rely on him to make some sort of contribution next year as well.

 

Buch appears finally to be turning into the real deal at least as very sound rotation contributor. Keep our fingers crossed that he can stay healthy.

 

Felix will hopefully continue to improve and contribute at a high level.

 

Morales will hopefully continue to improve as well.

 

Relying on Felix and Frank could be tough sledding though. They are young...they will likely make mistakes....they have talent but they are not blessed with buckets of talent. Neither is a budding Strasburg.

 

They will have no choice but to pitch Lackey and hope for the best. So you have to plan on seeing Lackey a member of the rotation next year like it or not. I suppose that could be OK. You clearly need more than 5 or 6 guys that you plan on starting over the course of a season anyway. What the hell...toss Cook on the heap as well.

 

It could work with a true 1 at the top of the rotation. Without one, like it or not Beckett, Lackey and Lester become the guys that set the tone for that rotation....Moe....Larry and Curly in baseball cleats....good luck with that one.

[Palodios]

They are going to have to pry away a top pitcher from another team. All the prospective top FA's have been extended by their teams except Greinke. I'd consider Greinke.

 

Greinke has a career 3.80 ERA, the majority of which in a weak AL Central. He's just as much of an ace as Lester/Beckett-- aka, not one. Even if the rumors about his anxiety aren't true, Greinke's CYA makes him a 20-25 million per year contract, considerably more than what he is worth.

 

There are better options. Sanchez will still be on the board and half the price. Perhaps buy low on Marcum if his elbow holds up.

 

There are also a considerable number of pitchers with expensive options in 2013 that may come off their team-- most notably:

Jake Peavy at 22 million.

Gavin Floyd, 10 million.

Haren 16 million.

Ervin Santana 13 million

Scott Baker 10 million (coming off season ending injury)

Shields 9 million

Westbrook 9 million.

 

Peavy is an ace. Any of the other guys can be a #2.

[DocHolliday]

Greinke has a career 3.80 ERA, the majority of which in a weak AL Central. He's just as much of an ace as Lester/Beckett-- aka, not one. Even if the rumors about his anxiety aren't true, Greinke's CYA makes him a 20-25 million per year contract, considerably more than what he is worth.

 

There are better options. Sanchez will still be on the board and half the price. Perhaps buy low on Marcum if his elbow holds up.

 

There are also a considerable number of pitchers with expensive options in 2013 that may come off their team-- most notably:

Jake Peavy at 22 million.

Gavin Floyd, 10 million.

Haren 16 million.

Ervin Santana 13 million

Scott Baker 10 million (coming off season ending injury)

Shields 9 million

Westbrook 9 million.

 

Peavy is an ace. Any of the other guys can be a #2.

 

I agree that this must be one of their solutions to the pitching problem. It's foolish to think that the current group will all collectively step up and perform to the expectations we have for them. For whatever reason, they have proven over the course of 2-3 seasons that they are what they are.

 

This rotation needs some new blood and a new perspective. A guy like Peavy who hasn't seen much playing time in October could perhaps revive the focus in the rotation. Right now, it's a country club attitude with the same faces and mindsets.

 

On the other hand, Peavy's injury history + our team's medical/training staff + the ridiculous amount of un preventable injuries that plague our team scare me. Depth will have to be there in the form of quality and quantity.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Not the first time the offense completely dies out the day after a good offensive performance. This team can't make the playoffs because they lack consistency. They'll keep going under and over .500 for the rest of the year, they can't go streaking for s***. Poor Lester 0-5 in his last 6 starts, ouch.

[jung]

Your pitching has to step it up in the second half. Pitching usually really starts to bubble up to the top in the second half and our pitchers have not been able to keep pace. What a shock since they did not cover themselves in glory in the first half either.

 

It is however true that our offense seems to make it easy for the other guys. Oddly enough we seem to be able to hold our own against the traditional power pitcher types but really have no answers for guys that can and have the confidence to throw off speed stuff and breaking balls early in counts. It is like our hitters somehow have convinced themselves that a breaking ball is a juicy pitch when the count is 0-0.

 

If the hitter catches a break and gets a hanger early in the count like that, AND he was expecting breaking ball then he might have a shot at doing something with that pitch. However swinging at it just because it looks like a strike makes little sense. The kinds of swings we tend to take against those kinds of pitches suggests to me that the hitter was expecting FB and got breaking ball instead. In that situation swinging makes no sense at all. If you have two strikes and have to protect the plate, fine. However that is a completely different situation than count 0-0 and you are swinging at a breaking ball when you expected a FB.

 

It has been so hard to identify a specific offensive plan with regard to how the hitters approach their plate appearances. I happen to believe that hitters have to guess along with the pitchers. They have to go up to the plate with something specific that they are trying to accomplish, looking for a specific pitch in a particular location to get it done.

 

Lou Merloni claims that he likes to think about hitting the other way around....he likes guys to always be hitting like they have two strikes but unless you are simply going to be satisfied with putting the ball in play somewhere I don't see how that works to the hitters advantage.

 

Hitting with two strikes, you want to have somewhat more bat control as you must protect at that point......so you are likely to shorten up on the bat in order to have better bat control. Do you really want to do that with less than two strikes? I would always prefer looking for a particular pitch in a particular location with less than two strikes because that is what is going to make the ball look as big as a grapefruit coming up to the plate.

 

At two strikes, sure I am going to be willing to take what the pitcher gives me and do the best I can do with that. Before that I want to give myself the best chance to drive something someplace or the best chance to accomplish a particular task based on the game situation.

 

I think our failure at the plate is often a failure to be guessing with the pitcher, looking for a specific pitch in a particular location. How often do we sit there anticipating something exciting to happen because we have a guy on base or a runner in scoring position. Here comes our hitter and he hacks away at the first pitch he sees, hitting some weak grounder someplace. Instead of looking at a possible rally the guy is running down the first base line trying to stay out of the DP.

[Emmz]

Greinke has a career 3.80 ERA, the majority of which in a weak AL Central. He's just as much of an ace as Lester/Beckett-- aka, not one. Even if the rumors about his anxiety aren't true, Greinke's CYA makes him a 20-25 million per year contract, considerably more than what he is worth.

 

There are better options. Sanchez will still be on the board and half the price. Perhaps buy low on Marcum if his elbow holds up.

 

There are also a considerable number of pitchers with expensive options in 2013 that may come off their team-- most notably:

Jake Peavy at 22 million.

Gavin Floyd, 10 million.

Haren 16 million.

Ervin Santana 13 million

Scott Baker 10 million (coming off season ending injury)

Shields 9 million

Westbrook 9 million.

 

Peavy is an ace. Any of the other guys can be a #2.

Moonshot Scott is a #2? As in a piece of s***, or as in a second-in-the-rotation pitcher?

[Thunder]

Greinke has a career 3.80 ERA, the majority of which in a weak AL Central. He's just as much of an ace as Lester/Beckett-- aka, not one. Even if the rumors about his anxiety aren't true, Greinke's CYA makes him a 20-25 million per year contract, considerably more than what he is worth.

 

There are better options. Sanchez will still be on the board and half the price. Perhaps buy low on Marcum if his elbow holds up.

 

There are also a considerable number of pitchers with expensive options in 2013 that may come off their team-- most notably:

Jake Peavy at 22 million.

Gavin Floyd, 10 million.

Haren 16 million.

Ervin Santana 13 million

Scott Baker 10 million (coming off season ending injury)

Shields 9 million

Westbrook 9 million.

 

Peavy is an ace. Any of the other guys can be a #2.

 

I like Peavy, but I think Floyd is better. Harden and Santana are like Beckett and Lester, you can't trust anyone on the Twins, Shields may be an ace, and Westbrook is inconsistent.

[Youk Of The Nation]

I like Peavy' date=' but I think Floyd is better. Harden and Santana are like Beckett and Lester, you can't trust anyone on the Twins, Shields may be an ace, and Westbrook is inconsistent.[/quote']

 

Yeah those Minnesotans are sneaky folk.

[Palodios]

Moonshot Scott is a #2? As in a piece of s***' date=' or as in a second-in-the-rotation pitcher?[/quote']

 

Keyword "Can be". The Sox would need to do heavy scouting on whoever they think would be the best fit for the team, and go for it, but many of those players could end up s***ing the bed in 2013.

[Emmz]

We've all got ninja skills.

[Emmz]

Keyword "Can be". The Sox would need to do heavy scouting on whoever they think would be the best fit for the team' date=' and go for it, but many of those players could end up s***ing the bed in 2013.[/quote']

 

For what? A string of starts 3 years ago? Baker is awful, and that's at Target Field. Would not want to see him at Fenway, unless he's pitching for the Yanks.

[Palodios]

For what? A string of starts 3 years ago? Baker is awful' date=' and that's at Target Field. Would not want to see him at Fenway, unless he's pitching for the Yanks.[/quote']

 

I didn't look all that deep into the list. Just saw the expensive options who have given innings/had low ERAs.

[Emmz]

Moonshot is streaky. He'll look like an ace, putting together a string of 7 inning, 1-2 run performances, then he'll follow it up with a couple months of what seems like batting practice. Him and Blackburn just give up bombs. That's why we call them Moonshot Scott and BP Blackburn.

[SoxSport]

That's BS. He had a bout with acute anxiety a few years back. There is no indication that he suffers from anxiety chronically.

 

In Boston, his acute anxiety would become chronic.