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I guess my sense has always been that his changeup was the better developed pitch of the three that he threw, and his slider was nearly non-esixtent. He threw his change 25.2% of the time in 2007, 23.6% in 2008 and 23.8% in 2009. Doesn't seem like a huge difference. His command of it may be better, but he's really just choosing when to throw it and is mixing his FB in a lot more. It seems to me that in 2009 when he knows hitters are guessing FB he either throws the changeup or the slider, both of which have deception involved. The CB had such a dramatic difference in plane (as a almost "true" 12-to-6 pitch) that it was a dead giveaway, and slow enough to take. A changeup for a strike or a slider off the plate are both very difficult to lay off (as Joba shows with his slider). Overall, I think your praise for Buchholz is well-placed. He's a different, more confident pitcher. I think that combining a full season with new-Buchholz and new-Matsuzaka will improve this team dramatically next year.

I don't think it's that hard to pronounce... Schwin-den-hammer.

They would have (and should have) celebrated whenever they get into the playoffs. It has been a good year, another mid-90's win season for Tito and the Sox FO and their core of players. It is definitely worthy of celebration whenever and whereever they are.

I agree that the Yankees knew about Joba's durability concerns. In their defense, their move to put the more "obvious" (my word) starter in the pen has paid off big time this year. Phil Hughes is a tremendous pitcher and I still believe he will be one of the best starting pitchers in baseball in 5 years. He and Joba can BOTH be starting pitchers and they probably should be moving forward if the Yanks want to maxamize their rotation. Hughes will have tremendous confidence that he can get hitters out, and he's still quite young. Joba, IMO, is their closer of the future and he's a formidable one at that. This is right. It is easy to see the difference. He's doing what Roy Halladay has done so well throughout his career (and what makes him so frustrating to hit against, I imagine). He's throwing easy strike-one FB with movement to get ahead in the count. I always get the feeling watching Halladay that he's just tossing it in there and letting his cutter do the work. Buchholz uses more of a 2-seamer, but the movement he's getting is really tremendous and is enough to keep hitters from sitting on the straight FB on the first pitch, or any time he's behind. That command, mixed with his jump in velocity (up 2.4 mph from two seasons ago, on average) has really made him dominant IMO.

I'll say it again: the risk they run in trying to sign Holliday is that it pisses off Bay and he goes elsewhere and they end up with neither. Unless there is reason to believe Holliday really wants to play in Boston, Bay is the safer choice IMO. I do believe that Holliday is the better player, and is a true middle of the order bat, which they need. Bay ends up hitting 5th, sometimes 6th. He's streaky, but very likeable and obviously immensely talented. Overall, I think neither is the true upgrade they need. Holliday OR Bay will be simply a way to remain where they are now, which isn't good enough to overtake the Yankees for the AL East. They hoped to have Bay AND Teixeira this year, but that didn't work out well. It does, however, give us an idea of how stacked this FO was hoping their team could be moving forward, and it offers an exciting number of possible upgrades to this already very good team. If they sign Bay and trade for someone like Adrian Gonzalez or Hanley Ramirez then nobody will be arguing over the difference in value between Holliday and Bay, we'll just be happy to have one of them in LF. I'm hopeful that the FO has this type of move in mind for the off-season. This team isn't far from having an absurdly SICK offense: Ellsbury Pedroia Martinez Gonzalez-ish player Youkilis Ortiz Bay/Holliday Drew Lowrie or Ellsbury Pedroia Ramirez Youkilis Holliday/Bay Martinez Ortiz Lowell Drew The possibilities get absurd, especially with a #3 hitting SS... Good god.

Ha! Yeah, you're right about the Socratic method. I was speaking more about Socrates' love of knowledge and his having been the inspiration for knowledge in two-thousand years of Western thought. Thanks for the clarification though! Socrates would actually say something more like "all I know is I know nothing" and he would have run (rhetorical) circles around both the "Alex Gonzalez is a .295 hitter" argument, and the "sample sizes matter" argument. He would have broken it down into the fundaments of language and left us all scratching our head, wondering why we invited this guy to the party. Okay, it was my Baconian love of teaching and knowledge that inspired the lengthy post above. Not my Socratic reflex.

I know you were. I just meant that intelligent discussion doesn't usually happen in brief statements.

The answer is no good if someone doesn't understand what the implications of a "small sample size" are. I don't believe there are one-paragraph SC rulings.

Schwindenhammer-ian, perhaps?

I type quickly. I'm not one who belives that coherent and thorough arguments can be made in two sentences. I don't think Supreme Court opinions should be one paragraph long, and descriptions about the basics of probability and sample sizes take up long chapters in statistics books because they require thorough arguments to make the point.

I'm willing to bet that Tito and the Sox FO (who don't make decisions hastily) have determined that the more important factor is NOT who wins the division, but whether the teams in the playoffs get the chance to rest their starting lineup and get their rotation set before the playoffs start. The Sox would rather have Lester, Beckett and Buchholz on full rest, with a rested lineup against ANY team, than have their choice of which team to play. If they were closer to the Yankees then it might be different, but when they're down 6 games with 12 games left it doesn't make sense.

Congrats to the Yankees. I like the Sox more, I think they have a less artifical lineup with fewer overpaid superstars. That said, the Yankees formed their team from within the rules and still won the games on the field. I will be very proud of this Sox team if they make the playoffs. Again, congrats to the Yanks fans out there. I think this could be a very good year for them.

Guys weren't hitting him because he was locating well, changing speeds effectively and challenging hitters when he needed to. It didn't look like luck to me, just some hard nosed pitching from a crafty and talented pitcher. Next to CC he doesn't look overwhelming, but he reminds me of Mussina for much of his career. Nothing overpowering but good location and a good mix of s***.

CC--like many true aces--is nearly unhittable when he's on. When he's hitting mid-upper 90's and throwing that slider it is very, very tough. Would be even for the Yankees.

He was a highly regarded catcher out of North Carolina, I think he played with Bard and Andrew Miller. I know he was involved in the national championships of 06 and 07 against Oregon State a few years back, I believe he was the starting catcher. I take it as a good sign that he played such an important position for an elite college program. It doesn't guarantee success, but that combined with his actual success in the minors and his sound defensive reputation make me think he's a guy who is destined to end up in the big leagues.

Oh God, I hope you didn't think I was joining the Tulo bandwagon. Sorry. I can see how you would, given the context of my post. My point was merely that Buchholz isn't a discussable piece anymore. I can't imagine the Sox trading him for anyone. Maybe for a year and the chance of signing Pujols longterm, probably not for Hanley Ramirez. Yes I'm serious, and don't call me Sherley. Nothing is more valuable to the Sox than a young power starting pitcher. We know this FO builds itself around run differiental, and we know that SPs play a huge role in run differential. A guy who eats up 200 of the team's 1400 IPs for a season contributes to a good portion of 14% of the defensive production during that time. I say "good portion" because even when a pitcher is on the mound a lot can happen to the team that isn't directly the responsibility of the pitcher... cheap hits, errors, bad calls by the umpire, etc., Still, a good portion is a good portion, if that makes sense. Look at the list of the top 10 qualified pitchers in the AL by average FB velocity: 1. Verlander, DET, 95.6 2. Jackson, DET, 94.6 3. Burnett, NYY, 94.3 4. Sabathia, NYY, 94.2 5. Beckett, BOS, 94.1 6. Hernandez, SEA, 94.0 7. Greinke, KC, 93.7 8. Lester, BOS, 93.7 9. Garza, TB, 92.9 10. Halladay, TOR, 92.6 Lackey finished 16th and last year Ervin Santana was 5th. In other words, three of the four playoff teams each has at least two starters in the top 10, and the Angels weren't far off. Where would Buchholz rank on this list? At 93.5 he would have ranked just above Garza and Halladay at #9. He's also got one of the best changeups in the game. I'm willing to bet that his value to the Sox lies somewhere in the same range as those pitchers values do to their teams... Greinke, HWSNBN, Garza, Halladay-ish. Those are guys other teams go to get, not guys you move as part of a package. With his youth, upside and cost I would rank him above at least Jackson, Burnett, and Garza, and I could be convinced to rank him above Halladay and Lester overall too. ------------------------------- In terms of shortstop, I think Lowrie and Iglesias will get a shot over the next few years. Alex Gonzalez would be an adequate choice to train those guys up. I think the Sox might be very well suited to trying to just get a great glove and plant him in Boston. I think that's who they hope Iglesias will be. If you can't get an offensively dominant SS, get someone who makes up for it on defense--especially given their pitching heavy philosophy. Shortstops can be remarkably valuable if their defense is above average, as they get so many chances. Tulo ain't happening.

Teams will be missing out on a lot of other good players if conversations start and end with Buchholz. He won't be moving anywhere, at any time, unless he's the centerpiece of the deal and lots of prospects are coming to the Sox.

Dice-K's 7 IP with 1 ER says hello. Much, much brighter spot than V-Mart's meaningless hit streak.

I hope not. Success in the playoffs shouldn't keep them from rebuilding or revamping this team.

Good call by the ump there. A-Rod swings and misses into a double play.