jacksonianmarch

We will be very tough to beat in the playoffs. I expect to meet up with Boston in the ALDS and we will prevail

ERA+ compares your ERA to the league average, of course Johnson's would be better. Lets look at a better stat, like xFIP. Johnson 4.38, Tanaka 3.56. Not even close

I'm gonna save this quote for the end of the season. I hope you like crow

Ah yes, the Brasier's and Poyner's of the world are reliable guys in crunch time, right? Don't be a dolt. Barnes has been your best setup guy, yet who here thinks he'll be good in crunch time in the playoffs? Velasquez has been doing it with smoke and mirrors (4.53xFIP). You need a reliable set up man. In the postseason, that is more important than ever. You don't have one

Because ERA is the best indicator of a pitcher's ability, lol.

One pitch too late. Boone f***s up again

Cessa needs to be pulled now

Cessa reminds me a lot of Nathan Eovaldi. Dominant, lights out stuff. Inconsistent execution. Cessa could be good for us going forward

What Tampa can afford Beeks that the sox couldn't is time. The Rays are clearing payroll and stockpiling talent. Beeks is a type of pitcher who struggles initially in the major leagues. Rookies don't get the edges and he will need to live out there to not be killed which is why lower velocity location types almost always struggle mightily at the outset of their careers. Leaving Boston will also benefit Beeks as he wont have to deal with righties pulling him over or into the monster out there. He is going to a place that knows how to develop pitching and knows how to market their pitching to become the best they could be.

Eovaldi was on a $2 mil deal, so the sox took on less than $1 mil with the move. When you consider Beeks was due probably $250K in terms of salary, the deal only adds $650K to the number. They are probably peeking over the limit without actually stepping over it

Actually right now. Game just started

He’s more an Ivan Nova type. Will give you innings, will surprisingly not strike out a ton of guys and will cruise until he hits a tough patch and cannot get out of it. He’s prone to the big inning and once it snowballs, he cannot seem to get out of it

Right now Eovaldi is your 4th starter. If ERod isn’t healthy enough by the PO’s, Eovaldi will make starts in the post season.

Eovaldi is a good get for the Sox. One thing I’ll caution you all on after watching him in a Yankee uniform for two seasons. Don’t get overly excited about his stuff vs his performance. His stuff dictates that he should be an ace. Some games he goes out there and nobody touches him. But for some reason, he’s only that dominant guy in 4-5 starts a year. The other starts he’s a middling guy who falls victim to the homerun ball.

Assuming good health from our relievers come October, we only need two innings from our starters before we can go to the pen AND not overwork then. In the postseason, there are rarely more than two games in a row. That usually only happens in the case of a rainout. We could go Tanaka for 2, Warren, Holder, Britton, Green, Robertson, Betances and Chapman for the final 21 outs and have everyone ready to go for the next game.

Exactly it was. When it flares up, it’s hard to locate. Mine was in my landing leg which was far more bothersome. His is in his drive leg which doesn’t impact the ground with the force that the lead leg does. I wonder if Britton’s arrival sends Chap to the DL with the instruction to rest and get the knee in better shape come the stretch run. By the postseason, I would expect it not to be a big worry

I don’t. He’s been dealing with patellar tendinitis for the whole year. I’ve had it when I was pitching. It’s not a constant pain. It’s an intermittent ache that can be quite bothersome. We have the luxury to baby him for awhile to let this heal.

The crazy thing about the Yankee side is that they will have to make a couple more deals like this. Their prospect machine went haywire and they’re about to face an even bigger Rule V crunch. All 3 of the guys dealt would have had to have been protected. They need to make a few more moves to avoid losing guys for nothing this offseason

Kelly’s fall from reliability, Smith’s stupid injury and Thornburg’s loss of stuff after TOS leaves your bridge depleted. Nobody has needed to care since your rotation has carried you, your closer is infallible and your offense seems to know the magic amount of runs needed to win the game every time. But the cracks are showing in the pen. With the slide of Moreland and the still lack of reliability of your back end of the lineup, the offense has come out of the break sluggish. Couple that with ERod going down and Pomeranz going the way of Justin Masterson, your rotation is looking like the three horseman and a hope for a good offensive output the final two games of every rotation turn. DD must address this. You’ve now had two 15-2 runs this season. The first one was 17-2 and you had a 6.5 game lead in the division, but eventually the Yanks went ahead by 4. Then the Sox got hot again and jumped up 4 games in the L column. With NY bolstering their club and the subsequent weakening of the clubs around them, it will be very important for DD to steel the club not only to win the division but survive the postseason. When the Sox are facing a team like NY or HOU or CLE and the opposing offense grinds the starters out in 5 innings, who’s coming in with the season on the line? If ERod is done with his ankle injury, who’s throwing game 4 of a playoff series?

I’m sure we do. But Tate was the fourth pick in the draft for a reason. He’s got heat, he’s got a good breaking ball, he gets tons of grounders and he’s finally learned how to set up hitters and get a good K rate. He’s only been in AA because he missed some time with injury and our AAA’s rotation is stacked. Carroll has a fastball that tops out in the high 90s and a good breaking ball. His command has improved this year. If he can tick up his command just a touch more, he’ll be a setup/closer type in the big leagues. Rogers is a “crafty lefty” type with better than usual velocity for a crafty lefty. He’ll likely end up in the O’s starting rotation, but who knows if he’ll actually translate his middling AAA performance into anything useful in the bigs. He’s the throw in here, but we were probably gonna let him walk in the off-season

Never said to give up on him. His bat is down this year, but everyone knows it’s special, even if they don’t want to admit it. He’s now missed a month in two straight seasons and sounds like he’s about to miss another month going forward. He’s not a good blocker or framer. With the way our contracts are coming up, I’d expect us to let Gardner walk, move Stanton back into the OF full time and this opens up the DH slot for Sanchez. I still think he could catch a fair amount, but I’d rather he not be a full time catcher if he cannot stay healthy. Maybe a time split as a C in 80 games and a DH in the other. Maybe we bring in a guy who plays golf D and can hit (like Ramos, who is a FA) and he starts 100 games behind the dish while Gary stays healthy in the DH role and gets 60 games as a C.

That’s pretty stupid

Tate and Carroll are real prospects. Rogers is flotsam

Dillon Tate, Cody Carroll, and Josh Rogers. Rogers is no loss. I liked Carroll and am surprised they included him here as he’s a flamethrower who I thought would be in our pen next year. Tate is a good get for Baltimore for a rental. Tate has finally started to strike guys out, but he’s been unpredictable and injury prone in his time with us. We sold pretty high on him here, although I thought we could get more than a pen rental for him

His BABIP is under .200. He’s been pretty unlucky