Funny how Koji looked probably the best he's looked all year in his 3 previous appearances before this. Did anybody notice any issues when he closed the 2 wins against the Yanks on 21 total pitches?
Sure would be nice if E-Rod laid claim to that last rotation spot.
We have to take future payroll considerations into account with all this - including the possibility of locking down one or more of our superstar B's.
Holt is one of the reasons I like WAR. With the Red Sox Holt has a total bWAR of 5.0 in 305 games or about 2 full seasons. A 2.5 WAR player making minimum wage is a huge value.
It'd be interesting to see some stats for innings where the pitcher has been sitting in the dugout for say 25 minutes or more. We saw the same thing happen to Wright not long ago.
Koji was probably overused in April and May with a total of 21 IP. But in June and July he only had a total of 15 IP. That's very moderate usage. I'm not sure how you're supposed to plan around a reliever that you can only use sparingly with the number of innings that have to be covered. It's much easier said than done when you're trying to win games. IMHO.
A lot of unpredictable stuff happens in baseball. Nobody foresaw Wright pitching like this either. There are examples all over the place of guys suddenly finding something that makes them perform much better. It seems to be the nature of the game.