Kimmi

K/W ratio is typically a very good indicator of pitching success.

I do not disagree with any of what you posted. How have I abandoned my patience and/or objectivity? I have never said that Price is a liability. I have never called for him to be DFA'd, sent to the BP, or anything else along those lines. I acknowledged that he has good peripherals and that his ERA is not a true indicator of how he has pitched. I more or less am sharing the same opinion and frustration that you have of him.

IMO, there is no way that Price pitches out of the pen.

No, I would not go that far. Looking at the other names of the top fWAR pitchers, I think that fWAR is pretty reliable. I just think that Price has some fluky stats right now. His K/W is very strong while giving up a lot of hits. How often does it happen that one of the top pitchers in terms of Ks is also the worst in terms of hits allowed? It is debatable which version of WAR is better for pitchers, but I still prefer fWAR. I think that overall it gives a better valuation of how well a pitcher has actually pitched. In terms of predictive value, even though neither one is great, I think most 'experts' are in agreement that fWAR does a much better job. That said, as with any stat, the more stats you look at, along with using the 'eye' test, the better the assessment.

I don't necessarily disagree, but I'm sure it comes down to Hembree having options and Buchholz not. I'm guessing that the FO wants to hang onto him until the deadline to see if they can get anything for him in a trade, rather than DFA'ing him.

As we were saying the other day, this pickup is huge, especially in light of the recent injuries to Kimbrel and Koji. Thankfully, Kimbrel seems to be progressing nicely.

The win is the bottom line. It looked a little iffy there for a while, but we hung on.

Some more mind boggling facts: Jason Mastrodonato ‏@JMastrodonato 9h9 hours ago David Price entering tonight (among 92 qualified SP): IP: 130, 6th ERA: 4.36, 61st K: 141, 7th H: 132, 88th That is the 142nd hit allowed by David Price this season. No pitcher in baseball has allowed more. Tonight was the third game the Red Sox have lost this season when scoring at least seven runs for David Price. I am a huge fan of Fangraphs WAR, but in the case of Price, there is some disconnect between WAR and how well Price is actually pitching. Fangraphs WAR really likes IP and Ks (or more accurately K/W ratio), both of which Price has excelled with, and there is value to both of those things. There are games in which Price has pitched deep into the game and had terrific K/W numbers. However, fWAR is not taking into account the large number of hits he has given up. Price currently has an fWAR of 2.9. (I don't think that has been updated for last night's start.) That puts him 11th overall behind Kershaw, Fernandez, Syndegaard, Cueto, Kluber, Bumgarner, Tanaka, Arrieta, Strasburg, Scherzer, and Quintana. Thinking about how those other guys have pitched, Price just does not belong on that list this year. At this rate, it also makes it appear that Price has been worth his $30 million contract. IMO, he hasn't really been close.

You're right. The ump had a fairly small zone most of the night. Price was frustrated by this early on.

I agree. I have never been a fan of big contracts.

LOL Yeah, I need Sale to come over and clean out my closet too. I can understand him not wanting to wear the throwbacks. I can't understand him cutting up the entire team's uniforms when his request was denied. That's very childish, to say the least. This incident leads me to wonder if Sale is somewhat trying to force his way out of Chicago.

Buchholz should have been out of that inning unscathed. The lead should have been intact.

Kelly is apparently being called up, Hembree sent down.

Agreed. I have had some questions regarding Farrell's decisions, but I think the criticism regarding Koji's overuse is unwarranted.

Word is the Chicago wants five top prospects. I don't think I'm willing to do that, especially in light of this latest incident. The dude pouted and cut up the team's uniforms because he didn't want to wear them. Is that really the type of player that we want to gut our farm for?

Since the 21-2 beating by the Angels, the Sox have gone 11-4. Three out of the four losses have come in games started by Price.

"Padres outfield prospect Manuel Margot was pulled from a game at Triple-A El Paso in the fourth inning Saturday. Margot was spotted in the dugout and he isn't believed to be injured. The speculation is that he could be headed to the Padres to replace Melvin Upton, who appears likely to be traded at any moment. Margot is a top-50 prospect who's batting .306/.356/.434 with four homers and 24 steals for El Paso. He's worth a speculative add in mixed leagues."

It's very difficult to manage a bullpen's workload when the starting pitching is not doing its job.

I have been pretty hard on Price, but only because I expected so much more. Honestly, I can't believe he's having this kind of season either. If there were ever a sure bet on a free agent pitcher, he would be it. I still have confidence that he will figure it out sooner rather than later. That's the type of player/person that he is.

I'm glad there is a voice of reason on this thread. Farrell's hands were somewhat tied by Price not getting deeper into the game. Tazawa and Barnes were both unavailable. People can second guess Farrell all they want, but that's all it is.

Perhaps they do need to cut Clay loose, but Clay's outing last night was undone by 2 defensive miscues. He really can't be faulted for that.

I suppose that pitchers always look really good right before they break down? I have never said that Koji hasn't been overused. Just that I had no problem with Farrell using him in that particular game in which he got injured, and that much of Farrell's use of Koji could not be helped. I think you are off base in blaming Farrell for Koji's injury.

I don't care how you do it, just WIN!

By your own admission, you have only seen Napoli play 3-4 games this season. From 3-4 games, you are going to conclude that Napoli is a better defender this year than Hanley is? I have no doubt that you know your baseball very well, but sorry, that doesn't fly with even the most advanced and best scouts available.