moonslav59

I think most of us prefer they were in the pen, but we realize the need in the rotation is stronger. Both have wildly better numbers through their first 25 and 50 pitches than afterwards. We appear to have 5 very nice long men, but we can't use them all that way. Whitlock Houck Crawford Pivetta Winckowski

Have not heard a peep.

I'd like to keep Houck, Whitlock and Wink in the pen- mayb e Crawford, too, but until we have 5 solid and durable starters, we can't. Pivetta has looked good out of the pen for a short time. He has had long runs at success as a SP'er, as recently as 2021 and 2022, so I'm not as locked into him as just a pen arm as the others.

He's not getting paid all that much. As a long pen arm, he can easily earn his keep.

Our SP'er ERA is at 4.73 (pen 3.96) WHIP is 1.276 (pen 1.310) OPSA in .760 (pen .719) OPS Against as SP'ers .587 Paxton 2.70 ERA .657 Bello 3.08 .695 Houck 5.05 .739 Sale 4.58 .810 Crawford 5.30 .841 Whitlock 5.23 .881 Kluber 6.26 .885 Pivetta 6.30 (I won't list openers.) Our rotation ranks... 27th in HR/9 1.54 24th ERA 4.73 (22nd in ERA- at 106) 19th in fWAR 4.7 13th WHIP 1.28 7th xFIP 4.01 (8th xFIP- at 94) 6th SIERA 4.03 6th K-BB% 16.7%

That would be a big boost, but I'm tired of hoping for his return. We need Houck back, ASAP. The good Houck.

I think trading him is probably a given. Paying his whole salary might gain some takers, but we won't get much for him, unless he explodes over the next 4 weeks. Kluber, too. Anyone want Mondesi? LOL!

To think our rotation has actually been a strength for longer than a weakness, while Houck and Whitlock have been so up and down, is amazing. Couple that with the Kluber and Pivetta demotions, and one can see the value of having better SP'er depth than we've had in a pretty long time. It's funny that I was counting on one from Mata, Walter and Murphy to be helpful depth to the rotation, this year.

They keep doing the unexpected- good and bad. When they look sucky, it seems most of us locked into the idea that this was who we are, forgetting we are still the team that won 8 in a row, at one time. We have a lot of talent. It may seem disjointed and and unbalanced, but 3 of the 4 key aspects of the game have carried us for long stretches: The O did for a long time. The pen has for almost the whole season. The rotation has done an amazing job after the first few weeks, especially in light of 28 GS'd missed by injuries. Only the D has failed to "carry us," at all. If we can ever get all 3 going at once, and keep them going, we can overcome the poor D. If the return of Story or Chang can help improve the D, and the other 3 areas stay more consistently good, this team can go places. Too many "ifs" for most Sox fans. I get why.

We are back over .500 at 43-42. 85 games/5 SP'ers = 17 In theory, this is how many starts our pitchers have missed: 6 Sale 9 Paxton 5 Whitlock 4 Houck 4 Bello (8 Kluber by demotion) (9 Pivetta by demotion) ? Crawford missed some time in May Other teams have had serious injuries, too. Ours seems to be focused almost exclusively on SP'ers and SSs, but 28 missed starts in 85 games is one third! We all expected missed time from Sale and Paxton. I remember thinking counting on them for 33 starts combined was probably wishful thinking, yet they have combined for 20 starts, so far. Without those two, our first half would have been horrific. Going forward: Bello has to reach 28-30 starts and remain solid. Paxton needs to reach 25 GS and also remain solid. I'm not expecting anything from Sale, and his "missing" 16 GS'd the rest of the way will be hard to replace. We might be lucky to get the 32 starts slotted at #3 & 4 to be filled by Houck, Whitlock & Sale. That leaves 16 starts for the #5 guy: Crawford/Murphy/Walter/Pivetta/Opener games? Our bats coming alive could help a lot. The pen needs to stay solid. Maybe the D can improve, once Story and/or Chang return.

I may feel this way in 3-4 weeks, but not now.

It does seem like we are headed towards where we were, last year nearing the trade deadline, but for some reason, I have more optimism, now than I did after last year's 1-9 stretch vs TBR, TOR & NYY in July. Stay tuned.

I think Pivetta has earned another shot in the rotation, but we do need long RP'ers, as Wink has been faltering. Maybe we bring up Murphy or Walter to start. We have a few days off and the All Star break. Maybe Whitlock won't miss many starts.

WOO was rained out. POR won Bleier was the opener (1 IP, 1H, 0ER, 0BB, 2K) Mayer had a bust out game (3-5 w HR bringing his AA OPS to .681) Kavadas 3 run HR Binelas 2-5 w HR Yorke 1-5 w 3B GRE won Encarnacion 6IP, 5H, 2ER, 0BB, 6K SAL won as Perales dominated: 5IP, 2h, 0ER, 2BB, 12K Yes, 12 Ks out of 15 outs

Games left vs our fellow contenders: GB -7.5 BAL 7 (3 HOME/4 AWAY) -3.5 HOU: 7 (3 HOME/4 AWAY) -3.5 NYY 7 (4 HOME/3 AWAY) -2.0 TOR 6 (3 HOME/3 AWAY) -1.5 LAA (none) +1.0 CLE (none) +1.5 SEA 3 AWAY Plenty of chances to pass these guys by just beating them, head-to-head.

A nice long win streak would help cancel out some of these messed up losing stretches. The other crazy thing is our record v TOR/NYY vs our record vs the NL Central.

If he keeps this up, yes, even if just to trade.

Indeed. If we platoon him, alternating with Duran and Casas, it’s the short end platoon. If he doesn’t start hitting, he may be traded. The problem is, what is he worth, if he is still slumping by the end of July?

Yes. My bad.

I know nobody is giving up on Duvall, and for good reason. While the start of 2023 might have been fluky, the guy can hit. He’s coming back from an injury to a key area of the body for a hitter. Maybe he rushed back, too quickly.

Unreal game by Duran! Dugo with the big hit. Devers forevers. Mighty pen effort! Let’s hope this springboards us into a WC slot.

I’m pretty sure it’s only 3.

Big win, today. Puts us right back in it. Man, this team is streaky!

Sounds like all but 3 fans are already alienated.

They should have just got the best in each deal, even if they weren’t happy with returns.