moonslav59

Only .033 behind Renfroe.

We just wasted Hill & Houck for two games, now. Time to name Houck the closer and take the training wheels off Hill.

I don't get the pitch count thing with Rich. Is it age -related or is he hurt? He doesn't pitch like he's hurt or tired.

Can we end this Hill-Houck piggy cah-cah?

I'm willing to cut Cora some slack due to the delayed and shortened ST'ing and the fact that we had a 15 man staff thought April, but I agree. It's time to "take the kid gloves off," stop pampering" our starters or whatever you want to call it. It doesn't have to be every start, or even every time a pitcher is pitching well and has under 90 pitches, just try it a few times with guys who have proven, as recently as last season, they can go 3 times through a line-up without getting shelled. The time is now, and I won't argue with anyone who says the time was yesterday or a week ago.

So, Hill is coming up on 1200 IP over his 18 years as a pitcher in MLB. Even the oft-injured Big Nate has that many by age 32.

He pitched about 33 innings, total, in those 3 years. I'd prefer the 4 start season of 2015, where he got almost that amount of IP in just that one season.

Exactly, but his arm is as fresh as a 32 year old's, until it's not.

8 starters on the farm, have an OPS Against better than or within 80 points of JBJ's .517 OPS: .381 Walter .540 Winckowski .548 Seabold .551 Murphy .562 Gonzalez .562 Uberstine .594 Bello .594 Santos Then, there is Keller at .601, Dhern at .619 and Groome at .638 What about the best pen arms? .259 Politi (8.2 IP) .275 German (8.0)- the Ottavino trade .421 Danish (4.1) .423 Z Kelly (7.2) .482 Spacke (9.1) .492 Bautista (10.0)

He's 42, but his IP is like a 32 year old's.

Well, all your best pitchers who can go 4-6+ innings. I'm not sure Koji should have been a starter, but I get your point and agree. Whitlock should start. Houck should be the closer.

I think Houck should be the closer, but he has to be available to pitch. Vax or trade him to Baltimore. Tell him that, and who cares if he goes public. Call up Seabold, if we need to use Whitlock as the closer or long man.

I really had a sense that if we pulled this game out, maybe it would mean the start of something, then this...

It's anything and everything. The sky has fallen.

Robo Umps- YESTERDAY!

Bobby Dee: Mr. Clutch!

He's the best pitcher we have.

I don't see everything as black and white. I love my wife, but she does things that bug me. It doesn't mean I want a divorce. It's not a contradiction to disagree with someone on a few things but still like the overall job they are doing by a long shot. These guys make dozens of decisions, so not agreeing on a few does not mean I write them off. Also, disagreeing with someone does not always mean I think the other person is necessarily wrong. For one, I know I don't know all the stuff Cora nd Bloom know on every decision. I recognize my opinion may be wrong, and often times, the end results work out fine, despite my suggested alternative choice. There is a lot of gray area in between choices. For example, and this isn't meant to cause a political debate, I'm pro-choice, but I'd never call someone who is anti-abortion wrong. They believe abortion is murder, so I can see their point and can't say they are wrong to think murder is wrong. I don't think I agonize over much. Hell, I think I'm one of the more level-headed posters on this sight. These game threads seem to show way more agonizing than I ever feel or display. More people agonized over me simply scratching my head than my actual head-scratching was, in terms of agonizing. I guess I just see stating one's opinion as not always being meant as "second-guessing." I verbalize what I'm thinking at the time, and have been persuaded several times that my initial thought was or may have been short-sighted or flat out wrong. That doesn't bother me, as much as it seems to bother others. I've been wrong a lot, but when you state as many opinions as I do, being wrong a lot does not mean I've been wrong more than right. I loved the Bloom hiring and felt he's the type of guy we needed for a long rebuild. The rebuild has gone better and more quickly than I ever imagined it could, under the system designed to penalize big spenders and winners. I'm happy to admit I was wrong about the speed it took to rebuild, and I have credited DD for a lot of it- someone I was critical of for dealing away so much of the farm, but also someone I was overall happy with as a GM. Again, I don't see that as being wishy-washy or contradicting. He brought us 3 nice first place finishes and the greatest Sox team, ever. To me, that outweighs the bad. I loved the Cora hiring and still think he's a great manager, who gets the most out of what he's given, and knows his s*** when it comes to in game choices and taking the long view on a 162 game season. I don't pretend I know more or better, but I do have opinions that differ from his. If people view my comments as being overly critical or excessive second-guessing, so be it. Maybe I am a bit hypercritical, at times, but I'm thrilled we have Cora and Bloom as our leaders. In the total scope of this board, I don't see myself as being more of a second-guesser than the average poster- it's just that I post more than most. As a percentage, most of my posts are supportive of Cora, Bloom and the team. I'm usually the optimist and I think I have more patience with slumping players and teams than many here do.

What Cora does works way more than not, so it's hard to complain, too much, for me anyway, but I wonder why, when the numbers don't seem to support it, he's more than willing to keep Eovaldi in games through the third time through a line-up, but not guys like Wacha and Hill, who both had better 2021 and career numbers in 3rd PAs. So far, this year, Big Nate has done fine through 3 PAs, but I wonder if his size and just looking stronger than Wacha plays into the choices a little bit. Again, I'm not complaining about Cora's choices, I just wonder about the thought processes and what other information he sees that supports his choices.

Who? You?

Lugo is 3-5 and Binelas 2-5. Northcut is at 1 for 4. Yorke 1-5 and Jimenez 1-3 w BB. Rafaela doubled with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth to end up 1-5, and Lugo singled him in to tie it up at 5. Binelas flew out to end the rally.

A lot of our starters on the farm are off to very good starts. It's early, yet, so a lot can happen. ERA/OPS Against pitcher (K:BB) 1.17/.381 Walter (29:0) 1.74/.548 Seabold (23:6) (1.63 ERA after today. OPSA not updated) 2.61/.594 Bello (32:8) 2.62/.551 Murphy (28:11) 3.41/.594 Santos (21:6) 3.60/.638 Groome (19:5) All these guys are in AA or AAA, now.

Hicks lead the team in OBP at .405, but he sucks over 2 ABs?

Yes! The guy with a .540 OPS Against in AAA, which is almost like getting JBJ results from all 9 batters, combined!

Indeed. He's only had more than 21 starts once since 2015.