moonslav59

Starters on the Farm (OPS Against and K:BB) Worcester .478 Seabold 23:6 .493 Winckowski 17:4 .572 DHern 27:15 .767 Pannone 32:5 Portland .387 Walter 39:1 .485 Bello 37:11 .530 Murphy 38:14 .674 Santos 25:7 .725 Groome 21:9 Pen Woo .353 Kelly 12:7 .465 Danish 8:2 .626 Ort 17:6 .643 Schreiber 15:3 Por .275 German 15:0 .447 Politi 15:2 .514 Spacke 10:12 .626 Shugart 13:5

2022 OPS Against .411 Strahm .412 Schreiber .432 Whitlock .467 Wacha .556 Valdez .581 Robles .622 Hill .651 Sawamura .689 Houck .702 Eovaldi .721 Davis .762 Danish .769 Brasier .794 Pivetta .795 Barnes .857 Diekman .997 Crawford

OPS Against by Inning .550 6th .608 9th .700 7th .754 8th (1.340 10th in 29 PAs)

I think the Sox saw the writing on the wall. They were never going to pay Bogey what they expect he'd make elsewhere, so they acted proactively, like it or not, and signed Story to be our SS after Bogey leaves. The offer they reportedly made Bogey shows they were never serious about paying him enough to keep him. No, they had no real interest in extending him.

Nestle Cortez went 7.1 IP of no hit ball. The score is still 0-0 after Eli White singles. Holmes in relief, now.

Exactly, my point is, he has shown he can get through 1-2 innings fine: make him the closer.

I may have missed it, but do you have a better idea?

He's gotten through 2 innings without allowing a run in 6 of his 7 appearances.

Sounds like a plan.

Not at the deadline.

And, below bad is really bad.

I think they'd let them pitch but with limited pitch counts.

Who replace Wacha?

Agreed. I almost did not even list TOR or MN, and I doubt Bogey agrees to play 2B for even 2 months.

I really am not looking forward to a fire sale, but the thought is forcing its way into my brain. Could this be the 26 man roster in August? S1 Whitlock S2 Sale S3 Paxton S4 Pivetta S5 Seabold Closer Houck RP2 Taylot RP3 Diekman RP4 Brasier RP5 Barnes RP6 DHern RP7/8 Crawford/German/Feltman/Winckowski/Groome/Wallace C Wong & RHernandez 1B Casas 2B Arroyo & Downs/Sanchez SS Story 3B Devers LF Verdugo & JDavis/Granberg CF Fitzy & Duran RF JBJ DH Dalbec

Indeed, but we can try to not let it happen as often, going forward. Changing the closer situation seems easier to try than trying something to change the offense centered on 6+ guys free-falling as we speak.

The Angels might take 2 months of Bogey. If the Philles get in the race, they may, as well. Possible contenders with low SS OPS, so far: .415 STL .420 LAA .599 PHI .624 TOR .650 LAD .659 SDP .665 SFG .694 MN .695 NYY

In theory, we could get a lot by dealing anyone and everyone with a year left. Then, we could spend as much as this year and replace all those needing replacing and maybe improve. After all, price's $16M comes off the books, and replacing guys like Vaz & Plawecki should not be hard with their $10M. Replacing Strahm and wacha will not be easy at their prices. Replacing Nate, JD and Bogey will not be easy, either, but add Price's $16M and we'll have about $75M of their money to do it. (Maybe Nate comes back at $20M and JD at $10M per.)

I think it's a cinch he's traded, if we are out of it by the deadline- maybe even if we are back in it, too, but not a cinch. Other last year of control players: JD Eovaldi Kike Wacha Hill Strahm Robles Vaz Plawecki

You keep going back to blaming the closer. I think we all understand the offense and closer role have deeply failed, this year. We are all getting a bit repetitious in our focusing on certain areas.

Houck has been pretty good for the first inning or two and mostly as a starter the first 1-2 times through a line-up. We can't know for sure, but I think he'd have done better as a closer, than the committee has done. We can't know for sure he'd be good for just 1-2 innings at a time had he been used that way from game 1, but it's hard to imagine him doing much worse than what we've gotten, so far. We all have heard about his spike the third time through a line-up, but do we all know how great he's been the first time through? .504 1st .647 2nd 1.017 3rd I know many here despise analytics, but these numbers don't lie. His game logs, this year first 2 innings: 4/10 GS 1st: 0 ER (1 H & 2 BB) 2nd: 0 ER 1H 4/16 GS 1st: 0 ER 1BB 2nd: 0 ER 4/21 GS 1st: 0 ER 2nd: 0 ER 1 2B 4/24 RP (came in with 1 out and man on 1st in 8th) 1st: 0 ER (2 outs no runners allowed) 2nd: 0 ER (1-2-3 9th) 4/29 RP (came in with 0 outs and man on 1st) 1st: 0 ER (1H & 1BB) 2nd: 0 ER (1-2-3) 5/5 RP (Piggy back- fresh inning) 1st: 0 ER (1-2-3 w 3Ks) 2nd: 2 ER (BB & HR) 5/8 GS 1st: 0 ER (1-2-3) 2nd: 0 ER (1-2-3) He has yet to let up a run in his first inning pitched. He's had one bad 2nd inning pitched in 7 games played in. Again, I'm not saying this easily translates into him being a lock-down closer, but his past history has shown he does very well the first few batters he faces in each game, and gets worse as he pitches longer into games. Why not give it a go? Call up Seabold or Winckowski to start.

He has for his first IP.

Whitlock & Houck are ineffective pitchers?

The set-up and long relief part of our pen has really done much better than expected. It's when non-closers are asked to close the wheels come off. It's hard for me to blame the pitchers asked to do something they are incapable of doing. Sure, they share some of the blame. They are supposed to be able to get batters out, and walking the lead-off guy is always a no-no, but yes, Bloom could have signed a real closer, or Cora could have used Houck or Whitlock as the FT closer from day 1. Agreed.

As bad as this pen looks on paper, especially with Whitlock and Houck starting or piggy-backing, our pen has out-shown our starters in close to half our games. While all the losses make anything seem less than magical, I still think, overall, the pen has done better than expected. The closer role not being defined should not be held against the pen, as you have stated. It's on Bloom & Cora.