moonslav59

I think they also want to keep players sharp. Not having the play-in games gives them enough natural time off to have everyone fresh and all their pitching lined up to their liking. I doubt they rest anyone, tomorrow. They may yank the starter a bit earlier than normal, but normal for them is early, anyway.

Try to follow along. You are truly lost.

You make no sense, at all. You say "all hands on deck," but I'm "overanalyzing" for basically saying the same thing about Sale and Eovaldi both being available, tomorrow. Even when I agree with you, you criticize my points. Twisted, man.

The ups and downs by the WC contenders over this season have been startling. It's almost like a pattern. As soon as one team starts looking like they are a cinch to make the PO's, they fall off a cliff. As soon as we start to write a team off, they win 7 in a row or more. We've seen long win streaks and winning stretches by all 4 of these teams. We've seen long losing streaks and losing stretches by all 4, too. We've seen mini win streaks followed by mini losing streaks. We've seen beating great teams and losing to crappy teams and vice versa. We've seen beating the best pitchers and losing to unknowns. We've see our starters carry us, then flop, then come back to more than respectable. We've seen our pen carry us for about 4 months, then have a major implosion- highlighted by a complete meltdown by Barnes. Now, they are hit and miss. We've seen our offense go from the comeback kids and masters of teh 3 run job to meek and mild masters of the solo job. With two games left, it's almost like we should expect one last flip, but I'm liking our position as of today. Our pitching might need some prayers, today, but we gotta stay positive. One game at a time!

jacko was hoping they'd rest everyone, this series... NOT!

Two 3-run jobs by Lowe (38th)! Then a back-to-backer by Zunino (33rd). 7 to 1 Rays over the Yanks in the 3rd. Still early, but calling the Yanks a choke and seeing them watch the WC game from afar would be almost as nice as watching us play the WC game!

I don't usually agree with this type of argument, but I think there might be a lot of truth to this.

Nobody, except I mentioned he might, if we used Sale, today. Or, we might use Sale and Eovaldi, tomorrow in tandem- who knows which one starts, assuming tomorrow is an elimination game.

Good to see Brandon Lowe hurting other teams than just the Sox.

But it is exactly the type of trade many Sox fans would roast our GM for making. Trading an established solid pitcher for prospects while being a top competitor. Same with Snell and others.

You missed one scenario that would prohibit "resting everyone:" Tying for the WC2 slot. You don't rest anyone until you clinch not having to play in to the WC game.

Funny. I said "Maybe don't pitch Sale on Saturday," and you screamed "all hands on deck!" You are all over the map.

He's their #1 prospect. They got him with Galsnow and Meadows for Archer.

I like R Iglesias, but I'm not sure he will slide under anyone's radar. He'll be costly, and I am generally against paying high for RP'ers.

I think ERod might look at his second half and say, "I can do that for all of 2022 and land a mega deal," or he might worry about injury, COVID-related relapses or just plain old decline or off year and take the longer term money secured. If I were him, I'd turn it down. GMs see his second half and 2017-2019 numbers and will pay him well.

Playoff Standings WC1/WC2 91-69 NYY +1/+2 90-70 BOS -1/+1 89-71 SEA -2/-1 89-71 TOR -2/-1 (OAK is eliminated) 1:05 TBR (S Baz RHP) @ NYY (Montgomery LHP) 3:07 BAL (Means LHP) @ TOR (Manoah RHP) 4:05 BOS (Houck RHP) @ WSH (Josiah Gray 5.85 RHP) 9:10 LAA (J Diaz LHP) @ SEA (Flexen RHP) The Yankess game will be almost over by the time we are in the first or second inning. We may know about Toronto before our game ends, but we need to just focus on us: win (2) and we're in. One at a time!

You crack me up!

Weaver knew his s***! I'm not sure who said this, but I like this one, too: "A pitcher is only as good as his last start." (Although this one does not always ring true, either.)

He might think a great 2022 could land him a much better deal in 2023, but then again, he'll be a year older.

The one year, low-risk aspect of the QO carries a lot of weight. If we do offer him a QO, and he takes it, I'd still want us to add a better starter than he is.

As much as I hate to use tiny sample sizes to change my position, his whole sample size as a RP'er is so small, it's a tough call. I'm leaning heavily towards a no on the option, but we could offer him something more reasonable. I wonder if his agent tries to market him as a starter or RP'er or both.

He's there as "ERod"

In all fairness, they may have optioned him to add an available pitcher even if he had done well, last night.

One big question is Sale. Using him, today, would be on short rest, but we are in a near elimination game mode. We could "save" him to finish off Eovaldi's game, tomorrow, and even hope against hope that he wouldn't be needed tomorrow and could start the WC game. Whitlock is apparently ready, but he's been out a while, so I'm not sure you throw him into a high leverage spot, first game back. The problem with that is who else gives us more confidence? Perhaps surprisingly, Brasier has been our go-to guy, but he has pitched 3 straight nights. The pitch counts have been rather low, so maybe we go to him in a bad pinch. (22, 4 & 10 pitches in last 2 games) Richards willlikely get another look, despite his last 3 games being piss-poor. (1.1IP 1 ER, 1.1 IP 2 ER, 1.0 IP 2 ER) My guess is we hope for 5 IP from Houck but will get 3-4. We'll see DHern, Davis, Sawamura and maybe Perez or Bazardo. The highest leverage moments will be handed to Brasier for a batter or two, Ottavino and Richards, unless they just throw caution to the wind and try to get 2-4 innings from Sale out of the pen. It might depend if we are up 2-1 or 8-1 or down 2-1 or 4-1. Things might get real interesting, today! Big win by the Angels, yesterday and a big reminder that the teams we are down to the wire with are all flawed and teetering on elimination, too.

So, like me, you aren't into the whole "playoffs are a crapshoot" thing.