moonslav59

I actually think option 3 may be the best, but only after he gets 1-3 more starts and AAA is underway.

Agreed, and Hernandez already has about a .333 OBP in his last week or two. I also think we need to give Richards a chance to find a groove. The question is how much of a chance, IMO. I also would not mind seeing Cora try someone else at leadoff, at some point. It is not likely EHern will ever get to over .350 on a consistent basis- he never has.

Yes, but the opinion that Hernandez should not lead off is based on his performance and career OBP. The opinion on Richards staying in the rotation is similar, in nature.

Of course, but maybe that was not enough. Maybe he'll never "find the groove" or "regain his old form." I'm not sure, if he needs to get a long look, right now. Maybe, we should send him to the (phantom) IL and a rehab assignment at the alt site. Maybe we should wait another start or two, so if he does go to rehab, AAA will have started up. I'm not sure what to do or what to expect from Richards. We paid him $10M, and we'll give him a chance to comeback. I guess, for me, the question is when, and how long can we put up with bad starts. Does anyone know how much time a pitcher needs to come back from 6 years of not going more than 77 innings? Is one ST'ing and a handful of starts enough? I'm not sure anyone knows. His first start was horrific: 6 ER in 2 IP, including 3 ERs allowed by RP'ers who came in after he left the bases loaded with no outs. His next start, he went 5 IP with just 2 ERs (back-to-back HRs) and allowed 3 BB. In his third start, he also went 5 IP and only walked 2. He let up no earned runs. He had 4 very nice innings and one where an error and some ground ball hits hurt him. This past start looked horrific, at first, but then he calmed down a little. 4 BBs and 4 hits in 4.2 IP is very bad. All this being said, I think he should get 1-2 more starts before we make any decisions about sending him to rehab- legit or otherwise.

If it was easy, we wouldn't have anything but great pitchers. I'm not making excuses, the guy has pretty much sucked, but he hasn't pitched more than 77 innings since 2015! He's only pitched between 35 and 77 IP twice in the last 6 seasons. We knew that when we signed him. I'm not ready to give up on him, but I'm not sure how much longer the leash can be extended. There is always the IL and rehab as a way to get him some work without it costing us wins.

We probably should have expected a moderate period of time for Richards to find a groove. It's been many years since he's pitched a significant amount of time. As bad as he has looked, it has mostly been for just an inning or two per outing. He's looked good in many innings. Yes, I'm grasping for something to be positive about with him, but to me he still represents a better hope than Perez and maybe even Pivetta. I'm glad we have Houck and eventually Sale, and word is they are stretching out Whitlock, so maybe there is hope, even if 1-2 out of Pivetta, Richards and Perez do poorly going forward.

The Brice & Taylor era should end, tonight.

Except for maybe the first 3 losses, this one seems to hurt the most.

Houck and Bazardo are not on the 26.

Taylor's time should be up.

Hope we don't look back to that chance that got away.

This is not good: Richards: 78 pitches 36 balls ("only" 4 BB) 1 HBP 1 WP 1 Error on pick-off attempt

I have faith one will come through and maybe Houck and Sale can replace one or two others and give us some good results.

You got that right! Team OPS... .649 1st time vs SP .898 2nd time .927 3rd time .

I get the feeling we may need 8 to 9 runs to win this one- maybe more.

Play Ball!

Rocker to the Sox- hints at big drop off after pick 4... Pipeline Podcast makes top 20 Draft picks WWW.MLB.COM The MLB Draft is still three months away, but our experts, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, are set to release an updated and expanded Draft Top 150 later this week. While they won’t give the order away in advance, they did offer a sneak preview on the latest Pipeline Podcast.

You don't skip anyone. You just keep Eovaldi in the closest spot to 5 days rest and slot all the others in their original order. Since we had the recent double header, they'd be close to their normal start day, anyway.

Maybe they won't mess with Eovaldi's timing.

Is this the weather channel?

I have no complaints. Cora is king. He picks and chooses where he thinks players have the best chance to be successful. It works!

Feel free to add some I missed. 0-0 0.00 Craig Kimbrel (8 IP) 0-0 1.29 Jeffrey Springs 1-0 1.59 Kopech 0-0 1.59 Pomeranz 0-1 3.60 Workman (5 IP) 0-1 4.05 Daniel Bard 1-2 4.50 Logan Allen 2-1 4.91 Frankie Montas 0-0 7.50 Andrew Miller 1-0 8.82 Rich Hill 0-0 11.42 Chris Mazza 1.583 Pablito (16 PAs) .914 Betts .891 Jed Lowrie .811 Rizzo .797 Holt .751 Margot .747 Moreland .739 T Shaw .611 JBJ .576 Iggy .515 Beni .369 Pillar .317 Dubon No MLB action in 2021: Eduardo Nunez Ty Buttrey

Not sure why Arroyo need a rest, but I trust Cora.

It's early, and Cordero's issues have been injuries, so let's see how that pans out. I loved the trade- still do, and we haven't even gotten the 3 PTBNL's!. I loved JBJ, but that was way too much money.

Some pitching insights after 18 games (1/9 of the season): OPS Against: .716 vs SP'ers (4.23 ERA) .614 Eovaldi .650 ERod .742 Houck .771 Pivetta .785 Perez .798 Richards .592 vs RP'ers (2.78 ERA) .200 Whitlock (30 PAs agaisnt) .258 Valdez (28) .290 Barnes (32) .400 Bazardo (5) .643 Andriese (45) .679 DHern (28) .698 Sawamura (31) .760 Ottavino (30) .868 Brice (19) 1.000 Houck (4) 1.020 Taylor (31) Team numbers: OPS against: .568 LHB .730 RHB .670 Home .655 Away .600 RISP (.507 with 2 outs) .641 Men On Base .465 Late & Close (1 of our biggest winter worries was closer and set up men) .521 High Leverage .750 first PA vs SP> .655 second> .721 third