moonslav59

With 9 RP'ers on the roster, why is Taylor even pitching in a close game?

Running out of time in this 7 inning game.

The argument was about having an extra pitcher or bench player. One major point for carrying a bench player was that if a pitcher was ever needed, you could have one there in 2 hours. That's not the case, if we were in Seattle, but I added that if we were on a long west coast stretch, which we were not, we could have brought along an extra pitcher (not on the 26 man roster) in case we needed to add one after having a 19 inning game the night before. Setting the opening day roster does not preclude additions and subtractions just a few days into the season, if needed. The other point was about us having to play 4 games in a 48 hour period, and that is precisely an example that adding a pitcher before that stretch would make sense and is entirely possible and easy to do. (BTW, I was not "griping." I was defending the position that we never needed that extra pitcher, and if we did, we'd know enough beforehand to add one- or two in the case of the doubleheader.) The fact that you can add a player to the 26 man roster for a double header also eases that strain on the pen during that 48 hour stretch- not to mention the fact that we had a day off to rest the entire pen before that 48 hour stretch.

Now, that was a brutal attack! (Just kidding.)

Not really. You get to add a player for a double header, and you can call up even one more pitcher when you this situation arising. (Plus, having several days off over the first 11 days of the season.) That was the point taken by those against starting the season with that "extra" pitcher.

Less workout sessions but lasting longer. Longer relief stints.

I can see, if we were on a west coast stretch and had a 19 inning game, or something, but even in that case, we could have had Houck travel with the big team. There is also the 27th man rule for doubleheaders, so that makes it easy.

...and that was known well ahead of time, and adding a pitcher was easy enough. Note, we also had a day off before that 2 day stretch, so it was also just 4 games in 72 hours.

In all seriousness, what happens when the injuries start up, and you know they will? Your non pitching depth has already been grossly exposed. All your studs have played in 12-13 games (Frazier 10). No starter is hurt, except Voit, but Bruce and Odor have combined for 61 PAs, which is more than any one player on the team. Why don't Frazier and Tauchman, and even Higashioke and Wade have more than 61 PAs combined? Some of these guys were the players Yankee fans were bragging about all winter long- in terms of depth. Yes, Gardner has 31 PAs, too, but he's not the one killing you. His .687 OPS is actually among the team leaders. Players with 30+ PAs: .899 Judge .806 LeMahieu .777 Sanchez .687 Gardner .648 Urshela (all the rest are under .600)

Exactly. "The everything going right" argument actually pertains to the Yanks! Wait until the injuries start- like they always do with these muscle bound behemoths. (Like Voit would have made a difference.)

With so many days off, early in the season, a 9 man pen would not be needed until mid April. The second point was that if one was needed, they are practicing just 2 hours away.

"Max Mojo Risin'!"

Who should lead off? Arroyo? Cordero? (I'm not saying I like Kike up first, but we have no clear lead off hitter.) If we take a 2-5 hitter and move him to #1, we severely weaken a key slot. Now, if Vaz keeps hitting like JD, then maybe...

I don't disagree, but the time and place Taylor can best succeed is tomorrow in AAA (alt site).

No. Perhaps "Nearly Upside Down" would have been better terminology.

Almost a 1/12th of the season over. Doesn't seem like that much, does it?

Upside down in the AL 10-4 Bos 8-5 KC 8-5 LAA 9-6 Sea 8-7 Oak 7-7 Cle 7-7 Hou 7-8 Bal 7-8 TB 7-8 Tor 6-8 CWS 6-8 MN 6-9 Det 6-9 Tex 5-9 NYY

You mean "then...?"

Boone has still had enough talent to do better. They both need to go, but as a Sox fan, they can wait another decade or so..

I just finished watching the game. I was thinking the exact same thing when they yanked Pivetta. This was a real nice win- in many ways.

Most managers don't make major line-up changes after 13 game sample sizes. If they did, they might not be around for long. That being said, leading Kike off, to begin with, was rather questionable, so the 13 game sample size seems to reaffirm the position that it was a mistake from the start. The one argument I will give in his favor is that we really don't have a clear choice lead off hitter on our team, and if we moved Verdugo or Bogey to the omne slot, we'd be opening a huge hole at a slot that might be even more important than lead off. Let's say we go like this: 1. Verdugo 2. Bogey 3. JD 4. Devers Now, we lost our great #5 hitter (Devers). Yes, Vaz looks like he's doing well enough to hit b#5, but I'm not sure I want him there, all year. What could we try, now? Arroyo #1? We'd have been laughed off the face of the earth, if we just suggested that before opening day.

Exactly!

And, here I thought the Sox had the worst defense in the division.

Some interesting Sox tidbits of data... 1. Don't look now, but Devers is catching up to JD's RBI lead: 16 JD 13 Devers 13 Vaz (5), Franchy (4) and Kike (4) combined! 2. JD at 1.307 in OPS! Wow! .935 Devers (after a slow start!) .888 Bogey (Mr. Consistency) .840 Vaz (time to talk extension, here?) .833 Arroyo (winning a slot) .833 Verdugo (2nd in PAs but the not a PA leader at any 1 position) (Nobody else is above Franchy's .667.) 3. Some worrisom OBPs: .243 Dalbec .250 Renfroe .255 Kike 4. JD and Devers have 10 of the Sox 16 HRs. 5. Marwin & Vaz lead the team in SBs with two. 6. Four of our five SP'ers have an ERA at 4.50 of lower (3 under 3.27). 2.08 Eovaldi 3.27 Pivetta 3.60 ERod 4.50 Perez 6.00 Richards (looked good in his last start) (Houck is at 3.00 as a SP/RP) 7. Our K/BB leaders 12.0 ERod 10.0 Houck 7.00 Barnes 3.50 Eovaldi 2.33 Andriese 8.OPS Against .087 Barnes (Let THAT sink in!) .273 Whitlock (Steal of the winter?) .387 Vadez (Demotion?) .503 Eovaldi .580 Sawamura .651 Perez .671 ERod .679 DHern (damn those 6 BBs in 28 PAs against!) .695 Houck .737 Andriese .777 Pivetta .798 Richards (looks better than the 6.00 ERA) .857 Brice (Why is he still around?) .952 Ottavino (Yime to turn it around.) 1.102 Taylor (May not see him again.) 9.Back to hitting: Splits vs RHP 1.576 JD .926 Verdugo .918 Devers .898 Vaz .855 Bogey .797 Marwin vs LHPs: 1.000 Franchy (2 PAs) .950 Devers .944 Bogey .923 Arroyo .900 Plawecki .795 Renfroe .748 Vaz .733 JD .774 Arroyo 10. Some more splits (team): .873 Away .698 Home .973 swinging at first pitch .792 team OPS overall and .789 Late & Close .615 1st time vs SP .760 2nd time .912 3rd time .872 vs RP 1st time 1.110 vs RP 2nd time

Maybe keeping this post near the top will keep the mojo risin'.