moonslav59

But Happ is a second half pitcher!

Of course, but we only have a limited budget (until Henry & DD show me otherwise) and our pen needs a solid closer or set-up man. I still think we are a lock for a playoff slot, but I've been wrong before.

s***** game. Nothing more to say. Nothing good about it.

I do think the pen is important, and there are inconsistent RP'ers and starters. There don't seem to be many consistent RP'ers, and even Kimbrel looked like a train wreck at the end of last year. IMO, the most consistent RP'er cost way to much money. It's not so much wanting to skimp on the pen as it is not wanting to spend huge on it. There is a gray area between, and that is where we have skimped. In hindsight, spending on a RP'er instead of Pearce looks like a no-brainer, and many said this in foresight. Now that Eovaldi has been on the shelf for so long, one could question that signing vs 2 good RP'ers as well. We did not have the money to spend large, unless we signed KImbrel not Eovaldi & Pearce. I still think signing Kimbrel would have been a mistake, so what was left? I loved Ottavino, and that signing worked out well, but I also saw Cody Allen as a "gray area" signing, and he has sucked. Many of the other RP'er signed this winter have been horrible or hurt or both. We could easily have satisfied your call to action last winter and struck out with every signing. Most were duds. The odds would have been against us had we signed 2-3 decent to good RP'ers. I think DD recognized the budget and the crap shoot nature of those pitcher he could have signed and figured he'd wait to trade for one in the summer--one that has shown not to be a dud. Certainly that position is worthy of criticism, but so far, our pen has not been as bad as the blown saves makes it appear to be. My worry is about going forward. We both agree: we NEED HELP NOW!

We did get Eovaldi last year for Beeks, so it's not impossible to find a starter this summer, especially if it is a buyer's market. I would prefer 2 RP'ers. Maybe give Wright a chance to show he can be one, but we need to go outside the system to get a very solid RP'er. I'd prefer a closer, but i'd be fine with a very solid set-up man. I'm not sue how much longer we can wait. Today's loss was on the starter (Porcello). New tally: Starters 17-23 (-6) Relievers 25-14 (+11)

But, how many games did our starter suck, and the pen did a greata job keeping the team in the game while the offense scored enough for us to get the win? Is that not as important as blown saves vs saves? What stat captures that value? Our pen has certainly blown more wins than anybody wants. It's been maddening. It's horrible. It needs to be fixed (YESTERDAY!). That being said, our pen has saved the day way more time than thay have blown games. They have won games for us that do not count as a "save." Many of our RP'ers got wins. They have 20 wins credited to them. Some are after they blew a save and we still won, but many were hard earned. Game by Game ER/IP(SP vs Pen) 1. L 12-4 Sale 7/3- Pen 4/5 2. W 7-6 Eovaldi 6/5- Pen 0/4 3. L 6-5 ERod 5/4.1- Pen 0/3.2 4. L 10-8 Porcello 4/2.2- Pen 1/5.1 5. L 6-0 Price 4/6- Pen 2/2 6. L 1-0 Sale 1/6- Pen 0/2 7. W 6-3 Eovaldi 3/5- Pen 0/4 8. L 7-3 ERod 6/3.2- Pen 1/4.1 9. L 15-8 Porcello 7/4.2- Pen 8/3.1 10. W 5-4 Price 4/6- Pen 1/3 11. W 1-0 Velaz 0/3- Pen 0/6 12. L 7-5 Sale 5/4- Pen 2/5 13. W 7-6 Eovaldi 5/5- Pen 1/4 14. W 6-4 ERod 2/6.2- Pen 2/2.1 15. L 9-5 Porcello 3/4- Pen 4/5 16. W 4-0 Price 0/7- Pen 0/2 (pen did well) 17. L 8-1 (pen game) Velz 1/3- Pen 7/6 18. L 8-0 Sale 4/5- Pen 4/3 19. L 5-3 Eovaldi 0/6- Pen 4/2 20. W 6-4 ERod 3/5.1- Pen 0/3.2 21. W 6-5 Porcello 2/5.2- Pen 3/3.1 22. W 4-3 Price 2/5- Pen 1/6 23. L 7-4 Sale 2/5- Pen 5/4 24. L 4-2 (pen game) Velaz 3/3.1- Pen 1/5.9 25. W 11-4 ERod 1/6- Pen 3/3 26. W 7-2 Porcello 3/6- Pen 0/3 27. L 2-1 Price 2/6- Pen 0/3 28. L 5-2 Sale 2/7(2 unearned)- Pen 1/2 29. W 9-4 ERod 4/4.2- Pen 0/4.1 30. W 5-1 Porcello 0/8- Pen 1/1 31. W 7-3 (pen game) Velaz 1/2- Pen 2/7 32.L 6-4 Price 3/6- Pen 2/2.1 (1 unearned) Shared? 33. W 6-1 Sale 0/6- Pen 1/3 34.W 15-2 ERod 1/6- Pen 1/3 35. W 9-2 Porcello 2/6- Pen 0/3 36. L 4-1 JSmith 4/3.1- Pen 0/4.2 37. W 8-5 (pen game) Velaz 2/3- Pen 3/7 38. W 2-1 Sale 1/8- Pen 0/4 (Close to shared win) 39. W 14-1 ERod 0/7- Pen 1/2 40. W 9-5 Porcello 4/6.2- Pen 1/2.2 41. W 11-2 Velz 2/5- Pen 0/4 42. L 5-4 Sale 2/7- Pen 3/4 43. W 6-5 ERod 5/6- Pen 0/4 44. L 3-1 Porcello 2/7 - Pen 0/2 45. L 7-3 Velaz 5/0.1 -Pen 2/8.2 46. W 4-3 Sale 3/5.1- Pen 0/3.2 47. W 12-2 Price 0/5 2 unearned- Pen 0/4 48. L 10-3 ERod 6/5- Pen 4/3 49. W 6-5 Porcello 1/6- Pen 4/7 50. W 8-2 Weber 1/6- Pen 1/3 51. L 4-3 Sale 2/6- Pen 0/2/ 52. L 4-3 Price 0/0.2- Pen 4/7.1 53. W 4-1 ERod 1/6- Pen 0/3 54. W 12-5 Porcello 3/6.2 2 unearned- Pen 0/2.1 55. L 7-5 Price 0/6- Pen 7/3 56. L 14-9 Weber 7/4- Pen 7/5 57. L 4-1 Sale 4/6- Pen 0/2 58. L 5-3 Porcello 5/4.2- Pen 0/3.1 59. W 8-5 Price 2/6.1- Pen 3/2.2 60: W8-3 KCR: ERod put us in a hole 2-0, but we scored 3 in the 6th to get him the win: SP 5.2 2 ER/ RP 3.1 1ER - Slight edge to RP 61: W 8-0 KCR: Chris Sale pitched shut out: SP all the way. 62: W 7-5 KCR: Pen game. Weber started (1.1 IP 2 ER). The pen: 7.2 IP 3 ER. Pen gets the win. 63: L 5-1 TBR: Porcello 6 IP 4 ER/ Pen 3 IP 1 ER: loss edge to SP 64: L 9-2 TBR: Josh Smith (4 IP 4 ER)/ Pen 5 IP 4 ER- 4 in 9th after game was already lost) Edge loss to SP. 65: W 5-1 TBR: Price 6 IP 1 ER/ Pen 3 IP 0 ER: Win goes to both. (+0.5) 66: L 6-1 TBR: ERod 5.2 IP 4 ER/ Pen 4.1 IP 2 ER: Loss goes to SP 67: L 4-3 TEX: Sale 7 IP 0ER/ Pen 4 IP 3 ER: Loss goes to pen. 68: L 9-5 TEX: DHerm 3 IP 3 ER/ Pen 6 IP 5 ER: I'll call this a tie loss. 69: W 4-3 TEX: Porcello 6.2 IP 2 ER/ Pen 2.1 IP 0 ER: Edge to pen. 70: W 7-6 TEX: Price 1.1 IP 6 ER/ Pen 7.9 IP 0 ER: Clear win to pen 100%! 71: W 13-2 BAL: ERod 7 IP 1 ER/ Pen 2 IP 1 ER: Clear win for SP. 72: W 7-2 BAL: Sale 6IP 2 ER/ Pen 2 IP 0 ER: Edge to RP 73: W 8-6 BAL in 10: Johnson 3 IP 1 ER/ Pen 7 IP 3 ER. Edge to SP despite just 3 IP. 74: W 2-0 MN: Porcello 7 IP 0 ER/ Pen 2 IP 0 ER. SP gets win. 75: L 4-3 MN (17 inn): Price 5 IP 1 ER/Pen 11.1 3 ER. Pen gets loss. 76: W 9-4 MN: ERod 7 IP 4 ER/ Pen 2 IP 0 ER: Win to pen. 77. W 7-5 TOR: Sale 5 IP 3 ER (1 unearned)/ Pen 5 IP 1 ER: Pen gets the win. 78: L 8-7 TOR: Johnson 5 IP 0 ER/ Pen 4 IP 7 ER: Pen gets the loss. Totals: Starters 17-22 (-5) Relievers 25-14 (+11)

Again, and I've said this many times, Our pen has been a plus to date, but going forward, it is by far our biggest area of need. WE NEED TO ACQUIRE AT LEAST ONE SOLID RP'ER... and YESTERDAY! That has been my position since the beginning of the off season.

You only need 4 starters in the playoffs. We have 4- not counting Eovaldi.

Steven Wright Nearing Activation By Connor Byrne | June 22, 2019 at 9:26pm CDT It’s “expected” the Red Sox will activate right-handed knuckleballer Steven Wright on Tuesday, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com writes. Wright’s at the end of an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use. The Red Sox will need to clear a 40-man roster spot for Wright upon his return. The 34-year-old Wright, a one-time All-Star, has mostly worked as a starter dating back to his 2013 debut. He has logged a 4.00 ERA/4.45 FIP with 6.91 K/9 and 3.18 BB/9 in 263 innings out of Boston’s rotation. Although the Red Sox may now need a starter after Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello and Eduardo Rodriguez, it won’t be Wright. They’ll likely use him as a reliever, per Cotillo, as Wright’s also coming back from 2018 left knee surgery. The Red Sox’s bullpen ranks an impressive fourth in the majors in ERA, fifth in FIP and ninth in K/BB ratio, but Wright still may be able to help the unit. Neither left-handed hitters nor righties have enjoyed a ton of success at Wright’s expense. Lefties have hit .237/.316/.359 off Wright, while righties have posted a .252/.321/.407 line against him.

I would, but it's not my money. The Nats can do better.

Updated tally after today's loss to the pen: Starters 16-22 (-6) Relievers 25-14 (+11)

Any one of the 4. It might depend on how the end of the season lines up.

I'd throw in Johnson (& Thornburg). Henry would have to be okay with paying mega taxes for a while.

Except to bump everyone down a notch and drop our horrendous 7th-8th RP from the 25 man roster. (I'd like to see us get 2 solid RP'ers.)

No, but DD can!

Yes, and I said "like yesterday" weeks ago.

The reverse of last night.

I don't look at it that way. I look at it from the perspective that the owner is trying to avoid paying taxes. Judging whether he should or not is a totally different debate. Once it is pretty much established that our owner is NOT totally opening his wallet to pay players, then I look at the budget with a magnifying glass knowing our budget has limits.

I don't think they intended to go over. The whole system is complicared, and I think they made a mistake. They got Toronto to pay for part of Pearce's deal, I believe in an effort to stay under the max line.

Well said. Sale is still hitting mid 90's at times.

That's what we said about AGon. I remember predicting he'd hit 50+.

This is reminding me of Gedman's outlier season.

They will hit a lull at some point, and we will need to pounce. Maybe London will be the start of their fall.

Man, the Astros are in free fall. The Yanks are hot.

Based on just tonight? Team record: 26-26 w Vaz 14-11 w Leon (Not that this is the best way to judge value, but when you look at how much better Sale and Price do with Leon, I'm fine with letting letting Leon catch Sale every game. PH for him, if needed, especially since Vaz does very well with our pen. I'd even let Leon catch Price every other start. That gives Vaz 7 starts out of 10. That gives him the rest he needs.