moonslav59

Exactly, and the whole "restgate" thing should have put our starters in a position to go deeper than normal to help "pick-up" the struggling pen. The opposite has been true. 3 of out top 4 starters are doing much worse than their 3 year numbers since May 11th.

To those who thought the budget was near limitless, what say you now?

He's the only Sox 5+ slot pitcher with a decent ERA is his 2 starts.

Records of our 5+ starters: GS Pitcher (Team record in starts) Run support (ERA as starter) 7 Velazquez (4-3) 4.87 (6.41) 4 Eovaldi (3-1) 5.86 (6.00) 3 Weber (2-1) 8.00 (7.94) 2 Smith (0-2) 1.50 (9.82) 2 Johnson (1-1) 7.11 (1.13) 1 DHern (0-1) 9.00 (9.00) Look at those ERAs! We are 10-9 in these 19 games despite the ERA. We've actually got lucky in these starts as we tend to score more when they pitch.

If he stays, we may need 3.

The other big area we used to stock up the farm was comp picks for losing high level players to free agency. That system has been changed, as well, and we no longer are able to get good prospects with supplemental picks- plus there used to be several "hard to sign" prospects that dropped into that range for high spending teams to scoop up. Not any more. Here we are.

Players did do radio & newspaper ads and actually go to businesses to drum up crowds and consumers.

...and Wright throws one of the hardest knuckleballs ever thrown. I'd stick with Johnson until he shows he can't do it. Use Wright and Velazquez in all to often needed long relief roles. I'm not sure about Walden's usage going forward. Maybe only pitch him in low leverage situations to see if he can snap out of this funk. Barnes may need a 10 day IL stint. He needs to be watched closely and not used in high leverage until he shows improvement. We could really use Hembree, but I fear he is done for 2019. Brewer has done well, of late, so I ride the hot arm for as long as we can. He's my second set-up man to Workman. Brasier looks to be doing better, but he needs to be moved up slowly. Closer: Eovaldi Top Set-up: Workman & Brewer 7th inning: Brasier & ______(trade acquisition) 5th & 6th: Wright, Velazquez Scrub duty (for now): Barnes or Walden (maybe Smith)

Well said. Vaz could hit for a 2.000 OPS, but if we are allowing 2-3 runs more a game with him catching, it will not outweigh the defense.

Is it any worse that trotting Barnes out there?

This was an area we gained a lot of our top prospects from. When I warned of the steep rocky terrain we were headed towards, I emphasized how the IFA rule changes and restrictions on high spending and winning teams would make re-stocking the farm very difficult. Here we are.

Endorsements were probably rare and low paid as well.

These 3 days off sandwiched around 2 horrific games is killing me!

I think we've had 13 pitchers not 12 all season long. That helps a little but when 2-3 of those 13 are scrubs we are suffering the affects in the middle of games. Also, too often our starters are putting us in deep holes- sometimes very early in games. Adding Eovaldi to the closer role could help a lot, if he is effective, but we still need to acquire another quality set-up man or two, and soon. Push Workman, Barnes and Brasier to the 7th and 8th innings, and Brewer, Walden? and Wright to the 5th and 6th innings. Johnson or Velazquez, whoever is not starting, will have to be the long man. Some Numbers as RP'ers only: IP Pitcher ERA 21 Velazquez 4.29 19 Thornburg 7.71 13 Taylor 5.68 13 Shawaryn 8.53 11 Smith 2.45 9 Lakins 5.79 8 Weber 1.13 6 Johnson 13.50 4 Poyner 15.75 4 Wright 4.50 3 Ramirez 12.00 2 DHern 0.00 Granted, these guys have not pitched all that much, but even if you take away Velazquez, Johnson & Wright, it's over 80 IP. That's 80 too many. Last 28 days: 13 Shawaryn 8.53 11 Walden 8.18 11 Barnes 9.00 11 Taylor 5.91 3 Poyner 15.00 3 DHern 9.00 1 Weber 13.50 12 Brewer 0.73 10 Workman 0.93 10 Brasier 1.86 8 Johnson 2.16 6 Velazquez 1.50 4 Wright 4.50 3 Hembree 0.00 (IL)

Is this sample size big enough? Starter ERA since May 11th: 2.97 Price (8 GS) 3.30 Sale (9 GS) 5.00 ERod (9) 5.05 Porcello (10) ERA 2016-2018 2.56 Sale (0.74 lower than above sample) 3.81 Price (0.84 higher) 3.99 Porcello (1.06 lower) 4.22 ERod (0.78 lower)

I totally agree, but again, my point is about how the rest should have helped them do better of late, and all 4 have bad numbers their last 5-9 starts.

Um, I also listed some pretty bad 5-9 game sample sizes. My original point was about the pen imploding but that not being the only thing going south the last 3-4 weeks.

This explains why DD hasn't traded for as closer already, but we have needed another set up man for weeks, now.

Thus Spoke Henrithustra!

ERod: 5.30 ERA last 3 starts (5.00 last 9 starts) I guess one can find a sample size that suits any argument. Why hasn't all that rest helped with this? Sale: 5.29 ERA last 3 starts (3.30 last 9 starts) Price: 6.57 ERA last 3 starts (4.38 last 5 starts) Porcello: 7.43 ERA last 3 starts (6.03 last 7 starts) ERod: 5.30 ERA last 3 starts (5.00 last 9 starts)

Yes, that, too.

It's hard to prove, because team payroll budgets were not public knowledge, but I'm pretty sure the Yanks were one of the biggest spenders for a long time. I guess buying Babe Ruth for cash was something all teams did back then, right? I think the numbers went public in 1998. Here are the numbers since then: Yankee ring years: 1998: 2nd highest to the O's 1999: 1st by $7M ($88>81) 2000: 1st by $4M ($92>88) 2009: 1st by $76M ($201>135) Anybody know where to find payroll numbers from 1920 to 1998?

The question is, can we turn it around? (Can we regain the mojo of 2018?) It's not really about hitting better. It's about hitting when you need it. It is about pitching better but mainly about pitching better when it counts. These kinds of things just kind of happen or they don't. I'm not sure there's anything management can do, except to hope the players pull together and bring on the transformation.

Tonight: Nothing of note at AAA. AA Houck 7 IP 0 ER 4 H 3BB 4K Dalbec 2 HRs (16 & 17) Chatham & Duran with 2 hitys each A J Diaz 7 IP 0 ER 1H 2BB 7Ks

They were probably the top paid team for most of their rings and top 3 or 4 in almost all the others.