moonslav59

We did pay Dempster $13M to be our 4/5 starter, but would we have paid him that much to be our 6th starter?

Well, we could replace Buch with another $7-14M type vet who may not have the upside but is more durable and reliable. The lure of a possible draft pick in 2018 after a QO offer, if Buch has a great 2017, is probably the best argument to keep him here.

Let's keep Toronto down. Beat the hell out of 'em again and again!

Updated Standings BOS +2 on TOR (+3 on BAL/DET for last WC slot) WC race TOR +1 Bal - Det - NYY -1.0 Hou -2.5 Sea -3.5 KCR -4.0

Don't let up. Hit 'em early and often!

But where did you come up with 130? Maybe the desire to bash JF is causing hallucinations.

Could end up being Tigers-Yanks in the WC game.

I thought it was 114 pitches.

Past 28 days: ERA/WHIP/OPS against Price 1.85/ 0.824/ .504 Porc 2.52/ 0.785/ .518 ERod 2.60/ 0.750/ .367 Buch 2.73/ 1.215/ .655 Pom 2.90/ 1.097/ .682 2nd half... Porc 2.57/ 0.801/ .542 ERod 2.73/ 1.063/ .582 Buch 2.95/ 1.091/ .616 Price 3.07/ 1.227/ .688 Pom 3.97/ 1.324/ .688 I'm not sure how the stats with focus on recent are showing Pomeranz is #3.

These guys are all doing so well, so it's not easy to choose right now, but you're right; after 4 more starts, someone will probably have slipped out of favor.

I was never sure about his issues being in his head. I hurt my back once and was looked upon by management as it being in my head or that I was a faker, because nothing showed up on the X-Ray or MRI. I have always been an exceptionally hard worker with an obsession to be the best at everything I did. I hated that people doubted my word. I tend to not call others out without knowing all the facts, and even then, like in my case, the wrong conclusions can be perceived or reached. Buch has had real injuries. His recovery time is often long. He may be just fragile. He may have a low pain threshold. His injuries may affect his mental approach, as it may distract him by either worry about re-injury or thinking about discomfort as a sign of an impending injury. Most pitchers feel pain all year long. It's not easy to always know the difference between a problem or just normal post-game soreness. I've always given Buch the benefit of the doubt. I still do. I just think he's too injury prone. His recovery time is too long and often involves what seems like rehab while in MLB (maybe not his fault). Sometimes, he says he feels fine, but can't pitch for s***. Usually that is after having an extended time away from baseball or just before an injury. I think I'd just rather have someone with less upside, but much more dependability and durability. Nothing against Buch or his character. Nothing against his enormous talent. I'm jst tired of the uncertainty.

Sorry, for quoting you, but there were just about 1-2 Buch supporters a few months back. Many wanted to DFA him (I was against that). Now, it's like his past never happened.

There's no doubt, when Buch is "on", he's an elite pitcher. I'm not disagreeing with the Buch choice of starting. I'm just down on his inconsistency. I'm riding the hot arm for as long as he takes me.

Buchholz is going to get about 4 more starts. If he goes on a run, like he has in the past, he'll be too valuable to go to the pen. I don't disagree, but one could say the same about ERod and Pompom as well.

Man O man, I never seen a bunch of bandwagon jumpers as here.

soxprospects.com... Salem bounced back in a big way after losing the series opener, pounding out 10 hits. Rafael Devers led the charge with a 2-for-4 night, clubbing a two-run shot in the fifth to give the Sox some breathing room. Nice to see how this kid bounced back in a huge way. I'd love to watch him in Portland next summer!

We don't need Buch in the bullpen, especially not when he wasn't that good his last two times out as a reliever. We could use Buch and a reliever, and we could use his clone as a RP'er. His 6 relief appearances before the last 2 were brilliant: 7.1 IP 0 ER 1 hit 2 BB

No problem. When I think of "history", I think going farther back. If you look at recent performance, we have 5 aces right now: last 28 days: 5-0 1.85 Price (34 IP) 4-0 2.52 Porcello (36) 0-1 2.60 ERod (17) 2-1 2.73 Buch (26- some in relief) 2-2 2.90 Pomeranz (31) A longer recent look (2nd Half): 8-1 2.57 Porcello (74 IP) 1-3 2.73 ERod (53) 3-1 2.95 Buch (37, some in relief) 6-2 3.07 Price (73) 2-4 3.97 Pomeranz (57) 3-1 5.06 Wright (43)

Long run, agreed: Price is the clear ace when looking at a 2-4 years sample size.

....Buch and very possibly the best "stuff" available for that money... No doubt. That's why I defended him for years, but he's too damn unreliable for my taste.

I've been defending Buch for years, and when I finally give up on him, he puts together a few weeks of doing well, and suddenly he's "know commodity"! Buch is still one of the least dependable pitchers in MLB. I realize we could sign a stable and durable guy, and he could get hurt in ST'ing, but I'm done with Buch forever. He'd have to blow me away through the end of the year to want to have him on my roster next year. As of now, I'm thinking take the option & trade.

I'd rank out starters like this: Season: Porcello, Price with Wright close behind 1st half: Wright, Porcello, Price 2nd half: Porcello, Price, 3 way tie for third (Pom, Buch & ERod) I should have been clearer with my original post. I just posted ERA and not IP, but it was meant to show that Price was not pitching like our best pitcher in the first or second half, and since Porcello was 1 or 2 in both halves, I'd call him our ace. Plus, the whole FIP thing discredits pitchers like Porcello and helps high K pitchers like Price regardless of how many outs they are getting. We like to use OPS to judge a player's hitting, so let's look at OPS against for 2016: .648 Porcello (187 IP) .653 Wright (157 IP) .707 Price (198 IP) (.728 starter average) (.718 team average) .744 ERod .762 Pomeranz .766 Buchholz (.809 as a starter) starter WHIP 1.02 Porcello 1.20 Price 1.25 Wright Porcello blows price away in these important categories.

There's not as many days off as there used to be in the playoffs. With our bottom 3 starts all about equal and doing very well recently, I don't see the need to go to a 3 man rotation.

Price's playoff history and experience are not great, so using his "history" as an asset may be counter intuitive. Post Season: Price 2-7 5.12 (1.17 WHIP) 63 IP Porcello 0-2 4.41 (1.22) 16 IP Buchholz 0-0 4.21 (1.44) 26 IP ERod, Wright and Pomeranz have no PO experience. .

$13m is chicken scratch for a starter in todays MLB. Maybe so, but looking through rose-colored glasses, $13M could have gotten us this last winter (in theory)... $12M JA Happ $13.5M R Hill & B Colon combined or RHill plus a decent RP'er like Clippard and Ziegler