illinoisredsox

Magic Numbers: Division - 2 Wild Card - 0

It would not be Sale; rotation is Sale (TU), Porcello (W), ERod (TH), Fister (F), Pomernaz (SA), which puts Sale on Sunday. If they have to win, that when he goes next. I believe the plan right now if they have won the division by then ise to skip Sale's start. Porcello would get the nod in a playoff game because its his turn. Should they lose that, ERod would get the wild-card game against the Twins. Win that and Pomeranz gets game 1 of the ALDS (If Sale has to go Sunday, Pomeranz starts game 1 anyway).

A division tie from a playoff readiness point of view is a bad situation, especially for the loser of the playoff. The loser would then host the wild card game on Tuesday (probably against a rested Twins team) and if they win, would have to go to Houston or Cleveland for games 1-2 of the ALDS on Thursday and Friday.

Virtually that entire stat line is against southpaws; he's done next to nothing against righthanders at the major league level (as you said, both are very short samples) and his minor league numbers vs. righties are nothing to write home about (.256/.320/.652 this year, .263/.317/.761 in 2016) Hit with power? In 4 minor league seasons, he's hit 28 home runs, and never more than 9 in a season. That may increase as he gets older, but right now, he has shown no power at the major league level. He does appear to have some doubles power. I just can't see handing the job to a rookie with rather pedestrian minor league numbers in the middle of a pennant race and playoffs. Travis has shown no consistency at the major league level. Maybe against lefties only, but even then, we don't really know what's there.

The one good thing about JBJ is we know when he comes out of one of these funks, he is generally white hot for a couple weeks. As for the Evil Empire, I've said it before but it bears repeating; just putting them in the coffin isn't enough, you have to drive a stake through their hearts (preferable 2 stakes).

Bogaerts has two problems. 1) he can't recognize a slider (this is not unique to this season, it's been a career long issue) 2) he gets tired I don't know what they can do about #1. If we know it, he knows it and the coaching staff knows it. Personally, I think he needs to start thinking aggressively from pitch 1. If the pitcher throws a get me over fast ball down the middle on the first pitch, hammer it. Make the pitcher have to make a great pitch. Stay away from 0-2 and 1-2 counts, As for number 2, the Sox need to stop playing him every inning of every game from opening day through June (slight exaggeration but not far off of reality). Give him one day a week off. Couple it with off days so he actually has 2 days off. Maybe he'll be a little fresher in July and August and not go off the cliff every year,

Given that Koufax had to retire at age 30, probably not the best example. However, I'll bring up another lefty from just after Koufax. Steve Carlton had 2 seasons over 300 innings, topping out at 346 in his ridiculous 1972 season (when he went 27-10 for a Phillies team that won 59 games). More to the point, from 1968 to 1984, he was well over 200 innings all but one year (the strike shortened 1981 season when he was at 190 in basically 2/3 of a season) with most of those over 250. He started to taper off after his age 39 season in 1984.

But right now they have to get there. Does starting Valazquez or some other minor leaguer else make that more likley? The time to build in rest was in July and August. And the board was screaming when Farrell tried to give that to Sale (and the rest of the stff) back then. The team is flawed and has been all year, and now injuries are cropping up; Betts has a hand/wrist that could be very problematic going forward. Pedey and Nunez have knee problems. That is very troublesome. JBJ is in one of his semingly endless funks (don't forget he had a thumb issue earlier this month). Hanley hasn' been there all year. Benintendi banged a ball off his ankle tonight. They will win or lose on whether or not they hit, and to do that they need everyone back and reasonable healthy; I'm not overly worried about the pitching.

As Colonel Potter would have put it: Horse Hockey. Mule Fritters. Buffalo Bagels. He had 6 days off, more than enough time to recover. Did either of you consider that the extra time may have contributed to his less than stellar outing? My guess is no because it it doesn't fit your narrative. Truth is, you don't know and neither do I.

True but 3 of those were against a guy who would never sniff the mound in a closer game.

Yup. All except the MLB minimum.

If it gets to that, blow the division on Sunday. I want no part of a playoff for the division on Monday followed by the wild card play in on Tuesday.

So tell me again why Travis should be the everyday 1b from now on?

The fact that Lin is not playing now should tell you where he is in the pecking order. Most of the offensive numbers Lin put up for Boston came in his first 10 games (.360/.429/.949). His next 9 games (before he was sent down) his line was .200/.360/.560 and that hasn't improved in his limited playing time this month. He also didn't do much offensively once he went to Pawtucket (.227/.283/.602). Other than the first 1/2 season at Portland this year, his body of work throughout the minors screams defensive specialist. He has a slightly higher offensive upside from Marrero, but not much (and Marrero has actually tossed in a few hits this month). And really, Travis for 1B in the playoffs? This is no time to throw a singles hitting rookie into a full time position. Moreland has shown he is streaky and has been his entire career. He's also got 20+ homers, which is 20+ more than Travis has hit. For what it's worth, Travis has driven in all of 1 run this season (yeah, I know RBIs are a limited stat but still).

IMO, a great player from one era would have been a great player in another era for the simple reason that talent is talent. A player from the 30s who grew up in the modern era would have had the same training, the same travel, been exposed to the current pitches and pitching philosophies (sliders/split fingers and multiple relievers) as the modern player. If you took the modern player and transported him back so that he grew up in the 20s and 30s, he would have none of the advantages of modern training, etc. Hitting philosophies have evolved as well. A talented player adjusts to the era they are in and would excel. The less talented would find themselves in the same pecking order no matter when they played. What you really shouldn't do is try and compare numbers. 5 man rotations vs. 4 man rotations. Relief pitchers. Mostly night games vs. mostly or all day games. 15 inch mound vs. 10 inch mound. Coast to coast plane travel vs. train travel. The swing from small ball parks to large ones and then back again. Artificial turf. There really are only 2 things that have remained the same across the decades: 1) 90 feet between the bases 2) 60' 6" from the plate to the pitching rubber I was gong to add Fenway and Wrigley to that list, but those have changed as well.

But results do matter. Flash forward a year, if Ortiz makes decent contact in the 14th inning of game 5, it's an easy fly to center and the game continues to who knows what result. Instead it was one of the early notches in his "clutch" belt.

Last year, the White Sox were scheduled to wear some 1970s throwback uniforms on a night Sale was scheduled to pitch (not sure which ones, but I do recall they had some hideous ones from that era). Sale didn't want to wear them, refused to play in them and to make his point, went into the clubhouse and cut them jerseys up so that the team couldn't wear them. He was pulled from his start and suspended. The thought was that the incident was more about the strained relationship between Sale and the White Sox front office than the uniforms.

I see the fingers are firmly back on the panic buttons.

Can't see how he wouldn't be. At the very least he will be very unlikely to be able to play the field at all. I'm far more worried about Betts' hand.

Batting wise, Davis has been worse than Young this year, both with Boston and with Oakland. He's no magic elixer and you can't steal 1st Base Young has been decent as a ph this year; I think he's hitting .400 in that role.

Yeah but your post was well before that AB

Did he do something specific tonight to evoke this reaction?

Hint, he's old enough to have actually seen Foxx play.

No, Vazquez played it by the book. He goes to back up first there because it's the right thing to do, just like he would on most infield ground balls (note I said most, there are times the catcher doesn't do that). If anyone should have headed home it would have been Pedey or Workman. The play was caused by: 1) Workman not getting to 1st quickly enough and/or 2) Pedey missing the moving target Workman. The other key to the play was the ball deflecting off of Workman's glove, caroming away from Vazquez and forcing him to go chase it. If Workman never touches it, it goes straight to Vazquez backing up 1st, and he either has a shot at getting Hamilton at 2nd or at worst, Hamilton stops at 2nd. If no one is backing up 1st, Hamilton gets to 3rd easily. Just one of those weird plays that pop up every once in a while.

This is the truth. The W-L record notwithstanding, his numbers this year (ERA, WHIP) are not that out of whack with his career norms. A little below, but nothing crazy (within 1 standard deviation). Career ERA going into this season was 4.20, this years is 4.55; career WHIP 1.306 before this season, this season's WHIP is 1.391). He is what he is, a #3/#4 starter. People need to stop holding the contract against him; it's not like he held out for it. He was offered a big deal and took it; same thing any one of use would have done.