Nick

Big question is does he hit well enough to be an elite 3rd baseman?

Sure....182 day season. At this rate he'll get to pitch 18 innings. What a waste of talent. You know I'm just being an ass......but it's frustrating how we run our pitching staff.

Garrett Whitlock continues to rest his arm. One inning pitched in last 10 days. I'm frustrated not getting to watch him pitch.

Per Masslive Red Sox rookie sensation Garrett Whitlock has hurled 6 ⅓ scoreless innings over three outings for the Red Sox this season. He has given up just three hits and no walks while striking out eight. So why has he pitched only one inning the past nine days? Where has he been? Manager Alex Cora said pitching coaches Dave Bush and Kevin Walker are working to stretch him out. Not sure I understand this logic. So when is he going to get stretched out?

Trying to figure out who Garrett Whitlock reminds me of. He's 6-5 so he's much taller but his presence on the mound reminds me of Greg Maddux. You know, the Hall of Famer who won over 350games? I did hate Maddux for getting strike calls on any ball near the plate. He definitely got the benefit of doubt. Whitlock has faced 22 batters, 9 strikeouts but more importantly, no walks. I despise pitcher that can't throw strikes. Now if Dalbec breaks out, I'm a happy camper. Why can't Houck work on his third pitch on his off days in the majors?

There was a deep dive analysis of the trade and the PTBNL aspect of it. Based on players already received by the Sox in that trade, the analysis went on to say that Sox should expect pretty good player from the Mets. Sox will receive two more PTBNL from the Royals. I'll see if I can find it. Maybe it was a piece in the 'mlbtraderumors'.

Me ERA is so distorted for relievers. 9 one inning stints without giving up a run or hit followed by an outing with three straight walks and get pulled. Next batter hits grand slam. You're charged with 3 earned runs and 0 innings pitched. Your season ERA is now 3.00 despite not giving up a hit. Just not a great metric for relief pitchers. Giving up 5 runs in one outing shouldn't define effectiveness of a reliever. Notin As Adam Ottavino showed last season... Lets think outside of box. ERA is more appropriate for starters. If you go back into history, it was common for starters go 9 innings. Projecting starter innings to 9 innings make sense to me. Basically it gives you an idea of how many earned runs are given up by a starting pitcher. Maybe this was the genesis of ERA. (earned runs per nine innings) Not so fast for relievers in modern age. Many are one inning specialists. No one gives a damn about 9 inning projection. Relievers don't pitch nine innings. (exception of Eovaldi). For relievers, I would simply take total earn runs given up divided by number of appearances with one modification. Earn runs given up in any outing exceeding one inning would be adjusted, pitcher's earn run would be runs given up divided by innings pitch. That's the run given up number for that outing. (ie restate the runs given up per one inning basis). So you come in and give up up 3 runs in 3 innings, your number would be 1.0 for that appearance. Reliever's stats would be called Earned Runs per Appearance. In above example, his 'ERA' would be 0.3. He gives up .3 runs per outing.

I think we've had much shorter list of hopefuls in the past (age as of 12/31/21) 22 Bryan Mata 23 Jay Groome 24 Noah Song 24 Thaddeus Ward 25 Garret Whitlock 25 Tanner Houck 25 Darwinzon Hernandez 25 Conner Seabold Not everyone will come through but there's some talent. Don't forget the #4 draft pick this year. I'm hoping for college pitcher. Screw the high school kids. Go draft and/or sign younger players outside of US.

This is why we don't trade away the farm in July when we're 3 games back from wild card spot. The biggest addition will come way of Sale and Houck.

ERA is so distorted for relievers. 9 one inning stints without giving up a run or hit followed by an outing with three straight walks and get pulled. Next batter hits grand slam. You're charged with 3 earned runs and 0 innings pitched. Your season ERA is now 3.00 despite not giving up a hit. Just not a great metric for relief pitchers. Giving up 5 runs in one outing shouldn't define effectiveness of a reliever.

I thought weather forecasts are simply based on past experience and not really predicting the future. Under 'these' conditions, 'A' happened 75% of the time, then 'A' is predicted. They'll be wrong 25% of the time.

I think we're on the same page. Had Sale been 100% healthy, the spending mix probably would have been different. (ie no Richards) How sick would it be to sign an 'ace' and extend E Rod along with Chris Sale pitching to his norm? Ace, Sale, E Rod, Eovaldi and Whitlock/Hoouck as starters? Richards/Perez money can easily cover E Rod extension. Pedey money can cover much of arbitration raises. Price money will be gone in one year so that can go towards paying "Ace".

It seems pretty clear that we need more help on pitching side. This team with Mookie in place of Verdugo still does not get us World Series ring. Luxury tax payroll delta is almost $30M between the two. Not to mention $16M for Price the Dodgers are picking up next two years. Looks like Pivetta will give us what Price would have. Thus we get similar production for $16M less. What can we do with that $30M? I don't regret the trade at all. Look at the financial numbers. I guess the biggest question mark going forward is health of Chris Sale.

I like it when I'm wrong...that means it's good for the Sox.

Another poster has pointed out Kike and Cora have known each other since Kike was a little boy. My issue is Cora appears to be forcing a square peg into round hole. Kike's never leadoff in his major league career until this year. Cora has mentioned Kike's issues with chasing balls outside of strike zone in the past. Kike is only player who has played in all twelve games. He has more at bats than anyone else. His runs scored total is dismal 5 runs from the leading spot. He's tied for 7th place on the team. He came into the first game, bases loaded, one out. First swing pop out to second baseman. Second game right before Verdugo's two run clutch single, again Kike is at bat with bases loaded and one out. He chased third strike off the plate. That's just not good hitting. Yeah the sample size is small. This is what I would say to Cora. Verdugo is in essence our leadoff batter because Kike is never on base when Verdugo comes to plate. How's that being a poor fan when the team is 9-3?

I think the idea is to force teams to go with the starter longer..as soon as the starter comes out, DH goes away.

Whitlock with easy 6th inning....sure doesn't look like a rookie....He's a pitcher, not a thrower.

He's a keeper....he oozes toughness...that ball got out there fast...

That's twice with based loaded and less than two outs he hasn't got the job done. I'm really beginning to dislike him ONLY because Cora won't admit to making a mistake leading him off.

I like the guy.....just not sure he should be leading off...

The guy is batting .209....our leadoff hitter.

How about an insurance run...

Isn't that special....

Darwinzon is impressive when he's throwing strikes....