Hugh2

Oh absolutely, but the Sox are not at the bottom of the league in IP for starters, they're more middle of the pack.

News Flash....Young pitcher working on his command.

I made a bold and stupid comment on the gameday thread about 5 innings pitched being a "quality start" which by definition it is not. My line of thought yesterday was how the game of baseball has really changed over even just the past 10 years. Relievers are going longer and Starters are more and more throwing fewer innings. It's actually amazing to think how much more starters make than relievers in free agency given this closing gap (market inefficiency???). My point was, in today's game, I don't think the Sox starters only going 5 innings or so is what is hurting this team. As a matter of fact, the best team in all of baseball with one of the better pitching staffs the Tampa Bay Rays does not do any better. Their starting pitchers only average 4.65 innings per game, and the Boston staff is averaging just over 5.05 innings pitched. For some perspective, I decided to look at a few other teams with great pitching staff as well. Houston 5.5 IP per game Minn. 5.6 IP per game Texas 5.75 IP per game ATL 5.25 IP per game TB 4.65 IP Per game Boston 5.05 IP Per game I figured it fair to look up some of the other awful pitching staffs as well. Oak 4.70 IP per game COL 4.65 IP per game Cinn 4.84 IP per game Sox seem to be middle of the pack, but there is some relationship (which is obviously predictable here) that teams with better-starting rotations will have starters that throw more innings. What I want to know is, how much of that benefits the team in today's game, or how much of that is just a function of how well the rotation performs? probably a bit of both. But despite that relationship, you see teams like Tampa Bay that have starters who do not go many innings but they still have great pitching year in and year out. So how strong is it?. The Sox seem to average between 1/3 and 2/3 of an inning less per game than the best pitching staffs in all of baseball. Is needing those extra 1 - 2 outs a game the difference between one of the best pitching staffs and one of the worse? I think it might just all come down to the fact that the starting pitching overall has not been good. They've shown glimmers of hope, but they have yet to hit the ground with all cylinders firing at once. It will be interesting to see how guys like Kluber and Pivetta do in the bullpen because the Sox need guys in there that can give you multiple-inning relief outings. That guy has so much more value in today's game. Earlier in the year I would have figured those guys to have been some combination of Houck/Whitlock/Paxton/Crawford but now you have to take Houck/Whitlock out of the left side of the equation and add in Pivetta/Kluber/Wink to the right side. Sox are obviously hoarding depth at the MLB level because they don't have a lot of pitching depth in the minors, not at the AAA level at least. The point is, they can't wait too long on guys like Kluber and Pivetta out of the pen, especially if you're going to need your pen 3 1/3 to 4 innings most nights. The Tampas model works because they have that depth at the MLB level year after year and they perform.

By definition of a quality start you are correct here. Not sure what I was thinking yesterday.

It almost feels like some people are rooting for Red Sox prospects to fail

I mean, I’m sure someone thinks value is quick to rise drop after a small sample size but I don’t believe anyone believes my insane over simplification of them folk haha. Then again…..people surprise me.

Lol, I’ll take that as a compliment given the works today in which you never truly know haha

Would be nice to see a little more efficiency but overall another quality start from Paxton

I nominate Stork for internet Troll of the year award.

Bloom should have traded him yesterday while his value was at an all time high. Now he’s been exposed at AA and his value has cratered to next to nothing. Unbelievable

He's a Bum!!!!! Fire Bloom.

I was one of those people pushing for Andrus, who is having a worse season than Hernandez is right now. Someone pointed out a long time ago that Hernandez hits much better when he plays 2nd base. I personally don't believe the hoopla that your defensive position is going to influence your bat this much.....but at this point I'm willing to give it a try. Reyes is a better defender anyways, it's just dumb to play Kike at SS.

Yeah, Masa is a huge win for the organization. They guy can hit, like he can really hit, you can just tell when he's in the batters box he knows what's going on and he is in his element. Like, he's not in the batter box facing the pitcher....the pitcher is on the mound facing him in HIS batters box.

I don't disagree with this at all, starting pitchers that can go deeper into games saves the bullpen and holds more value. But the game has changed, starting pitchers don't go deep into games like they used too and relief pitchers are throwing more and more innings. Not going deep into games is not hurting the team, bad pitching has. We need more guys out of the bullpen that can go 2-3 and give you good innings. Teams are doing this more and more. Still, you expect to get more out of your starter than 4 innings. But a lot starting pitchers are easily only going 5 innings nowadays. But there's a difference between the average and what you can get. Sometimes you need an ACE who can just go out there and throw 8+ and fully recharge a bullpen.

Wouldn't be surprised if he struggles for a few weeks after a big jump, and if he doesn't? even better. Would love to see him hit the accelerator and hit his way into Boston 2024.

I agree, I was a huge advocate of signing Andrus, who was the top SS left on the market at the time. Which to be fair, would have looked awful right now, not sure how much better he is than Kike right now if at all. Without a doubt, the F.O. deserves a f***ton of strife for how they handled SS, but in addition, they've also been bitten by bad luck as well.

Of course it's important to have a good lefty in the pen.

Story also wasn't out until late in the offseason, so technically Story was plan A. I don't think they thought Mondesi would be out this long, I think they figured he may have been out for a month. Also, they had no problem moving Kike off of SS when Chang was up here. I don't think Kike was ever really plan A, but they don't need to start him every game at SS with Reyes on the roster.

Aside from 2-3 guys at the top, how many guys in MLB bullpens have a nice sizable career WAR. We are talking about a guy who was signed to be about the 6th man out of the pen.

I normally don't have much criticism of Cora but he really needs to stop putting Kike at SS when they have Reyes in the lineup. Reyes is clearly a better defender and Kike does not look very good there at all.

All I know is that I know nothing at all.

They had him throwing in camp, the Sox would have had him on a conditioning program.

This, teams knew, just no one has taken a risk like that before.

And, he missed an entire season, as did all the MILBers. So, you have to take that into consideration as well. I wonder what goes through STORKs head when he posts, he has to be trolling.

Drohan made it to AA before he even turned 24, and even if he didn't so what?