Not a fair comparison to Wright and I'm not just talking about the FIP bias against knuckleballers. Wright had 7 post-ASB starts. One of was the game in the rain where he lost control of the knuckler and Farrell left him in to get bashed anyway. His two other bad post-ASB games were after his shoulder injury.
Well, including the game in the rain is totally fair. The playoffs aren't played in a climate controlled environment. If he can't be counted on in the rain, the humidity, the cold, etc, then it's a legitimate strike against him as a post-season starter, even if he was healthy.
You're right. My point though is that Wright had three bad games post ASB. Two of them were after his injury. FIP-wise, he's given up 5 HRs since the ASB. Four of them were in his two post-injury starts. Six of 14 post ASB walks came in those two games as well. At no time before his senseless injury was Wright the worst starter in the rotation.
Well, I did say that you could easily make an argument for him as the #4 if healthy. I also did not say "the worst" but rather "one of the worst," which was mainly to note that he wasn't a top 3 guy all year. But the point that his season-long stats are buoyed by a sexy, but unsustainable run early isn't really up for discussion (the ASB is a tidy cutoff, but he had a 6.89 ERA in his 3 starts before the ASB as well -- so 5.55 ERA over his last 60ish innings).
Fair enough and I saw the bad trend too but I thought it was mostly due to inclement weather?
Why isn't Pomeranz suited to be a swing man? He has far more experience in the bullpen than Buchholz.
Buchholz has been about a run/9 better pitcher than Pomeranz since Pomeranz arrived in Boston. Plus, as BMHH pointed out, he's actually been a good bullpen arm previously (and is well past his career high in innings).
113 pitches.
