IDK. Maybe, we could just chill 1.23% of the way through the season?...? Maybe....
BOS bullpen 2018
- Thread starter Hank Scorpio
- Start date
From mlb.com:
"Kimbrel is a bad matchup for just about every team, but even moreso for the Rays. Since the start of last season, Kimbrel is 7-for-7 in saves against the Rays while allowing no hits and one walk. He has struck out 26 of the 31 Tampa Bay hitters he's faced in that span."
Fucking insane.
"Kimbrel is a bad matchup for just about every team, but even moreso for the Rays. Since the start of last season, Kimbrel is 7-for-7 in saves against the Rays while allowing no hits and one walk. He has struck out 26 of the 31 Tampa Bay hitters he's faced in that span."
Fucking insane.
Barnes pitched 2 in a row, so it's unlikely he goes today.
Maybe there won't be A set up guy.
Maybe Cora really is going to be a bit more out of the box, like he said he would be, despite the fact that on OD, people seemed convinced that he was just another shitty manager who didn't get it.
Not sure how that question represents anything but chill.
I actually don't think he is, and I thought Cora's explanation was interesting on why he went with Barnes. He spoke of matchups and the fact that Barnes's curve played better against the left handlers he was facing than a slider, referring to Smith I assume.
I recall a saying that the first quarter to third of the season is figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of your team. As such, I would expect bullpen roles ex-Kimbrel to be a bit fluid early on. I don't recall Cora saying he will have one guy be the "setup guy" all season, and the idea that you must have one guy designed to pitch the 8th inning is archaic anyway. For the near term, I would expect to see Barnes, Smith, and Kelly all take turns in that key "secondary relief ace" role until performance dictates otherwise.
Some key quotes from the interview with Cora were printed in the Globe; it doesn't read anywhere near as bad as you're implying here.
Maybe Joe Kelly can buy all of the relievers not named Kimbrel "I'm The Set Up Guy" tee shirts.
That's right, everybody gets two tees. For those who might not get it....
https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2015/03/06/whos-the-red-sox-ace-theyre-all-the-ace
I'm hoping at some point Carson Smith and Tyler Thornburg work themselves back to where they were before their injuries. If that happens we could be looking at a very strong back end of the bullpen.
Poyner tops out at maybe 90 and has never faced a hitter in the majors. We should be thrilled if he was as good as Abad was last year, and Abad was the second to last guy out of the pen.
Cora strikes me as the kind of manager who may not think a LOOGY is a good use of a roster spot (I'm kind of torn myself), if he has good RHPs. (Big "if," I know). Poyner and Walden may just be keeping roster spots warm for the DL crowd.
May just be? They absolutely are just seat warmers. Their spring performances vaulted them ahead of Robby Scott and Brandon Workman, not Kelly and Smith and Hembree and Barnes. They are Ben Taylor redux.
Also, Poyner's not a LOOGY, so even if a LOOGY were a good use of a roster spot, using him as one would not be.
Is Robby Scott still working his way back from elbow surgery or has he been lapped? He was a top 20 reliever in baseball last year against LHH by wOBA (though not necessarily great overall). If that skillset no longer fits on the team, than that's interesting.
Something more like Ty Buttrey for Jake Diekman could do the trick just as well.
Which side of the equation is more important?
Let's say you have a LHP who is decent against lefties, but the LHB doesn't hit lefties real well.
And then you have a RHP who is great against lefties but the LHB is really rakes against righties.
Do you go with the lesser pitcher (LHP) because the hitter struggles against lefties? Or do you go with the better pitcher (RHP) even though the hitter kills righties?
Elbow surgery? When did he have elbow surgery?
I don't know about "lapped" but Scott has very limited skills. Yes, he's good against LHH, but he's not good against RHH. It's not as though there are a great deal of scary LHH in opposing lineups during the next few weeks. I think the need for a LOOGY right now is small, but that doesn't mean there won't be a need later on.
I don't love the term LOOGY either, but I think it's paramount to have a LH reliever you can trust. I'm not sure Poyner is the guy but I hope we start finding out soon.
Those are all the right questions. (And as long as the manager is asking them, instead of acting by reflex -- "gotta have that lefty" -- I'm good with it). I think I lean towards not having a 60 appearance 30IP pitcher. Another factor might be using the roster spot on another bench player instead of a limited-use reliever, but how much use is *that* guy going to get, so round and round we go.
I would almost reverse this. The term LOOGY describes a kind of pitcher who really exists, and if you have one, they can be useful. But if you don't have one -- if the lefthanded pitchers available to you have mild to nonexistent platoon splits, or even a reverse split like Poyner -- then it may not matter much whether you have a LH reliever or not. If all your relief options get LHH and RHH out at about the same clip, then you should just choose your best guys and not worry about whether any of them are LH or not.
Is there any research into whether pitcher split vs batter split matters more? For instance of a LH reliever is the same vs righties and lefties - call it a 725 OPS - and the LH hitter sucks against lefties but rakes against righties - would it be better to use that mediocre reliever than a dominant righty who is amazing vs righties but less awesome against lefties?
I'm still like a kid at Christmas, asking for everything in the catalog and hoping for the best. Having that lock down 7th and 8th inning pitcher might be a lot to ask for, but can you imagine Sale out there every five days doing his thing and Price throwing like he's looking for a huge pay off (which he is)? Follow that with Porcello, Pomeranz and Rodriguez only needing to get you through five or six innings. Yeah I'm dreaming big, aiming high, but IF we can get something close to that out of Smith and Thornburg the rest of that pen gets a lot more manageable and the staff as a whole becomes less taxed.
Wait, this isn't an original idea? My point was that hopefully the answers or at least some of the key pieces are already in house. And yes it would be great if Maddox can replicate what we saw from him last season.
No worries, Smith and Thornburg are still pretty much unknowns in Sox unis. After some initial high hopes we really don't know what to expect after their respective injuries.
It’s true that Perez is nearly toast, if that is your point here. But he was better at getting lefties out last year than anyone in our bullpen besides Kimbrel. He was also more or less free. Not sure there’s anyone else available who fits that description.
Is it just me, or does Marcus Walden look just like Joe Kelly? I instinctively panicked when I saw him on the mound.
A lot of it's the glasses, but a little bit.Is it just me, or does Marcus Walden look just like Joe Kelly? I instinctively panicked when I saw him on the mound.
Not as close a resemblance as Matt Barnes and David Price, imho.
When I first saw Bobby Poyner on the mound the other day I though I was looking at Steven Wright.
.
Poyner -> Wright
Walden -> Kelly
Barnes -> Price
Looks like DDski found the next new market inefficiency: phrenology!
Walden -> Kelly
Barnes -> Price
Looks like DDski found the next new market inefficiency: phrenology!
Through four games, here's the bullpen performance...
G1: 2.0 ip, 3 h, 6 r, 6 er, 4 bb, 2 k
G2: 2.0 ip, 0 h, 0 r, 0 er, 1 bb, 4 k
G3: 3.0 ip, 2 h, 1 r, 1 er, 1 bb, 1 k
G4: 3.1 ip, 2 h, 0 r, 0 er, 1 bb, 4 k
TOT: 10.1 ip, 7 h, 7 r, 7 er, 7 bb, 11 k, 6.10 era, 1.35 whip, 9.6 k/9
Of the 7 runs the Sox' bullpen has given up, 6 of them were in that one disastrous inning.
Meanwhile, MFY bullpen performance so far...
G1: 3.1 ip, 1 h, 1 r, 1 er, 0 bb, 2 k
G2: 3.0 ip, 2 h, 1 r, 1 er, 0 bb, 3 k
G3: 3.0 ip, 4 h, 3 r, 3 er, 2 bb, 5 k
G4: 4.0 ip, 5 h, 6 r, 6 er, 2 bb, 4 k
TOT: 13.1 ip, 12 h, 11 r, 11 er, 4 bb, 14 k, 7.43 era, 1.20 whip, 9.5 k/9
NY's pen has given up runs in every single game so far, and they've blown two leads in four games.
G1: 2.0 ip, 3 h, 6 r, 6 er, 4 bb, 2 k
G2: 2.0 ip, 0 h, 0 r, 0 er, 1 bb, 4 k
G3: 3.0 ip, 2 h, 1 r, 1 er, 1 bb, 1 k
G4: 3.1 ip, 2 h, 0 r, 0 er, 1 bb, 4 k
TOT: 10.1 ip, 7 h, 7 r, 7 er, 7 bb, 11 k, 6.10 era, 1.35 whip, 9.6 k/9
Of the 7 runs the Sox' bullpen has given up, 6 of them were in that one disastrous inning.
Meanwhile, MFY bullpen performance so far...
G1: 3.1 ip, 1 h, 1 r, 1 er, 0 bb, 2 k
G2: 3.0 ip, 2 h, 1 r, 1 er, 0 bb, 3 k
G3: 3.0 ip, 4 h, 3 r, 3 er, 2 bb, 5 k
G4: 4.0 ip, 5 h, 6 r, 6 er, 2 bb, 4 k
TOT: 13.1 ip, 12 h, 11 r, 11 er, 4 bb, 14 k, 7.43 era, 1.20 whip, 9.5 k/9
NY's pen has given up runs in every single game so far, and they've blown two leads in four games.