Sample size is too small to really get a good grasp of the variation in his spin rate, but so far his pitches fall into a fairly small range, so it doesn't seem like he's manipulating spin for deception.
BOS bullpen 2018
- Thread starter Hank Scorpio
- Start date
Prepare to witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station.
Obviously reserving judgement until we get some in-game action, but this seems like a very promising development.
For those unable to see embedded tweets, Thornburg hit 95 in an xst game, decision on rehab likely to come by the end of the week.
Given the injury I'm a bit more worried about his command/control than velocity, but that's encouraging nonetheless.
I still believe Smith will rebound, too. It's a slow start and a SSS, we've seen this before somewhat recently and been taught a lesson about overreacting to it with Melancon.
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If this team clicks on all cylinders other teams have "a shot" at the World Series.
Thornburg is still a few weeks out, but he is not currently on the 60-day DL so no 40-man roster move would be necessary to activate him.
My mistake .. Why wouldn't he have been on the 60 day DL? Whatever, it seems obvious Elias wasn't in their plans and found a deal they liked.
Being on the 60-day DL would have meant the earliest they could activate him from it would be late May (60 days from the date he's put on). They may have done it had they needed the roster spot (he and Pedroia were both possible candidates), but they were able to get everyone on that they needed with just moving Hernandez to the 60-day DL and trading Marrero.
We gave up on Panda too quickly:
Called in to pitch, Pablo Sandoval throws filth in 1-2-3 inning for the Giants
https://www.mlb.com/cut4/pablo-sandoval-pitched-a-1-2-3-inning/c-274326382
Called in to pitch, Pablo Sandoval throws filth in 1-2-3 inning for the Giants
https://www.mlb.com/cut4/pablo-sandoval-pitched-a-1-2-3-inning/c-274326382
I'm flat out shocked by that video. He doesn't appear to be holding anything back in his delivery. He's letting it go.
Seems as if they have handled this sitution well to this point.
Seems as if they have handled this sitution well to this point.
Wow is right. A healthy Thornburg probably pushes Hembree off the roster and gives us a set up core of Smith/Thornburg/Barnes/Kelly. Should keep each of them from being overworked.
Hembree does not, according to this March piece.
https://www.mlb.com/news/out-of-options-players-forcing-tough-decisions/c-268856924
The Paw Sox roster also has 5 other guys with a 35% k% or greater. Well, Josh Smith is at 34.9%, but close enough to give that to him. They have enough guys to throw at the back of the pen and see who will stick if they need to.
That's fantastic. It's turning from hoping he can pitch in MLB again at some point in his career to hoping he can be our 8th inning guy this year! Regardless, good for him.
Wow, he drops the curve in - low in the zone both times - for 2 of the Ks and blew the other guy away (looks like he was expecting that curve too). I’m way more excited than I should be.
I guess at some point they have to decide if he’s worth keeping. Someone has to go and it won’t be any of the other 4. And I think Velasquez is just too valuable to send back.
I think they'll phantom DL someone like Hembree or Johnson given what they did with Poyner (DLing instead of optioning). I'm sure he had a minor ailment but they bought as much time as they needed.
The team does have a ton of 7th man depth though so it's not out of the question they could move Hembree. It just seems early in the year for that.
The team does have a ton of 7th man depth though so it's not out of the question they could move Hembree. It just seems early in the year for that.
If Pomeranz has another bad start with diminished velocity I'm wondering if they could DL him, put Velazquez in the rotation, and bring up Thornburg.
Players coming back from TOS is iffy. While the early returns on Thornburg look good, I still think it is too premature to DFA an effective reliever like Hembree until Thornburg has a good chunk of MLB appearances under his belt.
Not the worst idea, but I think I'd give Pom a little more rope to see if it's just shaking off rust.
Hopefully, Pom looks a LOT better in his start tomorrow. If not, I dread the idea of him getting a start in the upcoming Yankees series. Valazquez or Johnson might just be the type of "we're not familiar with him" pitchers that have historically given the MFYs some trouble.
I agree - they can afford to send Velazquez down for a relatively short period of time while they figure out exactly what they have in Thornburg, which also has the added benefit of getting Velazquez work he might not be getting as the long reliever in a potentially crowded bullpen if everyone stays healthy. If anyone goes on the DL during that period, Velazquez comes back up. (Or they phantom DL someone as others have suggested.)
I'd like to make sure that Thornburg is able to pick up his coffee cup this morning before even planning the end of his lengthy time away.
Keep Velazquez, use Johnson ONLY as a loogy. Thornburg replaces Hembree; I have always found Pomerantz a puzzle, but 88-89 is not good enough even with his curve working. As of now I don't see any way to keep him, but if we don't have Pomerantz or Johnson, then Price is our only lefty. Can Swihart, Johnson and Hembree be parlayed into a good lefty reliever?
A: Chris Sale is a lefty. As is EdRo.
B: Brian Johnson has proven he can be an acceptable fill in starter. Making him a LOOGY makes it hard to get length from him on demand. Besides, do you know if he is more effective against lefties than righties?
C: you can't trade 3 nickels for a quarter.
B: Brian Johnson has proven he can be an acceptable fill in starter. Making him a LOOGY makes it hard to get length from him on demand. Besides, do you know if he is more effective against lefties than righties?
C: you can't trade 3 nickels for a quarter.
Hembree ain't going anywhere, and I'm annoyed at the implication.
American League average reliever:
23.5% K rate, 9.4% walk rate
11.5% whiff rate, 30.3% chase rate
4.21 xFIP, 3.90 SIERA
Heath Hembree since 2017:
26% K rate, 6.4% walk rate
14.1% whiff rate, 34.9% chase rate
3.78 xFIP, 3.33 SIERA
American League average reliever:
23.5% K rate, 9.4% walk rate
11.5% whiff rate, 30.3% chase rate
4.21 xFIP, 3.90 SIERA
Heath Hembree since 2017:
26% K rate, 6.4% walk rate
14.1% whiff rate, 34.9% chase rate
3.78 xFIP, 3.33 SIERA
If Thornburg is still Thornburg, he's as good as any lefty reliever we can get.
He held left-handed batters to a .192 wOBA his last full season, posting absurd reverse splits. Plenty of reason to be skeptical he can do that again, but that mark is upper tier elite — better than Miller, Hand, and Britton — and probably a big reason DD acquired him.
Meanwhile, Travis Shaw is off to a slow-ish start this year (.794 OPS), so maybe the trade won't end up quite as disastrously as originally feared (especially with Moreland mashing and Devers continuing to develop, recent slump notwithstanding).
Yeah, Carson Smith has options, and not enough service time to refuse an assignment. Is Kelly's suspension completed? Is Velazquez likely to be available with only one day off after throwing 24 pitches over 2 innings Monday?
Down the road (let's get some more good days in the books first), healthy Thornburg may affect the case for keeping Johnson around. One thing about having so many lefties in the rotation is that our pen adds 1 and maybe 2 of those guys in a short series. Having one of the RH arms as a weapon against lefties takes some of the regular season pressure off having an "extra" lefty around, though. Plus, you can just add Poyner as a "2nd" lefty whenever someone hits the DL or Velazquez just threw an extended relief outing - Velazquez and Poyner could essentially be one rotating pen spot in that way with Walden, Scott, misc. mixed in as needed until Velazquez's 10 day exodus is up. Johnson may yet have value to this team as the only regularly rostered LHRP, but there's basically no projected need for him in a short series, and Thornburg as a lefty weapon makes us care less if our entire regular season pen has all RH in it at times.
Johnson has always shown solid, if unspectacular, peripherals. He never showed a HR problem in the minors (but with his stuff he may simply be more prone to them with better hitters, running a 1.46 in 49.1 MLB IP so far). His splits would also seem to support that he can be an effective back of staff guy if his exposure to RH is limited, just like Hembree should never be facing a lefty in a hi lev spot. But we are dealing with tiny samples and the splits don't really mean much yet (Lose's point).
I don't think there's any chance we can get him through waivers with how pitching starved a number of teams are. If you commit to giving Velazquez a spot the rest of the way - i.e. he's too good to demote - there's basically no way Johnson isn't a casualty, unless they play dumb DL games all year long. Hopefully I haven't invited bad injury karma juju.
I'm at the PawSox game tonight, Thornburg just pitched the 8th, he was consistently hitting 96 with his fastball. Offspeed stuff was around 77, nice separation.
I dont think that will be a problem for this weekend
Thornburg isn't coming back until he both pitches back to back and comes into games with runners on base. All 3 of his appearances so far have been with 2 days off and clean innings. I think he's supposed to pitch tonight for Portland, so that's with one day off. Getting closer.
Wright's been blasted twice. He's nowhere near Boston.
I wouldn't be surprised if Wright never pitches in Boston or the majors again.
I also don't see any danger in DFAing Johnson, I'm pretty sure he'd make it through and end up in Pawtucket.
That said they may still send Velazquez down first just to get some steady work.
I also don't see any danger in DFAing Johnson, I'm pretty sure he'd make it through and end up in Pawtucket.
That said they may still send Velazquez down first just to get some steady work.
Johnson would get claimed. He’s got five years of control after this and plenty of time to settle into an innings-eating #4-5 for a cheap team looking to sell off an arm or two at the deadline.