If they can get him back like he was right before he got injured. That would be a huge boost. He had seemed to be doing well in his final 5 appearances or so filling in for Kimbrel.Scott Lauber ESPN Staff Writer
Depending on what happens in bullpen sessions Wednesday and Saturday, Koji Uehara could be reinstated from the disabled list by early next week, according to Red Sox manager John Farrell. Uehara hasn't pitched since July 19 because of a strained right pectoral muscle.
Scott Lauber ESPN Staff Writer
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That's the MO of the entire pen. Throw a handful of decent outings together then crap the bed, again and again. Rinse and repeat with pretty much everyone.
It's possible he needed to adjust to Boston, but he also has a really striking leverage split for his career. Could be just noise but he's allowed a .971 OPS in 243 high-leverage PA (b-r definition) and under a .700 OPS in medium or low-leverage. (Of course he was immediately thrown into very high leverage situations when he arrived here).
I think this is what will happen with Kelly. He's been really good in AAA in relief. He'll come up tomorrow and be put in a big spot and.....vomit all over himself. And we will turn to the next guy. Then the next guy.
I'd like to see him at least have the opportunity to prove or disprove that.
Kelly will be eligible for the postseason no matter where he is at midnight tonight. (Its Major League Rule 40, which I cant find right now, but optioned players are eligible.)
There's no need for a loophole. Everyone on the 40-man roster as of August 31 is eligible for the post-season roster. Loopholes are only needed for players who aren't on the 40-man roster as of that date.
Wasn't half this board clamoring for Buchholz to take the 8th after he went back to the pen? Or did you mean "everyone on the planet who can see into the future?"
Do you really think he hasn't picked up a baseball in that time, if he has any inclination to sign with someone? I mean I know he's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'd imagine the guy is at least throwing.
Then who?
He hasn't faced live hitting in almost a month. Before this sabbatical, he had lost his closer's role by pitching like garbage.
Buchholz is a really gifted pitcher without a sense of the moment. That's why the 8th inning slot is not ideal for him. Pitching around Longoria would have been easy in this situation. Maybe someone will coach him as to the meaning of pitching around.
Not Buchholz.
It didn't take a crystal ball to know Buch can't handle the setup role. I'm sorry there were some short-sighted people thinking he could.
Or the rest has gotten through a dead arm phase that led to his pitching like garbage for 5 games. He's been doing this a long time, I don't think he exactly needs a minor league stint to remember how to pitch effectively enough to handle the 7th inning better than the tripe that's being trotted out on a nightly basis right now.
You've been asked multiple times but have yet to answer, who should it have been?
If he's driven to do well in an effort to land a job for next season, isn't that something that he could and should be doing on his own?
Wow, the bolded shows that you either have a personal issue with him (which kind of rings thru the rest of your stance) or just haven't paid attention. He had a horeshit stretch of five games. Otherwise he was having a pretty solid year. You may be right he won't sign unless he;s the closer, but if he will, he would help the pen by default.
So you don't want him in the pen at all except to mop up? Cause none of that is exclusive to a setup role. A tie game is always high leverage in a relief situation.
But isn't the bigger issue that Farrell and Wills were given:
I really hope that Buchholz giving up a HR to Evan Longoria --like that's never happened before--isnt going to start another game of musical chairs in the 8th inning. He's been very good at coming in and putting up a zero. Let's give him more than 2 tries at the 8th inning.
If only Farrell had done a better job managing Carson Smith and those 9IP he gave the 2016 Red Sox.
You don't pitch around a guy in a tie game, in the 8th inning, with the bases empty, even if he is the best hitter on the opposing team. You don't hand them a baserunner in that situation. Especially after you've gotten ahead of him 1-2 and made him look damn foolish just the pitch before.
Koji is 41 and brittle and measures were taken to guard against this by limiting his usage early in the season.
The micro-issue isnt how much faith there should be in Buchholz, but whether there's really any less faith in him for a situation like last night than in any of the other available options. It's not like Farrell can call the pen in the 2nd inning and ask "which 4 of you are going to suck tonight?"
I'm sorry, but this is absolute nonsense.
I read Hawks post about not pitching around Longoria but I disagree. I think you take a chance and pitch around Longo then have Ross pitch to Miller trying to induce a GB. Miller and Longoria aren't exactly speedsters.
Farrell knew what he was getting - and he did make intelligent decisions to preserve Koji. When Carson Smith went down, he tried to plug Noe Ramierez into that role instead of regrouping. Then he promptly burnt out Tazawa. He was given replacement players whose acquisitions were near-universially approved on this board, given their track records to date and the needs of the club.
I think you should sit down with the game logs for a bit.
