He also had thrown the day before (16 pitches), and represented Cora tapping into the more depleted portion of the bullpen. The back-to-back appearances might have impacted his performance, as well.
He's already at -0.9 WAR on this season in only 6 innings pitched.
I agree those weren't clear-cut bad choices, but the homestand does raise a concern for me:
Yeah, me too. They've got other guys with options hanging fire in AAA, so there's no reason to push the guy if he can't get things squared away.
There will have to be some roster shuffling soon (I see that Dalbec is already on his way to Boston). On the pitching side, they really only have Chase Anderson available in the bullpen, and perhaps Weissert given his short stint yesterday (edit: and Chris Martin). Given that tomorrow's game starter is TBD, they will likely want this to be some kind of bullpen game which leans heavily on Criswell (who I assume will start) and probably Chase Anderson. The 40-man won't be much help in Worcester, with Walter on the IL, Jacques just having pitched 1.2 innings last night, and the recent start of Uwasawa, who is not likely to be available. They could option Campbell (or shitcan Joely) in favor of Zack Kelly today, sending him down for Criswell for tomorrow. That's about all the help they are likely to get in the next 2 days from Worcester.
Only -0.2 per Fangraphs!
I agree this is really the dynamic we're seeing play out. Pitch efficiency is going to be a difference maker. Also, absolute pitches thrown. Getting another out from a starter can matter.
That seems likely. In positive news, Fitts had a good start in AAA today - 6 IP, 80p, 4H, 1HR, 1ER, 0BB, 5K.
Definitely. In the same way that Bernardino was brought up with the Pivetta IL move. No reason to bring up a starter until that spot in the rotation is up again. Plus the pen is probably a little depleted after last night and a fresh arm of any kind is useful.
Sounds like Pivetta would be back April 21 or 22? One more hair-raising trip through the rotation and then hopefully guys start returning.
Any word on the corresponding roster move? Or the 40 man? Or if his chin will require a 40-man slot of its own?
Made a new thread for him given his wild biography. No news on the corresponding 40 man
New threads are good. Cotillo reports Jacques down to AAA is the corresponding move.
Well it's clearly unsustainable. (a) No starting rotation has ever pitched this well over the course of a full season, and (b) none of these guys are THAT good. Bello is the only one of the group whose current stat line is one that could be sustained the entire season.
That's the overall pitching line, starters are even better.
True- ERA not sustainable but isn’t XFIP considered predictive? I’ll take a 3.25 collective starters ERA.
Well, fip stands for fielding independent pricing so no, the defense is not Relevant to xfip.
From the Globe...
The defense is baked into the ERA, so the delta between the two is the defense (and park factors). Have they made all their errors when the relievers are in? Is the outfield D saving the starters a bunch of runs? I guess I'm not shocked because the ERAs are all so low despite the defense. But I don't know why the FIP is significantly higher.
Agree with this, and while none of us optimists saw this level exactly, I would only add that Houck and Whitlock have both looked like guys who maybe just needed more time to evolve as starters. It's perfectly normal for rotation mainstays to start out having exactly the same problems these guys were having -- better command, better mix so that you can last longer, even minor injuries as they get physically used to the demands of the job -- which itself involves conditioning, particularly a couple off-season's worth, I think. Lots of future top starters spend years as swingmen and mediocre rotation guys until they put it all together. Even Pivetta with his wild effectiveness swings. Nobody loves to hear the word "patience" but in baseball it is absolutely critical.
FIP measures all the stuff a pitcher directly controls: BBs, Ks, HBPs, HRs, which is calibrated to ML average ERA, with the idea being that all else is more or less random over a large sample. (i.e., there is no foul ball/weak contact skill.) It's an interesting concept, but not some kind of universal constant pitchers are always going to regress towards.
Mostly, yes. Starters have given up 6 unearned (of 27); for relievers it's 19 of 55 (ouch!). So our pen has a 3.94 ERA, 3.76 FIP, 3.68 XFIP.
Yes, right, thanks. So this means their current ERA reflects unsustainable hit sequencing luck?
