Is everyone else ready for the Eduardo Rodriguez era?
I sure as shit am.
18.2 IP 4 ER 1 BB 1 HR 16 Ks. 1.93 ERA and 2.47 FIP.
And he's touching 99 on the radar gun.
What are we waiting for?
HomeRunBaker said:I'm ready for the Matt Barnes in the pen era also. We should all just move to Pawtucket until July when all 3 are up.
jscola85 said:The team has the worst gap between FIP/xFIP and ERA in baseball. How about we give the team another 20 games to see if that normalizes?
PrometheusWakefield said:
Is everyone else ready for the Eduardo Rodriguez era?
I sure as shit am.
18.2 IP 4 ER 1 BB 1 HR 16 Ks. 1.93 ERA and 2.47 FIP.
And he's touching 99 on the radar gun.
What are we waiting for?
Who was the Sox pitching prospect who claimed (proved?) that he could not get warmed up in anything less than a normal starting pitcher's routine? Was it Buch? Lester? Bowden? My memory tells me it was the mid-00's.Rasputin said:
Yes, this.
I'm also wondering if Owens and/or Johnson would perform well in a major league bullpen.
rembrat said:
For him not to be 22 years old. What is going on around here?
grimshaw said:Johnson is 24 and has been dominant for the past calendar year.
It's also interesting to consider whether one reason why the groundball rate isn't translating into outs as much as it should be is all bad luck or if the left side of the infield isn't optimal for the current composition of the pitching staff. Sandoval comes with a good defensive reputation, but he doesn't seem to be playing that well over there so far; and I'll take Thumper's Daddy's advise on Xander's defense.jscola85 said:Can we wait 40 games before making an aggressive move like promoting Rodriguez? Despite the debacle yesterday and general issues all year, the starting rotation is still sporting a FIP of 3.96 (16th in majors) and xFIP of 3.79 (13th). A lot of this has been straight up bad luck, as the strand rate for the starters is just 61%, worst in MLB, while the staff has the 9th-worst BABIP at .307.
On the plus side, they are 4th in K rate and sport a 2.5:1 K:BB ratio, while also ranking top-10 in groundball rate.
The team has the worst gap between FIP/xFIP and ERA in baseball. How about we give the team another 20 games to see if that normalizes?
grimshaw said:Johnson is 24 and has been dominant for the past calendar year. I would think he'd get first crack.
bosox79 said:I'm ready for the Brian Johnson era. And he's probably ready too.
Plympton91 said:It's also interesting to consider whether one reason why the groundball rate isn't translating into outs as much as it should be is all bad luck or if the left side of the infield isn't optimal for the current composition of the pitching staff. Sandoval comes with a good defensive reputation, but he doesn't seem to be playing that well over there so far; and I'll take Thumper's Daddy's advise on Xander's defense.
I'll preface this by saying that Miley was horrible yesterday, however I think that game winds up being somewhat different of JBJ is in center. That's not a knock on Mookie, he's just not JBJ defensively.jscola85 said:
Yeah the Sox were projected to have one of the best defenses in baseball but that has not been borne out so far. I've actually thought Holt has looked much better than I expected basically wherever they play him. Sandoval seems to have quick reactions coming in on balls and a strong arm but not huge range. Reminds me a bit of Mike Lowell in that respect.
Bogaerts could be a problem. Very small sample but per Fangraphs he's only fielded 70% of balls in his zone. That ranks him bottom-10 among shortstops. A top-notch SS will typically field 80%+ and that's what X fielded last year at short, so hopefully this normalizes, but if he really is going to only get to 70% of his balls that's Jeterian levels of range.
jscola85 said:
Yeah the Sox were projected to have one of the best defenses in baseball but that has not been borne out so far. I've actually thought Holt has looked much better than I expected basically wherever they play him. Sandoval seems to have quick reactions coming in on balls and a strong arm but not huge range. Reminds me a bit of Mike Lowell in that respect.
Bogaerts could be a problem. Very small sample but per Fangraphs he's only fielded 70% of balls in his zone. That ranks him bottom-10 among shortstops. A top-notch SS will typically field 80%+ and that's what X fielded last year at short, so hopefully this normalizes, but if he really is going to only get to 70% of his balls that's Jeterian levels of range.
nvalvo said:
But by those same numbers, Bogaerts has made 9 OOZ plays. That's a lot for a single month, and doesn't really square very well with the bad BIZ numbers.
That makes me wonder if the stats are having trouble keeping up with expanded shifts.
.Lose Remerswaal said:
You do know he has a total of 16 innings of AAA under his belt, right (plus 6 innings in the AAA playoffs), right?
bosox79 said:.
Yeah and? Pretty much everything I've read said hes the closest SP prospect to being ready before the 2015 season and he's done nothing to hurt his stock. He's ready now. Whether he's any good or not is another question.
At the very least, he's much further along than EdRod and Owens. I don't see him improving much more in AAA.
You have to allow them to be your first option prior to the deadline to best evaluate your staff and it's needs. I expect Johnson to get his shot prior to July then Eddie would be next man up if necessary before any drastic trading of prospects is made.jscola85 said:I don't think they bring up a guy like Johnson or Eduardo to bolster the bullpen in April or May. Maybe in August for a stretch run boost if they are in contention, but for now they only pitch in Boston if the team needs a starter. Until then, keep them in Pawtucket to let them prove they have no business being in the minors and force your hand.
chrisfont9 said:Sox called up Wright today. For all this talk of Johnson or Rodriguez, the Sox have a different idea who the "next man up" is, though that could change by summer.
OK but that's because they don't need a starter. In the hypothetical where they do, the evidence says Wright gets first crack. He was penciled into Kelly's initial start in game 5 before Kelly was able to reclaim the spot.Rasputin said:
They called up Wright to be a reliever. The talk of the next man up is to be a starter.
chrisfont9 said:OK but that's because they don't need a starter. In the hypothetical where they do, the evidence says Wright gets first crack. He was penciled into Kelly's initial start in game 5 before Kelly was able to reclaim the spot.
Vegas Sox Fan said:
He was penciled into that spot because it was only one start. Wright is longman/spot starter. For more than one start they should/would go to Johnson/Rodriguez.
I heard someone from the Sox, probably Ben C. make a statement early this year, maybe during ST, that they think they've been rushing kids up too fast.Otis Foster said:Even in light of the RS current struggles, I strongly favor leaving prospects in the minors till they almost literally force their way into the majors. There's not enough of a track record for that. The RS have a history of doing the opposite, in the belief that you need to continually challenge prospects. We all know how that's turned out.
Al Zarilla said:I heard someone from the Sox, probably Ben C. make a statement early this year, maybe during ST, that they think they've been rushing kids up too fast.