Koji to the DL with a broken wrist

[In my lifetime]

Way too much negativity for me. The pitching has been bad, but add a true ace (there will several on the market) to the mix and quickly the staff looks above average as every pitcher get bumped down a spot. That's where the RS will have to spend their money or player assets this off-season. And after this year, I am confident the RS and whoever is in charge will come to the same conclusion.

 

[geoduck no quahog]

Bingo.

And the negativity comes from the fact that the major league pitching staff may be the worst one assembled in the post war era, the pitching staff at Pawtucket also sucks, and the pitching staff at Portland sucks, and the pitching staff at Salem sucks, and the pitching staff at Greenville sucks.

Where is this team going to find pitching in the next 3 years?

And it's not about being entitled. It's about having priorities. Sometimes I wish I were a retired old guy with an empty nest who could invest 3 hours a day in a bad baseball team. But it's not always what I'd want and it's definitely not the as age of life I'm at. Bad baseball is way down the list of things to do.

 Of course, the two top-50 Red Sox minor league pitching prospects have been called up - so I guess the minor league pitching pool sucks.

 

[Plympton91]

 Of course, the two top-50 Red Sox minor league pitching prospects have been called up - so I guess the minor league pitching pool sucks.

 
And a third is on the DL with pre-Tommy-John-itis.  But if your pool is only 3 deep, it's the kiddie pool, not the adult pool.  
 
The Nats have a rotation full of 4 aces and a prospect they called up this year, 2 guys who were top 30 overall starters last year in their bullpen, and 3 top pitching prospects still in the minors.   And they're only in 2nd place in their division, and 6th place in the NL. The Red Sox need more than 3 rookies and Wade Miley to be competitive again.  So, when people say they're looking forward to watching all this young pitching being called up, what exactly are you excited about?

 

[swingin val]

Max Scherzer was signed as a free agent.
Gio Gonzalez was the result of a trade.
Joe Ross was the result of a trade.
Doug Fister was the result of a trade.
Tanner Roark was the result of a trade.

Pretty sure the Red Sox could put together a staff in a similar way.

 

[Rasputin]

 
 So, when people say they're looking forward to watching all this young pitching being called up, what exactly are you excited about?

 
Watching all the young pitching being called up. 
 
Seriously, it's not hard to understand. 

 

[Plympton91]

 
Watching all the young pitching being called up. 
 
Seriously, it's not hard to understand. 

 
Noe Ramirez's slop?  Jonathan Aro's mediocrity?  Brian Johnson's flight status to Birmingham?
 
Was it exciting to hear Dennis Eckersley's evaluations of Henry Owens over the weekend? 

 

[Sprowl]

Was it exciting to hear Dennis Eckersley's evaluations of Henry Owens over the weekend? 

 
Yes. Eck was on a roll, and Owens' second start was very interesting, if disappointing, from the aspects of mechanics and velocity.
 
Edro and Owens, the young pitchers worth watching are already in Boston, so I wouldn't be looking for anything among the next batch of callups.
 
Bogaerts, Betts, Bradley, Castillo and Swihart are exciting to watch, and each has shown promising improvement in the majors this year. If you can't find anything worth watching among those seven, don't watch.

 

[joe dokes]

Plympton91
 
Noe Ramirez's slop?  Jonathan Aro's mediocrity?  Brian Johnson's flight status to Birmingham?
 
Was it exciting to hear Dennis Eckersley's evaluations of Henry Owens over the weekend? 
 

 
I was out of town, so I didn't see/hear the game or Eck, but it seemed like Sunday's game was pretty exciting.
Every game is a new thing. For whatever reason, I can watch or listen to *this* game and get engaged in it, without the context of a shitty season making me feel like I'm "wasting my time."
 

Plympton91      

And it's not about being entitled. It's about having priorities. Sometimes I wish I were a retired old guy with an empty nest who could invest 3 hours a day in a bad baseball team. But it's not always what I'd want and it's definitely not the as age of life I'm at. Bad baseball is way down the list of things to do.
 

 
Some might call me old (54), but I'm not retired and the nest isn't empty.  My "priorities" regarding baseball and things that aren't baseball aren't really affected by my favorite baseball team's place in the standings.

 

[Alcohol&Overcalls]

How are six weeks of evaluations going to help make good, informed decisions? History is littered with guys who had a hot month-plus and then did nothing or had a terrible start and then went on to fine careers.

 
I mean ... more information is always better than less. The information gathered isn't just the triple-slash, either - it's self-scouting, watching adjustments to big-league pitching or hitters, seeing how the player adjusts to life in the bigs, watching preparation and work ethic, and etc. 
 
You make a good, informed decision by maximizing the available data. 

 

[Super Nomario]

Change the perspective.  It isn't six weeks to evaluate or make decisions.  It's six weeks for a whole bunch of guys to get their feet wet or gain more experience and hasten their transition to the big leagues.  For some guys the transition is instantaneous (the Trouts of the world), for some it takes a couple months (Pedroia), for some it might take a year or more for the lights to go on, and for some it never clicks.  But regardless of where each player falls on that spectrum, what can it hurt to use the last six weeks to expose a whole bunch of players who could be contributors to this team for the next few years?
 
A lot of these players have already been evaluated and decisions made about them, with more evaluations and decisions to come.  They're not about to decide any of these players' futures based on the next six weeks, but having that data added to the mix can't exactly hurt.

I buy all of this. That's not what the post I was responding to was saying.
 

I disagree wholeheartedly that you cannot generate useful inferences from the last 50 games this year.  Things like K rate, BB rate, and HR rate for hitters all stabilize after less than 250 PAs and similar for pitchers. Giving guys like Owens and Wright extended looks, as well as folks like Shaw, JBJ, Swihart, etc. will at least let the org see if they can be contributors in some form for 2016.

If those rates stablilize over that number of ABs, aren't we pretty close to a danger zone with JBJ and Swihart?
 

Bogaerts, Betts, Bradley, Castillo and Swihart are exciting to watch, and each has shown promising improvement in the majors this year. If you can't find anything worth watching among those seven, don't watch.

I don't think all these guys are exciting to watch, at least not yet. It's awesome to watch Bradley's D, or Betts hit line drives everywhere and his crazy-aggressive baserunning. But Swihart is just a .250 singles hitter right now with mediocre D. Your mileage may vary, but that's not what I'd call exciting.

 

[jscola85]

 
Noe Ramirez's slop?  Jonathan Aro's mediocrity?  Brian Johnson's flight status to Birmingham?
 
Was it exciting to hear Dennis Eckersley's evaluations of Henry Owens over the weekend? 

 
For one, Jonathan Aro might not have elite "stuff", but has posted a FIP below 3.04 at every level since he started playing full-season baseball, and has a 5:1 K:BB & 11.23 K/9 in AAA.  Guys with those numbers even without elite stuff tend to become at least useful MLB relievers.
 
On top of him, you have three guys in Barnes, Hembree and Light who all have elite stuff but varying levels of command.  Plus Tommy Layne, who has already proven he's at least a solid 7th inning guy for an MLB bullpen.

As for Eck, the guy might be a HOF pitcher but he's no scout.  Taking his word as gospel is like saying whatever Joe Morgan believes is gospel.
 
Three fifths of the rotation in my view is getting absolutely critical seasoning for 2016 in Owens, Eduardo and Wright.  Another 8-9 starts for each of them can tell you a ton about what they are today, what they could become and what they may not be.  Then add in bullpen pieces like Aro, Hembree, Light, Barnes and Layne - lots to evaluate and potentially get excited about in 2016.  Not to mention that on the other side you have Castillo, JBJ, Bogaerts, Betts, Swihart, and Shaw all getting much-needed MLB innings / at-bats.
 
This isn't 2012, when guys with zero future like Podsednik, Ciriaco, Mauro Gomez, Aviles, and James Loney were getting regular ABs for no other reason than the Sox had to send somebody out there; meanwhile in the rotation they tossed out Aaron Cook and a fork-in-his-back Daisuke Matsuzaka down the stretch.  At least for this year, the team has plenty of young but unproven talent to evaluate.

 

[jscola85]

I buy all of this. That's not what the post I was responding to was saying.
 
If those rates stablilize over that number of ABs, aren't we pretty close to a danger zone with JBJ and Swihart?
 
I don't think all these guys are exciting to watch, at least not yet. It's awesome to watch Bradley's D, or Betts hit line drives everywhere and his crazy-aggressive baserunning. But Swihart is just a .250 singles hitter right now with mediocre D. Your mileage may vary, but that's not what I'd call exciting.

 
Swihart I think there's a definitive rationale for giving a pass given he was called up before he was remotely ready and spent the first month basically just trying to figure out who he was catching for that day.  Since then he's displayed a lot more competence.
 
JBJ?  Yeah, the sample size is starting to get the point of damnation, but the hope/idea is that he uses the next 200-250 PAs to show he has changed and that his 400+ PAs of futility in 2014 were corrected through changes made in AAA this year.  It's an extremely small sample, but since being recalled, he has a 8/7 K/BB ratio in the majors and at least to my eye shown a much better ability to work counts than he did in 2014.  He has a .648 OPS in his 11 games (40 PAs) so far since being recalled despite a BABIP under .200.  If he keeps exhibiting the batting eye he's shown since being brought back up, he's looking a lot more promising at least as a 4th OF for 2016.

 

[Buzzkill Pauley]

Way too much negativity for me. The pitching has been bad, but add a true ace (there will several on the market) to the mix and quickly the staff looks above average as every pitcher get bumped down a spot. That's where the RS will have to spend their money or player assets this off-season. And after this year, I am confident the RS and whoever is in charge will come to the same conclusion.

One "true ace" is not going to fix the bullpen, nor resupply the upper levels of the minors with decent pitchers to provide innings for injury coverage.

Hopefully, though, Johnson won't need surgery, so he and Workman can eventually lock down the 7th inning duties next season ahead of Taz and Koji.

But if both he and Buchholz need to go under the knife, though, the Sox pitching looks extremely bleak, with or without a "true ace" on staff.

 

[In my lifetime]

My response was dependant on Buchholz pitching next year. If he needs TJS, then he would also need to be replaced which would mean completely obliterating the LT threshold (considering the other needs a 1B or LF and another reliable BP arm.

So the staff would be
Ace
Buchholz
Porcello
EROD
Miley

Plus for starter depth/injury replacement
Kelly
Johnson
Owens

For starting pitching, that would be a good group to start the season. Of course, they don't have the ace and it assumes the other 4 starters are healthy.

 

[Rasputin]

 
Was it exciting to hear Dennis Eckersley's evaluations of Henry Owens over the weekend? 

Yes, and it was fun, you know, watching Owens pitch.

Look, you can be a miserable crusty bastard all you want and never see the fun in anything, but don't drag the rest of us into your personal hellhole.

 

[BeantownIdaho]

 

[The Tax Man]

Today at .com, Iayork once again uses his unique visuals to show just how dominant Koji was in 2013.  
 

 
Uehara replaced Tazawa, and with three pitches struck out Fielder, stopping the Tigers’ rally, and then completed the save with a single, double play and strikeout in the 9th.
Here is Fielder’s 8th-inning at-bat, animated from PITCHf/x data:
 

 

[alwyn96]

Yes, and it was fun, you know, watching Owens pitch.

Look, you can be a miserable crusty bastard all you want and never see the fun in anything, but don't drag the rest of us into your personal hellhole.

 
Yeah, watching a young prospect making his debut is a great part of being a fan. I'm generally a happy guy who likes watching baseball - baseball is fun! Even in the losses it's interesting to see what the new young guys are doing, rooting for a beloved player to hit a milestone, watching a fantastic defensive play, or just enjoying summertime and the natural rhythms of the game. And since wins don't really matter at this point anyway, I can get on board the 'suck for Puk!' or 'tank for Banks!' train and be comforted that the Sox may get a higher draft pick. I'm bummed that Koji's out because he was one of my favorites to watch, but seeing the young guys is cool too. 
 
I feel like there's always something to enjoy, but that may just be my own personal temperament. 

 

[tomdeplonty]

Today at .com, Iayork once again uses his unique visuals to show just how dominant Koji was in 2013.  

 
This was a nifty explanation of how Koji's stuff works. Ian's pieces are consistently excellent.

 

[soxhop411]

 
 
https://twitter.com/TeamUehara/status/634574759699841024

 

[kazuneko]

これは、お宝になるなぁ。選手みんなのサイン入りやからね(o^^o)
 
 
https://twitter.com/TeamUehara/status/634574759699841024

His tweet means something like this: "last week everyone signed.  It will become something I'll treasure"

 

[mt8thsw9th]

His tweet means something like this: "last week everyone signed.  It will become something I'll treasure"

 
I like Google's translation better
 

This is, I wonder become treasure. I'll player Ya everyone autographed