Dominikk85

Why is collins starting today? He definitely should start like twice a week but why not tomorrow against a RHP?

Robert tried to be a bit more patient but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. He saw a few more pitches but it meant that he would take meatballs or take late swings on fastballs when the ball was almost by him and he thought "oh shit, strike - I need to swing". Yeah ideally Robert gets more patient but not at the expense of taking an extra long look and thus be late on the FB. He needs to be on time with the fastball even if it means Occasionally being fooled by a well tunneled breaking ball.

Greinke has an anxiety disorder and put up a hall of fame career. It can be managed.

It is old school thinking but many orgs still use their best guy strictly in 9th inning save situations and there was only one of those this year as most of the times the pen blew it earlier. There are very good arguments for using your best reliever differently but even some very progressive GMs defended the strict 9th inning guy, for example espstein admitted when he was still in Boston that he thinks 9th inning closer is stupid but media will be much more over a 9th inning blown save than over an earlier one and also many closers prefer the fixed role and feel more comfortable with it. Maybe Hendricks is a guy who likes knowing when it is time for him to pitch.

Who is the alternative though? Sox have nobody else to back up short and second except for mendick (who can't really play short though).

I overall don't blame the management of tlr but I wonder why he didn't pinch hit for leury and Hamilton the last two innings. I know Billy hit well that game but he still is a bad hitter as is leury and they had Vaughn and collins on the bench. If you carry 3 DHs on the roster then use them to pinch hit as much as you can late in the game.

Well cease was missing sliders by 3 feet. He threw a few good ones too but he was missing so many that it is understandable that grandal didn't want to fall back 3-0. Calling games is not just theory, sometimes a pitcher doesn't have the feel for a pitch and then you have to go with plan B even if it can mean that you get nuked.

His slider is good when he can locate it. The FB is not good, he tried to do the modern high FB thing but it doesn't have the lift of for example Giolitos FB and gets hit hard at the top of the zone.

Yeah the start wasn't great but it is super early. Remember last year when the team started 1-4 and then went on to win 35 games (94 win pace) despite having Ricky and a very bad last week? Yes the team has some holes but once moncada, Abreu, Anderson, grandal and hopefully Vaughn start to hit this is going to be a good offense even if Robert struggles a bit. Also the pen has been very bad giving up runs every game and this should change too as this is a talented group. Yes, the backend of the rotation and the bench are suspect but it was last year too when they were quite successful. I'm very optimistic this is going to be a 90+ win team.

That game is double A quality of play by both teams. No command pitchers, terrible defense and bad at bats.

Tight zone

Ohtani now all over the place

Who is playing center then though?

He is the only interesting thing happening in this game so far, his teammates aren't doing that much either.

Ohtani command not great either but stuff is very good

Both sides though, last two innings cease gave up a lot of crushed balls at people in the outfield. But an out is an out

Cease slider is good, he just needs to locate it

Yeah, I think it is mental, he never was a super fine command pitcher but yanking sliders wide 3 feet is in the head. Fortunately just two runs, Sox can make that up but cease needs to stabilize

Cease got away with a meatball there.

Robert is true. Abreu would hurt a lot but you could put Vaughn in there. For short there is just no good replacement on the roster or in the system. For CF that is of course true too.

Ohtani has a bit of trouble with his breaking ball grip, a few got away

Hope it is not so bad. Sox can replace anyone except for Giolito and Anderson.

Well the next month there is no Milb anyway so it makes no difference for his playing time. So why send him down when there is no minor league until may? I also don't think he will only play once a week, I think he will play around 4-5 times a week and if he starts hitting probably more.

How? Don't see a delete button

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