Brandon McCarthy is not a phenom

[southsideirish71]

Seems like you're giving Bobby a free pass from yesterday then. If he doesn't blow the save then Bmac doesn't even pitch.

 

Dude let it go. Yesterday he was lamenting that we didnt pick up a guy like Aaron Guiel to be a better platoon than Mack in center. Couple of problems with that, 1.) Guiel is not a CF, and would make Mack seem like a gold glover in CF. 2.) He is a 33 year old career .240ish hitter who was released by the Royals 3.) He is hitting what .215 or so for the Yanks this season. At least if you are going to platoon someone, make sure that they are hitting better than the defensive guy that supposedly cant hit.

 

I am about as big of a Bobby fan as there is. Bobby was given a 1 run lead and blew it, and was very lucky not to have been tagged with the loss there. He had nothing and hopefully brings his A game next time.

Edited September 5, 2006 by southsideirish71

[RockRaines]

Seems like you're giving Bobby a free pass from yesterday then. If he doesn't blow the save then Bmac doesn't even pitch.

We are lucky he has only blown that little amount of saves this year. He in the MLB leader for a reason.

[Rowand44]

We are lucky he has only blown that little amount of saves this year. He in the MLB leader for a reason.

I'm not ripping Bobby at all, I'm just trying to make a point.

Edited September 5, 2006 by Rowand44

[southsideirish71]

I'm not ripping Bobby at all, I'm just trying to make a point.

 

 

Greg thinks that Thornton is a bad reliever because he gave up a run in a game he saw. MMac is in the same boat. I tried stats and that didnt sink in, Thornton, MMac and Jenks have been great all year long. Our back end of the bullpen is pretty damn good. Guys like this are very hard to hit when they are on, but they have 2 weaknesses, 1 is being wild. Hard throwers at the end of the pen can get wild at times, the other thing is the propensity of giving up the dong. If you make solid contact on a 97 mph fastball it goes a very very long way.

I feel good with the back end of our pen.

[Rowand44]

Greg thinks that Thornton is a bad reliever because he gave up a run in a game he saw. MMac is in the same boat. I tried stats and that didnt sink in, Thornton, MMac and Jenks have been great all year long. Our back end of the bullpen is pretty damn good. Guys like this are very hard to hit when they are on, but they have 2 weaknesses, 1 is being wild. Hard throwers at the end of the pen can get wild at times, the other thing is the propensity of giving up the dong. If you make solid contact on a 97 mph fastball it goes a very very long way.

I feel good with the back end of our pen.

Alright, you made my point for me. Thanks for saving me the time.

[southsideirish71]

Alright, you made my point for me. Thanks for saving me the time.

 

 

I hope Sweeney gets a hit tonight, or he will be labeled a bust at 21.

 

Sweeney is my favorite prospect. He probably has the best looking swing that I have seen on a prospect. A prototypical line drive swing. I hope the kid gets off to a quick start, and maybe we can have Pods watch a few games more from the bench.

Edited September 5, 2006 by southsideirish71

[Chisoxfn]

Bmac will be at least a number 2 starter for this team. There, I said it.

I got faith in Buehrle so he'd be the #3.

[Rowand44]

I got faith in Buehrle so he'd be the #3.

I meant more in terms of putting up number 2 like starter numbers. Obviously everyone has their own opinion to what that is, but you get my point.

 

I hope Sweeney gets a hit tonight, or he will be labeled a bust at 21.

 

Sweeney is my favorite prospect. He probably has the best looking swing that I have seen on a prospect. A prototypical line drive swing. I hope the kid gets off to a quick start, and maybe we can have Pods watch a few games more from the bench.

Agreed with everything you said. I like Ryan a lot more than I like Josh. I think because of his swing he has the potential to adjust quickly to the majors but on the other hand it definitely wouldn't shock me if he struggles for a bit.

[RockRaines]

I hope Sweeney gets a hit tonight, or he will be labeled a bust at 21.

 

Sweeney is my favorite prospect. He probably has the best looking swing that I have seen on a prospect. A prototypical line drive swing. I hope the kid gets off to a quick start, and maybe we can have Pods watch a few games more from the bench.

Ryan has shown that he can flourish against MLB pitcher, albeit in spring training. I think he starts hot.

[WCSox]

Promised and saw at the end of last year, he was the best the Sox had for the final month, I'd say that's more of an indication of what he's capable of than what he's done out of the pen this year.

 

Kip Wells also looked like a bad-ass in a limited action in the late summer of '99.

 

I don't think that B-Mac's mediocre pitching this season is necessarily due to the fact that he's pitching out of the 'pen. IMO, the inconsistency has more to do with youth and inexperience than anything else.

 

How did Johan Santana fair out of the bullpen his first time around in that role? 62 IP, 67 H, 7 HR, 40BB:50K, 5.37 ERA. Not very impressive.

 

Papelbon was brought in as a starter and did a pretty good job after being reassigned to the 'pen last year.

 

I do agree that what B-Mac did in limited action last summer is a good indication of what he's capable of. But, like Jon Garland, it may take some time before he can sustain that level of performance over an entire season.

[witesoxfan]

BMAC is better than Freddy and Javy. Putting him in the rotation would improve the team immensely.

 

Agreed on Garcia. The Sox could throw Thornton out there and he'd fair better than Garcia, assuming he can locate one offspeed pitch well enough.

 

I don't buy that he's better than Vazquez...Vazquez has turned a corner in the 2nd half. I think he'll be fine the rest of this year, and he'll win 15-18 games next.

 

I also don't buy that'd he'd be worse than Contreras. Until Contreras goes on the DL and/or stops throwing from the side, he's a bad pitcher.

[LVSoxFan]

Sorry but I agree with the fact that B-Mac is overrated, even if his POTENTIAL isn't. Unforunately, we haven't had a situation where IMO we can see how much of it will come to fruition.

 

Face it, we've used him in a few games last year and this year he lopes out of the bullpen once in a while--what kind of consistency is that to make the final call?

 

My point is, we haven't seen enough of him to make the call. However, the original poster is right when he states (or maybe others have said it, I'm sure he agrees) that people act like all of a sudden we'd have our 2005 rotation dazzle if we dumped Vaz or Freddy and made B-Mac a starter.

 

That COULD be true (I've pleaded for this this season too) but really it's all speculation right now, which only actual playing will bear out.

 

That said, and I like McCarthy, he sure does seem to give up a lot of dingers in his limited innnings. I wonder about him, too...

[Texsox]

Reading through this thread, I think some of the differences are not in how people rate Brandon's talent, but in how enthusiastic and how bold predictions people will make. Of all the "younger than Garland" pitchers in the system, Brandon would be my #1 pick as the best, and I believe he has the talent to be a very solid pitcher. But, so much goes into reaching Clemens, Pedro, Johnson, Maddux level. Work, teams, coaches, key situations, and even luck.

 

So no matter how much talent a guy has, I'd never be annointing him as a savior with a mlb total 6 wins. I've gushed at too many young players and watched them crash and burn and be out of the league in a couple seasons. Does that make Brandon any less special a talent? Of course not. When I was 25, I'd be figurig out what year his first of 6 CY Young Awards would come. Now, I'll sit back and patiently watch his development and hope it's with the Sox. I've also seen the difference between AAA and brief mlb appearances. The difference between spot starts and a regular spot in the rotation. A regular spot and the pressure to be "the guy". You can't always tell where a guy will be comfortable and where he will rise to his own level of inefficiencies.