Santiago vs. Axelrod

[caulfield12]

Hector might be one of those Cooper pitchers who gets better as his K/9 totals fall. He wastes a lot of pitches right now, and it makes him a 5 inning pitcher. He has got to figure out how to go 7 innings instead of 5, if he wants to be an effective starter. It doesn't help your team much if you have to burn up your middle and long relief to balance out his starts. In fact by using your worst reliever on a regular basis, it might be a net detriment to the team, no matter how good his five innings are.

 

 

His average is 5.6, including all starts.

 

That said, Quintana has ALSO had some of the same issues with stamina, pitching into the late innings (more this year than last).

 

Santiago was throwing 93-94-95 still after nearly 120 pitches in one of his recent outings.

 

If we fix our bullpen in the offseason, we can get by with Santiago, as long as he can consistently give a max effort for 6 or more innings. But yeah, going to the pen in the 6th extends it too much with how shoddy the back of our pen is, let alone the 7th and 8th.

 

 

5.1

7

5.2

3.1

6

6.1

5.1

8

2.1

7

5.1

 

So 6 starts out of 11 with 6+ innings pitched. It's definitely an area he should improve on in time, and I'm pretty sure at least two of his starts in September last year also went 7+.

Edited July 10, 2013 by caulfield12

[Jake]

We can "get by" with Santiago? What are you smoking?

[southsider2k5]

His average is 5.6, including all starts.

 

That said, Quintana has ALSO had some of the same issues with stamina, pitching into the late innings (more this year than last).

 

Santiago was throwing 93-94-95 still after nearly 120 pitches in one of his recent outings.

 

If we fix our bullpen in the offseason, we can get by with Santiago, as long as he can consistently give a max effort for 6 or more innings. But yeah, going to the pen in the 6th extends it too much with how shoddy the back of our pen is, let alone the 7th and 8th.

 

 

5.1

7

5.2

3.1

6

6.1

5.1

8

2.1

7

5.1

 

So 6 starts out of 11 with 6+ innings pitched. It's definitely an area he should improve on in time, and I'm pretty sure at least two of his starts in September last year also went 7+.

 

Regardless, he has GOT to get more efficient with is pitches.

 

[caulfield12]

We can "get by" with Santiago? What are you smoking?

 

 

What I mean is that we shouldn't dump him or trade him because he can only go 6 innings vs. 7 each time out.

 

The reason I made that list is to show the territory he's in statistically in that category.

 

All of those guys are legit pitchers, most aces or future aces. Someone in NY and LA reading that would go....who the HELL is Hector Santiago, and where did he come from?

Edited July 10, 2013 by caulfield12

[Buehrle>Wood]

I still can't believe the Sox were dumb enough to have this discussion. As fathom put it the other day, "the worst personnel decision made all year".

 

Thankfully, he got his chance anysays. Well, im not actually thankful considering why

Edited July 10, 2013 by Buehrle>Wood

[GreenSox]

Starters are more valuable than bullpen pitchers.

But the key issue isn't really if pen-Axe plus starter-Santiago is more effective than starter-Axe plus pen-Santiago.

The issue is that Santiago is the pitcher who has a real career in front of him. He's a good starter. he needs to be developed. I don't care if Axe sucks in the pen. Winning games this year isn't important.

 

I like Axe, but he's 5th starter fodder. There's nothing to develop.

[Jake]

Starters are more valuable than bullpen pitchers.

But the key issue isn't really if pen-Axe plus starter-Santiago is more effective than starter-Axe plus pen-Santiago.

The issue is that Santiago is the pitcher who has a real career in front of him. He's a good starter. he needs to be developed. I don't care if Axe sucks in the pen. Winning games this year isn't important.

 

I like Axe, but he's 5th starter fodder. There's nothing to develop.

 

Santiago in rotation and Axe in pen or Axe in AAA or Axe in Tokyo is still better than Axe in rotation and Santiago in pen. Santiago has always struggled to find consistency in the pen, has admitted that he had to quit throwing his screwball entirely because he can't find his release on it in a bullpen warmup, and he can't get lefties out. It should have been a no-brainer from the get-go

[Y2Jimmy0]

I still can't believe the Sox were dumb enough to have this discussion. As fathom put it the other day, "the worst personnel decision made all year".

 

Thankfully, he got his chance anysays. Well, im not actually thankful considering why

 

 

You can't believe it? These are the same guys that made the decision to put Chris Sale in the bullpen last year.

[Leonard Zelig]

You can't believe it? These are the same guys that made the decision to put Chris Sale in the bullpen last year.

I know! For 1 whole inning!

[Harry Chappas]

Didn't Santiago pitch out of the bullpen all spring training?

 

This was a pretty flawed approach as he was never stretched out, especially when it was obvious Danks would not be ready.

[greg775]

Haven't we seen enough of Axe? Can you say middle reliever?

[flavum]

Haven't we seen enough of Axe? Can you say middle reliever?

 

Probably. That was his last start before the break. Peavy's coming back for 2-3 starts, and then hopefully Erik Johnson is ready to roll.

[caulfield12]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/co...rue/order/false

 

In the bottom 6 in MLB ERA for qualified starters, only 5 pitchers are lower.

121 hits in 98 IP, 32 BB, 55 K's.

 

Edwin Jackson and Lucas Harrell are also right there...along with a name that doesn't belong, Matt Cain.

 

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,2596690.story

 

"Velocity was down for some reason," Ventura said. "It didn’t look sharp. I don’t think it was anything physical or anything like that. But I’ve seen him sharper."

 

That was a long time ago. In Axelrod's past 28 innings, Axelrod has allowed 29 earned runs - including 11 home runs.

 

"I didn’t feel like (the velocity was down), but I noticed it out there," Axelrod said. "I feel fine. I don’t know if the (radar) gun was right on or if it was low or what, but I felt fine. It’s just one of those things, you can’t throw 84 or 85 mph to big league hitters and expect to throw it by them.

 

"I don’t know if that was really what I was throwing or what. I’m kind of scratching my head with that one, too."

 

Axelrod, whose ERA swelled to 5.33, will stay in the rotation at least until Jake Peavy returns from a left rib fracture.

Edited July 11, 2013 by caulfield12