Balta1701

In the context of them saying he would be shut down from baseball activities until June, and multiple setbacks already....this seems early.

So I figured out what I want to do with yesterday's game in the list. It fits in the list, but it isn't bolded because there's not an obvious, catastrophic decision, and "Aaron Bummer should be able to get an out against the bottom of the Yankee order" is not an obviously impossible standard. But at the same time, you can see how the decisions on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all cascaded together to contribute to another L. 1-Apr Failing to make review time window, Leury starts opening day, no pinch hitter for him late. 3-Apr Bullpen Usage - Bummer never used, Marshall allowed to blow game in the 9th. 4-Apr Bullpen usage - Hendriks not used in the 9th, Ruiz and Foster blow it. *Several times could have PH for Leury or Hamilton, not done 7-Apr Bullpen usage - Foster comes in with Bummer and Hendriks needing work, gives up 5 runs. 11-Apr Couple of poorly thought out bunts, pinch running for Mercedes early left no backup Ofs 13-Apr Williams hits 5th, Lamb hits 7th, Mercedes benched against Bieber. Could have kept Hendriks out to start the 10th. 27-Apr Attempts to kill Lucas Giolito. "We were looking for a single there." Insists postgame that he was awake. 5-May Messes up double-switch, runs team out of 10th inning, rulebook read to him by reporter. 17-May The Yermin Mercedes incident. 21-May Bullpen Usage. Day after offday, only Hendricks pitched on Wednesday so nearly entire bullpen available. Left Marshall out for 9th inning against Yankee 3-4-5 after already pitching in the 8th did not pull him even when runners got on. Did not shift anyone up the middle against Judge, who singled through the spot where a shift should have been. 23-May Bullpen Usage - Crochet used in mopup duty in 7 run game day before, so unavailable. Hendriks and Bummer on extra long rest, so rust possible. LaRussa keeps Bummer out for the 9th to save Hendricks for 10th, Bummer loads bases before Hendriks comes in. Hendriks walks in winning run. Bolded are games where managerial decisions are particularly high leverage in a loss. All items on the list cannot be assumed to be wins with a better manager, these are only high leverage mistakes that contributed to a loss.

Well, the second paragraph really doesn't describe this series at all. You say that the availability of Kopech and Crochet is forcing guys into multi-inning roles - but take a look at the voyage this series and how it turned into losses and that doesn't show up. Rather, it all hangs on LaRussa. Bummer pitched today on normal rest for a starter - he last pitched last Tuesday. Heuer pitched today on the same rest. Hendricks pitched today on 3 days rest - he threw an inning on Wednesday. Now really, with that context, was it the unavailability of relievers forcing guys into these roles? At least on Friday, they were literally all available, but LaRussa was saving Bummer, Hendricks, and Heuer for what, the 13th inning? Marshall for 2 innings was totally LaRussa's choice. Furthermore, and this one's rather big - LaRussa went to Foster on Saturday with the Yankees up 3 and Foster got 3 outs in 7 batters and the lead doubled. Fine, maybe the White Sox weren't hitting Gerrit Cole, and it didn't matter whether the lead was 1 run, 3 runs, or 6 runs, so bringing in Foster and waving the white flag wasn't worth getting bent out of shape about. But then who else did they use once the game was out of reach, in a 7 run game in the 8th inning? Crochet. So, what exactly forced the White Sox into using all their relievers today and then having to plan for how to have a pitcher available in the 10th? Part Keuchel being blah, but part the fact that LaRussa wasted Crochet in the bottom of the 8th inning of a 7 run game the day before, after he had already waived the white flag in the game by pitching Foster, so they couldn't call Crochet out for 2 innings on Sunday if they had needed him. So is it the restrictions on Kopech and Crochet that are causing odd usages, or is it LaRussa himself? At least this series, LaRussa. One other point. In 2019, Liam Hendriks pitched 85 innings As of right now, Hendriks is on pace to pitch 65 innings. The only one on pace for more than 68 innings out of the White Sox's bullpen is Kopech. So, could he, one of their better relievers still, be available for more? Frankly, darn right, and that could very well make this bullpen better.

Bummer hasn’t pitched in what, 5 days? That’s not Exactly regular work either.

Jesus Christ what was the exit velocity on that

If there’s any human on this roster who should be on the IL any time he’s 99% instead of 100%, it’s Crochet.

No you can’t, but you also expect that they will fairly often, which makes it hard to lose 5 or 7 in a row.

It’s gonna be hard for that to happen with these starters.

So Foster faced 7 and got 3 outs?

That was pretty smooth Timmy.

Guys, I think Matt Foster might not be that great.

One lesson I’ve learned - if you beat up on teams that are genuinely bad, you are a good enough team to be a threat in the playoffs. Iirc that’s been Cleveland’s MO lately. This team is a contender. That doesn’t guarantee anything, even a playoff birth. But they will be playing meaningful games after August.

This team will be a contender all year unless something goes horribly wrong beyond the current injuries. They are not required to be at the top of lists.

Giancarlo and Hicks. Frazier has a neck problem and can PH today.

So bases loaded and the guy brought in is Foster? I guess, yeah they’re already down 3 and Cole is in so they’re probably not scoring 3, still feels white Flaggy.

I didn’t like the PH for Collins, but that’s not on my list because it’s not an obvious blunder. There was 0 valid reason not to shift Judge. I don’t like shifts is not a reason to lose a game. I wanted to save Bummer for the 13th is a bad reason to lose a game in the 9th.

That’s why you can’t just say that LaRussa has lost 7 games despite game changing mistakes in 7 games in 2 months. Good decisions don’t always turn into wins and bad decisions don’t always turn wins into losses.

You can’t count all of The games LaRussa has tried to give away as wins for this reason. But when a player makes a high leverage mistake, we will call him out. This is a high leverage mistake. Again.

Ha, at this point there are so many that people will get lost in the list. The only question is when I will post it with the next addition.

1-Apr Failing to make review time window, Leury starts opening day, no pinch hitter for him late. 3-Apr Bullpen Usage - Bummer never used, Marshall allowed to blow game in the 9th. 4-Apr Bullpen usage - Hendriks not used in the 9th, Ruiz and Foster blow it. *Several times could have PH for Leury or Hamilton, not done 7-Apr Bullpen usage - Foster comes in with Bummer and Hendriks needing work, gives up 5 runs. 11-Apr Couple of poorly thought out bunts, pinch running for Mercedes early left no backup Ofs 13-Apr Williams hits 5th, Lamb hits 7th, Mercedes benched against Bieber. Could have kept Hendriks out to start the 10th. 27-Apr Attempts to kill Lucas Giolito. "We were looking for a single there." Insists postgame that he was awake. 5-May Messes up double-switch, runs team out of 10th inning, rulebook read to him by reporter. 17-May The Yermin Mercedes incident. 21-May Bullpen Usage. Day after offday, only Hendricks pitched on Wednesday so nearly entire bullpen available. Left Marshall out for 9th inning against Yankee 3-4-5 after already pitching in the 8th did not pull him even when runners got on. Did not shift anyone up the middle against Judge, who singled through the spot where a shift should have been. Bolded are games where managerial decisions are particularly high leverage in a loss. All items on the list cannot be assumed to be wins with a better manager, these are only high leverage mistakes that contributed to a loss.

This one’s going on the list.

Well I told my wife that not going to Hendricks was giving the Yankees a free win and it took what another pitch?

Solid Sliders

There's no situation where an extension makes sense for either side right now. If they get to the offseason healthy, he'll be 2 years away from free agency, maybe <2 if you count a significant lockout next year which would drop the injury risk. That close to FA, Lucas's side should be looking for a contract almost at the level he'd get as a FA. A multi time all star quality pitcher? If he were available on the FA market this year, he's looking at a 9 figure deal even with some struggles. The White Sox signing a guy to a 7 year 9 figure deal? nah.

threw 4 fastballs, all 93-94.