Con te Giolito

He also improved dramatically in September. EDIT- in 8 IP so who knows that's not much of a sample.

But Robertson's stuff has never really been about velocity, its all about his bite and movement and let's face it his stuff did not have the same bite and movement on it that it did the year before and he's definitely not locating it as well (Dioner Navarro doesn't quadruple someone's walk rate). Just watching him his stuff isn't as good as it once was.

But he's basically the same as Cody Allen! I mean Cody Allen helped the Indians to a division title and AL pennant if the Sox have that kind of guy closing games for them that's probably going to help them win some games, right?

Every single time I try and explain why I think a player, other than established villains like Avisail Garcia, is bad everyone rushes over to call me STUPID for it. If this team is supposed to be so noncompetitive next year then how come all the players are supposed to be so good? You guys watch baseball (I assume) so you know how huge an impact a good closer can have on a team's record. If Robertson really does regain his form, as so many have predicted, the Sox will be winning a lot of one-run games which combined with a couple others things (like huge years from Todd Frazier, Jose Abreu and Brett Lawrie plus the emergence of Rodon as an elite starter...all things predicted by people calling me stupid in THIS THREAD) could make them a competitive team. Hell if all those things happen and they stay mostly healthy they will be a good team.

Feel free at any time.

I dont how it stacks up against other guys but my gut tells me its bad for a closer to give up runs in 20% of their appearances. That's 1 in 5 times he's out there struggling.

If you only look at the AB's where Jose Abreu got a hit he bat a perfect .1000 on the year! Incredible! Robertson is a case where I am 100% comfortable waiting until June to say I told you so. I hope to god its on a different team, even if they want to compete in 2017 (stupid, but whatever) they are better off shipping him out so hopefully that's what happens. I wonder what Rizzo would've added to the Eaton deal if the Sox would've included Robertson and not stuck to the silly "only sell one a piece at a time" mentality that really doesn't make too much sense.

How to Talk Baseball in 2017: 1) Pull up Fangraphs leaderboards 2) Regurgitate Allen definitely isn't an elite closer, but he's also definitely better than Robertson and no WAR figure calibrated to evaluate starting pitchers will convince me otherwise.

He caves under pressure and doesn't have the right makeup to be a closer. When he unravels he completely unravels and now that he's going to walk everyone in sight that means more innings will start off poorly for him which will lead to him becoming unglued more often. When he's on he's on, but the problem with those guys is consistency. Once his confidence in his stuff is even questioned he goes completely in the tank and he hasn't been elite in 5 years so its not like he's going to get it back. What he did in Kansas City was the last nail in the coffin last season. I've honestly never seen anything like it and it soured me on him permanently.

There are players I have faith and there are players I dont. Robertson falls into the second category because he sucks.

I think he could be given away right now thus avoiding his 2018 salary. That's the problem, I dont want to pay him to stink up that team with his losing.

That is one massive assumption for a pitcher who is very bad.

Verlander is a Hall of Famer who may have suffered a little mid-career trough due to injury but just came roaring back with (IMO) the best year of any AL starter last season. If he were a free agent this offseason he would probably be getting a raise, and Detroit (rightly) believes they can win with him. Comparing his situation to the likes of David "7 run blown save" Robertson is silly.

I also dont get why Rey Lopez wouldn't be on there unless he spat in Law's food.

I bet Frazier asked Eaton why he had a WAR four times that of Melky Cabrera when Melky had a better OPS all year.

I love my dog. I'm not putting my dog in the top 20. Aiken has a lot, lot, lot working against him right now and to rank him ahead of some of those guys already put in the 21-40 range would be crazy.

He may not rank Swanson because all Swanson has to do is lace up opening day to lose eligibility. Brady Aiken is not in the top 20 unless Law has some fascination with him I wasn't aware of.

That's one-time Soxtalk poster Chris Rongey. He was such an asshole to callers on the postgame show who had even the slightest complaint about the Sox direction (reminds me of some...). He really made a lot of enemies with that, which is weird because by all accounts he was a pretty good guy off the air.

There's being a front office apologist and then there's defending the Shields trade. Even Rick Hahn's dog knew that was a bad trade the instant they made it, let alone now.

ahem

I dont think it gets worse than Dioner Navarro last year. The catchers spot will improve because it has to.

Oh what a day that will be

Then the case that Quintana loses value at the deadline applies too, unless everyone is going to be just completely selective in their reasoning.

I don't even need the predictions threads. If you're willing to bet that the garbage over 30's vets inundating the Sox roster will GAIN value by the deadline then you're betting on some massive performances.

If all the Sox players have big seasons they won't be a bad team and there will be no deadline selling. If anything they'll buy. This won't be the Yankees last year, not with Ken Williams around. Then you'll get all sorts of nonsense like a big Frazier extension and selling the farm for aging sluggers. I don't trust the same FO that made the Shield's trade to not overreact fo a hot month or two.