I know offense is more fun, but genuinely interested in understanding where this board thinks the biggest impact would be, knowing that neither will happen.

 

For the playoffs, give me pitching all day long.

Knowing what we know now Scherzer would have been far better.

I love Simien but he would make us even more right handed. We got slidered to death in the playoffs. Give me Jose Ramirez next year though.

6 minutes ago, kleedawg said:

I love Simien but he would make us even more right handed. We got slidered to death in the playoffs. Give me Jose Ramirez next year though.

That's true, he does give you some more professional ABs by chasing fewer pitches than our team does on average. But he definitely feasts on FBs.

Knee jerk reaction, voted Semien. Dingers, baby.

But this team also doesn't seem to have a playoff identity (and was one of the reasons I thought they brought Keuchel in), so I do agree Scherzer would be a better *playoff* acquisition.

Fun thought experiment, good poll.

I'm banking on the pitching staff being more stretched out next year and this lineup being the most "hitting is contagious lineup" imaginable, so I voted Semien.

McCullers just showed the impact a single pitcher can have in a playoff series, especially a short one.  Scherzer all day long.

crazy. I'm 150,000% team scherzer. I like Semien though.

Max for sure.  We see over and over again what pitching does in the playoffs.

The only thing that gives me pause is Scherzer's age and historical workload. That being said, Scherzer for sure. 

6 minutes ago, ron883 said:

The only thing that gives me pause is Scherzer's age and historical workload. That being said, Scherzer for sure. 

Scherzers spittle is actually regenerative.

30 minutes ago, kleedawg said:

I love Simien but he would make us even more right handed. We got slidered to death in the playoffs. Give me Jose Ramirez next year though.

Interestingly Semien’s splits were actually reversed this year, he was way better against righties. Not historically true for him, but was true this year. 

He’s also 7/19 with 4 walks and only 2 Ks against McCullers career, although none of those outings were in the last 2 years.

Could couple of strong at bats against him make those different games? 

Semien just because Scherzer has pitched a lot of innings this year and he's getting older

I know it isn't exactly what you asked, but if the Sox acquired Max and Trea from the Nats instead of the Dodgers....our Sox are getting ready for a game in Boston today. 

Scherzer's last outing against Houston was his first in LA this year, where he went 7 strong innings against the Astros for the win.

He pitched against Houston twice in the 2019 World Series, 5 innings and 2 ER each time. His outings weren't dominant though, he gave up 5 hits and 3 walks in his first outing (still 7 K's), and 7 hits and 4 walks in his second outing (only 3 K's and a HR allowed).  

10 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Interestingly Semien’s splits were actually reversed this year, he was way better against righties. Not historically true for him, but was true this year. 

He’s also 7/19 with 4 walks and only 2 Ks against McCullers career, although none of those outings were in the last 2 years.

Could couple of strong at bats against him make those different games? 

Those stats are really not meaningful in this instance. We could bat 9 really good rh hitters and win the division going away.  But in the playoffs we are going to see the best rh pitchers with the most devastating sliders. could we still beat them? maybe, but better line-up balance makes it more likely we will see success. We scored 1 run in our elimination game. A hr from Sheets a lh hitter. The Jose urena's of the world won't be pitching in the playoffs.