People have been giving Lynn s%*# on this board but he is 4-1 in his last seven starts a 2.06 ERA and most importantly, 53 strikeouts and only 4 walks.  He's quietly found his 2021 form and not a lot of people have noticed.  If the Sox can get to the playoffs, and that is a big IF, they will be lining up Cease, Cueto, and Lynn as their first three starters.  That's pretty damn good.

With Lynn like this I would do Cease - Lynn - Cueto

NAILS

Looks like the Sox just rushed him back from injury too soon like they did with countless other players this year.

Back to Hoss status for sure

48 minutes ago, maxjusttyped said:

Looks like the Sox just rushed him back from injury too soon like they did with countless other players this year.

No.  I think it's less that than the fact that the knee surgery was significant enough where he had to remake some of his mechanics.  

I just love our rotation this year in a way I haven’t in a long time.  Just hope we get a chance to put it to playoff use.

I wanna see Gio take another step forward and then we also have to hope we get a healthy Kopech back Wednesday.

3 minutes ago, hi8is said:

I wanna see Gio take another step forward and then we also have to hope we get a healthy Kopech back Wednesday.

Gio isn't going to be able to fix himself until the offseason. It is what it is. 

7 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

Gio isn't going to be able to fix himself until the offseason. It is what it is. 

I’m greedy and want them all firing bullets.

Edited September 6, 20223 yr by hi8is

14 hours ago, maxjusttyped said:

Looks like the Sox just rushed him back from injury too soon like they did with countless other players this year.

He definitely wasn't his usual self until maybe July-ish? His velocity sucked when he first came back. Constantly in the low 90s. He's been much better velocity-wise in his recent starts to where he's hitting mid 90s. 

But his recent success is partially due to his revamped curveball. I thought Sox Machine did a good job talking about it in their article today: https://soxmachine.com/analysis/lance-lynn-returns-to-old-form-with-a-new-look-curveball/

Two things that I thought were real interesting: he's using the curve heavily to combat lefties' effectiveness against him this year. They've only hit .170 against him since he's deployed the new-look curve. His release point on the curve is distinguishable from his other pitches. It's definitely a lower release point. I wouldn't say that it's in "he's tipping his pitches" territory, but a team like the Astros would probably be able to pick up on the release point difference after they see him a few times. If teams don't pick up on the release point difference, his new curveball would be extremely helpful against teams like the Astros who cover the fastball extremely well. It also gives Lance more of a speed differential between his main pitches, which I think is what he was sorely missing last year. 

Lance's fastballs-only approach worked well with no sticky stuff enforcement. He got elite spin rates on his 4 seamer with it and it helped with his pinpoint control on his cutter and sinker. Without the sticky stuff, his control was no longer pinpoint and the fastball spin, while really good, was no longer 99 percentile elite. He's now more prone to mistakes on those pitches and fastballs right down the pipe that got popped up last year are now homers. He really had to re-invent his repertoire a bit to get back to being a respectable starter again and it looks like the new curveball has done just that. 

 

I wish Gio could just get back to Gio level. As much as I want to toss all the blame on Tony, injuries have been a big part of the hole we're in. As noted above we've rushed people back who aren't at 100%. 

Damn Lynn did look great. 

11 hours ago, chw42 said:

He definitely wasn't his usual self until maybe July-ish? His velocity sucked when he first came back. Constantly in the low 90s. He's been much better velocity-wise in his recent starts to where he's hitting mid 90s. 

But his recent success is partially due to his revamped curveball. I thought Sox Machine did a good job talking about it in their article today: https://soxmachine.com/analysis/lance-lynn-returns-to-old-form-with-a-new-look-curveball/

Katz wasn't mentioned in the article, but have to think he worked with Lynn on these changes, so kudos again to Ethan Katz.

Also have to believe both Ethan and Lucas are very motivating getting him right for his final season before FA, so I expect a solid game plan entering 2023.

15 hours ago, Texsox said:

I wish Gio could just get back to Gio level. As much as I want to toss all the blame on Tony, injuries have been a big part of the hole we're in. As noted above we've rushed people back who aren't at 100%. 

Damn Lynn did look great. 

At this point I'm convinced that the Guaranteed Rate comeback Gio was the product of sticky stuff.  Doubt we will ever see that guy again.  Glad at this point he didn't sign whatever extension he was offered.