Pitchers Kay, Costillo, Newcomb, and Richards cannot be trusted to pitch in any meaningful game. Unfortunately, I have no solutions, other that to put Thorpe on the roster.

Kay would be fine for 3 innings or so against a LH-heavy batting order. Newcomb has been good up until his last couple outings when he's been mind-numbingly bad. Richards is meh. Castillo needs to be sent somewhere that is nowhere near the playoff roster.

Surprised we've given Thorpe zero shot at this point. Our starters have been so bad, it wouldn't hurt

15 minutes ago, oldsox said:

Pitchers Kay, Costillo, Newcomb, and Richards cannot be trusted to pitch in any meaningful game. Unfortunately, I have no solutions, other that to put Thorpe on the roster.

But you trust Hicks?

Compare numbers to Newcomb for full season.

Hopefully some much needed rest will help.

Brazoban is a big ??? as well.

lol Kay is just as trustworthy as Martin Burke and Fedde. They all have a 5th inning block

Newcomb's velocity seems fine, but his control, especially on his breaking pitches, has been terrible. I think a lot of it is from fatigue. They keep expecting him to throw multiple high leverage innings at a time with 40+ pitch counts. With Schultz pitching better (and more stretched out), they need to start thinking about using him in the multi-inning roles and let Newcomb go back to being a 1 inning reliever like he was earlier in the season.

2 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

lol Kay is just as trustworthy as Martin Burke and Fedde. They all have a 5th inning block

Kay and Fedde are much more likely to get hit the 3rd time around. Burke and Martin have at least shown they can go into the 6th inning recently.

1 minute ago, chw42 said:

Kay and Fedde are much more likely to get hit the 3rd time around. Burke and Martin have at least shown they can go into the 6th inning recently.

Everyone has the JavyVasquezes

Sir I knew Javy Vasquez...and you are definitely no Javy Vasquez.

I'm still going to war with Nuke in my bullpen as a high leverage guy (which is literally every inning in a playoff game).

Richards is probably the last guy out of the bullpen on the playoff roster. Castillo should be left off the roster entirely.

Game 1 Burke

Game 2 Martin

Game 3 some combo of Kay/Schultz/Smith

Game 4 Who Knows

8 minutes ago, Southwest Sider said:

I'm still going to war with Nuke in my bullpen as a high leverage guy (which is literally every inning in a playoff game).

Richards is probably the last guy out of the bullpen on the playoff roster. Castillo should be left off the roster entirely.

Game 1 Burke

Game 2 Martin

Game 3 some combo of Kay/Schultz/Smith

Game 4 Who Knows

Fedde has been better than those listed after Burke and Martin

first series is only three anyway

Starting Hagen for two is other option.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by caulfield12

31 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

Everyone has the JavyVasquezes

Biggest regret of that 08 season was that we couldn't line up the rotation to have our ace (Danks) pitch game one of that series. Didn't realize this but he ranked second in WAR that year after Cliff Lee amongst AL starting pitchers.

7 minutes ago, Colome's Hat said:

Biggest regret of that 08 season was that we couldn't line up the rotation to have our ace (Danks) pitch game one of that series. Didn't realize this but he ranked second in WAR that year after Cliff Lee amongst AL starting pitchers.

The way they got in made it so they didn’t have the luxury to line anything up, that was pretty rough.

7 minutes ago, Colome's Hat said:

Biggest regret of that 08 season was that we couldn't line up the rotation to have our ace (Danks) pitch game one of that series. Didn't realize this but he ranked second in WAR that year after Cliff Lee amongst AL starting pitchers.

If their MVP candidate doesn't break his hand punching his bat it's more likely they could line their rotation up because they wouldn't have to fight so hard to win the division.

I'm so sick of seeing Richard's pitch, I'd rather them replace him with Schweitzer or even Cannon at this point.

Hagen smith AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. That is your answer.

Game 1: Burke
Game 2: Martin
Game 3: Schultz Opener / Fedde 4-5 innings
Game 4: oh god we are screwed

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by EloyJenkins

1 hour ago, Kyyle23 said:

lol Kay is just as trustworthy as Martin Burke and Fedde. They all have a 5th inning block

It's not just about length of starts ... its also about who can get people out.

Kay in his career has never finished below a 4.5 ERA... that is actually his best.

Kay is worse than those three... this year and historically.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by harkness99

Playoff roster is cut back down to 26 so I have to believe Castillo is off and possibly Richards. Tommy Phan was acquired August 31st, so he is eligible for the playoffs.

I'd like to know which version of Sandlin will show up if he makes the roster.

Just now, wegner said:

I'd like to know which version of Sandlin will show up if he makes the roster.

I want the good one.

Unreal how he can look like Nolan Ryan for one inning and then just fall apart.

2 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Sir I knew Javy Vasquez...and you are definitely no Javy Vasquez.

I remember hearing a guy on the radio say he heard the same kinda thing from multiple scouts who watched Javy...."damn he's got great stuff, wow great stuff, hey when did they score 6 off him??"

3 minutes ago, wegner said:

I'd like to know which version of Sandlin will show up if he makes the roster.

lol but he does the same thing! He has it and then he absolutely does not have it, usually happens around the 3rd time through

the wild part is it always seems to start with walking the guy that you should not walk at all, the 9 hitter.

I know Newcomb has been bad a couple times in a row, but to throw him in with those other three is crazy. He has really had a very good year, very good. I think his arm, hopefully only for now, is falling off from overuse. I hope he can recover and be outstanding again.

In fact, about a month ago Schriffen and Stoney were discussing who is the Sox’s 2nd MVP after Vargas. Right away Schriffen went with Peters (who was back to being hot at the plate), and Peters was my choice too. But Stoney said he would go with Newcomb because he has come in for shorts stits and long 3-inning outings and he has been really good and dependable whenever/ however used. And as I thought about it, Stoney convinced me he was correct.

Now I know Newcomb’s had, I think, two clunkers in a row, but come on people; our memories have to last longer than just the last week or so.

Edited 42 minutes ago42 min by vilehoopster

11 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

lol but he does the same thing! He has it and then he absolutely does not have it, usually happens around the 3rd time through

the wild part is it always seems to start with walking the guy that you should not walk at all, the 9 hitter.

He seems to have issues pitching out of the stretch. I think they need to simplify his delivery. Maybe have him pitch out of the stretch all the time so he's more used to it. That could be an off-season adjustment. You can't trust him for more than 3 innings at the moment.

I could see a game of Kay for 3-4 innings, Fedde follows, then back to lefties from pen Smith, Schultz or Newcombe. Have to watch Smith as he is not used to back to back days . Schultz has had at least two days off between each appearance.