There you go! That's the one thing I like about most of these saberstats. The standard stats can tell a bold face lie sometimes. If you look at Linebrink's normal ERA by itself you would think he was having a dominating year. We all know that hasn't been the case.

So would Bartolo Colon have the biggest spread between his ERA and his FIP in the big leagues?

10 days ago Linebrink was a lights-out set-up guy having a great year...

 

And now a grand total of four and one-third innings of pitching later, it's time to push the panic button?

 

Yawn.

 

 

So would Bartolo Colon have the biggest spread between his ERA and his FIP in the big leagues?

 

That honor would go to Kevin Millwood. I don't know how he's doing what he's doing (especially in that ball park), but it doesn't figure to last much longer.

10 days ago Linebrink was a lights-out set-up guy having a great year...

 

And now a grand total of four and one-third innings of pitching later, it's time to push the panic button?

 

Yawn.

 

That's like 4 or 5 appearances for a reliever. Not time to panic. But we simply have zero margin for error. The Red Sox can afford a chokejob like yesterday every now and then. We can't.

Johan Santana was a bullpen guy. I don't think Poreda's secondary pitches are polished enough to get major league line-ups out multiple times. Let him get his feet wet and some confidence by picking his spots. Ideally you'd like to see him more than he's pitched, but even though I don't always agree with Ozzie, I think he's doing the right thing.

 

Secondary pitches not quite polished? I'll say. His arm slows-down to a virtual crawl on change-ups even on television. That's Neal Cotts-vs-Josh-Phelps-HR-foul-HR-foul-actual-HR waiting to happen.\

 

Also would be nice if he could break 93-94 once in a while based on all the hype from AA stadium gun.... Say what you will about Thornton and his being a wuss when it comes to his slider, but Matt fastball is both fast and accurate.

Can I just add to this that Poreda being on the big league roster is a huge mistake now, as he needs to be in AA boosting his trade value instead of sitting on the bench.

 

Trade value? Look, I am not exactly in the Poreda-next-Randy Johnson-but-better camp, but what's the rush to get rid of him?

 

 

One of Linebrink's main issues is that his BB/G has risen from 1.9 last season to 3.5 currently, which is just a little above his career average.

 

Last season also he had a DER of .741 and that's dropped to .681 currently, so he's obviously had some subpar defense behind him when he's pitched so far this season.

 

However he has a FIP of 4.28, and that's a 2.03 difference b/w that and his ERA.

 

So that indicates what kind of pitcher he's been so far moreso I think. And he had a 4.27 FIP last season.

 

And really, you expect a bit more than that for a reliever you're paying almost $5M a season to.

 

WHAT ABOUT BABIB/RC27/over replacement-value Bill James? How's that stat looking for Peavy's BFF?

 

So Getz didn't make a play? Is that an excuse to proceed to give up 4 runs? How about a couple of splitters that Derrek Lee would have missed by 5 feet combined in that situation? Like you say, the guy is making big money to make big money to close out important wins like yesterday's.

 

Come to think of it, Linebrink was lucky that ball by Jake Fox got held up, with Brian Anderson making a leaping play. Wrigley not mixing well with the dude recently.

But we simply have zero margin for error. The Red Sox can afford a chokejob like yesterday every now and then. We can't.

 

 

Yes but you can rest assured there will be many more like yesterday. We are far enough into the season to realize this team will implode on many occasions, actually lose in all possible ways. The Sox aren't suddenly going to turn into a team that plays clean baseball everyday and wins 60 to 65 percent of its games. Hopefully we'll make the playoffs.

I'm not saying he's not partially at fault -- but to completely ignore Getz *critical* error in a *critical* situation is ridiculous. It's typical "fan in the moment" scapegoat-ism -- to force create a word.

 

Giving up back-to-back homers with a four-run lead in the bottom of the 8th is completely indefensible, even if Getz did give the Cubs an extra out. Veteran relievers who make $5 million a year are expected to pitch over those mistakes.

 

I was at one of the Rooftop parties across from Wrigley -- the moment the Cubs tied it, I left and started driving home because I knew it was over...the momentum shift was ridiculous and sudden, the worst kind.

 

Keep in mind that the bases were clear with two outs when the Cubs tied it. That was ALL Linebrink.

 

Edited June 19, 200916 yr by WCSox

Veteran relievers who make $5 million a year are expected to pitch over those mistakes.

 

It's amazing to me how much these unreliable specialists make. Linebrink, Farnsworth, Dotel. One thing is for sure they aren't giving any of the money back. Pity the stud pitchers pre Steinbrenner who made no jack at all. Sad.