Peavy. The reason is that you want your best pitcher facing your division the most. Peavy would miss the first twins series if we pitched him 2nd. And before people get on the, well its only April. The last 2 years have showed you that game 163 can happen especially in a mediocre division with flawed teams. Any chance you get to put your divisional opponents, specifically the twins and tigers down the better. Mark had a 5.85 ERA against the twinks last year. Lets see what Peavy brings to the table.

 

 

Edited February 1, 201016 yr by southsideirish71

The real question is " Who starts on opening day Kotsay or Jones" ?

Kotsay or Jones

 

I have highlighted my choice.

hopefully buehrle because i got tickets for the second game because i wanted to see peavy pitch lol

Buehrle just out of respect for the fact that he has been THE guy for the Sox for the past decade. Peavy should understand this.

 

 

Mark has earned it and I am sure Jake won't mind at all

 

 

Buehrle. It is his team until proven otherwise.

 

Exactly. No doubt in my mind. You have to earn that start on the team the year before.

You have to earn that start on the team the year before.

 

In limited play last year for the Sox, Peavy single-handedly knocked the Tigers out of first place. He was absolutely filthy in the month of September for us.

JFP

 

Contreras started opening day in 07, so that ruined any streak Buehrle had. Give your new ace the start to set the tone for the season

Buehrle sets the record for Opening day starts for a White Sox pitcher so I give it to him. They got the off day the next day so they can flip it then to rectify any other issues with having him start over Peavy.

Edited February 1, 201016 yr by Jenks Heat

Much due respect to Buehrle, but I'd have to give it to Peavy, he's our best pitcher, and he needs to go out there on opening day and set the tone...we need to win that game, and Peavy gives us our best shot at that. Period.

Buehrle sets the record for Opening day starts for a White Sox pitcher so I give it to him.

 

Seems like a great reason not to start your best pitcher.

Seems like a great reason not to start your best pitcher.

 

Exactly. I was kind of shocked to open this thread up and find the overwhelming majority not saying "Peavy".

 

We have a great rotation, but the idea that Peavy isn't the #1 guy even among this group doesn't even seem to hold water. I love Mark, but I can't imagine that setting the record for most opening day starts by a White Sox pitcher was all that high up on his list of personal goals anyways. (It would already be pretty far down the list of things that he has accomplished)

 

The season starts on day one, there is no reason to treat that game any differently than you would approach any other. If day one didn't have a special name and signifigance for many of us, not a single person would suggest you should start MB over JP given that they are both equally rested. It is tantamount to saying that Buehrle is the better pitcher, in which case, if you think he should start opening day, then you should be dead set against changing the rotation afterwards.

 

Odds are that it wouldn't matter, that we could start him and then shuffle him down to some other spot in the rotation and it wouldn't make a difference over the long course of the season. But the upside is....

 

Yeah, that is the problem there really isn't much of an upside to starting Buehrle over Peavy besides a warm glow inside and something to look back on the day MB hangs it up. Neither of which get counted in the Won/Loss columns, and as soon as the games are for keeps that is all that matters. If someone can make the case for why Buehrle is the better choice in purely baseball terms, I'd be all for it.

 

Until then....

 

 

Peavy.

 

I'm in the Peavy camp. I love Buehrle, and i'm all about tradition, but we shouldn't screw with our optimal rotation just to throw Buehrle a bone that was already taken by Contreras three years back.

I like it when it's Buehrle. I didn't feel right when he wasn't the opener.

Since when does your best pitcher have to start on Opening Day? Peavy even said himself, this is Mark's staff and Buehrle should be on the bump Opening Day.

Since when does your best pitcher have to start on Opening Day? Peavy even said himself, this is Mark's staff and Buehrle should be on the bump Opening Day.

 

Since your first pitcher will then most often be matched up against other teams first pitchers, aka, their ACES. That's probably when and why this ridiculous practice started.

Edited February 1, 201016 yr by Y2HH

Since your first pitcher will then most often be matched up against other teams first pitchers, aka, their ACES. That's probably when and why this ridiculous practice started.

HAHA

Buehrle - http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=5699295

 

get chills everytime.

Edited February 1, 201016 yr by Controlled Chaos

Since your first pitcher will then most often be matched up against other teams first pitchers, aka, their ACES. That's probably when and why this ridiculous practice started.

 

Teams that use all five pitchers as compared to the teams that use certain guys every 5th day screw this whole thing up.

Since your first pitcher will then most often be matched up against other teams first pitchers, aka, their ACES. That's probably when and why this ridiculous practice started.

 

With off-days and rainouts, this is rarely the case, even come late April.

With off-days and rainouts, this is rarely the case, even come late April.

 

Even so, over the course the the entire year, you can also reset your pitching staff on off days as well. In doing so, your best will be matched up against their best more often. You can ignore this and go out of your way to make sure it doesn't happen, or you can minimize the amount of times your best does not face their best.

 

Case in point -- on opening day, MOST teams will use their statistical best pitcher -- so countering that with your statistical best is the smart move to make.

With off-days and rainouts, this is rarely the case, even come late April.

If the rotations 1-5 hold up for the first 4 series of the season Peavy will Take on Cleveland's #1 on Opening Day, Minnesota's #2 on the 11th and Cleveland's #5 on the 16th. That's even without rainouts, injuries and juggled rotations just going by off days.

Case in point -- on opening day, MOST teams will use their statistical best pitcher -- so countering that with your statistical best is the smart move to make.

How about when you're going up against mediocre to bad starters like Jake Westbrook or Fausto Carmona? The Indians don't even have a true #2 starter let alone a clear cut #1.

I was in the Peavy camp, but in the long run it really doesn't matter who starts on OD. Buehrle can start, and be set up to face the Twins on Sunday of the first weekend. If all goes well, Buehrle, Peavy, Danks, and Floyd all get 33 starts and the majority of the Twins games will Buehrle, Peavy, and Danks.

I've never really understood the statistical significance of Aces facing Aces. If your #1 faces their #1, we'll just say for the sake of simplicity that you have a 50/50 shot of winning. If your #2 faces their #2 then you've got another 50/50 shot, and so on down the line. If your ace faces their worst, however, you've got a much greater chance of winning and they have the same advantage against you when their ace faces your worst.

 

What I'm getting at, is that I don't particularly think it matters who faces whom unless you're talking about lefties vs. lefty-heavy lineups or righties vs. righty-heavy lineups. Or, mixing up lefties and righties in your rotation so the opposing teams don't see Buehrle and Danks in a row, for instance. Pitcher vs. pitcher is a non-issue to me, so set up your rotation however it makes sense vs. opposing HITTERS.

 

**EDITED for clarity

Edited February 1, 201016 yr by ScottyDo

If the rotations 1-5 hold up for the first 4 series of the season Peavy will Take on Cleveland's #1 on Opening Day, Minnesota's #2 on the 11th and Cleveland's #5 on the 16th. That's even without rainouts, injuries and juggled rotations just going by off days.

 

And I imagine that is going strictly based off of using the best rested starter. Some teams don't do that and go with a straight 1-5, no matter what.