A Hall of Fame pitcher just publicly posted his mechanical flaw. People can either go with that, or they can go with their idea that in the matter of 3 starts James Shields has completely forgotten how to pitch.

Or, perhaps, the people who disagree with you are not simpletons, and there's a third line of thinking, which is that his peripherals, velocity, general ability - all of it has been declining as his advancing age would suggest, and that he was never nearly good enough to maintain a 3.02 ERA or whatever he had. I was against acquiring him well before the last three starts. Like I said, time will tell.

Coincidentally the 4th and 5th innings were scoreless.

Jame Shields season is saved by sox exec while pitching coaches stay baffles, Levine this is a sssssssssssssstttretchhhh

Or, perhaps, the people who disagree with you are not simpletons, and there's a third line of thinking, which is that his peripherals, velocity, general ability - all of it has been declining as his advancing age would suggest, and that he was never nearly good enough to maintain a 3.02 ERA or whatever he had. I was against acquiring him well before the last three starts. Like I said, time will tell.

 

A small decline is much different than this. Even thinking of something a little worse than his career line makes sense to me. When you have people complaining that James Shields hasn't been DFA's after two starts, yes, I will mock that.

Only thing that worries me is that Shark was tipping pitches and mechanically wrong ---- for a full year! Hopefully this isn't the case with Shields.

 

Even with his decreasing velocity, age, etc, etc. he may not be a 3.50ERA pitcher, but 4.20 isn't crazy to expect.

 

Let's hope he finds it, and soon. We NEED him to be a 4ERA pitcher and eat innings if we want any chance to be in this thing.

 

 

Other thing to think about - Royals, Tigers are probably 85 win teams. Cleveland maybe a tick or two more - say 87 - however Brantley still injured..

 

Sox don't need to be crazy good here out, just need to play .500 baseball and take a series here and there. We SHOULD hover within 5 games at any given time with this team as currently constructed.

 

Just like Latos this year --- he wasn't going to keep it up. James Shields won't be this bad all year. He won't be great. But he is an okay #4 and good #5.

Or maybe he is "just like Latos" this year...started off okay, but couldn't keep it up.

I hope he is tipping his pitches. I hope Cooper can fix him. Cooper actually fixing something would be a cool breeze after the last 5 years.

Edited June 15, 20169 yr by GreenSox

A small decline is much different than this. Even thinking of something a little worse than his career line makes sense to me. When you have people complaining that James Shields hasn't been DFA's after two starts, yes, I will mock that.

A small decline can become a big one very quickly. Even if I count as fact that Shields has identified and fixed this mechanical flaw, the benchmark from here on out, IMO, is a 4.50 ERA. I'll be surprised if he beats it.

How many times have we heard this, or a variation of it, regardless of the position: well, they won't be this bad all year!

 

They'll snap out of it eventually.

 

They can't suck forever.

 

They'll eventually find their form.

 

Etc., etc., etc....

 

Been hearing this for years. Yeah.

How many times have we heard this, or a variation of it, regardless of the position: well, they won't be this bad all year!

 

They'll snap out of it eventually.

 

They can't suck forever.

 

They'll eventually find their form.

 

Etc., etc., etc....

 

Been hearing this for years. Yeah.

 

Yeah, years.

 

http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...&hl=decline

Yeah, years.

 

http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...&hl=decline

 

Nice!

I like that thread. We all think with our hearts too much and just post right away.

I hate Shields right now, but I think I am level headed enough to step back and be okay with what we got. A very good #5 pitcher.

I'm not being level-headed huh?

 

<_>

Yeah, years.

 

http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...&hl=decline

 

The 2002 Paul Konerko threads were something special too. I remember people wanted to trade him for Edwin Jackson really badly.

Honestly? Probably not.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/shielja02.shtml

 

Run those stats through some algorithms and compare to his splits and velocity and tell me what you come up with. Not saying I did that, but I'm sure someone in the Sox organization did this before getting him.

 

 

IP have been above 200 every year. His ERA (take this year out - cause you weren't going to count his 2.5ERA before his blow up and you're not going to count his ERA now after the three games...

His ERA has been pretty consistent. I mean, no real direction up or down. He hit his prime around 29-32 which makes sense. He is probably trending downward, but again, that downward is still probably the low 4's for ERA.

 

His HR/9 was up last year, however, the year before it was his 2nd lowest ever. So I can't really say anything definitive. His Hits per 9 innings same. His WHIP same.

 

I'm just saying I don't believe the sky is falling. That's all.