Starting Pitchers - Early Happenings

[Sea Dog 23]

With Eovaldi said to be ready to sign his deal in the next seven+ days, Bloom has played his cards.  How aggressive was he signing a position of need, a starting pitcher?  He has Kluber (4 yrs older) as an option.  Also lefty Strahm is probably signing this week as a BP type, but it appears Bloom did not offer him when his contract ended, instead signing lefty Jayle Rodriguez last week.  IMO that move was looking for ‘bodies for bargains’ as Strahm was a steady hand in ‘22.

[elktonnick]

Failure to sign Strahm strikes me as total incompetence.  It is as if Bloom did not watch any ball games for the last three months of the season.

[longgame]

Failure to sign Strahm strikes me as total incompetence.  It is as if Bloom did not watch any ball games for the last three months of the season.

Seems like that should have been an easy one.  One of the few decent arms we had, why take a gamble on someone else. 

[MongoLikeSox]

I think Strahm was holding out for an opportunity where he could become a Starter again. No way he was going to come back as a reliever without exploring that avenue at least once more.

[elktonnick]

Bloom blew it again.  No excuse for not signing Strahm his wish to be a starter or not.

[Sea Dog 23]

Lots of talking between Sox and Marlins for a trade. First it was for a SS Ruiz or Wendle.

Now the Marlins are supposedly offering a pitcher but want our 1B Casas, or might settle for our #3 Rafaela.  The pitchers available are Trevor Rogers (2.64 in 2021 rookie of year votes, 5.80 era in 22) and Pablo Lopez ( 3.75 era 10-10 w-l in 2022).  That’s a high price for a middle rotation pitcher.  Maybe if they throw in pitcher and Wendle for Raphaela and Dalbec? Bloom could be showing he’s desperate in a bad off season

[MongoLikeSox]

I shudder at any and all trade talk with the Red Sox right now.

[longgame]

I shudder at any and all trade talk with the Red Sox right now.

I know what you mean.  I shudder at the idea of Bloom making any more moves even though they are needed. Let’s get through 2023 without destroying the franchise further at this point.

[MongoLikeSox]

So, an interesting look at the MLB starting pitching numbers from last season. I landed on Quality Starts(QS). It's a stat that has seemingly gone astray in the MLB broadcast booths. You hear it mentioned with disclaimers of being an old, outdated way of looking at things. Not a valid stat anymore, right?

Wrong. 10 of the first 10 MLB leaders in Quality Starts(QS) made the playoffs last season. The Cardinals(15th) and the Rays(19th) were the outliers. The WS winning Astros led the way with 94 followed by the Phils with 84. The other 8 landed between 68 and 79. The league average was 59(37%), which is 3 less than the Cardinals had.

Is there anyone who can see Quality Starts as unimportant? This is as plain and obvious as any starting pitching stat as I can remember seeing. This is the age of the relief pitcher, yet here we are. What's left of the age of Starting Pitchers might be small, but it still matters. Getting good starts might be relative, but it still matters. 

And so, the Red Sox. We finished 25th with 46 QS, which worked out to 28%. Pivetta led the way with 12, which was probably helped a great deal with the result of a very good month of May. Look at the pitchers lost, the one gained and the ones we hope either take that next developmental step or rebound from 2+ years of injuries and map a path to 68 Quality Starts. It's gonna take a ton of good fortune.

   

[longgame]

It makes sense that it would be a good indicator as it has become a threshold for pitchers these days.  A few years back when they started using it, a QS was probably one more inning and one less run.  But now it’s rare a guy goes past 6 innings so a team that has more starts getting them past the 6th would likely do better than one that is using its bullpen a lot more.

[MongoLikeSox]

It makes sense that it would be a good indicator as it has become a threshold for pitchers these days.  A few years back when they started using it, a QS was probably one more inning and one less run.  But now it’s rare a guy goes past 6 innings so a team that has more starts getting them past the 6th would likely do better than one that is using its bullpen a lot more.

I was thinking earlier this afternoon that it might have replaced Complete Games in our collective line of thinking.

[longgame]

It makes sense that it would be a good indicator as it has become a threshold for pitchers these days.  A few years back when they started using it, a QS was probably one more inning and one less run.  But now it’s rare a guy goes past 6 innings so a team that has more starts getting them past the 6th would likely do better than one that is using its bullpen a lot more.

I was thinking earlier this afternoon that it might have replaced Complete Games in our collective line of thinking.

Well said.  I always look at Roger Clemens career as an indicator of the decline in complete games.  When he was young he pitched double digit CGs multiple times (and it was already on the decline then).  By the end he’d maybe have one or none in a season.