Your Rotation?

[MongoLikeSox]

OB and Middlebrooks chatted about the stress that the starters have trying to maintain their spots on the increasingly crowded Red Sox rotation. OB stated that Sale and Bello were the two safe ones that didn't have to worry. That leaves Whitlock, Houck, Pivetta and Kluber as 3-6 with Paxton coming back in a few weeks or more.

As usual, I look at that situation with a lot of skepticism.
#1: There are only 2 weeks without a day off left between now and 2nd week of August. 6-man rotations would change routines for all the starters. That can't be without a hiccup or two.
#2: I'm not convinced Bello is good to go yet. Next couple of starts will tell us more.
#3: It's time to leave Houck alone for a few months. Put up or shut up.
#4: I'm not sold on Whitlock as a Starter.
#5: Pivetta has never been consistent.
#6: Sale is Sale, which is to say quite fragile in recent 5 years. That's not longer a trend.
#7: Paxton is a total wildcard at this point.
#8: I'm not buying the spin that Kluber was pushed back to allow Cora to line his rotation up.

Whatchyu guys think?

[SeaBeachFred]

OB and Middlebrooks chatted about the stress that the starters have trying to maintain their spots on the increasingly crowded Red Sox rotation. OB stated that Sale and Bello were the two safe ones that didn't have to worry. That leaves Whitlock, Houck, Pivetta and Kluber as 3-6 with Paxton coming back in a few weeks or more.

As usual, I look at that situation with a lot of skepticism.
#1: There are only 2 weeks without a day off left between now and 2nd week of August. 6-man rotations would change routines for all the starters. That can't be without a hiccup or two.
#2: I'm not convinced Bello is good to go yet. Next couple of starts will tell us more.
#3: It's time to leave Houck alone for a few months. Put up or shut up.
#4: I'm not sold on Whitlock as a Starter.
#5: Pivetta has never been consistent.
#6: Sale is Sale, which is to say quite fragile in recent 5 years. That's not longer a trend.
#7: Paxton is a total wildcard at this point.
#8: I'm not buying the spin that Kluber was pushed back to allow Cora to line his rotation up.

Whatchyu guys think?

I just hope Bello is not another one of those hyped pitching prospects who come up to the Sox and shit the bed.  Last year he was cappy in all but one of his starts and so far in his two outings this season he has left a lot to be desired.  Kluber is a shell ofd his former self and get hammered every time out while I need to see more of Whitlock before I cast my vote one way or another on him.  Pivetta is a lemon, usually cannot get out of the first two innings and has given us little in the way of success the past two plus seasons.

[longgame]

I think they have to stick with Sale and hope he can stay healthy.  He looks good, still dialing in his command, but man did he look great in his last outing.  Paxton will get his turns in too, although I expect him to be more like Kluber, washed up.  Kluber is looking like a bad signing and it's not like he's going to go to the bullpen.

On the young guys, I'm with you, not convinced Bello is the real thing.  Houck has shown he deserves a rotation spot.  I know they want Whitlock to be a starter but maybe yanking him around so much has left him as a reliever. 

Pivetta is Pivetta.  Throws a gem, throws a stinker.

Six man rotation is a non-starter for me.  The five man rotation works in today's game.  All this will do is throw another poor starter or worse a bullpen game in the mix every week.  I think a 6 man rotation would likely kill the bullpen. 

Clearly the rotation is the weak spot on this team.  Bullpen is so-so depending on how many times they're going to throw bums like Brasier and Ort.  Offense has been surprisingly good. 

[longgame]

Bello sent down, Bernardino (never heard of him) called up.  Apparently acquired off of waivers from the Mariners when Kelly went to 60 day IL. 

[MongoLikeSox]

Bello's trip back down to Worcester combined with Paxton's recent hiccup in a relief appearance experiment sort of worked out the immediate rotation question. Made this thread  sort of pointless, too. For now, at least.

I think I agree with you about the 6-man rotation. Maybe for stretches like the Red Sox were just on with the 19 straight games early in the season or during a heat wave, but nothing set in stone as declaring a 6-man.

How many starts does Whitlock get to prove the experiment a success or a fail? Bello or Paxton might force their way onto the big club's rotation at some point.

Kind of hard to judge individual pitchers in any sort of optimistic manner when 3 of them have precisely 1 really nice start each.

[MongoLikeSox]

Paxton had a strong outing on a miserable weather day in Worcester. Whatchyu guys think? One more start down there?

[Sea Dog 23]

There was some thought last week that Paxton would be brought up to work in the bullpen.  But right now we need guys in the rotation.  Whitlock may have screwed up his ulnar, even if they can treat it out-patient, he could have lost his ability to throw his change-up, and putting him back in the bullpen for lack of pitches.

[MongoLikeSox]

There was some thought last week that Paxton would be brought up to work in the bullpen.  But right now we need guys in the rotation.  Whitlock may have screwed up his ulnar, even if they can treat it out-patient, he could have lost his ability to throw his change-up, and putting him back in the bullpen for lack of pitches.

Add to that point is that I thought Whitlock's velocity lacked zip, too.

[longgame]

Paxton had really stunk it up before that.  I'd like to see him get another solid start in.

[MongoLikeSox]

Well, he got his start and it was mostly better. Still walked 5 in 5 innings.

Cora said Paxton will be inserted into the rotation. He did not divulge how it will play out. Tough week for that with 2 off days. His last start was better, but he still walked 5 batters.

[Sea Dog 23]

MLBTraderumors.com says Paxton will pitch in the Cardinals series next weekend.  Hold him out for one of leagues best teams, then pitch him against the worst team.  Sounds about right.

[SeaBeachFred]

MLBTraderumors.com says Paxton will pitch in the Cardinals series next weekend.  Hold him out for one of leagues best teams, then pitch him against the worst team.  Sounds about right.

We can use a healthy and capable Paxton for our rotation that has taken a couple of hits of late.  I liked the way Sale pitched Friday against the Phils save one inning and I hope Bello's last two performances augers  well for the coming weeks.  We have to keep hoping that this team is made of much sterner stuff than that sad and sorry bunch we had last season.  This winning streak just ended was manna for the soul and hopefully we will be able to hold our own and stay  with a winning record from here on out........I HOPE!!!!!!!

[MongoLikeSox]

The Cards are off to a rough start. I hope it stays that way long enough for Paxton to get his MLB reps in and further regain some pitch command. I thought 3 of sales last 4 starts were much better. I think Houck deserves that SP nod. Paxton will need his own set of starts to really get going, I suspect.

My rotation, in no order.
Sale
Houck
Pivetta
Paxton
Kluber

On Kluber: Bello down for now. Kluber is sort of in uncharted waters. He had a couple early hiccups the last two years, but it wasn't this bad. I'm still not sure what we have in him. Last three games was under 4.00 ERA, though.

Whitlock is on IL, but is expected to come off soon. He's not had anything on his pitches this season. Is something wrong with him or is it just a natural lowering velocity going from pen to rotation? Although inconsistent last year, he had a 4.15 ERA as a starter. That's not horrid.

Anyhow, a few interesting things to watch this month.   

[MongoLikeSox]

Pivetta and Bello certainly made that interesting. I was doing a little self admonishment this morning for my knee-jerk reaction to Pivetta's outing. I looked at his games so far. First 2 were very good. The next 5 were not so good. The thing is, is that even the better 2 games of the recent 5 games still gives him over a 4.50 ERA. Not bad for a 5th man, especially for a run scoring team. But when that's the best of 4 week's worth of starts, that's not so good. I've not read to see if Pivetta's role had been changed or not, but it might have to be.

I had a similar knee-jerk reaction to Bello's good start. Last three starts is a 2.81 ERA, but they were still hitting .279 off him. I doubt there's any way they demote him for his next start, but we'll see. 

Paxton starts on Friday.

[MongoLikeSox]

OK, so another mid-inning blunder for Houck. What I saw was total lack of command. He still had arm strength. Maybe he was overthrowing it a bit, if anything. He used that Splitter after Bush came out during the 5th inning and he retired 3 of the next 4 batters. He also got a guy out with a top of zone heater after seeing low breaking pitches all night. We use it far too much in the past, but I was actually calling for it before they did it. That Splitter will play for a pitch or two, but I'm not sure if it's rare use is it's biggest power. I wonder what would happen if he tossed it 10-15 times in a 2-3 inning stretch.

The HR to Raleigh was at the bottom of the zone, middle-in. It looked like a pitch that didn't finish breaking. Slider, maybe? I think Wong wanted it down further, but it's impossible to tell on the replay. Some of the other hard hit balls were simply left up and out over the plate. He does not throw hard enough to get away with that. At least not the 3rd time through the inning.

My pro-Starter Role argument. It's a self fulfulling prophesy to say he's dead 3rd time through the rotation. It's a lazy stat and too often blurted out by the press and everyone. Here's a kid trying to prove himself and turn the corner with the eyes in the back of his head looking in the dugout. Cora needs to show him patience over a long haul if he's going to turn that corner. Right now is that time.  The reward is massive if he turns the corner. We're talking 7IP with 95 pitches almost every time out there. And he's shown he has the pitches to do it with. I say let him get it out of his head and figure it out.

My pro-reliever argument. Simply put, he is an outstanding reliever. A real weapon. A BP saver from within the BP. 

I don't know. They've got someone so close to being a stud starter, a very rare Red Sox development, and they can't finish the job. It's really sad.