5/13-5/15 Red Sox @ Twins Series Thread

Doubront, Peavy, Buchholz. I predict we will see Badenhop twice in this series.

Thats what WEEI is for.

Brian MacPherson ?@brianmacp 1m
The Red Sox have flipped their probable starters: Jake Peavy pitches tonight, Felix Doubront Wednesday. Buchholz still Thursday as planned.

Isn't it because of timing rules for teams travelling east?

Maybe they think Doubront would benefit having another day of rest.

Peavy is having a pretty awful season so far even though the results don't show it. He could pitch a lot better and still have room for the results to be a lot worse. The 13.5% walk rate is alarming and more than double than the previous 3 seasons.

In fact, his FIP- is worse than Buchholz and Doubront.

Peavy / Buchholz

BABIP - .239 / .375
LOB% - 89.4% / 59.9%
K/BB - 1.60 / 2.45

It wouldn't take much regressing to the norm to have fans bitching about Peavy and praising Buchholz.

I know that we all love to hate on John Farrell in this space, so I thought this article on how much a manager's strategic acumen affects a team's success was worth posting. It's not the most rigorous analysis in the world, but the overall conclusion is that the little tactical decisions that managers like Farrell get wrong a lot might not be worth as much as we all like to think.

Luckily its our last season with him and we should see some infusion of youth next season. I'm actually a huge fan of Peavy as a pitcher but I agree with you.

I wish there were a way to split the duties and let Farrell be the leader of men while someone with a calculator is making the strategy decisions.

Consider that post a public service announcement to lower blood pressure nationwide ...

Seriously, though, this is intuitively what I've thought all along. I think this piece misses one major element, though: preparation. It's not just in-game decisions and/or nebulous leadership qualities that make the difference. There's also giving the players the information they need in a way they can put it to use. Tendencies of pitchers, defensive positioning and pitch sequencing to hitters, etc, etc. I'd probably put the order of importance of a Red Sox manager's duties this way:

1) Personal leadership and management abilities
2) Preparation
3) Media relations
4) In-game tactical decisions

I could see an argument for switching 2 and 3, or even just saying that #3 is an indispensable part of #1 in Boston ... but the "bunt-or-not" question ... pfft. Makes a difference, but less than the others.

edit to add: as for Farrell specifically, as much as we can tell from the outside, he does well with the second, he's good on the third, early indications are strong on the first but we need to see how he does with a team that isn't last year's Good Guy Award team, and he's sub-par on the last.

Sweep these clowns and cruise for the next month while the Jays, Rays, O's and the rest of the AL East drek goes .500 at best.

Maybe Buchholz will lower his BABIP by throwing fewer meatballs this game.

Pete Abraham ?@peteabe 24m

Farrell said #RedSox flipped Peavy and Doubront in rotation to get another RHP against the Tigers this weekend.