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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Dec 1, 2017 0:59:51 GMT -5
So, going through the 2018 schedule and giving Sale a minimum of 5 days rest, and 6 days whenever there's an off day, but never twice in a row ...
You get 28 starts for each of the top 4 starters, 27 from the #5 starter, and 22 from the #6. The missing game is game 162.
The reduced innings may well also really help Pomeranz. Given Price's elbow, that might not be a bad idea, too. It also helps that we at present have no idea who the 6th best starter is. You get to reset the rotation at the ASB (four days long this year), of course.
Because of how closely bunched in talent the rest of the rotation after Price is, you don't lose that much value by giving 4 of each of their starts to the #6 guy. It's not going to come close to offsetting the Sale gain, if it happens.
Assuming this actually keeps Sale as himself all year ... this works really well unless you have trouble finding a 6th starter who's OK. And that would seem to be unlikely.
In this plan, Brian Johnson gets 5 or 6 starts until E-Rod is ready in mid-late May. If he's any good, he has a lot more value to another team as a 5th starter than he does to us as #7, and could fetch at least an interesting return. That's a potential upside. If he's bad, you may be able to get him through waivers to Pawtucket. I like that better than keeping him in limbo as a long man in the pen and very occasional starter.
Once E-Rod is back your 6-man pen has Kimbrel, Smith, Kelly, Barnes, Scott, and either Johnson (if he wasn't good enough to trade or bad enough to DFA), Workman, or Maddox. If Johnson can find another home, you''ll be able to rotate the last spot among Workman, Maddox, Velazquez, Beeks, etc., which will come close to giving you a virtual 7-man pen.
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gerry
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Post by gerry on Dec 1, 2017 3:30:37 GMT -5
Unfortunately, I threw away my notes on Splits by Sox pitchers going on 5 vs 6 day rotations. But from memory, EVERY Pitcher but Porcello had better #s on 6 days, and even Porcello was more neutral and better in some categories like, if I remember right, HR and K/BB. Don't hold me to that one. Sale's numbers were considerably better on 6 days rest. This is demonstrable. And one of the worries beyond fatigue with big inning guys is eventual injury or ineffectiveness. That should be prevented in any way possible.
So Eric, you may have hit upon something important for this staff. All these guys need special handling to prevent fade or repeat injuries: Sale, Price, Pom, Wright, ERod, Johnson, Elias are each coming off some kind of issue in 2017. It would be foolish to not figure a way to keep them healthy and rested. They are too valuable to ignore the issue. Some form of 6-day rotations would not only prevent fade and injury, but result in demonstrably better pitching from each of them in most categories across the board, and add several W in the process. This may not apply to all MLB Rotations, but it could be a significant edge for these Sox for 2018 if they are willing to defy tradition.
You are also right that this rare glut of very good, young relief pitchers with options could contribute nicely to this process. This idea, under this unique confluence of circumstances, may well be in the right place at the right time, and unrepeatable. What a potential edge.
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Post by jimed14 on Dec 1, 2017 5:42:25 GMT -5
Really hoping for a little more luck with overall team health this year. The plan sounds great until there are multiple injuries and we're dipping into the Kyle Kendrick pool of warm bodies. This plan also would work so much better if we get the pre-injury form of Thornburg and Smith all season and maybe (a lot) more consistency from Barnes.
I'm curious if they're leaning towards the mid-season DL stint around the All-Star break like they did with Beckett or just limiting the length of his starts or going with a 6th starter at times or a combination of all 3.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on Dec 1, 2017 6:08:34 GMT -5
The season will be a lot longer this coming season in terms of number of days, meaning more off days. The season is starting in late March.
Hopefully this will help Sale big-time in terms of rest. Maybe Sale can find a off-season program that can help him stay strong through the entire season. Early season Sale is probably the best pitcher in baseball. Hopefully both Sale and the Sox can find a way to make him magically reappear in October this year.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Dec 1, 2017 14:18:28 GMT -5
The season will be a lot longer this coming season in terms of number of days, meaning more off days. The season is starting in late March. Hopefully this will help Sale big-time in terms of rest. Maybe Sale can find a off-season program that can help him stay strong through the entire season. Early season Sale is probably the best pitcher in baseball. Hopefully both Sale and the Sox can find a way to make him magically reappear in October this year. It's a very strange schedule to begin with. They open with 4 straight games in Tampa followed by two in Miami -- no need to schedule the traditional off day after Opening Day. Then a travel day to come home and three games against the Rays, with the off day after the home opener. Then another off day (the third in six days!) before the MFY's come to town for your standard Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday series.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Jul 11, 2018 23:03:56 GMT -5
How's he doing? Is the plan working? Here's the simple ERA breakdown by games started: Starts Prev 2018 1-4 2.85 1.23 5-9 1.99 2.75 10-15 2.96 3.56 16-20 3.20 0.79
His last 4 starts he's had ERA's of 0.00, 0.00, 1.50, and 0.00. In his previous 24 starts at this point in the season (starts 17 through 20), he had put up ERA's under 1.50 6 times. 6 times in 24 versus 4 in 4. The probability of that being random is .0103. Other stretches of four straight starts with an ERA of 2.00 or less:
Starts ...
8 through 11, 2012 7 through 10, 2013 4 through 7, 2014 13 through 16, 2014 3 through 6, 2016
This is, in fact, his best stretch of 4 successive starts in his career, by ERA. Only once in his career has he had three scoreless outings (plus no inherited runners bequeathed) in a four-game span; that was last year in starts 20 through 23, but he gave up 7 runs in 5 IP in the other start. The effort expended in the other three may have had something to do with his 4.16 ERA thereafter.
Does it make sense that if he shows no sign of wearing down at all so far, he shouldn't the rest of the way? We can sure hope so.
I had a slightly different breakdown for components. 1-9 Prev '18 ERA 2.34 2.17 K% .290 .342 BB% .054 .048 HRC .030 .045 BABIP .242 .273
10-16 Prev '18 ERA 2.70 3.40 K% .290 .350 BB% .047 .090 HRC .033 .042 BABIP .305 .261
17-27 Prev '18 ERA 3.36 0.67 K% .302 .480 BB% .053 .040 HRC .046 .000 BABIP .313 .213
Of course, we have 7 starts left this year in this grouping.
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Post by incandenza on Jul 12, 2018 10:14:45 GMT -5
I was just wondering how his usage compared to previous seasons. It looks like, if he starts every fifth game, and assuming they hold him back for his last projected start (game #159) he'll end up with 32 starts, which is... the same as the last two seasons.
There's a little more difference in terms of pitch count. Last two seasons he threw 3428 and 3431 pitches. This season he's on pace for 3240, about 6 fewer pitches per start. So I guess that's almost like two fewer starts. Is that a significant difference? I'm not really sure how to judge it.
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Post by jchang on Jul 12, 2018 15:07:19 GMT -5
Sale should adapt to throwing FB at 95, not 97+, also the burden is not on him to get us to the playoffs. Let the lesser pitchers burns themselves out. Sale should do just enough to be competitive and hit the playoffs with plenty of steam. There might be risk of missing the playoffs, which is little different from getting swept out in the first round.
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Post by telson13 on Jul 13, 2018 0:04:10 GMT -5
I was just wondering how his usage compared to previous seasons. It looks like, if he starts every fifth game, and assuming they hold him back for his last projected start (game #159) he'll end up with 32 starts, which is... the same as the last two seasons. There's a little more difference in terms of pitch count. Last two seasons he threw 3428 and 3431 pitches. This season he's on pace for 3240, about 6 fewer pitches per start. So I guess that's almost like two fewer starts. Is that a significant difference? I'm not really sure how to judge it. My sense is that it’s much more significant than the relatively small percentage difference would indicate. Even if it’s only about 6% fewer pitchers, I get the feeling (Eric would prob have these data handy nearby) that it’s largely “off the top” pitches. Which is to say, he’s seemed steadier (fewer disasters/low-count games due to poor performance), such that he’s throwing substantially *more* pitches in those games vs last year (say, 100 over 6-7 in a QS this year versus 85 over 4-5 in the same start number last year but with a rough outing), but without the stress of long innings. And that would mean that he’d actually have more P/GS this year vs last *in those corresponding starts*. So to average 6 fewer P/GS overall, he’s probably getting more like 8 fewer in the rest of his games. And to do that, he probably has cut out some (a lot) of the high-PC silliness (see 300K game) in a few games, again going 100-105/7-8 instead of 110-120/8-9. Those pitches after 105 or so are the real killers, as are the ones after 20-25 in a single inning (at least as I understand it). So while 6/game fewer isn’t all that much, I *guess* that it’s concentrated in those pitches which are most damaging fatigue- and injury-risk-wise. I’m ecstatic with how Sale’s been handled this year. From everything I’ve seen (and that’s with the admission that the old-school part of me cringes at him only going 7 when he looks like he could go 9), they’ve made a huge improvement to his use efficiency. He’s also ramped up his velo quite impressively (from sitting 92-93 to sitting 96-97 t100+) and his slider looks tremendous...the flattening of which always seems to herald fatigue and then subsequent tough stretches. Come to think of it, Eric, any chance you can do a start-by-start PC comparo and totals tally? I’m fascinated by this RN. I know a few folks worry about his sitting velo proximity to his max (which I’m actually not too worried about...it looks like about 4 mph difference), but he’s extremely sharp these days. I’d be willing to bet the variance on PC/GS is way down and that the variance in results is likewise down. All of which is to say, I think the benefits (and we’ll see in 13 weeks) will seem dramatically out of proportion to the *average* difference, which appears small.
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Post by telson13 on Jul 13, 2018 0:18:50 GMT -5
How's he doing? Is the plan working? Here's the simple ERA breakdown by games started: Starts Prev 2018 1-4 2.85 1.23 5-9 1.99 2.75 10-15 2.96 3.56 16-20 3.20 0.79
His last 4 starts he's had ERA's of 0.00, 0.00, 1.50, and 0.00. In his previous 24 starts at this point in the season (starts 17 through 20), he had put up ERA's under 1.50 6 times. 6 times in 24 versus 4 in 4. The probability of that being random is .0103. Other stretches of four straight starts with an ERA of 2.00 or less:
Starts ...
8 through 11, 2012 7 through 10, 2013 4 through 7, 2014 13 through 16, 2014 3 through 6, 2016
This is, in fact, his best stretch of 4 successive starts in his career, by ERA. Only once in his career has he had three scoreless outings (plus no inherited runners bequeathed) in a four-game span; that was last year in starts 20 through 23, but he gave up 7 runs in 5 IP in the other start. The effort expended in the other three may have had something to do with his 4.16 ERA thereafter.
Does it make sense that if he shows no sign of wearing down at all so far, he shouldn't the rest of the way? We can sure hope so.
I had a slightly different breakdown for components. 1-9 Prev '18 ERA 2.34 2.17 K% .290 .342 BB% .054 .048 HRC .030 .045 BABIP .242 .273
10-16 Prev '18 ERA 2.70 3.40 K% .290 .350 BB% .047 .090 HRC .033 .042 BABIP .305 .261
17-27 Prev '18 ERA 3.36 0.67 K% .302 .480 BB% .053 .040 HRC .046 .000 BABIP .313 .213
Of course, we have 7 starts left this year in this grouping.
Eric, pls see my previous post. I’m curious as to what Sale’s PC in corresponding starts looks like, say, the last 2 years versus this year. Is the variance down overall in P/GS, and does that correlate with less variance in, say, ERA/xFIP, K rate, etc? It seems (totally anecdotally based observation, could be grossly biased) like there’s a consistency to this year that I didn’t see last year. I’m wondering less about the overall % drop in pitches and much more in where those pitches are coming from. Idk if you can find PC for individual innings, or if you’d even want to, but there’s gotta be something there. This year just seems really even-keeled.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on Jul 13, 2018 0:24:36 GMT -5
I don't think Sale has thrown 110+ pitches in a start before last night's start. Plus, he was held back 2-3 weeks pitching wise in spring training.
If Sale doesn't look good this September or October, I'll be shocked personally.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Jul 13, 2018 0:49:33 GMT -5
I was just wondering how his usage compared to previous seasons. It looks like, if he starts every fifth game, and assuming they hold him back for his last projected start (game #159) he'll end up with 32 starts, which is... the same as the last two seasons. There's a little more difference in terms of pitch count. Last two seasons he threw 3428 and 3431 pitches. This season he's on pace for 3240, about 6 fewer pitches per start. So I guess that's almost like two fewer starts. Is that a significant difference? I'm not really sure how to judge it. My sense is that it’s much more significant than the relatively small percentage difference would indicate. Even if it’s only about 6% fewer pitchers, I get the feeling (Eric would prob have these data handy nearby) that it’s largely “off the top” pitches. Which is to say, he’s seemed steadier (fewer disasters/low-count games due to poor performance), such that he’s throwing substantially *more* pitches in those games vs last year (say, 100 over 6-7 in a QS this year versus 85 over 4-5 in the same start number last year but with a rough outing), but without the stress of long innings. And that would mean that he’d actually have more P/GS this year vs last *in those corresponding starts*. So to average 6 fewer P/GS overall, he’s probably getting more like 8 fewer in the rest of his games. And to do that, he probably has cut out some (a lot) of the high-PC silliness (see 300K game) in a few games, again going 100-105/7-8 instead of 110-120/8-9. Those pitches after 105 or so are the real killers, as are the ones after 20-25 in a single inning (at least as I understand it). So while 6/game fewer isn’t all that much, I *guess* that it’s concentrated in those pitches which are most damaging fatigue- and injury-risk-wise. I’m ecstatic with how Sale’s been handled this year. From everything I’ve seen (and that’s with the admission that the old-school part of me cringes at him only going 7 when he looks like he could go 9), they’ve made a huge improvement to his use efficiency. He’s also ramped up his velo quite impressively (from sitting 92-93 to sitting 96-97 t100+) and his slider looks tremendous...the flattening of which always seems to herald fatigue and then subsequent tough stretches. Come to think of it, Eric, any chance you can do a start-by-start PC comparo and totals tally? I’m fascinated by this RN. I know a few folks worry about his sitting velo proximity to his max (which I’m actually not too worried about...it looks like about 4 mph difference), but he’s extremely sharp these days. I’d be willing to bet the variance on PC/GS is way down and that the variance in results is likewise down. All of which is to say, I think the benefits (and we’ll see in 13 weeks) will seem dramatically out of proportion to the *average* difference, which appears small. He now has seven seasons as a starter, so let's look at the first 20 starts of each year. Here are the highest 42 pitch counts of the 140, with how late the start was in the season as the tiebreaker (later is worse, of course). I've used NOW instead of 2018 to make it jump out. Year Start Pit 2012 6 129 2014 4 127 2015 12 125 2013 17 124 2013 12 124 2013 15 123 2014 20 121 2015 9 120 2016 7 120 2013 18 119 2016 14 119 2015 11 119 2012 10 119 2013 7 119 2017 19 118 2013 16 118 2013 11 118 2016 11 118 2014 19 117 2017 17 116 2015 15 116 2014 9 116 NOW 9 116 2013 19 115 2015 17 115 2012 16 115 2012 9 115 2014 8 115 2017 6 115 2012 20 114 2017 18 113 2016 13 113 2013 9 113 2017 9 113 2015 8 113 2017 20 112 2014 16 112 2015 14 112 2014 13 112 NOW 11 112 2015 10 112 2016 6 112 So of the 42 most stressful starts in the seven years, there are two from this year -- his 22nd most stressful (tied) and his 40th.
Here are the averages and standard deviation for his pitch counts through 20 starts each year: Year Ave SD +1SD -1SD 2012 104.9 10.3 115.2 94.6 2013 108.6 12.2 120.8 96.4 2014 106.4 17.6 124.0 88.7 2015 108.0 11.2 119.1 96.8 2016 106.4 8.8 115.1 97.6 2017 109.8 4.8 114.6 105.0 2018 101.3 8.2 109.4 93.1 There's almost a 9-pitch reduction in a typical high-pitch start (the average year's +1SD was 118.1), although it's only 5 pitches versus last year ... but that's where you see the largest decrease in the plain-vanilla average.
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Post by bluechip on Jul 13, 2018 7:22:10 GMT -5
My sense is that it’s much more significant than the relatively small percentage difference would indicate. Even if it’s only about 6% fewer pitchers, I get the feeling (Eric would prob have these data handy nearby) that it’s largely “off the top” pitches. Which is to say, he’s seemed steadier (fewer disasters/low-count games due to poor performance), such that he’s throwing substantially *more* pitches in those games vs last year (say, 100 over 6-7 in a QS this year versus 85 over 4-5 in the same start number last year but with a rough outing), but without the stress of long innings. And that would mean that he’d actually have more P/GS this year vs last *in those corresponding starts*. So to average 6 fewer P/GS overall, he’s probably getting more like 8 fewer in the rest of his games. And to do that, he probably has cut out some (a lot) of the high-PC silliness (see 300K game) in a few games, again going 100-105/7-8 instead of 110-120/8-9. Those pitches after 105 or so are the real killers, as are the ones after 20-25 in a single inning (at least as I understand it). So while 6/game fewer isn’t all that much, I *guess* that it’s concentrated in those pitches which are most damaging fatigue- and injury-risk-wise. I’m ecstatic with how Sale’s been handled this year. From everything I’ve seen (and that’s with the admission that the old-school part of me cringes at him only going 7 when he looks like he could go 9), they’ve made a huge improvement to his use efficiency. He’s also ramped up his velo quite impressively (from sitting 92-93 to sitting 96-97 t100+) and his slider looks tremendous...the flattening of which always seems to herald fatigue and then subsequent tough stretches. Come to think of it, Eric, any chance you can do a start-by-start PC comparo and totals tally? I’m fascinated by this RN. I know a few folks worry about his sitting velo proximity to his max (which I’m actually not too worried about...it looks like about 4 mph difference), but he’s extremely sharp these days. I’d be willing to bet the variance on PC/GS is way down and that the variance in results is likewise down. All of which is to say, I think the benefits (and we’ll see in 13 weeks) will seem dramatically out of proportion to the *average* difference, which appears small. He now has seven seasons as a starter, so let's look at the first 20 starts of each year. Here are the highest 42 pitch counts of the 140, with how late the start was in the season as the tiebreaker (later is worse, of course). I've used NOW instead of 2018 to make it jump out. Year Start Pit 2012 6 129 2014 4 127 2015 12 125 2013 17 124 2013 12 124 2013 15 123 2014 20 121 2015 9 120 2016 7 120 2013 18 119 2016 14 119 2015 11 119 2012 10 119 2013 7 119 2017 19 118 2013 16 118 2013 11 118 2016 11 118 2014 19 117 2017 17 116 2015 15 116 2014 9 116 NOW 9 116 2013 19 115 2015 17 115 2012 16 115 2012 9 115 2014 8 115 2017 6 115 2012 20 114 2017 18 113 2016 13 113 2013 9 113 2017 9 113 2015 8 113 2017 20 112 2014 16 112 2015 14 112 2014 13 112 NOW 11 112 2015 10 112 2016 6 112 So of the 42 most stressful starts in the seven years, there are two from this year -- his 22nd most stressful (tied) and his 40th.
Here are the averages and standard deviation for his pitch counts through 20 starts each year: Year Ave SD +1SD -1SD 2012 104.9 10.3 115.2 94.6 2013 108.6 12.2 120.8 96.4 2014 106.4 17.6 124.0 88.7 2015 108.0 11.2 119.1 96.8 2016 106.4 8.8 115.1 97.6 2017 109.8 4.8 114.6 105.0 2018 101.3 8.2 109.4 93.1 There's almost a 9-pitch reduction in a typical high-pitch start (the average year's +1SD was 118.1), although it's only 5 pitches versus last year ... but that's where you see the largest decrease in the plain-vanilla average.
Farrell certainly seemed to have a tendency to lean on his best pitchers far too heavily, much to their and the team’s longer detriment.
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Post by telson13 on Jul 13, 2018 11:45:05 GMT -5
Shows you how good my impressions are as data: his SD last year was a lot lower 🤣🤣
There’s definitely a clear lop-off-the-top effect though...they’re obviously keeping him from the danger zone if you look at “high PC starts,” and it sure as hell seems like it’s working.
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Post by incandenza on Jul 13, 2018 12:22:53 GMT -5
Here's my much-less-fancy-math contribution:
Total number of pitches thrown above 110 in a game
2012: 41 (29 starts) 2013: 94 (30 starts) 2014: 62 (26 starts; I see he missed a month after throwing 127 against us on 4/17) 2015: 77 (31 starts) 2016: 86 (32 starts) 2017: 49 (32 starts; Farrell didn't ride him as hard as the White Sox did at least) 2018: 8 (20 starts)
So that's a pretty big difference this year! I don't know if this is an especially useful metric, as opposed to, say, number of pitches above 100 or above 90 or whatever. Maybe eric or someone else can speak to that.
We could also look at number of games in which he throws fewer than 100 pitches:
2012: 9 2013: 6 2014: 4 2015: 6 2016: 6 2017: 6 2018: 8 in only 20 starts
So he's on pace to have twice as many sub-100 pitch games as most previous seasons. Again, not sure how especially relevant this particular data point is, but it's another way of cutting the cake. Looking at it from these angles does make it more evident that the Sox really are refraining from leaning on him too hard this season.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Jul 13, 2018 14:46:05 GMT -5
Here's my much-less-fancy-math contribution: Total number of pitches thrown above 110 in a game2012: 41 (29 starts) 2013: 94 (30 starts) 2014: 62 (26 starts; I see he missed a month after throwing 127 against us on 4/17) 2015: 77 (31 starts) 2016: 86 (32 starts) 2017: 49 (32 starts; Farrell didn't ride him as hard as the White Sox did at least) 2018: 8 (20 starts) So that's a pretty big difference this year! I don't know if this is an especially useful metric, as opposed to, say, number of pitches above 100 or above 90 or whatever. Maybe eric or someone else can speak to that. We could also look at number of games in which he throws fewer than 100 pitches: 2012: 9 2013: 6 2014: 4 2015: 6 2016: 6 2017: 6 2018: 8 in only 20 starts So he's on pace to have twice as many sub-100 pitch games as most previous seasons. Again, not sure how especially relevant this particular data point is, but it's another way of cutting the cake. Looking at it from these angles does make it more evident that the Sox really are refraining from leaning on him too hard this season. Those are actually great ways of looking at it. Especially the first one, where he's on a pace for 13.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Aug 13, 2018 11:38:50 GMT -5
Here are Sale's first 16 starts of each season. Note that in my original analysis, the 17th start began a grouping where his component stats (largely HR/Contact and BABIP) got worse, so I'm actually not cherry-picking the split based on the start of his great stretch this year.
ERA is adjusted for inherited runners. Note that MLB K and BB rates are going up ... I'll adjust for those when I update this four starts from now (the end of the previously determined group of starts).
Yr IP ERA K% BB% HRC BABIP 2012 110.7 1.87 .238 .058 .017 .265 2013 113.3 2.73 .274 .053 .031 .263 2014 110.0 1.77 .292 .045 .022 .264 2015 112.3 2.87 .336 .050 .038 .290 2016 113.0 2.77 .247 .050 .042 .256 2017 113.7 2.94 .354 .048 .035 .291 2018 102.0 3.53 .346 .067 .043 .268
And here are starts 17 through 23. Yr IP ERA K% BB% HRC BABIP 2012 46.3 4.42 .282 .053 .081 .310 2013 52.0 2.85 .241 .046 .033 .354 2014 45.0 2.60 .330 .065 .046 .320 2015 45.0 4.67 .313 .051 .034 .383 2016 47.7 4.46 .249 .057 .039 .315 2017 47.7 2.10 .396 .043 .039 .276 2018 44.0 0.20 .491 .037 .000 .289
You can see that last year, he posted a career best ERA, K%, BB%, and BABIP in this stretch. He had two more great starts, and then he hit the wall face-first -- 4.60 ERA in his last 8 starts.
Given how amazing he's been the last 7 starts and how much less hard he's worked all year, we should remain optimistic that the plan is working.
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mobaz
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Post by mobaz on Aug 16, 2018 7:46:33 GMT -5
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Post by voiceofreason on Aug 28, 2018 13:53:39 GMT -5
Sales answer to how his shoulder feels. "like Paul Bunyons ox" That's what I needed to hear!
I have always felt that these trips to the DL were smart moves and that his shoulder just needed some rest. Probably the type of stuff he has pitched thru in the past and it didn't work out so well pitching with a little discomfort.
I think the horse is coming back strong and ready for the stretch run. I hope Price gets a little down time also coming down the final weeks.
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Post by James Dunne on Aug 28, 2018 14:57:55 GMT -5
Is a shoulder supposed to feel like an ox?
Personally, my shoulder has never felt like an ox, and if I did have the sensation that a beast of burden was connecting my arm to my torso, I'd be nervous.
HOWEVER, I've also never had a shoulder that felt like Chris Sale's, so I'm not speaking from a position of authority here.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Aug 28, 2018 16:26:16 GMT -5
His shoulder is hard enough. His shoulder is tough enough. His shoulder is... rich enough?
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Post by voiceofreason on Aug 29, 2018 16:32:33 GMT -5
To carry the Sox to a World Series Championship!!
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Post by voiceofreason on Sept 5, 2018 10:05:32 GMT -5
Ok so another week goes by and no Sale in fact he is not scheduled to pitch this weekend when originally he was going to start on Saturday. Should I be getting concerned?
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alnipper
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Post by alnipper on Sept 5, 2018 22:10:53 GMT -5
I would always be a bit concerned with a pitcher has a throwing shoulder issue. I see him as a 5 inning starter when playoff time starts currently.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on Sept 7, 2018 0:38:34 GMT -5
I see him as a 5 inning starter when playoff time starts currently. If this is the case, then the Sox aren't probably winning the world series this year. The Sox need Sale at his best in October. That means he needs to throw the most innings on this team, he needs to be strong, and he needs to be healthy. The next 3-4 weeks will be key in building Sale's arm strength back up to go 6-7 innings at a time in a start.
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