The Sox have used the opener strategy a couple times this year. But not as much as Tampa...Originally Posted by jacksonianmarch
The Sox have used the opener strategy a couple times this year. But not as much as Tampa...
I don't think the Sox bullpen has been overworked any more than most pens are these days . It is being used as an excuse for their ( predictably) poor performance.
The starters have been a big problem, but the bullpen isn’t without some culpability here. Most of which I pin on Dombrowski..,
We also have to remember that although we have used the pen-starter strategy less than some teams, and our innings are higher than most, we've had an 8 man pen all year long. That should have more than made up for the 14 IP extra we have.
I can't remember the last time the Sox have gone with 13 pitchers all year long.
The pen was thin to begin with and short on top quality arms. The hope was they'd get us to the trade deadline, and some help would arrive. The hope was our starters would dominate and pitch longer than they have to help take some of the stress and innings away from the pen. The hope was the hitting would help make up for some of the pen's shortcomings.
The pen has sucked, especially the last 4-6 weeks.
The starters have sucked and not given the innings hoped for. (We've had some long extra inning games, too.)
The hitters have not come through, when they have been needed most. We've scored a lot of runs, but not enough in close games.
Even our defense has looked worse than expected, despite Devers improving a lot at 3B.
Our GM, manager and coaches all are partially to blame, as well.
To me, it's one giant let-down.
Only Bogey, Devers, Price, ERod, Vaz, Workman, Chavis and a tiny sample size from Marco have been doing better than expected. You don't win with just 5-6 guys doing well.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
Absolutely. D.D. assembled this bullpen. ( And the whole pitching staff ). The results are on him more than on Cora .
Does this mean we're done bashing Ben?
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
If I could figure out how to get that thumbs up emoji to work here ...
The Yankees could go 0-162 and it wouldn't be enough
In my view . Ben made the same mistakes following the 2013 title that D.D. did this year . Dombrowski should have learned from the 2014 results. Evidently, he didn't.
Maybe Dombrowski thought the 2018-2019 teams were like the 2007-2008 teams, not the 2013-2014 teams.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
And that was a huge mistake. Especially since the 2008 Red Sox at least had an influx of younger players like Ellsbury and Lester stepping into larger roles...
Maybe . To me , whether you are running an MLB team or the corner candy store ; you should constantly be looking to improve the service , improve the product and improve the whole operation. When you become complacent and stand still, others will gain on you . I have long believed this .
Yes the big difference was DD had the mistakes of Ben to learn from. Ben had no such predecessor..
The farm was much worse by the time Theo left. Ben left DD with a great farm.
This is 100% illogical when it comes to a sports franchise. it's obviously impossible to improve the team's record each year. All you can do is be as good as possible given your circumstances.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Personally I think the only thing DD should have done differently this season was do more about the bullpen.
Most of the rest comes down to shit happens.
If it was that easy to repeat, someone else would have done it this century. It's all been one and dones.
And we have 3 or 4 more titles than almost every other team this century. I'll take it.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
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