If they knew or suspected that there was an injury, then giving him that kind of extension would be very stupid.Originally Posted by jacksonianmarch
That being the case, the Sox FO was not concerned about Sale's health when the extension was signed.
Rumor has it that Sale passed his contract mandated physical taken late in March. The Sox would surely have seen him pitch by then.
I do not think that is a rumor. I think it is absolutely true. Signing is almost always contingent on passing a physical.
I wonder if they did a full detail, mri, etc?
Also, someone needs to interview dan Lavigne and ask him what he was seeing with our starters in the bullpen sessions for the month of March! I’m pretty sure even Ray Charles can see that our pitchers are really struggling to locate pitches.
Given the Sox history with Contract mandated physicals for pitchers you could knock me over with a feather if that was not a very thorough physical.
Why would they bother with a thorough physical? There was only one hundred and forty-five million dollars on the line.
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.
The Sox took on a lot of risk and Sale left a lot of money on the table. But there were zero indications that his arm was entirely healthy or that his stuff had returned. This was a premature contract, IMO. Also, DD’s history suggests he’s good at building his team, but his extension history is spotty at best
It's easy for us to say it was premature. But it seems to me in a lot of cases players say they don't want to negotiate once the season starts, meaning you either get the extension done or the player goes to free agency.
It all depends on the health of Sale's arm. If he's got a hidden injury then it's a screwup by someone.
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.
Serious question: what does it mean to "not know how to pitch." Catcher calls pitch and location. Is this just a figure of speech (ERod can't put the ball where he wants)? Or that under pressure, he's not willing, say, to throw a strike?
Posted this in in the tread from ERod's Oakland start. Its gives a pretty good idea of what I mean:
A catcher cannot delve all the way into the head of his pitcher and the knowledge of which pitch the pitcher wants to throw against which batter and in what situation. Really that only resides inside the pitcher's head. The Pitcher really knows how his arm feels that day. The Pitcher is the guy who actually KNOWS or should know what pitch he has confidence in throwing to this batter in this situation and on this day. The Catcher can be a great help but that is all he can be. The Catcher does not reside inside the pitcher's head.
Now with ERod, has he EVER shown that he has any idea which pitches he wants to throw to which batter in what situation? Is there a particular pitch he has any real confidence in or are there only pitches he has no confidence in at all vs pitches he is sort of neutral about? The glass appears to always be half empty for Erod and that is a rotten way to pitch.
Take the Sale start in Oakland were a poster and I started talking about Sale beginning to land his Slider. Sale had nothing going for him at that point. But he found 1 pitch that he could land. A Pitcher starts landing a pitch while he is struggling and you know what the Catcher does? The Catcher starts calling for it more and in more places. What the frigg else is the Catcher supposed to do.
Too many times, ERod just leaves the Catcher, regardless of which one it is, just groping for something that ERod himself appears confident he can throw and sure enough, they get to the end of 5 innings at best, ERod has thrown a million pitches and the catcher still does not know what the heck ERod wants to throw! I have never seen a Starting Pitcher head out to the mound with no earthly idea what he wants to throw and no apparent idea how to figure it out more often than ERod. No wonder he ends up eventually throwing this lame duck up to the plate that just gets hit to Mars.
I ask you to search your memory banks Sox fans or watch for it next time ERod starts. As a Starter, how often does he look like he is just lost and then nurses some lame duck of a pitch up to home plate totally lacking in any confidence in what he is doing out there? Said lame duck gets hit to Mars usually after giving up the customary BB.
Last edited by jung; 04-07-2019 at 12:43 PM.
All these teams in the division are starting to take care of business and this team is playing mediocre baseball.
Great post. The data supports the idea that the catcher makes very little difference with ERod. (Other pitchers, however, clearly do better with specific catchers.)
EEod with catchers:
3.78 Hanigan (221 PAs)
4.00 S Leon (415)
4.38 Vaz (1200)
4.44 Swihart (325)
Now look at Sale:
2.42 Leon (1250)
4.06 Vaz (260)
0 PAs against with Swihart
Price
2.83 Leon (769)
4.39 Vaz (1162)
5.30 Holaday (88)
5.73 Swihart (48)
Not much difference with Porcello:
4.14 Leon (2030)
4.34 Vaz (583)
4.93 Swihart (524)
The sample sizes with Eovaldi are very small...
2.95 Vaz (91)
3.86 Leon (146)
5.40 Swihart (23)
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
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