I can't see messing with the pitching

[Baltimorecuse]

The starters have improved a lot since April.  

ERA 3.28 last 6 games

3.48 last 15 days

3.80  last 30 days

I think we're going to get better.  Who gets moved when Means comes back?  We could move someone to the pen.  

 

[Mr-splash]

Gibby was huge last night. Starting pitching has been getting better, but to win the world series were are going to have to be even better.

[RZNJ]

Gibson has a history of very poor second halves.  Enjoy this while it lasts.   Wells has a history of breaking down in the 2nd half.   Long way to go.

[Baltimorecuse]

14 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Gibson has a history of very poor second halves.  Enjoy this while it lasts.   Wells has a history of breaking down in the 2nd half.   Long way to go.

The Red Sox have a jillion dollars in their rotation and ours is better.  I just have a sense their is more upside to our rotation and it is very competitive right now.  

Edited May 26, 2023 by Baltimorecuse
grammer

[Billy F-Face3]

Just wait until Kyle Bradish fully develops and becomes more consistent. I can envision him being extremely good. Like Corbin Burnes good. 

[Sports Guy]

28 minutes ago, Baltimorecuse said:

The Red Sox have a jillion dollars in their rotation and ours is better.  I just have a sense their is more upside to our rotation and it is very competitive right now.  

So, because the Red Sox have pissed away their money and done a poor job with pitching, that means we don’t need to augment ours?

Every single pitcher in our rotation should give you pause for one reason or another. The exception may be Grayson if this pitch tipping thing is for real. He could take off at any moment.  However, he needs to prove it and even if he does, his innings will be limited.

They definitely need another starter for the playoffs..and not just any starter, a good one.

[Bemorewins]

I hate to respond to these hyper reactionary threads. But in the end talent wins out. If you believe that with our rotation we will be favored to win 3 series in the playoffs to get through the AL, then bless your heart. I admire the optimism of the original poster.

[SemperFi]

There is one certainty in baseball-pitchers get hurt.  You need pitching depth and this organization has precious little depth in the system.

[RZNJ]

14 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

I hate to respond to these hyper reactionary threads. But in the end talent wins out. If you believe that with our rotation we will be favored to win 3 series in the playoffs to get through the AL, then bless your heart. I admire the optimism of the original poster.

Just curious.  How many more starters do we need?

[DrungoHazewood]

46 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

So, because the Red Sox have pissed away their money and done a poor job with pitching, that means we don’t need to augment ours?

Every single pitcher in our rotation should give you pause for one reason or another. The exception may be Grayson if this pitch tipping thing is for real. He could take off at any moment.  However, he needs to prove it and even if he does, his innings will be limited.

They definitely need another starter for the playoffs..and not just any starter, a good one.

Joe Saunders is available and he's solid on 3200 days rest.

[MikeAD]

Yes but there is absolutely no reason to not bring in more competent (or hopefully really good!) pitching if the deal is right.  Injuries happen and teams that compete in the playoffs usually have great pitching depth. No reason to be complacent. 

[Aristotelian]

I think folks are misreading OP. As I understand, they aren't arguing against trading for a TOR starter, they are asking who to take out of the rotation for Means. I agree, it will be a tricky decision... But we don't even have a timetable. He will probably do a lengthy rehab before a decision is made. If I had to guess, he could bump Kremer depending on his performance, or Grayson depending on his innings. Means does have options so they could just keep him in AAA for a longer rehab.

[Bemorewins]

41 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Just curious.  How many more starters do we need?

At least a guy who can even the odds in a game 1/7 scenario. The kind of guy that we can have reasonable confidence in pitching when our season is on the line.

I don't want to take ANYTHING away from Gibson last night because he was wonderful and we needed that! But I also don't want to be a prisoner of the moment either. Gibson is NOT that guy despite his great starts last night and last Friday.

I am VERY HAPPY that we beat the Yanks 2 out of 3. But I still don't believe that we will be favored against them in the postseason. At some point they are going to get Stanton and Rodon back and I don't like our chances against them in a postseason scenario when they are fully staffed.

Given our likely opponents in the AL postseason (TEX, HOU, MIN, CLE?, TOR?, NY, TB,) who's rotation are you taking ours over in that kind of short series? It's great that we have so much depth. It is what has and hopefully will allow us to have a very good regular season. But in the postseason talent wins. And I don't trust our starting pitching talent as compared to our likely opponents.

One last thing, given the fact that our rotation is made up of 4 "5 and dive guys" and only one single pitcher who can give us any kind of consistent length, I am very concerned about the strain and stress being put on the bullpen. I don't think Cano and Bautista will likely last have to make so many multi-inning appearances throughout the season. And if just one of them goes down, we can forget it.

[Bemorewins]

27 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

I think folks are misreading OP. As I understand, they aren't arguing against trading for a TOR starter, they are asking who to take out of the rotation for Means. I agree, it will be a tricky decision... But we don't even have a timetable. He will probably do a lengthy rehab before a decision is made. If I had to guess, he could bump Kremer depending on his performance, or Grayson depending on his innings. Means does have options so they could just keep him in AAA for a longer rehab.

Any of them really. If he is the old Means. Because that guy is better than them all.

Put from a practical perspective, Grayson will almost certainly have an innings cap. And it is possible Wells may have one as well. Kremer is nothing more than a back end starter, so he can definitely go if need be. And Bradish is a #4 type (a little better than Kremer) so again, if room needs to be made, I don't have a problem bumping him.

I know that we are all happy that we just kicked TOR and NY's butts. But if you look at the situation involving colors that are not exclusively orange and back, you will see that our starting staff is currently subpar (especially compared to our likely playoff competitors). We have one league average ish guy who can consistently give us length and four other guys who are "5 and dive" type of starters. There is A LOT of stress being put on the bullpen, particularly Bautista, Cano, and Baker. I don't think it is wise to believe that their current work loads are sustainable.

[emmett16]

I think they will make one, or maybe 2, “small” trades for SP.  Likely no one on our radar.  I can’t see them getting a rental, at least with what the FO has show us so far.  They still have Irvin & Rom to cover innings later in the year.   Means should be back by end of August.  Means, Grod, Bradish could very well be the playoff rotation.  But I think they supplement the SP workload for the remainder of the seasons with some AAA guys and an outside SP acquired in a trade.  Don’t see us trading for a #1 or #2.  June & July performances from Grod & Bradish are huge