Here’s a curious case.
There are 16 major league pitchers on the active roster.
I can only select one who should not make the postseason roster: Devern Hansack, who has pitched 7.2 IP on the year so far this year. Those innings came May 8, 19 and September 8.
The remaining 15 have strong cases to make the postseason roster. Unknown is whether or not the pitching roster will be at 11 (deepening the bench with the frequent off-days that will occur and usual reliance on the go-to guys) or 12 (deepening the bullpen). To make things even more difficult, I’m going to assume that we’re going with 11. Really, should the 12th pitcher on a pitching staff be pitching in October? I’ll designate who I think the swing guy should be, but let me assure you: this will be a hard task.
Quick aside: The magic number to make the playoffs is three. Let’s not fool ourselves: we’re making it. And let me tell you something else: the Red Sox are better than this. We CAN win the division. It starts tonight.
Okay, let’s look at each pitcher’s cases. They are in alphabetical order. At the end of each case, I’ll designate if they’re automatically in, or could be in. Away we go (with all facts supported prior to Saturday’s games)…
Josh Beckett: Beckett is our ace. There’s no question about it. Beckett is unquestionably a strong contender for the Cy Young Award, and undoubtedly is a deserving candidate. Beckett just won the 20th game of his season and is starting Game 1 of the ALDS, and there is no doubt he has to be on top of his game for us to have any chance to win it all. AUTOMATICALLY IN.
Clay Buchholz: The guy with the no-hitter has some crazy stuff, but he hasn’t seemed to been used by the staff in a relief role. Wouldn’t you think that they would start preparing Buchholz for a relief role after his no-hitter? Word is the Red Sox have finally decided on a role for Clay going forward. The man with a 1.59 ERA in 22.2 IP needs to start coming out of the bullpen. Now. He should make the postseason roster, but it’s possible the Sox could opt not to – to preserve him for next year. Lunacy? Would you be surprised if they shut him down? I wouldn’t. COULD BE IN.
Bryan Corey: Corey has impressed in the limited time he’s pitched for the Sox. He’s only pitched 5.2 innings on the year, but they are clean innings that have resulted in no runs, three hits, two walks and four strikeouts. He comes in and he gets the job done. Period. If he keeps this up through the end of the year … you have to ask … should he be? COULD BE IN.
Manny Delcarmen: Remember when Tony Gicas said “Bring [Kyle Snyder] on alongside Javier Lopez and Manny Delcarmen – they
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They’ll take Lopez AND Lester, and go with 12 pitchers. As this kind of decision has shown, yes, all of the above have earned the playoffs (with the possible exception of Gagne!). That’s also assuming Okajima is one of the 12, because if he crashes, lefties will be at a premium the whole way. I’d also like to see Oki pitch once or twice before the playoffs, before I’d give him the shoe-in.. those pesky “dead arms”, you know.
Lopez is in, no question. We cannot face the stacked Indians, Angels and Yankees with only one lefty in the bullpen and NO lefty starters (assuming Lester won’t have a rotation spot). Lopez is definitely in.
i don’t want to see Lopez there, he sucks, he is better vs righties than lefties, Snyder also sucks, those guys are trash, they are just going to get crushed in the post-season.
To complicate matters:
The issue is if they carry 10 or 11 pitchers, not 12. Since you only need 4 starters, playoff teams usually will dump their last bullpen arm or 2. If the Sox make the Series, I wouldn’t be surprised to see only 10 pitcher for the games in the NL parks.
I believe in the short 5-game series, they will go with 11 pitchers. The ALCS with 12. The World Series with probably 11 or 12.
Gimme Tavarez. I have a lot more faith in him being able to do the job in a key spot than Snyder and Lopez just stinks. He can’t get lefties out. What’s the acronym for Left-Handed One Double Guy, LODGY? Plus, if you have him on the roster, Tito might use him.
Can we stop pretending that Wakefield is any good at all? He’s mediocre, except when he stinks. He shouldn’t be on any roster, let alone a playoff roster. (Yes, he “eats up a lot of innings,” as his defenders always claim, but, come on, if that’s all you want, then Alex Cora can do that…)
Of the teams the Sox might face in the playoffs, he has only faced this year the Yankees and the Angels. He’s done far better against the Angels: 1-1 (2 GS), 5.73 ERA, 1.55 WHIP. Against the Yankees, he’s gone 0-3 (3 GS), 10.93 ERA, 2.57 WHIP. Look it up, he sucks. Add to that his ‘talent’ for giving up HRs to career underachievers (e.g. Aaron Boone) and you see that he has no place pitching in October.
Three losses in three starts against the Evil Empire. And he didn’t last long in those starts: 5.1 IP, 5.0 Ip & 3.2 IP, so don’t give me any of that “eats innings” garbage. He chokes in big games.
Then there’s the matter of his personal catcher, Doug not-even-hitting-his-weight Mirabelli. I’m not sure why the Sox need a guy who can’t hit worth a darn to catch a pitcher everyone can hit. Wouldn’t we be better off flushing both of them?
Tim Wakefield chokes in big games is easily the stupidest thing I’ve ever read on any website that wasn’t linked to by FJM. The guy has on two separate occassions (’92 and ‘03) been arguably the LCS MVP until his team blew comfortable leads. This year has been no different than any other year. He can be unhittable or he can be awful and suggesting he’s a choker is just ludicrous.
If you want to say he’s not deserving a rotation spot that’s fine, but a choker? Gimme a break.
I’m not talking about 1992 or 2003. I’m talking about this year. 10.93 against the Yankees is crap. He can’t be trusted in a big game. As you say, Joe, “He can be unhittable or he can be awful,” but it seems to me that he saves the awful outings for when they do the most damage.
[...] Even if you’re not a Red Sox the Fire Brand of the American League is worth a couple views a week. Recently up is on the site is Who Should Pitch in October? [...]
I actually really like this site…so hopefully I don’t come off as a complete jackass here. I co-write an Asian baseball site and have a post referring to this one….
http://eastwindupchronicle.com/?p=183
On the more positive side for sox fans check out our speculations for guys coming over from Asia next year. Surely you guys’ll be in the running for them.