If he's having a hard time explaining stuff to his son, I'll agree with you.Originally Posted by SporkLover
If he's having a hard time explaining stuff to his son, I'll agree with you.
True! Furthermore, with Napoli not protecting fat Popi in the order, there is no reason in the world to pitch to him! That would hamstring, muzzle and de-ball that Sox offence!
Why? I've been hearing this a lot and don't really understand it. If Ortiz can start all 3 games at 1B, which I admit might not be a given at his age, and Craig can't yet play the field, it seems to me that both teams had pretty even lineups for games 1 and 2 and both teams lose a comparable hitter from those lineups for games 3-5. Even if you believe the Cards had a better lineup for games 1 and 2, that would be an advantage they always had, not something they gain because of the switch to NL rules.
"Reality tells us there are no guarantees. Except that some day Jon Lester will be on that list of 100-game winners." - Peter Gammons
It's the fact that you are making their pitcher take hacks, which they typically have little experience at, force them to put a purely offensive player on the bag, and put one of their typically starting bats and solid defensive players on the bench. Papi has the potential to be a defensive liability due to age and not playing first often, and without Napoli batting behind him there is even less incentive to pitch to him.
I'm personally wondering if Ortiz will be able to make the same plays Napoli was.... Steve Drew made some great plays with awful throws that Napoli really had to stretch and dig for to catch.... Something the Red Sox hope Ortiz can do as well.
Wow. Just wow. There's being a homer, then there's exagerration. I'd say both factors must be clouding your judgment here. At this stage, he's a hot pitcher. Nothing more.
"Rounding 3rd and heading for home, good night everybody"
High fivers should be banned, high fivers that miss high fives should be imprisoned, and high fivers in visiting ballparks looking around to see how many people are noticing their high five spectacle should be executed.It was gray here today.
"Rounding 3rd and heading for home, good night everybody"
When you're in the post season and he's pitching now, what else matters?
Only time will tell how he matures, right now it's looking pretty good. Cardinals and baseball is excited about him right now... He gives them good reason. He's a pitcher with a high ceiling right now and he's making and impact now.... Double whammy. I don't see the downside.
I'm not sure he'll be the most talented pitcher from his draft class.... History tells us that's a crap shoot. I mean look at the 2006 draft class. Tim Lincecum debuted pretty fast and made a huge impact early (like Wacha).... But Kershaw who debuted later is more likely the guy that will make the biggest impact on MLB. Gausman, Zimmer, Appel, and heck even Travesio have not yet shown if they will pan out. Wacha just happened to be the first guy big league ready.
Actually, Wacha never had a high ceiling. Most scouts had him his pitches as a 4-5 out of 8 with a ceiling of a 6.
He's made a big impact, because he's had a hot streak of a few games in the postseason. Nearly every starting pitcher in the bigs has had a streak like this at one point in their career, and most have had streaks at least twice as long as this. Heck, even he did this for half a season, it would be way to early to tell how good he really is.
He's had a few good games in a row during a very young career, and as many crappy games during that young career as well. Tim Pugh started his MLB career with a 1.95 ERA after his first 5 starts. If you're asking who's Tim Pugh, then rest my case.
Hoping to change my username to 75769024
All the guy has done since he was drafted is dominate. You may be right in arguing he'll never be an ace, but playing this off as just a pitcher who is hot right now is foolish. he didn't even have great stuff Thursday night and still only gave up 2 runs on 3 hits over 6 innings. That's impressive.
The original poster was discussing what he could become. I chimed in. It's a fun thing baseball fans like to discuss sometimes. Not sure if it matters relative to world peace, but had nothing better to do at the time.
"Rounding 3rd and heading for home, good night everybody"
I'm not arguing he'll never be an ace, just think your statement about how good his plus pitches are was over the top. He is in the same category as "most pitchers in MLB," not in his own category.
"Rounding 3rd and heading for home, good night everybody"
He had a 4.72 ERA through his first 7 games. He had a nice run in relief, two good starts, then two starts in a row where he had a combined 5.59 ERA.
He's put together a nice five game run, starting with this last start of the regular season, and four games in the playoffs. But overall, he's been very streaky so far as a major leaguer. The most accurate and honest assessment of Wacha is that he's on a hot streak right now.
Hoping to change my username to 75769024
I agree with you on the only time will tell.
As far as the scouting reports, come on, while those are educated guesses, everyone that tracks the amateur talent pools know that even those a crap shoot. They are based on the scouts assessment of ability at that time. Most of them all project him as a middle of rotation guy, but also add that if he could polish a curve or breaking ball he raises that ceiling. He's got a pretty average curve now (rather than non existent in college).... His ceiling is rising.
Again, whether he can sustain.... Only time will tell but he is giving good reason to be optimistic. Being dismissive of what he's accomplished now is a bit silly, because by anyone's measurement it is pretty amazing and surprising.calling him the next Waino, Carpenter, throw in a highly successful RHP is a bit optimistic at this point, but he has a pretty good upside at this point.
One thing is for sure, he is definitely a talent to keep an eye on.
ERA? You're better than that. Prove me wrong with a relevant statistic not one shaped by small sample sizes and bad luck.
Wacha's career is a small sample size. Nothing can be "proved" one way or another.
|
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |
