OT: Tigers' rubber match at 2:00 today; ChiSox giving up?
The Tigers are looking to take the rubber match game against the White Sox today, to win the series 2-1. If they do manage to win today, that will wrap up a very good 5-2 road trip against division opponents. After winning yesterday, they are already guaranteed to have a winning record on this trip, which is great, so today just offers a chance at some icing on the cake and some momentum as they head home for 7 straight against the Angels and Rangers.
In other, semi-related news, did the white flag just go up today from the Sox? ESPN is reporting that they have traded Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen to the Jays for RP Jason Frasor and a minor league pitcher. Jackson has arguably been one of Chicago's top 3 starters this season, and they didn't really get much in return. Is this the beginning of a Chicago firesale? I am hesitant to make any declaration one way or the other, depending on how you view GM Kenny Williams' comment (per ESPN):
"The three-game series against the Tigers... [will] determine whether the White Sox [will] be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline [this Sunday]."
If it is the beginning of the Sox giving up, I think this was a premature move. Maybe Williams just got upset after the loss last night, had a little too much to drink and then made the move? I don't know, especially since the trade seems like a net loss in the short run. I know there are some Sox fans on here; what do you guys think about this move?
DISCUSS.
...had Todd Jones, Fernando Rodney as our shutdown men - it seems only fitting that "Papa Grande" also be in the mold of the such men (low Ks, high % of men on base, still somehow gets the job done)
9 batters per nine with the Tigers, that is hardly a low number of K's. Other than men getting base, their is really no comparison between Valverde and Jones. Jones gave up a ton of hits and only struck out about 4.5 batter per nine innings with the Tigers, Valverde on the other hand gives up signficantly fewer hits and strikes out sigficantly more batters than Jones did. Valverde is vastly superior pitcher than Tood Jones was.
As for the Sox fan who said he would rather have Santos than Valverde there really is no basis for that statement. Valverde is 27/27 in saves, which means he has done his job 27/27 times. Santos on the other hand, can not claim to have done the same.
Valverde has lost three games, though, so while he's always gotten it done in save situations, in tied games he hasn't always.
of the closers in baseball though, for whatever reason they struggle in non save situations. When it comes to actually closing out games though, there really hasn't been any closer better than Valverde this year. Not to mention I'll take a three time All-Star with alot of experience closing games over a second year guy with very limited experience closing games, down the stretch in tight situations. Long-term I could obviously see taking the younger Santos, but not in the short-term.
I think the "Cult of the Save" you refer to really only applies in fantasy baseball land. Saving 27 games in 27 chances makes you an elite closer. A closer's goal, when entering games in high-pressure situations, is to keep your team's lead intact and make sure you don't lose the game. Twenty seven times Jose Valverde has been asked to do that this year, and twenty seven times he has come through. In my opinion, advanced metrics play a smaller role in evaluating a closer's performance; if he is getting the job done, who cares what his xFIP is?
Agreed. I'll take 53 Ks in 33.1 IP any day of the week. And after a shaky first couple months to the season, Beniot has really settled in. The addition of Coke to the pen makes it more solid, IMO. Outside of those guys, and Valverde, though, there's not much depth. But our 1-4 starters are getting into a groove again, so there's been less pressure on the bullpen lately. Hopefully they will be able to keep this up.
Huge Sox fan...why would the Sox give up? Hmmm.
Not giving up....just making it so that we have 5 starters instead of 6 (even though Humber was moved to the bullpen last week). Also Teahan wasn't performing at all batting .203 with only 3 HR's. Once we start trading some of our main players then I would consider that we are giving up. I'm not concerned by this trade at all. If more trades happen then I might be.
I'll say this -- I'm not sure the big advantage the Sox have with pitching is enough to outweigh the Tigers' obvious offensive advantage. Even if Dunn starts hitting, the Tigers' offense is still pretty clearly better, especially with as streaky as Quentin is.
In other news, the Indians just got no-hit by the Angels and lost that series 2-1. If we win today, that will put us 3 ahead of Cleveland and 5.5 ahead of Chicago. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though...
Indians actually lead the game for a number of innings. And, Santana had never beaten the Indians in 12 tries.
Home plate ump has a really tight strike zone today.
Also, hope Rios enjoys the bench, his replacement produced more offense in one at bat than Rios does in a week.
Scherzer is really laboring through these first 3 innings: 65 pitches thrown so far. That doesn't bode well for him. Hopefully the Sox batters lose all discipline over the next few innings and get out on a lot of first-pitch swings.
Also, congratulations to Alejandro de Aza for hitting a two-run homer in his first big league at-bat of the season. I hope he strikes out on 3 pitches in every at-bat the rest of the game.
Both guys are really getting squeezed, having the MLB Gameday up while listening to the radio broadcast on there, there have been an awful lot of "balls" that are entirely within the strike zone, not even borderline. I guess at least he's doing it to both pitchers.
I sense a big inning coming up here in the 5th. Avila leads off with a base hit and now we've got the top of the order, Danks is closing in on 80 pitches already, and this will be his third time through the order. Time to get on the scoreboard!
Edit: Dang. Pardon me while I go hone my senses.
Thank you Ryan Rayburn for not swinging at any pitches.
So through the first two games and 6 innings of today's game, the Tigers have accumulated 28 hits. Twenty six of those have been singles.
Ugh.
I love Ryan Raburn?
left a ton of runners on base today. They just did not have the right approach at the plate. Squandered a chance to open up a little breathing room in the division.
you can equate a few trades as the White Sox "giving up".
I am pretty sure I read where Tiger is a Magnum extra sensitive kind of guy. Man, you guys really got off topic on this thread.