Noise, 2.28.18
.
James Paxton took his first start in the style of the men who already have their three Cy Youngs on the shelf. He sat a few MPH below norm, put up a few zeroes incident-free, and sounded like Anatoly Karpov as a technician:
"Right now it's about finding my rhythm," he said. "I threw all my pitches today, which was good. I had a hard time getting inside to righties, which is kind of my bread and butter. Because I was leaving early, my hand was getting on the side of the ball a little, and it was sailing on me.
.
If they go to a 6-man rotation "at times," along with the days off, let's see [Dr. D's post-concussion syndrome makes the calculator a guilty pleasure] =162/6 is 27 starts. Plus a couple since they're not convicted about the 6-man rotation and probably won't have that #6 guy throwing well very often, do you think? But if James Paxton makes his 28 starts this year, with Felix, then the Mainframe suspects that Jerry Dipoto will let Bill Krueger and Mike Leake moan and groan all they want about "long rest ruins your touch."
.
There are things in ST that are worth looking at, but W-L records are indeed not among them. Have you CHECKED the scheduled pitchers each day? Who or what are Cook, Morin, and Moll?
.
Zip has re-tooled his delivery in an attempt to justify Dipoto's "Wolf Pack" millions. He knocked down the side today in one inning. Dr's Diagnosis: NOISE
.
Andrew Romine is the 2018 backup infielder. Trust us. Dipoto on TV talked sadly about how Taylor Motter does fine if he plays every day but has a tough time when he can't stay in rhythm.... we're sure without looking the stats don't jibe but our faithful GM was probably just trying to be nice. On the other hand the GM was almost breathless about Andrew Romine's versatility and attitude.
So, somebody POTD the dude, instanter.
.
Ariel Miranda helped himself with a 3 IP, 4 K, 1 ER outing but he's got to beat Marc-O out by a mile. Of course, exactly the same was true last year, and Miranda even started the year in Tacoma, but he wound up starting 29 times. That's 29 exclamation point
When Dr. D thinks of Miranda he always thinks of Bill James' warning, Stop futzing around changing pitchers every two weeks, hoping somebody will impress you. You have a pitcher with 40 starts under his belt, let's see if you can build on something.
Which is not to say Dr. D is in Miranda's corner. Just idly wondering whether he's the responsible thing to do. So to speak. In any case he does chip in a few street-cred points on that difficult "Wolf Pack" sell.
.
Dan Vogelbach is back and is doing little other than reaching base (at a .556 clip). Still has received no love, either directly from the GM/Manager or indirectly from the beat writers who reflect corporate values as the moon reflects the sun. I'm genuinely curious what Vogs did that was worth writing off a Mike Montgomery-sized investment. Maybe one of the beat writers could just hint at it a little bit?
.
Speaking of beat writers reflecting the manager's perceptions as a mirror, here's a Divish article that says Altavilla has a chance. [here's the problem] Of course Phelps and Nicasio are givens alongside Nick Vincent, as is the closer and the two left hand pitchers. #7 and #8 were really looking pretty set with Zych and Rumbelow; Dipoto speaks VERY highly of the latter.
But Divish is a very fine writer, whether he's exactly my kinda guy or not :- ) and he's got an entire piece, nearly 1,000 words it looks like, up on Altavilla. [The Mainframe has less than nothing against Dan Altavilla.] Also it's fascinating to see the Times begin to use SSI/LL style before-and-after imagery. So, go enjoy.
Best,
Dr D