mtutiger

Rick Porcello for me....

On the reliever discussion, for arguments sake, let's say that Fulmer is actually the closer and given the 9th in last night's game. What do you do with Soto? Do you send him out there in the 8th to protect the one run lead? Would he have been any better or more reliable in one's view pitching in the 8th rather than the 9th? Do you bump Lange up to the set up man and drop Soto down to the 7th inning? Should he just not come in at all and have someone like Barnes or Vest pitch? Should they have stuck Chafin in there on his first day back? Where do you draw the line? That's sort of the problem with having a debate about Soto in the closer role within the context of last night's game.... at the end of the day, even if you rearrange the deck chairs, he's still one of your leverage guys and is going to have to come in during leverage situations. You can't just hide him. And Fulmer, also a leverage guy, wasn't great either in last night's game. Most teams are going to struggle when their 8th and 9th inning guys have bad days... it doesn't really matter which order they pitch in IMO

The situation is what it is, but I guess I don't understand the fixation on fluffing Fulmer after an outing where he threw more balls than strikes and one where he's lucky that Buxton didn't send one of his pitches to the third deck. Honestly, I'd prefer they went with him over Soto in the closers role or at least go back to a more closer by committee situation, but given how both looked last night, I wouldn't have had much more confidence in Fulmer in the 9th than Soto. And even if you do make him closer, aren't you still stuck hoping Soto pitches better in the set up role? At the end of the day, the roles are only a part of the problem... the reality is that both of these guys, for better or worse, are leverage guys. Maybe one is better than the other overall, but neither had it last night. And when neither guy has it, it makes it harder to nail down the win.

I see the response on this morning to news of Trevor Reed's release appears to be "When's Brittney Griner gonna be released"? And this is why we can't have nice things.

On the macro question, I'm not debating at all. Have said that multiple times. But in terms of last night, both guys sucked. They just did. And if you had switched roles (ie. Soto pitched the 8th, Fulmer 9th) or had Fulmer do two innings of work, does that change the outcome given how, again, both guys sucked last night? I can't say that. At the end of the day, one may be better than the other, but both of these guys are leverage guys.... and when neither one is on, you are at risk of losing ballgames.

I get it. When he has his control, he's unhittable.... but that only seems to happen a handful of times every season. lol I guess what's getting me is that there's been a couple of comments about Fulmer that seem like revisionist history a bit here... Fulmer's outing involved a walk, a cookie to Buxton that he was lucky that Buxton didn't hit out, and a scorcher at 'em ball to Candy. And, like Soto, more balls than strikes. Again, I can't sit here and say that the result would have been any different had Soto had the 8th/Fulmer the 9th or whether you sent Fulmer back out there for the 9th. He was shaky as well. The reality is that they need both guys to pitch better than they did last night... when neither one is on, you risk losing the game.

Also, I really like Fulmer, but he sucked last night. Like Soto, he threw more balls than strikes and was lucky to get out of that 8th inning given all the hard contact. The debate over who should be the primary closer is a valid one, and maybe Fulmer should be given more consideration for that role, but last night's game is not the game to use to make that argument. Neither one was good, and given how Fulmer pitched, I can't say with any certitude that a better result would have taken place.

Great news!

This will be a tough one, Ryan is pretty good and darkhorse for AL ROY. Really needed to reel that one in last night. Let's hope they can make up for it this time

Best case scenario, maybe Alex Lange can be the guy?

Fulmer was not pitching well at all... he was lucky to get out of that inning unscathed

Obviously, more talking about who the fanbase wants to axe. If Haase were hitting, he's shown enough in the outfield where I'd be ok with him out there, but it comes down to the bat with him.

So are we axing Haase instead of Garneau now?

Even Craig Monroe isn't polishing this one... lol

This was a real missed opportunity tonight, suffice it to say... Twins had come in hot, White Sox lost today, Ryan is going tomorrow for the Twins. It's April, but this feels like a really impactful loss.

So much went wrong on that play, but at its essence, you cannot throw that ball over Candy's head there. You're better off just running him back to the base Unreal

At a loss for words on that one...

That last call makes up for that absolutely shitty first missed strike

Get somebody up...

Good Lord, Roboumps please

Well that was a ride.... didn't have his best stuff tonight

Goodness, I thought Buxton had that one

Shep got his math wrong... unless the Tork bomb on Saturday was my imagination

Some enterprising Tiger fan oughtta make a GIF outta that

BAEZ!!!!