2013 MLB postseason running thread

True, but none of those three pitched full seasons in the bigs. Teheran did and Wood was a starter adjusting to the pen. So, I don't know. Maybe fatigue?

 

I think they just ran into a buzzsaw. Wood relies on deception from the left side, and the Dodgers have a bunch of right-handed hitters who murder mistakes (HanRam, Puig, Uribe).

Teheran leaving his breaking ball up has always been an issue, and probably always will be. It's why he failed so miserably in his two major-league trials prior to this year. His fastball and change-up are legit big-league pitches, his slider not so much.

 

It would take some time, and perhaps someone has already done it and probably has, but it would be interesting to go through postseasons for a couple of decades and see how rookies perform as compared to the regular season.

 

Jonah Keri did a very rudimentary version of it from the past decade (point number 5): http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/77319/19-takeaways-from-an-epic-mlb-playoff-quadrupleheader.

 

Speaking of rookie pitchers, the Cardinals have a nice problem to have right now. So, when next year comes around, how do they handle the following selection of starting pitchers at their disposal: Jaime Garcia, Adam Wainwright, Shelby Miller, Lance Lynn, Michael Wacha, Chris Carpenter, and Jake Westbrook.

Their bullpen is stacked with Mujica, Rosenthal and others, so do they move a couple starters via trade or start a couple of hot-shot rooks from this year in the minors? I have to imagine Wacha's played himself into a role with the big club next year and Miller was fantastic. Wainwright obviously has been a fixture with that team for years, so he isn't going anywhere. Can't imagine them not keeping Garcia in the rotation when he's healthy. Do they move Lance Lynn?

Westbrook is disposable. I can't see him staying. But could they move Chris Carpenter?

 

As the Braves showed this year, you can never have too much starting pitching.

 

It's a high-attrition position. On average, something like 15% of all starting pitchers drop to injury or ineffectiveness each year.

 

Another excellent point I was too lazy to look up. Carpenter was not some retread rag-arm. They won 96 games with a bullpen rotation that had Carpenter pitching the eighth most of the time.

 

Totally agree. While I would have probably called on Kimbrel, it was at least a defensible position to take.

Most of the moves Fredi made yesterday I didn't agree with actually worked somehow. Those included putting Freddy Garcia on the roster to start Game 4 over Paul Maholm, not going Medlen when the Dodgers countered with Kershaw, letting Garcia pitch the sixth inning, intentionally walking Ramirez (the go-ahead run) in the seventh to get to Adrian Gonzalez and pinch hitting Jose Constanza (who is really horrible) in the seventh with a man on third and one out instead of Reed Johnson or B.J. Upton. All those decisions I didn't agree with actually worked, which sometimes happens in baseball because baseball is a funny game.

 

Maholm has pitched like shit since June. He didn't deserve the No. 4 rotation spot over Garcia, particularly with all the lefty-mashers in the Dodgers' lineup.