Series Thread: Rangers Host the White Sox for Three Games August 1-3

[jaar01]

So you’re just going to ignore his 2.29 ERA from last season, I guess?

And “often injured”? Do you even bother with facts at all? Guy has pitched in 14 full major league seasons (not counting his brief rookie season and the pandemic-shortened 2020), and he’s made 30 or more starts in 12 of those.

Dig a little deeper. Max has been dealing with various injuries for quite a while now. His velocity and spin rate are down. His change up is no longer a plus pitch.

 

[saddles]

A double for Smith.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Dig a little deeper. Max has been dealing with various injuries for quite a while now. His velocity and spin rate are down. His change up is no longer a plus pitch.

No, you’re changing the narrative there. He is not often injured. And his spin rates and velocity might be down, but so are Verlander’s. So are a lot of pitchers’. It doesn’t mean they aren’t still good pitchers. You don’t put up a 2.29 ERA in over 30 starts by accident.

We’re all very aware he isn’t the best or 2nd best pitcher in baseball anymore like he once was. If he were, the Mets wouldn’t have traded him, or they would have at least asked for more than just Acuna. His numbers show he’s still a top 20 starter. We’re excited because he’s still a solid #1 or very good #2 starter.

Both Cliff Lee and Jacob deGrom got roughed up in their first starts as Rangers. Scherzer will be fine.

 

[scotsman1948]

1-2-3 3rd 10 pitches

 

[True Rangers Fan]

I definitely vote to give Scherzer a few starts before deciding what we have.

 

[Senator_fan]

The elephant in the room could eventually be that Scherzer is our worst starting pitcher. That would be awful because he is never coming out of the rotation. Hopefully, it doesn't come to that.

I wouldn’t write him off after 2 innings. That’s rediculous.

 

[saddles]

I wouldn’t write him off after 2 innings. That’s rediculous.

Who said I was doing that?

 

[jaar01]

I'm not writing off Scherzer. Simply saying we must temper expectations. I knew we weren't getting the old dominant Scherzer. He's a legit mlb SP but is not a #1 or #2 anymore.

And come on Will...top 20 in mlb still? You know better than that.

 

[WilltheThrill]

I wouldn’t write him off after 2 innings. That’s rediculous.

Just as writing him off after one subpar half season is as well. Anyone expecting 2018 Max Scherzer will likely be disappointed, but we didn’t pay the price for 2018 Max Scherzer, nor do we need 2018 Max Scherzer to upgrade our rotation.

 

[saddles]

You do realize that Josh Smith, after a terrible April, has hit pretty good. His OPS since then is .809.

In that same time period, coming into today, only Seager, Lowe, Duran and Garcia have a higher OPS.

 

[Senator_fan]

Who said I was doing that?

Ok but I don’t think there’s going to be any elephants.

 

[fanman8825]

Just as writing him off after one subpar half season is as well. Anyone expecting 2018 Max Scherzer will likely be disappointed, but we didn’t pay the price for 2018 Max Scherzer, nor do we need 2018 Max Scherzer to upgrade our rotation.

Spot on. We just need him to better than what we getting from starters not named Eovoldi and Dunning.
He is looking much better already after 4.

 

[scotsman1948]

Another 10-pitch inning for Scherzer

 

[saddles]

A run at a time ties it up at 3.

 

[WilltheThrill]

I'm not writing off Scherzer. Simply saying we must temper expectations. I knew we weren't getting the old dominant Scherzer. He's a legit mlb SP but is not a #1 or #2 anymore.

And come on Will...top 20 in mlb still? You know better than that.

Strikeouts- He ranks 14th in all of baseball in K/9, with better K/9 than Gerrit Cole, Corbin Burnes, Shane McClanahan, Zac Gallen, Aaron Nola, Framber Valdez, and Logan Gilbert.

ERA - over his last full season (this season + last half of 2022), he ranks 13th in all of baseball.

WHIP- his combined WHIP of 1.04 puts him in the top 10 in baseball.

And he managed to go 9-4 on the awful Mets this year.

He ranks in the top 20 in all metrics, unless you’re just solely looking at his 4 ERA from half of a season.

There are 30 teams in baseball. You say he’s not even a #2 anymore. That means you have him outside of the top 60 starters in baseball. That is utterly laughable. Just stop.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

hey some dudes are hitting home runs y'all

 

[yardimatt]

The last two home runs by Simeon have been very impressive. He's hit two hangers on the inside part of the plate, hell not even in the strike zone, for a home runs.

 

[scotsman1948]

A run at a time ties it up at 3.

And a Semien homer makes it a 4-3 lead for the Rangers

 

[saddles]

Ok but I don’t think there’s going to be any elephants.

The good games by Dunning and Heaney have more to do with what I wrote than anything. I wasn't trying to say that Scherzer's ERA was going to balloon up to 5.00 or anything.

There is a slight chance at some point down the line that everyone could be doing so well again that the other five starters could be performing better than Max. Of course, Gray has to improve as well for that to happen.

I was just saying that if that became apparent, one of the five best starters would be put in the pen before Max would be.

 

[WilltheThrill]

The good games by Dunning and Heaney have more to do with what I wrote than anything. I wasn't trying to say that Scherzer's ERA was going to balloon up to 5.00 or anything.

There is a slight chance at some point down the line that everyone could be doing so well again that the other five starters could be performing better than Max. Of course, Gray has to improve as well for that to happen.

I was just saying that if that became apparent, one of the five best starters would be put in the pen before Max would be.

That’s not something you or anyone else will have to worry about. Even if Max continues at his 4.00 ERA pace or even gets slightly worse, and even if Eovaldi, Dunning, and Montgomery clearly outperform him, there is no way Andrew Heaney and Jon Gray will be consistently good enough to knock him down to 6th best (and I say that as probably a bigger fan of Heaney than most here).