Keep in mind that not all of his relief innings have been high leverage (though many have), and not all starter innings are low leverage (though many are).

Your reference to replacement value is intriguing, and I have thought about this a good deal lately. The common assumption seems to be that it is 1) easy to find a mediocre #5 starter and 2) hard to find a great late inning guy.

Yet I think this season has shown just how hard it is to find even a subpar #5 guy (Hughes had been the best of the lot by far, and now apparently there are no other options to Mitre). As for the replacement level for a late inning reliever, I would counter that 1] the worth of teh 8th inning guy is greatly overvalued, and 2] even Wang pitched well in relief (Super-small-sample size). It is far, far easier to mix and match relievers and play the hot hand and stumble on this year’s version Brian Bruney 2008, than it is to find a solid starting pitcher.

I’m pretty certain that much of Hughes’ value as a reliver can be replaced (plus, really, he’s not going to continue t have the crazy success he’s had so far…his last two outings have been difficult.

Anyway, we’ll see!

CC (who doesn’t exactly have a blemish free postseason resume), AJ and then what?

Look at some of the other staffs we might face. Pettitte as a Game 3 against a legit stud? And then what in a Game 4?

I am baffled by this whole thing.

The fact that Bruney will probably not be fixable is devastating. He was so filthy before he got hurt.

And now Aceves has me worried. And Martinez makes the hypocredsox stronger, whether we like it or not.

just caught up on the latest baseball news from mlb trade rumors, jayson stark, etc…

[473] oh, hell yeah! still up, even now!!! it’s super quiet downstairs too, so hopefully i’ll get a full sleep! my gig is an hour and a half away tomorrow. hopefully, i’ll speak with Cult on the phone, whilst in the car, and catch him up on all the goings on.

my dumbass thought we were only a .5 game up, but it’s still 1.5, which is, at least, better. lets just hope we split this series. a split, is the best we can hope for the 2 game series w/ toronto right after this, with Doc throwing the first game, then it would really behoove us to just freaking win all 3 against the goddamn shit sox. fuck that entire organization. i really do wish they’d just be contracted. fuck the rivalry, fuck it all. i HATE every last detail about those motherfuckers.

26% Yes
745 No

I don’t know Ricciardi should have made a deal or not, but folks up here would have been very disappointed at losing Doc. We’ll see how this plays out in the offsa]eason and next year.

I’m still surprised they didn’t make the obligatory move for an extra BP arm. Even if we forget about moving Hughes to the rotation, there has to be some concern about Bruney’s and Albie’s problems, and perhaps more importantly, Aceves’ ‘tired arm.’

I wasn’t expecting anything at the trading deadline because most their higher level pitching prospects are hurt, and whether people want to believe it or not, they actually appear to have a budget.

Man, long & stinky game, trade deadline day, and Friday night seem to have combined to knock the wind out the Banter’s sails. Things died off here in a hurry.

Should be some interesting discussions tomorrow.

I cannot for the life of me find that damned article on River Ave Blue or RLYW…and I *know* I saw it someplace. Anyway, it’s not fair for me to cite something without providing a link. Grrrr.

Mind boggling.

River Ave Blues ran a statistical-analytical article a couple weeks back or so back, which showed that mediocre Hughes (assuming that he would continue to pitch at a 5+ ERA for the rest of the season) was STILL more valuable to the team than lights out Hughes (basically being un-hittable sub 1.00 ERA as a reliever), largely because of the total # of innings he had thrown as a starter. Obviously, the more he adds inning sin the pen, sooner or later his value as a reliever will outweigh his value as a starter. But their analysis also underscores how important innings are to the value of a pitcher. I would rather have Hughes going five or six every five games, than one inning a few times a week.

And especially when the alternative is Mitre and his 7.00+ ERA, or picking up another Ponson-type cast-off.

OK, I’m done now.