April 8, 201016 yr Nothing wrong with aiming high though. After looking at his above average stats when behind in the count last year which I posted earlier in this thread, I'm going to take this back. I think to avoid walks, he's going to throw more meatballs when behind in the count and as a result, give up more hits. Yeah that is immediately what I thought when I read this.... I hope this isnt a mental state of mind like I posted earlier where when he falls behind in the count he thinks it's okay to throw BP pitches... I hope he isnt trying to achieve this feat just for the sake of achieving it and not for achieving it's overall meaning. I'm sure any starting pitcher with great control could achieve this if they didnt care about their ERA... but the matter of fact is that even the best pitchers use the outside of the strikezone to get batters to swing.
April 8, 201016 yr It would be idiotic of Ricky to just throw strikes down the middle when behind in the count. I don't know why anyone would assume he'd even consider this. Ultimately, he wants to win games and have a low ERA. His goal of walking less than 25 is a way of ensuring he remains focused on throwing strikes and not falling behind in the count. We already know he's capable of walking 45ish over the course of 210ish innings in a season (in 2008). He just wants to do even better.
April 9, 201016 yr It would be idiotic of Ricky to just throw strikes down the middle when behind in the count. I don't know why anyone would assume he'd even consider this. Ultimately, he wants to win games and have a low ERA. His goal of walking less than 25 is a way of ensuring he remains focused on throwing strikes and not falling behind in the count. We already know he's capable of walking 45ish over the course of 210ish innings in a season (in 2008). He just wants to do even better. We would say this because he already has done it without trying. Last year, he's was better than the average guy in walks but worse than the average guy when it comes to pitching when behind in the count. Actually trying not to give up walks this year could lead to more hits in that situation and with a worse defense behind him, it has an even better chance of ending up in more baserunners.
April 9, 201016 yr I suppose, but my point was that I doubt he would do that intentionally. He obviously wants to make good pitches. If anything, he probably wants to make sure he doesn't fall behind as often this year. Not that he fell behind that often last year, but...
April 9, 201016 yr I think you can only say this is definitively a worse defense if you are a kneejerk.
April 9, 201016 yr I think you can only say this is definitively a worse defense if you are a kneejerk. Gaby? Cantu at 3B?
April 9, 201016 yr The outfield should be much better with Coghlan getting more comfortable, and Maybin essentially replacing Hermida. That's an outfield with 2 guys with good speed and another who is just a great defender. Nolasco's more of a flyball pitcher anyways, so the infield alignment isn't as big a deal as the outfield. If the outfielders can cover a bunch of ground and keep some singles from becoming doubles and doubles from becoming triples, that will do wonders. And also, Boner was pretty mediocre at 3B last year anyways, so it's not like it's that big of a deal. I think too much is being made of Gaby's defense at 1B.
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