Tweet
A lot of the concerns about the Sox performance and roster moves over the past couple weeks can really be boiled down to the fact that the Sox are not trying as hard as they can to win these games. They're resting key players, putting guys on the IL for seemingly minor issues, and giving bench guys at bats to keep them fresh. The strategy would certainly be much different if they were in a race for the division, but with a 10 game lead they're obviously prioritizing health for the playoffs.
Nik Gaur from Sox on 35th took a look at whether this is the right decision, but while he makes some important points (like the discussion regarding "information asymmetry"), he basically comes down on the side of "we don't know" if it's the right move, and we likely will never know even in hindsight.
I see both sides to the argument, but this is a case where I trust La Russa to make this decision. Especially since the "old school" line of thinking would be to play your stars all the way through to build that "winning mentality" or whatever you want to call it, it's encouraging to me that TLR is taking the opposite approach. He's got the decades of experience to know what it takes to win, and he knows his players (at this point) better than any of us do, so I'm going to trust him that rest is the most important thing to make sure these guys are ready for the postseason.
La Russa also knows (first hand) that it's not the best team that wins the World Series - it's the team that plays the best in the postseason. All a team needs to do is get hot at the right time. Part of the ability to do that is being healthy, and another part is just catching a hot streak at the right time. I expect with a week or two to go in the regular season, the Sox will try to "step on the gas" a little bit to get some momentum building. Until then I'm good with the approach that these games are not essential, and it's more important to have TA, Lynn, Giolito, Rodon, etc. healthy in October than winning some (relatively) meaningless games in September.
Nik Gaur from Sox on 35th took a look at whether this is the right decision, but while he makes some important points (like the discussion regarding "information asymmetry"), he basically comes down on the side of "we don't know" if it's the right move, and we likely will never know even in hindsight.
I see both sides to the argument, but this is a case where I trust La Russa to make this decision. Especially since the "old school" line of thinking would be to play your stars all the way through to build that "winning mentality" or whatever you want to call it, it's encouraging to me that TLR is taking the opposite approach. He's got the decades of experience to know what it takes to win, and he knows his players (at this point) better than any of us do, so I'm going to trust him that rest is the most important thing to make sure these guys are ready for the postseason.
La Russa also knows (first hand) that it's not the best team that wins the World Series - it's the team that plays the best in the postseason. All a team needs to do is get hot at the right time. Part of the ability to do that is being healthy, and another part is just catching a hot streak at the right time. I expect with a week or two to go in the regular season, the Sox will try to "step on the gas" a little bit to get some momentum building. Until then I'm good with the approach that these games are not essential, and it's more important to have TA, Lynn, Giolito, Rodon, etc. healthy in October than winning some (relatively) meaningless games in September.
Comment