Hilariously, when you have a guy like Dyson it means the 8th hitter is the least valuable hitter in your lineup. If Infante is our biggest issue, then, lol, I think we're ok.

Over the last 2 months, Chris Young and Jeremy Guthrie have both given up 28 ERs. Chris Young has 5 fewer IP, but has given up 11 HRs to Guthries 5. 18 BBs to Guthries 15 and 31 Ks to Guthries 37.

Projecting starts with 5 man rotation.

Not sure how they will handle off days on August 3rd, August 17th, August 31st, September 10th, September 21st

July 31 - at Toronto
August 6 - at Detroit
August 11 - Detroit
August 16 - LA
August 22 - at Boston
August 27 - Baltimore
September 2 - Detroit
September 7 - Minnesota
September 12 - at Baltimore
September 17 - at Cleveland
September 23 - Seattle
September 28 - at Cubs
October 3 - at Minnesota

Yes, it is. He's a 9 hitter, or a 6, or an 8, or last year a 2. Of course yesterday the highest leverage AB of the game happened when he came up in the 1st. Sacks packed 2 outs, do or die. So mathematically he was so important he was our 3 hitter

I think there's going to be some movement with the off-day coming up in a week. Goldberg said they haven't determined what they're going to do at that point.

And one of Guthrie's HRs was when Gordon couldn't be bothered to roll over to get the ball after breaking his groin.

It was just too easy of a lay up to pass on.

Young got us through some rough times and did it remarkably well. One of the worries from other teams and the main reason he didn't sign as a starter anywhere was him holding up for a whole season as a starter. That seems to be playing out lately. He will still be a valuable bullpen guy the rest of the way though.

But mostly 9. And when the lineup is at full strength without anyone being rested or injured, he's 9.

Lol agreed

I have tickets for August 15th & September 26th so I'll be interested to see how it works out too.

Right. And over the course of the year Jeremy Guthrie has a 5.2+ ERA to Chris Young's 3.3. Chris Young is also 25th ALL TIME in active pitchers in ERA. Carry on.

It is just ASSUMED that Chris Young is "wearing down" because he hasn't been as effective lately and didn't do AS WELL at some parts of the 2nd half last year for the Mariners. Theres no clear evidence that this isn't just happenstance, though.

Unfortunately, injuries do happen. And when we look at the final team stats, he will have had a bigger impact than Alex. Regardless if we call him a 6 or a 9.

I agree, it's a terribly flawed statistic.

Just look at the Toronto Blue Jays this year. They have a run differential of +95, by far the best in the American League

Their record is 50 wins and 50 losses. So much for run differential being a reliable indicator of how good a team is.